Textile and garment enterprises try to give Tet bonuses despite difficulties during Covid-19

Not expecting to receive a Tet bonus, Ms. Oanh, a garment worker in Linh Trung (Thu Duc), was surprised to receive the news that she would receive the bonus in mid-January 2024.

Ms. Oanh said that during the Covid-19 years, the epidemic was rampant but orders were steady, workers had to work 1-2 hours overtime every day. This year, most workers at the company only worked 8 hours, and some days they even got to leave 2 hours early.

"Business is sluggish, salaries have decreased but still getting a half-month bonus is a great joy for us," said Ms. Oanh.

Wishing workers a happy Tet, the leader of a textile company in Dong Nai said that this year, the company only achieved 60% of its planned revenue and had reduced its workforce by 30%, but tried to give each employee a bonus of 0.7% of their monthly salary. "Even though the profit is small, we still balance it to give Tet bonuses to workers because at the end of the year, they still shop and spend a lot," said the CEO of the above company.

Mr. Pham Van Viet, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Thang Jean Company Limited (VitaJean), also informed that every year, many individuals with good achievements are rewarded with up to 2-3 months. This year, the bonus level is cut a lot. With more than 3,200 employees, the company tries to give each person a 13th month bonus and an additional portion from the union.

For Vinatex Group - the enterprise with the largest number of employees in the textile industry (nearly 63,000 people) - this year the highest bonus in some subsidiaries is about 2 months' salary. Member units with revenue and profit not as expected will be awarded a 13th month's salary.

Workers work at a garment company in Tan Do Industrial Park, Long An. Photo: Quynh Tran — Workers work at a garment company in Tan Do Industrial Park, Long An. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

Assessing the Tet bonus this year, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Textile, Garment, Embroidery and Knitting Association Pham Xuan Hong said that this is a difficult problem for businesses in the industry. Loss-making companies will not receive bonuses, while most businesses, even though they only achieve 50-70% of their plan, still give their workers a Tet bonus of 0.5-1 month's salary. This is also a common level in this industry.

According to VnExpress's calculations, with the average salary of garment workers at 8.2-9 million VND per month, workers will receive a minimum bonus of about 4 million VND and a maximum of 10 million VND. In addition, for company leaders, the bonus is about 20-40 million VND. This level has decreased significantly compared to previous years.

In the context of difficult business, rewarding employees is a great effort of enterprises. Mr. Pham Van Viet, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Thang Jean Company Limited (VitaJean), said that in addition to boosting exports, enterprises also "follow the trend" of livestream sales to earn more profits.

According to him, due to the low number of orders, businesses have to be careful with each contract. Unlike previous years, orders decreased sharply in the third quarter of this year but recovered from the fourth quarter. Thanks to flexible response to unusual situations, Vinatex and many other textile and garment businesses can turn the situation around in the current unpredictable context.

"This year, orders have plummeted. We have tried every way to create jobs for workers, but we still have to reduce the number of employees by 7-8% compared to 2022. However, compared to the general level in the industry, the company is still profitable," Mr. Viet confided.

Mr. Viet also added that to get the above bonus for employees, since the beginning of the year, member enterprises have planned and "saved" income and profits with an estimated amount of about 1,500 billion VND.

Forecasting the textile and garment situation in 2024, Mr. Cao Huu Hieu, General Director of Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said that the garment industry will improve from next year thanks to increased demand from many markets, but the fiber industry will still face difficulties in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Pham Xuan Hong, the textile industry will be warmer next year because people's shopping needs will return. However, this industry still faces many challenges when the world situation as well as the market are not stable, the war in the world is still prolonged and causing instability.

Thi Ha - Anh Minh

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