Yearly staff bonus highly unlikely: survey

This is against 52 percent of companies that paid staff their annual bonus last year, according to a survey by recruitment company Anphabe, which polled 50 companies.

Twenty percent of employees have been told they would receive no bonus this year, most of them in Covid-19-hit sectors like tourism, aviation, food and beverage, hospitality, media, and entertainment, stated the survey, which also polled nearly 54,300 staff.

Most companies have not yet planned to raise worker salaries next year, while last year one in three workers said they received a raise of 8 percent on average.

The majority of employees are willing to see their salary lowered by 3-10 percent to share the burden with the company, if necessary.

Without a big budget to increase wages, companies are trying different strategies to retain workers.

Pharmaceutical company Sanofi Vietnam in recent months have been conducting online trainings and keeping the soccer field open during the stay-at-work period to boost worker morale, said Le Thi Hong Anh, director of human resources, at a recent forum.

The company also encourages workers to grow vegetables and fruits and organizes radio programs to entertain them, she added.

In the last few months, Lazada Vietnam has been sending its employees bags of essential good, said Director of Human Resources Van Thi Hong Hanh.

The company also hired coaches to teach workers yoga and organizes online gameshows during work hours to reward staff.