Salary adjustment!!! A happy story that is a headache
Assistant Professor Dr. Prasit Sitthijiraphat
Acting Head of Human Resource Management Branch
Assistant Professor Dr. Prasit Sitthijiraphat
Acting Head of Human Resource Management Branch
The request for a minimum wage increase has been a topic of discussion since mid-2017, until it was concluded in January 2018 that the increase would be between 5 and 22 baht, depending on the area, and would take effect on April 1, 2018. What wage administrators need to think about next is how to adjust the employees’ wages. In particular, the wage adjustment must not cause any further problems, or must be done as little as possible. The problem that is often encountered is the problem between two groups of employees: those whose wages do not reach the new minimum wage criteria, and those who have been working for many years. Let’s say I have only been working for less than a month, and currently the minimum wage is 305 baht in the area where I work, and I will receive a 20 baht increase according to the new minimum wage adjustment agreement. This means that my new daily wage will be 325 baht starting from April 1, 2018. And let’s say that if my boss has been working here for 3 years and earns 320 baht per day, on April 1, 2018, my boss will receive a wage adjustment to 325 baht, the same as me. Now… do you think my boss will agree to this?
In fact, this kind of thing is not the first time that it has happened. The salary manager had to find a way out of this happy but unhappy situation for my boss by coming up with a new formula for calculating the salary that my boss would receive as follows:
(Current wage – Old minimum wage) x Multiplier + New minimum wage – Current wage Multiplier = Shows the percentage difference between the 2 wage rates that are reduced, for example, a multiplier of 0.5 = 50% or 0.6 = 60% or 0.7 = 70%. This depends on each company. Therefore, when substituting the values in the equation (Hey! It’s like teaching math) (320 – 305) x 0.5 + 325 – 320 = 12.50 baht.
In fact, this kind of thing is not the first time that it has happened. The salary manager had to find a way out of this happy but unhappy situation for my boss by coming up with a new formula for calculating the salary that my boss would receive as follows:
(Current wage – Old minimum wage) x Multiplier + New minimum wage – Current wage Multiplier = Shows the percentage difference between the 2 wage rates that are reduced, for example, a multiplier of 0.5 = 50% or 0.6 = 60% or 0.7 = 70%. This depends on each company. Therefore, when substituting the values in the equation (Hey! It’s like teaching math) (320 – 305) x 0.5 + 325 – 320 = 12.50 baht.
Therefore, my boss will receive a salary of 320 + 12.50 = 332.50 baht.
From the calculation example above, it should help to resolve the situation somewhat. Even though the old employees still feel that it is not very fair, it should be acceptable. At least the organization has shown some effort to the employees. Moreover, this minimum wage adjustment is not the last one… Our world has not ended yet.
