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Q: Are "Spring Festival bonuses" a standard practice with Chinese employers?
Last year I was given a spring festival bonus. I forget for how much exactly. it was something like 500-1000 RMB. I've started a new job since then. I want to know if this is a standard practice for Chinese employers to give their workers a bonus before the holiday? Do foreign companies do it too? If you get one, how much is it usually for? Is it dependent on the job or a standard flat rate for most people?
11 years 14 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
The company I worked for had a provision for spring festival bonuses - but the amount was at the discretion of management.
bill8899:
In other words, if the boss has 10,000RMB total to provide bonuses for employees, he keeps 9,500 and gives each of the five employees 100RMB.
MissA:
That's my guess but I'd be speculating a bit far, we foreigners didn't get anything and the Chinese staff would have been fired for speaking about pay to us - which tells you a lot about the company I worked for.
I have given my employees a few extra days off in lieu of bonus payment. They seemed happy to accept.
I've been through 2 spring festivals in China thus far, and received 2 bonuses. Hoping for a third real soon now 
This coming Spring Festival will be my third in China and I've been working in LTCs all that time (two different ones), I've heard of Spring Festival Bonuses and my wife was seriously disappointed when I didn't get one, but no, I've never received one.
I received one sizeable bonus when I worked for an agency a few years ago but nothing since then. I don't expect to receive a Spring Festival bonus at all.
There is no set rule for giving out bonuses. I use to give them to my employees, but I didn't like doing it.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind giving out bonuses, but Chinese employees are known for using the spring break as a time to switch jobs. So I really disliked giving money to people who would go away over the break.
So, the method I came up with was to offer a bonus (normally around 1k) after the break, or they could take 2 extra days before and after the break. One girl actually cried because she couldn't figure out which she wanted more. Eventually she took the extra days off.
