OCBC giving 4,000 junior staff in S'pore S$1,000 each to cope with cost of living concerns

OCBC is giving 4,000 junior employees in Singapore S$1,000 each to cope with cost of living concerns.

The payout, announced by the bank on Dec. 23, is part of a one-off financial support measure for 11,000 junior employees globally that comes up to S$7.5 million.

This represents about 40 per cent of OCBC Group’s overall headcount in 17 markets.

The employees will receive the payout from February to April 2025.

The head of Human Resources at OCBC, Lee Hwee Boon, said:

"While inflation is forecasted to moderate in 2025, we acknowledge that cost-of-living concerns persist. The well-being of our people remains a top priority, so we hope that this one-off payment will ease concerns over the high living costs faced by our junior colleagues."

This is the second year in a row that OCBC will give a payout.

Earlier in the year, from February to March 2024, it gave a payout of S$1,000 to 4,600 junior staff in Singapore as part of a S$9 million financial support measure for its junior employees worldwide.

Close to 40 per cent of OCBC's Singapore employees will receive the payout

In this round of payouts, the about 4,000 junior employees in Singapore make up close to 40 per cent of the total number of employees based here.

They include new entrants to the workforce and unionised employees.

OCBC added that while core inflation is expected to decline in 2025, the forecasted rate of two per cent remains higher than the 1.1 per cent seen during the pre-pandemic years from 2015 to 2019. Price levels also remain high due to the earlier increases in inflation.

OCBC added that for employees outside Singapore, the one-off support takes into consideration the respective local market conditions.

Top photo via Google Maps