Dear readers, the announcement of the Civil Service Mid-Year bonus 2024 is something I look forward to, around this time of the year. This is because I believe the quantum of the Civil Service Mid-Year bonus 2024 serves as a useful reference for the private sector in deciding the quantum of bonus for their staff.
The quantum of the previous recent Civil Service Mid-year bonuses given, are summarized below.
Year 2023: a 0.3-month mid-year bonus with officer in MX 13(I) to MX16 grades of services receiving additional one-time payments of $200 to $400
Year 2022: a 0.35-month mid-year bonus for the Civil Service with civil servants in more junior grades receiving an additional one-time payment of either $200 or $400
Year 2021: a 0.3-month mid-year bonus for the Civil Service with civil servants in more junior grades receiving one-time payment of $350 or $700
Year 2020: no Bonus and public officers in superscale grades taking a one-time salary cut of either 0.5 or one month, with those in the higher grades taking a bigger cut (note: this is Covid-19 year)
Year 2019: a mid-year annual variable component (AVC) of 0.45 month’s pay. This will be given out together with a lump-sum payment of S$200, with lower-wage civil servants receiving a higher lump sum of $300.
From the above statistics, we can note that the mid-year Civil Service bonus for the past 3 years is in the range of 0.3 or 0.35 month. The highest quantum of mid-year bonus was in Year 2019 where the quantum was 0.45 month.
Definitely, there is no necessity for private sector to link or match their bonuses to the civil service bonus quantum. For example, SIA gave a stellar bonus of 8 months to its staff given the group’s exceptional performance.
The Civil Service Mid and Year-end bonus are normally linked to the overall economic outlook of Singapore in the year of the bonus. And one way to estimate Civil Service Mid-Year bonus 2024 will be to follow the news surrounding Singapore’s overall economic outlook and prediction.
Singapore’s economy grew 2.7% year-on-year in the 1st quarter of 2024, and this was faster than the 2.2% growth recorded in the last quarter of 2023. If there is an improvement and based on the 0.3 quantum paid out for 2023 mid-year civil service bonus and assuming no other surprises, I expected the quantum of Civil Service Mid-Year bonus 2024 to be at a minimum of 0.3 months.
Also, SIA’s record bonus of 8 months to its staff could also provide an indication that Singapore’s economy is improving. And 8 months of bonus is really very generous, and I believe all SIA staff will delight in having this super bonus.
Given SIA’s performance is also closely tied to the Singapore’s economy, with such generous bonus, I am optimistic that it is likely that the Civil Service Mid-Year bonus 2024 may also reach the last peak of 0.45 month in 2019 or 0.5 month. 0.5 month of Civil Service Mid-Year bonus, in my recollection, seems to be a standard norm of bonus, paid out in some years pre-Covid 19.
There is no stopping other private entities to pay more or less than the above quantum. As mentioned, the Civil Service bonus quantum could just be an indicative quantum for private employers.