8 in 10 firms plan to give bonuses of at least 1 month's pay

Survey on 2024 outlook also finds that half intend to raise salaries by 3% to under 5%

- Tay Hong Yi

More than eight in 10 Singapore employers still intend to hand out bonuses of at least a month's salary, even as a weaker hiring climate beckons in 2024.

However, the 84 per cent posted by 525 employers polled in the latest quarterly employment outlook survey from recruitment firm ManpowerGroup Singapore released on Dec 12 marks a minor drop from 87 per cent a year ago.

Employers in the finance and real estate sector are most likely to issue larger average bonuses of over 1/2 months' salary, with 11 per cent indicating plans to do so, compared with an average of under 7 per cent for the eight other sectors covered in the survey.

The transport, logistics and automotive sector topped the list when it comes to giving average bonuses of at least one month's salary, with 97 per cent of employers in the sector indicating plans to do so.

Following closely behind was the energy and utilities sector, with 96 per cent planning average bonuses of at least one month's salary, while 91 per cent of employers in the healthcare and life sciences sector intend to do so.

Generally, larger firms are more likely to issue larger average bonuses of over one month's salary.

A total of 43 per cent of very large firms employing between 1,000 and 4,999 people, and 44 per cent of large enterprises with 5,000 or more staff, said they intend to issue average bonuses of more than one month's salary.