Bonus adds to Diwali sparkle & cheer

Bonus adds to Diwali sparkle & cheer
11 Nov, 2007, 0449 hrs IST,John Sarkar, Neha Dewan & Amitabh Baxi, TNN

• LG India announced a cracker Diwali bonus of 240% and has promised to dole out more next week
• Samsung bonus went up by whopping 33% this Diwali
• Maruti Udyog rewarded its employees by paying 50% of the variable performance amount during this time
• A finance firm is said to be gifting luxury cars

NEW DELHI: It’s raining bonuses this year for India Inc. Thanks to good corporate results and a booming economy, most companies have loosened their purse-strings and given good deals when it came to rewarding their employees.

Although the emphasis on Diwali bonus has lessened and year-end appraisal-driven bonus has increased — owing to the entry of multinational companies and international work culture — a large part of India Inc still thrives on a substantial Diwali bonus culture.

And keeping this in mind, and backed by strong fundamentals, companies seem to have gone out of their way to keep their staff motivated. For instance, Korean electronics major LG India announced a cracker Diwali bonus of 240% and has promised to dole out more bonuses next week.

"We are giving 240% to every employee this year. And not only that, by the end of the next week we are in the process of announcing another bonus. Actually our performance has been really good and we think this is the perfect way of compensating our employees. Of course, the amounts are taxable," Dr Yasho V Verma, director, HR & MS, LGIEL, told SundayET.

Competitor Samsung is also not far behind. Says Sanjay Bali, VP, corporate HR, Samsung India; "In keeping with the festival spirit we gave our employees a handsome bonus this time. It is around 33% more than last year. And touch wood, all of them seem to be happy with it."

On the flip side automobile companies tend to keep their Diwali celebrations a low-key affair. But employees are not complaining. A Honda Siel spokesperson points out, "We don’t have Diwali bonus as such but our incentives are in the form of a variable pay depending on the performance of our employees and the company as well. A part of it is given during March and the other part is distributed during Diwali. And this time the incentives are really good." Maruti Udyog, however, has a different take.

Says S Y Siddiqui, executive director, HR, Maruti Udyog; "Our thinking is slightly different. Around 17,000-18,000 employees and family members congregate during Diwali for a get-together. Other than that 50% of variable performance award is paid during this time."

But some companies prefer to do it the good old fashioned way. Real estate majors, such as Omaxe and Parsvnath Developers have not yet tread the MNC path and tend to keep celebrations and performance separate.

Jitendra Jena, GM of HR at Omaxe says, "We are planning to introduce performance incentives very soon but those of course will not be restricted only to the festival time. During the festive season we give one month’s gross salary as a bonus. This is a regular annual bonus called the ceremonial bonus. This bonus hold good across levels and is not restricted only to the higher rung and employee feedback has been really good."

Ditto for Parsvnath Developers as Dr B P Dhaka, COO, corporate governance and HR Head, explains,"It is a part of the Indian tradition to hand out bonuses during celebratory occasions Yes we do have bonus payments during the festive occasion. It’s basically 8.33% slab across the board...that is equivalent to one month’s gross salary. And the employee feedback has been rather appreciative."

But it is not only money that is being handed out. According to industry sources, Reliance Capital is rumoured to be showering expensive gifts, sometimes as expensive as luxury cars, on its employees.

A source from a sister company said, "All the hungama is happening at Reliance Capital." But all calls to the company spokesperson went unanswered. After all, it’s time for celebrations and who cares for a phone call when there are fire crackers to be burst.