FOR the second year in a row, OCBC and UOB will each be giving out a one-off payment to its junior employees to help them cope with ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
About S$7.5 million will be distributed among close to 11,000 employees across OCBC and its subsidiaries including Bank of Singapore and OCBC Securities, or 40 per cent of the bank’s overall headcount across 17 markets.
They will receive the payout from February to April 2025, said the bank in a statement released on Monday (Dec 23).
In Singapore alone, some 4,000 junior employees or close to 40 per cent of the staff based here will receive S$1,000 each.
These include new entrants to the workforce and unionised employees, noted OCBC, citing a higher forecast rate of core inflation for 2025 (2 per cent) compared with pre-pandemic years (1.1 per cent over 2015 to 2019).
Lee Hwee Boon, OCBC’s head of group human resources, pointed out: “While inflation is forecast to moderate in 2025, we acknowledge that cost-of-living concerns persist.”
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She added: “The well-being of our people remains a top priority, so we hope that this one-off payment will ease concerns over the high living costs faced by our junior colleagues.”
The bank also observed that price levels remain high as well in the city-state due to earlier increases in inflation.
The one-off support also factors in the respective local market conditions for employees outside of Singapore, it added.
Lee said: “Beyond that, we are committed to providing upskilling and reskilling opportunities to ensure that our colleagues are equipped to meet the challenges of the future, while also empowering them to take charge of their own financial wellbeing.”
When asked by The Business Times, UOB’s head of group human resources Dean Tong replied that the bank would also be providing its junior employees with a one-off extra month of bonus to help them cope with their day-to-day expenses.
This is estimated to cost the bank up to S$8 million across 6,000 eligible employees, with the bonuses to be paid out by April 2025.
“We are cognisant that even though inflation rate has moderated, cost of living remains elevated,” Tong told BT.
He added: “The group will continually review and enhance (its) wage structure to ensure that it is fair and competitive. This is complemented with (its) holistic range of perks and benefits that are sustainable for the long term, including enhanced medical support, training programmes and staff housing loans.”
In response to questions from BT, DBS said: “DBS is committed to ensuring our employees are well-supported through our holistic employee value proposition. We also constantly review our employee compensation to ensure it is competitive to the market.”
Earlier in February this year, OCBC paid out about S$9 million in one-off bonuses to 14,000 junior employees, of which 4,600 received about S$1,000 each.
UOB gave an extra month of bonus amounting to under S$10 million to about 6,000 staff, and DBS handed out S$15 million to more than 19,000 eligible employees in total.
At the time, the banks said that their move was in line with recommendations from Singapore’s National Wages Council (NWC).
NWC’s guidelines for 2023/2024 stated that employers should consider giving a one-off special lump sum payment to employees – with heavier weightage for lower to middle-income employees – to help them offset the higher cost of living this year.
