In a turn of events, the Finance Minister now says that State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) might not get the Performance-Based Variable Incentive (PBVI). Lyonpo said an independent performance evaluation team will provide their professional input to review all the ratings that will tell if the SOEs are entitled to the incentives. PBVI is an allowance that will be given based on the annual performance of a company.
The PBVI was one of the major features of the SOEs’ pay hike in 2019.
All state-owned enterprises that signed the Annual Performance Compact for the PBVI, has submitted their performance evaluation ratings to the ministry. These ratings will now be reviewed by an independent team from Druk Holdings and Investments.
“Individual SOEs will not point out their own mistakes. And it is not because we doubt them but this is how it is done in other countries too. Before, the PBVI was practised in DHI. So we will seek all the experts, ideas and support from them,” said Namgay Tshering, the Finance Minister.
Employees can draw up to 50 per cent of their annual salary as PBVI if the rating is “excellent”, 35 per cent if “very good”, 25 per cent if “good” and 15 per cent if “satisfactory”. With the PBVI, SOEs will follow a system that is already in practice with Druk Holdings and Investments (DHI) companies. The government, however, is not sure of whether SOEs will get the incentives this time or not.
“We can’t say if they will get it or not. I can’t say if they will get it because of the pandemic last year, the performance that was required as per the annual performance compact were not fulfilled. This was the basis of the agreement. We also can’t say they wouldn’t get it because although not all could perform, there are few who have performed well. There are chances some will get and some will not. And given the situation. those who couldn’t perform, it is not because they couldn’t but because it is of the pandemic. So we need to balance all these,” Lyonpo added.
An Annual Performance Compact was signed with 13 SOEs in May last year as one of the critical components of the PBVI. Once the team completes their evaluation, the matter will be put up for Lhengye Zhungtshog for deliberation.
Earlier in February, Lyonpo said all SOEs will be getting the PBVI this year but did not give any definite timeline.
Samten Dolkar
