VietNamNet Bridge – Big bankers and businessmen have prepared their staff for a sad piece of news, saying that there would not be Tet bonuses this year, or the Tet bonuses would be modest.

According to the Quang Ngai provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, only 20 out of the 1,500 enterprises have submitted reports about their Tet bonus plans.

The Dung Quat Oil Refinery, a huge enterprise, Mai Linh Quang Ngai Company and some other big businesses in the central province, surprisingly have not mentioned the Tet bonuses yet.

Cosevco Quang Ngai, a giant in the construction sector, has announced that it would not give a bonus on the 2013 New Year, while every worker would receive VND500,000 on the occasion of the traditional Tet.

Thien Tan Construction JSC remains the enterprise which most handsomely awards its workers: the highest Tet bonus has been set up at VND24.3 million while the lowest at VND3 million. The workers would receive VND1-3 million on the occasion of 2013 New Year.

Meanwhile, the workers of other enterprises said they do not expect Tet bonuses, since they still have not received monthly salaries. Truong Giang JSC still owes VND500 million to its workers.

Commercial banks, which always award big sums of money to their staff, have also told their workers not expect too much on Tet bonuses. Techcombank’s CEO has stated that there won’t be Tet bonuses this year. Meanwhile, a worker of the bank said he feels lucky that no one has been laid off in the economic difficulties, therefore, one should not be too demanding on Tet bonus.

A manager of a big joint stock bank in Hanoi said the board of directors has not mentioned the Tet bonus plan, keeping both the managers and officers waiting. However, they understand that they would have to fasten their belt when buying goods for Tet celebration.

SHB has not thought of Tet bonuses yet. An executive of the bank said SHB is not focusing on dealing with the problems arisen after Habubank merged into it. Especially, it now spends time and efforts to settle the bad debts. Therefore, it still has not time to program the Tet bonus.

Speaking at the time when Habubank was merged into SHB, President Do Quang Hien promised that Habubank’s bad debts would be settled within 2012.

Sacombank, one of the biggest commercial banks in Vietnam, said the business performance in 2012 is not as good as expected. Therefore, it has promised to give the 13th month salary to workers, but it is still not sure about the Tet bonus.

In fact, bank officers understand that they have experienced a very difficult year, therefore, they would not be surprised if they don’t receive bonuses this Tet. Deputy General Director of a bank in G9 group (the group of the most powerful banks in Vietnam), said even the members of the board of directors may not receive Tet bonuses, let alone officers.

Most of real estate firms do not intend to give Tet bonuses to their staff after a tough year. 2012 was considered the worst business year for the firms in the sector, with real estate products unsold despite the dramatic price decreases.

The president of a real estate firm in HCM City, when receiving a call from reporters to ask about Tet bonuses, said he has been moving heaven and earth to beg banks for debt payment delay, while he does not have time thinking about how to arrange money for Tet bonuses.

US$1 = VND20,800

Nhi Anh