Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd announced on Thursday the payment of a discretionary bonus – equivalent to one month’s pay – to all of its eligible employees. The bonus will be paid today (Thursday), “in recognition of their contributions in 2019,” said the firm in a written announcement. The document did not specify the aggregate amount involved.
The company also announced a salary increase for eligible team members, with effect from March 1. Sands China said the pay hike would benefit 99 percent of the group’s approximately 29,000 employees.
The company said that eligible full-time employees earning up to MOP13,000 (US$1,623) per month will receive a pay increase of MOP500 per month. The casino operator said it represented an increase of between 3.8 percent to 4.7 percent for workers in that wage bracket.
The firm’s eligible employees earning more than MOP13,000 per month will receive an average increment of 2.0 percent, Sands China said.
In the release, Sands China said the bonus would be paid to non-management team members “who have been with the company for one year or more”. A discretionary bonus will also be paid to all management staff based on the company’s management incentive plan, stated the firm.
“Those who have worked for Sands China for less than one year will receive prorated bonuses if they joined the company before October 1, 2019, and are still employed on January 23, 2020,” it added.
Sands China’s statement means that all six Macau operators have now announced publicly a staff bonus this year. Sands China was the first among the city’s six operators to announce publicly a salary hike for calendar year 2020.
Thursday’s release quoted Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, president of Sands China, as saying: “Sands China is again very pleased to announce a discretionary bonus and salary increase for our team members, whom we consider our most valuable asset.”
The casino operator announced last week an interim dividend of HKD0.99 (US$0.13) per share. In August, Sands China reported a 9.0-percent year-on-year increase in profit for the six months to June 30, to nearly US$1.07 million.
