Vietnam's real estate agents offer huge Lunar New Year bonus

Nguyen Vu Cao, board chairman of Hanoi-based property firm Van Khang Phat, said his firm is expected to award its best manager a car worth VND3 billion ($130,000) as a Lunar New Year bonus.

Meanwhile, best supervisors and sales staff of the company will be awarded tours valued at VND30-80 million ($1,320-3,520) each for the Lunar New Year, known as Tet in Vietnam, which will fall in less than a fortnight.

Other employees will receive a month's salary, he said, adding the bonus this Tet is higher than that of last year.

Pham Thanh Hung, CEO of Cen Group, said that his firm will spend tens of billions of Vietnamese dong worth of the firm’s shares on bonuses for employees. Hung did not reveal the specific value of the bonus, but said its the same as last year.

Last Tet, Cen Group awarded 11 best employees cars worth VND1 billion each.

CT group announced to offer Tet bonuses worth billions of Vietnamese dong to its best employees, while Hai Phat Land said it will pay bonuses worth 1-5 months of wages.

Explaining the reason for the high bonus, leader of a real estate agent in Hanoi said it is the way for real estate companies to keep talented employees amid labor shortages in the sector.

The General Statistics Office announced last month that the average income in 2017 reached $2,385, up 7.7 percent from the previous year.

In Vietnam, bonuses are agreed between employers and their workers, but businesses are encouraged by the government to reward employees based on performance.