Singapore civil servants will not get year-end bonus, some in private sector following suit

Some 85,000 civil servants will not be receiving their annual variable component (AVC) payment for the whole of 2020 as they did not get their mid-year bonuses either.  

Nevertheless, the government will continue to pay the non-pensionable annual allowance of one month’s salary (commonly known as the 13^th-month bonus) to all civil servants. 

For lower-wage civil servants, the government will give out a one-time lump sum payment of S$1,200 (US897) to help them out in these difficult times, said a PSD press release.  

Some private-sector employers are following suit and do not plan to pay any bonus to their staff this year. Most said their companies were making losses and they were struggling to keep afloat. 

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However, others still intend to pay their employees a bonus on top of the annual wage supplement or 13^th-month bonus. 

The public sector’s non-payment of the year-end bonus is a signal for the private sector to be prudent in managing its wage costs, said Ho Meng Kit, chief executive of the Singapore Business Federation. He noted that the outlook for businesses over the next year remains highly uncertain, said The Straits Times.