Losing Tet bonus, some are optimistic, others are depressed

Going to work, everyone wants to get a bonus to have a warmer Tet after a year of hard work. The amount of money depends on many factors, both the company and the employee.

Salaried workers often only look forward to year-end bonuses to have a warm Tet - Photo: BE HIEU

However, the economy in 2024 is generally not very optimistic, causing many businesses to still struggle to earn Tet bonuses, and many places have even announced that there will be no bonuses. Those who received the news were shocked, some felt disappointed, and some even immediately wrote a resignation letter.

Broken spending plan

Mr. Lam Hoang Duc (name changed) said he moved to a new job about three months ago, in charge of recruiting personnel at a private educational institution in Ho Chi Minh City. About a month before Tet, the company announced that this year, business was difficult, so there would be no Tet bonus.

Recently, he received a bonus of 200,000 VND for the Lunar New Year, but Duc said that he had just started working, and now that he received the news that there would be no Lunar New Year bonus, he could not quit. Because when he decided to quit his job and change workplaces near the end of the year, he had determined that he would have to accept the worst situation of losing his Lunar New Year bonus, but "I do not regret making that decision."

Meanwhile, Mr. Le Minh Tung (in Dong Da district, Hanoi) - a marketing staff of a furniture company - said he was quite disappointed when he received an email from the company informing him that they would not be able to pay Lunar New Year bonuses as usual. Instead, each employee would receive a small gift and a thank you for accompanying the company through this challenging period.

Tung said he had vaguely guessed this since around the middle of the year. The business situation was not very positive when there were not many new orders due to the impact of the economic recession, customers cut back on spending.

"But I was really shocked because I didn't get any Tet bonus. While there were so many things to spend on and I hadn't been working for long, I didn't save anything, and I wasn't in the mood to celebrate Tet anymore," the 26-year-old man said sadly.

Although everyone at the company encouraged and comforted each other that the most important thing was still having a stable job, Tung said he couldn't hide his worries because almost everyone was waiting for their year-end bonus, so the working atmosphere these days became heavier.

Quit job, start your own business

Tung's story is almost the common denominator of many young people today who are not used to facing instability in their jobs and have not adapted to unexpected challenges. Also because most of them do not have financial reserves, when there is no bonus, everyone is confused and struggles to calculate and calculate their expenses.

Tung is wondering whether to continue working after Tet or find a new job. Meanwhile, female bank employee Ngoc Thao (28 years old, living in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) recently submitted her resignation. Normally, the bank's Tet bonus is based on the work performance of each individual and the business results of that branch.

But in the middle of the third quarter, the branch where Thao worked announced that the Tet bonus would be based on bancass sales (insurance distribution through banks). Meanwhile, Thao did not sell any insurance contracts all year, so she did not meet the target despite working very hard.

"The bank is not profitable either, so I know I lost my bonus. Last year, I got 500,000 for New Year's Eve, but this year I don't have any money," Thao said.

Deciding to quit her job at the bank, Thao plans to use her savings as capital to start a business selling snacks online or take-away coffee. "I want to start my own business and be my own boss. I don't want to fall into the situation of working hard all year long, going to work early and coming home late, then waiting anxiously at the end of the year and finally having to accept that I won't get any Tet bonus," Thao confided.

Sympathize with the company if there is no Tet bonus.

Working as an editor at an advertising company, Nguyen Kim Thy (in Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City) said that the Tet bonus in the past few years was calculated based on salary, usually receiving two full months' salary each year. During the New Year, she would receive an additional 500,000 - 1 million VND.

Thy said that in the past two years, despite economic difficulties, the company still tried to give Tet bonuses. However, this year, up to now, the Lunar New Year bonus has been cut. There has been no announcement yet, but I heard rumors that it will only be the 13th month salary. In fact, Thy's salary in the past year has also been reduced somewhat.

She also "confessed" that she had some savings in case she didn't get a bonus, which she would use to give lucky money to her parents, buy gifts for relatives, and go out during Tet. Although it was almost certain that the Tet bonus would be reduced by a month, and the amount she would receive would also be reduced, Kim Thy said she still felt lucky and grateful that the company was making an effort to make sure everyone still got a bonus.

"In general, if there is a Tet bonus, I'm happy, but if there isn't, I'm mentally prepared. Luckily, I still have a bonus and a job to do, but my friend just lost his job due to staff cuts. It's not easy to find a job at this time, so I have to work temporarily and wait until after Tet to think about it," Thy confided.

First time receiving Tet bonus

While many people are sad, there are also quite a few other young people who say that this is the first year they have received a Tet bonus, so they "feel really excited". Thuy Linh (a worker at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, Ho Chi Minh City) boasts that this Tet she received a bonus of 4 million VND plus a fixed salary of 5.3 million VND.

For many people, that amount of money may not be much, but for Linh, if she spends it all, she can buy some gifts for her daughter in the countryside to make Tet happy. "Last month and the month right before Tet, I worked overtime so I earned a little more money. And if anyone needs it, the company will advance 50% of their salary for Tet," the 27-year-old mother said excitedly.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mat-thuong-tet-nguoi-lac-quan-ke-chan-chuong-20250105101310883.htm