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OCBC gives Wage Credit Scheme payout to employees

SINGAPORE — Around 1,500 employees at OCBC Bank will receive the bank’s S$3 million Wage Credit Scheme payout.

Office workers pass an Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) building in the central business district of Singapore. Photo: Reuters

Office workers pass an Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) building in the central business district of Singapore. Photo: Reuters

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SINGAPORE — Around 1,500 employees at OCBC Bank will receive the bank’s S$3 million Wage Credit Scheme payout.

The firm says it is the first local bank to give employees the payout instead of channelling the funds into other initiatives.

OCBC Bank employee, 29-year-old Gabriel Lee, will be among those eligible to get the payout. He has been working in the bank’s consumer financial services division for over two years.

He says he was pleasantly surprised when he learned that he would be getting an additional 40 per cent of the increment he received last year between June and July this year.

“I felt recognised, and happy that the bank is looking at our contributions, and deciding to reward us in this way,” said Mr Lee. “As they say, money talks, and I think this is the best way that the company is showing how it recognises us.”

The Wage Credit Scheme was introduced by the government in Budget 2013 to help businesses which may face rising wage costs in a tight labour market.

Under the scheme, over the period of 2013 to 2015, the government will co-fund 40 per cent of wage increases given to Singaporean employees earning a gross monthly wage of S$4,000 and below.

For example, if a company increases the gross monthly wage of an employee by S$200 in 2013, the government will co-fund 40 per cent of this wage increase.

So, S$80 will be paid to the company in 2014, and in the subsequent years as well, if the increase is sustained. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

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