42% of firms cut benefits for Mid-Autumn Festival

The survey, conducted by online human resources company www.104wage.com.tw, showed that employees in the construction and real estate sectors saw their Mid-Autumn benefits reduced the most when compared to the past few years. The survey found that 35 percent of local businesses were giving their employees cash, while 23 percent were giving gifts and another 7 percent were giving bonuses for the holiday, which falls on Sunday this year.

Thirteen percent of businesses will not give anything to their employees, the survey showed.

Businesses in northern, southern and eastern Taiwan preferred to give cash to mark the holiday, with 40 percent, 30 percent and 30 percent, respectively, choosing the option, while in central Taiwan, more businesses (29 percent) preferred offering gifts than any other option.

Over 20 percent of businesses in the cultural and educational, mass communications, construction, tourism, medical care and environmental sectors gave nothing to employees for the festival, the survey showed.

Among those businesses giving cash, 55 percent gave no more than NT$1,000, three percent gave between NT$5,000 and NT$10,000 and five percent gave more than NT$10,000.

Among those businesses which offered gifts, 87 percent gave mooncakes, a traditional delicacy popular during the festival, or fruit.

Despite the sluggish economy, 62 percent of the businesses said budgets for employee benefits will remain unchanged next year.

Though 30 percent of the businesses said benefits will be cut next year, the scale of the cuts would only range between 1 and 3 percent, the survey found.

The survey was conducted Aug. 12-15, with a total of 1,120 effective samples and a margin of error of 2.93 percent.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email