Private firms keep staff guessing on bonus

By MD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS
Published: Mar 31, 2011 00:19 Updated: Mar 31, 2011 00:19

JEDDAH: Employees of private companies and institutions are still awaiting payment of a two-month salary bonus promised by their employers. The promise came after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah issued a royal decree offering a two-month salary bonus to all government employees.

The delay in bonus payment by companies has created doubts among their employees whether they would honor their pledges. The companies have not yet announced when they are going to pay the amount, further increasing employee worries.

People are also wondering whether the payment announced by private firms would cover only Saudis or benefit expatriates, too.

"We don't know whether the private companies made these bonus offers just for propaganda," one said.

A bank employee said although it was the bank's chairman who made the announcement regarding the two-month bonus, until this moment nobody has received the payment. Some people think it would not be paid unless approved by the board of directors.

Most banks including Samba, Al-Rajhi and Albilad have announced their plans to give two months' bonus to their employees.

Sami Al-Hemli, secretary for banking supervision at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, said SAMA would investigate the reason for the delay in payment of bonus by banks. "SAMA has the authority to force the banks to pay the bonus," he said.

He urged bank employees to be patient and wait for sometime for the banks to start payment. "Because payment of two-month salaries for all the employees in an organization will take time," he said.

However, Al-Hemli emphasized the employees' right to complain against banks if they fail to honor their bonus promises. "In such a situation, SAMA would intervene and force the banks to pay what they have promised to their employees," he said.

Some commercial banks decided to pay the two-month salary bonus and published their decision through the local media. Most bank employees were expecting the amount would be paid with the March salary but they could not see the amount, making them worry about whether it would be paid or not. Bank employees have called for a hot line with SAMA to make their complaints.

Meanwhile, an official source at the Labor Ministry said Labor Minister Adel Fakieh would send messages of thanks to all companies that have promised to pay the two-month salary bonus in response to the king’s decree. The source expressed his confidence that all companies would honor their promises.