Bonus coming within months. Are you ready?

I am working full time today. Working very hard too. I think majority of kopiandproperty.com readers are working professionals like me. GAMBATE to all of us. Well, for many of us, the season for bonus is about to arrive. So, have we done well enough to deserve at least a token of appreciation or for some of the top performers, perhaps a bumper year for you if the company has also been performing well? Some time ago, I posted this article about bonus and someone commented that in Malaysia, the employers do not reward the employees enough. Therefore, it’s better to seek better jobs than to wait. Perhaps this is true for many? Actually, it is true all over the world. It was also true even long time ago, just that the number of available jobs were not as plenty as today. For many countries today, it is still true and people do not change job or even take MCs for fear of losing their jobs.
Just a few days ago, a young friend who’s in the journalism line said that she hope the private sector would just give all employees a huge raise and a big bonus so that everyone can enjoy because of the high cost of living nowadays. I replied that if I am the owner of the business, it is not my preference to give every employee the same increment and the same bonus. It is my preference to give a 50 percent higher salary to my top 20 percent staffs while the rest of the staffs, I will give a standard market salary. I need to keep the best people from being poached by others. Plus, with my 50 percent extra pay, I could also easily poach the top talents from other organisations. She laughed and said, I know what you mean. Okay, it’s better to be top performers. If I give everyone the same salary increment and bonus, very soon, my company would have only the non-performers remaining while all the top performers would leave because they could.
Hopefully, for the past 11 months plus, we have shown our company that we are worth the extra pay raise and bonus yeah. Some advice from a 40-year old, me. It’s never about how bad the company is. The reason is simple. If the company mistreated us and we could not find another company that could appreciate us, there is really nothing wrong with the company! If we complain that our bonus is so low compared to all our friends, yet we are still in the same company year after year, there’s nothing wrong with our friends too. If we are a senior manager and still hoping for big fat bonus so that we can buy a new smartphone, we are in trouble today. My 23-year old staff has just bought his first property. Assuming, he could only buy one every 10 years, he would have 4 by the time he retire. Definitely a better bet than hoping for a 2-month bonus. To everyone who’s getting a bonus, invest it lah. 🙂    (Can also call me out for a teh tarik session too. Haha)
written on 23 Nov 2017
Next suggested article:  RM543 billion paid as bonuses  (yeah.. crazy but true…)courses / seminars to enhance your knowledge. The right investment would yield us many more times than the usual bonus or increment. It’s very important to work hard and climb the corporate ladder but it’s even more important that you think of what lifestyle you really need in future when you retire. Relying on just the salary alone is no longer sufficient in the materialistic world of today. In fact even if you say I do not wish to be materialistic, please be reminded that as the market continues to expand, the prices would also be increasing too. First thing? Save. Second thing? Invest in something you have knowledge about. Third thing? Repeat. Haha.
Thus, do not be overly sad about your bonus or increment. Take some portion, enjoy it and the rest, think about your future. Then, act accordingly.
written on 9 Feb 2015
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