VietNamNet Bridge – As the lunar New Year (Tet) approaches, Tet bonuses for domestic workers has become a topic of discussion among office employees.

On online forums for women and mothers forum members are promising to pay high Tet bonuses to domestic workers to get them to stay with the family during Tet.

Some members on a popular forum for mothers in Vietnam (webtretho) said that they would pay a month salary as Tet bonus for their domestic workers.

A member with nickname MebeK said that her child is less than one year old and the nanny has taken care of him alone when her and her husband go to work. The nanny performed her job well so MebeK’s family decided to give her two months of salary as a Tet bonus, totaling up to VND4 million ($200), equivalent to a month’s income for  MebeK.

“Though my own Tet bonus is less than my Tet bonus for my nanny, I believe if I treat her well she will treat my child well,” MebeK wrote.

Some families not only give their domestic workers a month’s salary as a Tet bonus but also buy confectionaries and clothes for the charwoman’s family in the countryside. Some rich families even give New Year presents (cash) to their domestic helper’s parents and children, expecting that the domestic workers will be glad to help their family after Tet.

Mrs. Giang in Thai Thinh Street, Hanoi, presented her domestic worker a month salary and will arrange a car to take the domestic worker home for Tet.

Giang promised if the domestic worker makes a timely return after Tet, Giang will give her an additional month’s salary. Giang said she has to offer a reward because last year her domestic worker, a 16-year-old girl, received a Tet bonus and didn’t return after Tet.

Giang said with the Tet bonuses, she hoped that the domestic worker would be obliged to work for her. Moreover, arranging a car to take her home will make her proud and Giang will know the her address. If she doesn’t return to work after Tet, Giang will visit her and pick her up.

Special Tet bonuses

Some families that can’t afford to pay high salaries to their domestic workers for Tet have “invented” special tricks to win their hearts.

Mrs. Minh Hong from Chua Lang Street, Hanoi, bought a coat worth VND150,000 ($7.5) for the domestic worker. Her office gave its employees a tea set and a calendar each and Hong gave these things to her domestic worker as Tet gifts as well as VND500,000 ($25) for Tet bonus and traveling expenses. Hong said that with such things she doesn’t have to spend much money but, the worker would be happy.

To ensure that their charwomen will return to work after Tet, some families promise to pay a bonus equivalent to two months’ salary as a bonus but they will only give the her one month’s salary before Tet and one month’s salary after Tet, when the charwoman returns.

A woman nicknamed Mech said that her family encourages their domestic worker to return to work after Tet by promising to pay her VND200,000 ($10) for each day that she returns earlier than scheduled. With this “trick,” Mech said that her charwoman always returns 1-2 days earlier than schedule.

It is said that families pay high Tet bonuses for domestic workers not because they do their job well but to urge them to return after Tet because it is very difficult to find good domestic workers.

Many families have to endure additional expenses to keep their domestic workers.

Cam Quyen