Yang Ming Marine Transport is said to have broken with tradition by giving staff 12-month bonuses, in response to employees clamouring for the Taiwanese liner operator to up the ante after its larger compatriot rival Evergreen Marine Corporation paid bonuses of as much as 40 months.
Taiwanese newspapers reported that the bonuses were paid to Yang Ming’s staff on 28 January and are in addition to the customary 13th month payment. Furthermore, average staff increments will be around 4%.
Contacted by Container News, Yang Ming’s spokesperson said, “Remuneration figures are confidential. Bonuses are paid according to the company’s internal policies and personal performance.”
As a company whose largest shareholders are government organisations, Yang Ming’s salary scale had been modelled after Taiwan’s civil service, whose staff bonuses comprise at most, eight months of salaries.
However, envy was felt among the staff of Taiwan’s liner operators after it emerged that some Evergreen staff got 40-month bonuses, as the liner industry anticipates a record net profit of at least US$150 billion for 2021.
Stock analysts estimate that Yang Ming will record a net profit of around US$5.86 billion for 2021, an 87-fold increase from its aggregate net profits over the previous 26 years.
Particularly, Yang Ming’s staff were said to have deluged the company’s feedback channel and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, requesting that the company match what Evergreen paid.
Yang Ming chairman Cheng Cheng-mount even took to calling a press conference to urge staff to stop comparing themselves with their peers at Evergreen, reminding them of the difficult years that the company had to overcome.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
