The old saying "a letter from home is worth 10,000 dollars" suddenly echoes in our working life in an unexpected way today. Recently, a decision by SPD Bank sparked widespread discussion: all branches no longer paid year-end bonuses in cash, but sent a letter to employees. In this fast-paced, high-pressure society, this behavior has undoubtedly brought a touch of warmth to our workplace culture, and has also triggered a series of reflections and discussions.
According to the revelations on the Internet, this move by SPD Bank has caused quite a stir among employees. One employee said: "I finally realized the heaviness of the family letter worth 10,000 dollars, but this family letter is sorry for our efforts to work overtime day and night and sacrifice personal time." The employee's feelings may be representative of some people's hearts. Especially in the "2023 Workplace Year-end Bonus Survey", eighty percent of professionals have year-end bonuses, and one-third of them can't get year-end bonuses before the Spring Festival.
Behind this move, we see a Shanghai Pudong Development Bank trying to break through the traditional reward mechanism and find a new way to motivate employees. To a certain extent, this practice reflects the importance that enterprises attach to the emotional and spiritual needs of employees, and tries to establish an emotional connection between enterprises and employees in a more humane way. But is this really what employees expect?
In real life, money, although not everything, in many cases it represents a direct recognition of the value of one's work. Especially in today's increasing economic pressure, for many people, the year-end bonus is not only a reward, but also a concrete reward for a year's hard work.
However, this approach may be seen as a challenge to the existing workplace culture. It tries to provoke us to rethink the "reward": what is the real reward? Is it a simple amount of money, or is it something that touches the heart and has sentimental value?
As Albert Einstein said, "Not everything that is important can be counted." This attempt by the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, regardless of its ultimate result, has courageously raised such a question to us.
This event may be an opportunity for us to reflect on our values and motivational mechanisms in the workplace. In our pursuit of material rewards, do we ignore the more delicate and human parts of the workplace? Can money really fully represent recognition of one's work and efforts?
As society continues to progress and develop, so does our workplace culture. This attempt of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, no matter what the result is, is worthy of deep thought by every one of us in the workplace. What kind of incentives do we need in the workplace of the future? Do you continue with traditional monetary rewards, or do you look for more diverse and emotionally valuable incentives?
Finally, let's think about how to ensure material satisfaction while not forgetting the warmth and nourishment of the soul.
Year-end bonus