… introduces talent retention allowance

Thukten Zangpo

Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) yesterday announced a pay revision of 60 percent of minimum basic pay as a fixed allowance for all regular employees of DHI and its companies from October.

A top-level regular employee will get an additional Nu 30,543 as a fixed allowance, and draw a monthly salary of Nu 91,629 including 20 percent of basic pay as corporate allowance.

At the same time, a low-level regular employee at Elementary Service Personnel (ESP) level will get an additional Nu 5,481 as fixed allowance with a monthly salary of Nu 16,443, inclusive of 20 percent of basic pay as corporate allowance.

The revision came after the DHI’s board approved the revised basic pay structure and fixed allowance in the 116th board meeting held on October 20 after the Remuneration Revision Committee submitted the Remuneration Revision Report.

Thirteen companies under the DHI would get the revised pay—Druk Green Power Corporation, Bhutan Power Corporation, Bhutan Telecom, Bank of Bhutan, State Mining Corporation, Drukair, Natural Resources Development Corporation, Dungsum Cement Corporation, Construction Development Corporation, Dungsum Polymers, Thimphu TechPark, Koufuku International, and Menjong Sorig Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

However, the same remuneration for the DHI-controlled companies like State Trading Corporation, Penden Cement Authority, and Bhutan Board Products were reviewed and recommended for consideration by the respective companies’ boards, according to the DHI’s press release. Their revision will come after the approval from the boards.

According to a press release from DHI, the revision was predominantly aligned to the recent revision in the public service, clean wage recommendations of the DHI group, financial performances of the companies and the interest of DHI as shareholder towards institutionalising fairness and equity across the companies.

The revision was based on a clean wage system. DHI stated that the existing allowances and benefits including the ones that are specific to the companies were reviewed to establish the adequacies, relevancy of continuity, and whether the allowances and benefits are provided in the right spirit.

It saw some allowances being discontinued, while some were refined and merged to simplify the wage system and make it purpose-driven.

The DHI and companies also introduced a new allowance, talent retention allowance, to attract and retain key employees with critical skills in the companies.

An official from DHI said that the new allowance provides a tool for the leadership of the company to exercise and ensure they can reward and retain the employees who matter to the company.

Financial implications

With the revision, the annual financial implication of the group is projected to increase by Nu 1.4 billion. This is an increase of 26.13 percent from the current annual cost of pay, allowances and benefits.