Civil servants will be getting a fatter bonus this year, to the tune of a two-month year-end payment, thanks to Singapore’s strong economic recovery.
In a media statement on Wednesday, the Public Service Division (PSD) said civil servants will get a year-end bonus of two months, with one month being the annual variable component and the other, the 13th month Annual Wage Supplement (AWS).
In March 2011, good performers will further get a Special Variable Payment, also known as the Growth Bonus, of one month, while better performers will receive up to 1.6 months. Poor performers will not receive any, said the PSD.
This brings the total variable payment for 2010 to 2.5 months and $300, said the PSD. In July, civil servants were given a mid-year AVC of half a month and a one-off $300.
If the Growth Bonus is included, better performers could get paid up to 4.1 months and $300 for the year of 2010.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean said, ”Civil servants accepted a wage reduction during the difficult economic times and worked hard to help turn the economy around quickly.”
The Growth Bonus recognises their contribution in helping Singapore “recover from one of its worst recessions”, he said.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry‘s GDP forecast for 2010 is around 15 per cent. The Singapore economy expanded by17.9 per cent in the first half of this year.
Last year, civil servants received one of the smallest bonus packages in recent history. They went without a mid-year bonus, and received their 13th month wage supplement and a one-off payment of a quarter month’s pay, up to a cap of $750, at the year-end.
DPM Teo added, “To ensure that Singapore can continue to grow, we will have to work even harder to raise productivity and find new ways of expanding the economy.”
The total bonus for this year is slightly more than that of 2007, when total bonus was 2.5 months and $220, excluding the Growth Bonus. If included, better performers could have gotten up to 3.3 months.
In 2006, before the Growth Bonus was introduced, civil servants received one of the highest bonuses in recent years of 2.7 months and $200.
Civil servant Stephanie Lim told Yahoo! Singapore she is glad to hear the news, saying, “I will be very happy if I can get two months’ bonus”.
But another civil servant, who declined to be named, said, while “satisfied”, he had expected half a month more in bonus, considering the Republic’s strong growth.
In its statement, the PSD said, salary adjustments for Administrative Officers, Political, Judicial and Statutory Appointment Holders will continue to be deferred.
It explained, “This is in view of the reduction in the private sector benchmarks this year. There is currently adequate flexibility in the salary structure to allow salaries to rise and fall in line with economic growth.”
The Government will monitor the economic growth and movement of the benchmarks before deciding when to implement the salary adjustment.
The first two phases of adjustment were made in 2007 and 2008, but the last phase, which was due in 2009, has been deferred twice since.