High-Paying Civil Servants Get a One-Time Pay Cut; All Of Them Not Getting Mid-Year Bonus

By
George Yang
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The biggest employer in Singapore has spoken.

High-paying employees will be getting a one-time 0.5 to 1-month pay cut, and there won’t be any mid-year bonus this year.

Reader Bao: WTF how can? Didn’t the Government help with the Jobs Support Scheme? The employer kope the money to buy new Mercedes is it? Complain to MOM now!

There’s, erm, just a little problem.

Reader Bao: What? You don’t have MOM’s number? It’s—

MOM is part of that employer. We’re talking about the civil service…which means Ah Gong.

Reader Bao: Oh. I was talking about complaining to your Mom. As in your mother.

Right.

High-Paying Civil Servants Get a One-Time Pay Cut

Lest you didn’t know, employment is split into two sectors: the public sector, which comprises employees working for the Government like the MOM officer who raided your office yesterday, and the private sector, which comprises commercial companies like bubble tea shops.

And in the public sector, there are 16 ministries and more than 50 statutory boards.

85,000 of them work in the ministries, called the Public Service, and they’re called civil servants.

Back in February this year, when COVID-19 was viewed as H1N1 and masks were worn by kiasi people, senior public service officers in key leadership positions had already taken a half-month pay cut.

But today, the Public Service Division issued another bad news.

They said, “Public officers in superscale grades will take either a one-time 0.5-month or 1-month pay cut, in accordance with their seniority. This comes on top of the earlier 0.5-month pay cut taken by senior public service officers in key leadership positions, which was announced in February 2020.”

According to salary.sg, the pay grade starting from MX9 will be considered superscale, which would be somewhere above $10k a month. Goody Feed can’t confirm if that number is accurate as of now, but you get the gist; as long as you’re superscale, you shouldn’t have any problem paying your bills.

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The PSD said, “These measures take into consideration the recommendations of the National Wages Council (NWC) release in March this year, which called on employers and employees to do their part, with management taking the lead, in helping to reduce costs and save jobs.”

Poor rich persons.

But that’s not all.

All Civil Servants Not Getting Mid-Year Bonus

For the first time since 2009, there would be no mid-year bonus for all civil servants.

PSD explained, “The Public Service stands in solidarity with the rest of the nation during this difficult period. Against the backdrop of a worsening economic outlook, and in close consultation with the public sector unions, the Government has decided that there will not be any mid-year Annual Variable Component (AVC) payment to civil servants this year.”

Usually, civil servants would have two bonuses; one in the middle of the year and the other at the end of the year.

So, would they be having the year-end bonus then?

“The Government will continue to monitor the economic situation closely. In deciding on the year-end AVC payments later this year, the Government will take into consideration the NWC’s recommendations to give special consideration for lower-wage workers.”

In other words…

While statutory boards and other Government agencies aren’t considered to be in the Public Service, they might take a cue from them since they’re the biggest employer in Singapore.

So for everyone in the public service: there’s an iron bowl but don’t expect it to turn into gold this year.

At least you still have a job. People in the private sector have been crying for months.

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]