Bonuses still to be had for Russia’s workers

Many employees will receive bonuses this year despite a grim economic outlook, says a study commissioned from the Headhunter staffing agency.

The company surveyed 2,300 personnel, 150 HR directors and heads of companies as part of the study. The decision to pay bonuses had already been taken by 41 percent of companies, of which 22 percent were planning to pay bonuses to all their staff members and 19 percent only to those “who were particularly successful at work,” . Thirteen percent said only management would be receiving an extra payment.

The situation concerning bonuses has returned to pre-crisis levels,” quoted the head of Headhunter, Yury Virovets, as saying on Friday. “For the first time since the crisis businesses have started to notice a shortage of workers and companies are trying in any way hold onto people, including via bonuses.”

Last year, 30 percent of companies surveyed paid bonuses, 19 percent only paid outstanding workers and 16 percent gave bonuses only to management. Twenty-seven percent did not paying any bonuses at all, compared with 25 percent this year.

Superjob.ru conducted a similar survey in November. Results from the 1,600 people surveyed indicated that 16 percent of companies were planning on paying bonuses to all their employees, while a further 24 percent were planning on paying bonuses to selected workers. All the results match last year’s figures.

Headhunter’s survey also looked into the size of the bonuses. One-third of bonuses paid were an extra month’s wages, 22 percent paid from one to three months’ wages in the form of a bonus and 5 percent paid more than three month’s wages. The remainder was undetermined.

The financial situation has, nonetheless, led to uncertainty. Forty-seven percent of workers surveyed by Headhunter said that they did not know yet whether they would be receiving anything extra this year.

“This is a big problem for employers -- they are stretching out till the end of the year the announcement about annual bonuses," said Virovets. He added that waiting until the very last moment was problematic: "Such a state of suspense, degenerates into alarm and eventually pushes the worker to seek a more transparent company."