End of year bonuses are huge incentives for employees to shine throughout the year, but in recent times, they haven’t been very substantial. However, the forecast has improved following the significant economic growth in Singapore, and it’s the private sector that will reap the most rewards.
The only downside is that bonuses aren’t going to inflate across every sector, but it’s believed that they will slowly hit an incline eventually. Now, even though the Singapore economy has strengthened, bonus size is still reliant on the overall company performance. For instance, if a company is a global outfit, and they only prospered in Singapore but faltered elsewhere, then bonuses have a slim chance of rising.
In addition, research has shown that it’s also dependent on the industry; insurance, technology and manufacturing sectors are the ones that made the biggest steps forward, and that’s why employees in those areas should be excited. On the other hand, there are companies in sectors which are not performing very well.
Usually, it’s the construction, offshore and marine industries which fall short, and therefore have a very tight budget to allocate to bonuses. But, that’s expected every year. The ones that come as a slight surprise to experts are accommodation, and food & beverage services. Plus, transport and logistics are going to be affected, as well as real estate and life sciences.
All of the above sectors are predicted to be on a decline in comparison to previous years. Moreover, if you delve deeper within each sector, you’ll notice that bonuses differ tremendously between multinational corporations, and small & medium-sized enterprises. Specialists believe that it’s due to SMEs not preparing well for bonuses, and they just wait to see what the company profits look like.
You see, rather than analysing the whole set of performance metrics and targets, and seeing whether they’ve advanced, they’ll distribute set bonuses, such as a two-month pay-out. In terms of this year, it is expected that SMEs will provide bonuses to all employees of around half a month, but some could stretch to 11/2 months.
Although, employees should also focus on their career, and not worry too heavily over bonuses. Why? Because if you take SMEs, which are very family-orientated and like to retain staff for long periods, and compare them with MNCs, who release and replace staff all the time, you’ll have more job stability with an SME. This means a larger chance of promotion and an improved wage in the long run, rather than waiting for a hefty bonus each year from a massive company.
Furthermore, with the drastic upwards trajectory that the economy is on, experts feel that companies will experience more freelancer recruitment. So, they’ll also have to cater for those when it comes to bonuses, depending on the length of their contract, of course.
Ultimately, the private sector will witness a healthy rise in bonuses on a whole, and hopefully all the others will follow suit, as the economy continues to strengthen.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/private-sector-employees-may-enjoy-bigger-bonuses
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