As China’s Lunar New Year bonuses feel the pandemic effect, is time the best gift of all?

Name: China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels
Uploaded: 2022-01-29T10:14:29.000Z
Duration: 3 min 8 s
Description: China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels

China’s internet is abuzz over a year-end bonus offering a 365-day paid holiday, as workers tire of the ‘996’ lifestyle

But with rising unemployment also a concern, the lucky winner must first shake off concerns about his job still being there when he returns

2-MIN READ2-MIN

The winner of a “365-day paid leave” New Year’s lucky draw at a Shenzhen media firm poses with his boss, company executive Huang Guoxiang (right). Photo: Sina

He Huifeng

Published: 6:14pm, 29 Jan 2022Updated: 7:17pm, 29 Jan 2022

Annual bonuses are an internet phenomenon ahead of every Lunar New Year holiday in China, as companies vie to go viral with staff incentives that are the envy of all.

The benefits of offering eye-catching bonuses are twofold – they raise the firms’ public profiles and help them to retain valuable staff.

During the tech investment bubble of the past decade, IT companies splashed out on huge bonuses, and gifts including luxury trips abroad or expensive cars. The company lai see – the red packet of cash rewards – could hold up to 50 months’ of salary, typically handed out at splendid banquets.

But the US trade war and Covid-19 pandemic, with the economic and social changes they brought, have transformed the definition of the best company gifts.

03:08

China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels

Days before the Lunar New Year, Chinese social media is abuzz with news of a “365-day paid holiday” lucky draw offered by a Shenzhen-based private media company. The offer had more than 4.5 million hits on Chinese microblogging site Weibo alone – that too just as the news broke on Saturday morning.