In early November, Mr. Tran Van Quan (28 years old) - a Marketing employee in Hanoi - decided to quit his job even though he knew he would lose his Tet bonus of 11 million VND (one month's actual salary).
"The main reason I quit my job was because the company did not pay social insurance, and the bonus policy for reaching or exceeding KPIs was not attractive," said Mr. Quan.
According to Mr. Quan, achieving KPI is a responsibility so there is no bonus, only exceeding KPI by 20% or more will get a bonus of 500,000 VND. However, achieving KPI by 20% is very difficult.
With the 11 million Tet bonus, Mr. Quan shared his regret but thinking about the long-term benefits, he was still willing to make the trade-off.
“The new company is only 2km from home while my old company took me more than 9km to work. The new company has social insurance, so I will have health insurance, so if I lose my job or want to receive a pension, I will feel more secure,” said Mr. Quan.
After working at the company for only 2 months, Mr. Quan said that he received a bonus of about 2 million VND or less for Tet. Although he knew that this Tet would be a bit difficult, he did not regret his decision. Because this company rarely recruits staff, Mr. Quan was afraid of missing out on opportunities.
Revealing his salary and bonuses at the company, Mr. Quan said that he is paid a fixed salary of 10 million VND/month. Looking at the company's regulations and asking his colleagues, he also gets a bonus based on a percentage of revenue, so his income will range from 12 to 18 million VND/month. This is also the motivation for Mr. Quan to work hard.
Not only intellectual workers, many manual workers are also ready to quit their jobs even though Tet is near.
In mid-October, Ms. Pham Thi Huong (42 years old) decided to quit her job at a leather shoe company and move to a garment company. Although she knew she would lose more than 4 million VND in Tet bonus, Ms. Huong still accepted.
"The new company meets both of my requirements, which are better working hours and salary than the old place," said Ms. Huong.
Explaining her point of view, Ms. Huong said that at her old company, female workers had to work from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. with a salary of nearly 7 million VND. However, at her new place, Ms. Huong only had to work until 6:30 p.m. The first month's salary she received made the female worker feel very satisfied, about 9 million VND.
At her current company, Ms. Huong has more time for her family as she gets home before 7pm. Her health is also better ensured because she does not have to work overtime too late like at her old company.
"After 15 days off from my old company, the new company supported me with nearly 130,000 VND/day. At the same time, the company also gave me an additional bonus of 1.5 million VND for being recruited to work," said Ms. Huong.
This amount plus the difference in salary from now until Tet according to female workers is more than one month's basic salary bonus compared to the old place.
"If I only thought about the Tet bonus, I wouldn't have found a more suitable workplace. Right now, I'm satisfied with my decision," said Ms. Huong.
Ms. Nguyen Viet Trang - Deputy Head of Human Resources of a company in the field of communications and event organization - said that Tet bonus is always the top concern of employees.
Tet bonus is not mandatory and depends entirely on the company's production situation after a year of work, but in general, companies give 13th month salary to employees.
According to Ms. Trang, for young workers, the reason for quitting a job is determined by many factors such as the working environment, direct leadership, and development potential, not entirely dependent on the Tet bonus.
