Thirteenth salary in December: who will receive the bonus at the end of the year

Many Russians expect to receive their thirteenth salary in December. But not everyone will receive it. The bonus based on the results of the outgoing year is paid at the discretion of the employer, and the issue of its issuance, as a rule, is spelled out in the organization’s employment contract. Who is entitled to the thirteenth salary, how the annual bonus is calculated and in what case the employer is obliged to pay it – in the material “MK”.

Many companies give employees their thirteenth salary for the New Year. Essentially, this is a monetary motivation that encourages the good work of employees during the calendar year and is aimed at increasing labor efficiency. As a rule, the thirteenth salary is not mandatory unless otherwise specified in the employment contract. Most employment contracts only stipulate the right of the employer to reward employees based on the results of their work for the year. That is, the decision to pay the bonus remains with the company.

In general, the tradition of paying the thirteenth salary developed back in the days of the Soviet Union and, with some changes, has been preserved until our market time. In the USSR, they began to practice an additional payment, which was accrued at the end of the year, to all employees of an enterprise or institution, and, as a rule, it was fixed, equal to the average monthly salary or salary. For this, the 13th salary received its “popular” name.

However, this type of award did not appear in the USSR at all. Much earlier in the USA they began to give bonuses to workers for Christmas, while the size of the thirteenth salary depended, first of all, on the results of work for the year not of a specific employee, but of the entire company: the amount of profit it received.

If we go back to our time and our country, some companies pre-determine the standards and criteria required to receive an annual bonus. Otherwise, the thirteenth salary is issued at the discretion of the employer, depending on the financial results of the company. The amount of monetary incentives can be fixed (for example, 50% of salary) or determined by the budget that the company allocates for bonuses.

Experts identify three main types of payment of the thirteenth salary. Firstly, a fixed payment, when employees are paid a certain amount depending on their position and staffing table. Secondly, the average salary, calculated from the average earnings of an employee for the entire year. Thirdly, a percentage of the salary: in this case, the size of the thirteenth salary will be individual for each employee, depending on the specific results of his work.

However, it must be taken into account that the employer may, in principle, not pay the thirteenth salary to the employer – for example, if the company did not achieve profit for the reporting period. In this case, it does not matter whether the bonus is stated as mandatory in the employment contract or not.

If desired, the employer can replace the thirteenth salary with another method of incentive. For example, pay employees for vacations or gym memberships.

In addition, employees who repeatedly violated labor discipline, made serious mistakes that negatively affected the company’s income, or did not fulfill the established work plan may be left without an annual bonus (even if it is paid to the entire team).

According to labor market experts, budgetary organizations, the banking sector, large oil and gas and metallurgical companies are most likely to receive their 13th salary this year. According to Ivan Samoilenko, managing partner of B&C Agency, to this fairly traditional list at the end of 2023 it is worth adding IT structures that have shown high efficiency in the wave of mass digitalization. “Perhaps workers in the defense complex will be able to count on the 13th salary, where salaries have increased significantly and the motivational component has strengthened,” the expert claims.

“The employer is not obliged to pay a bonus at the end of the year,” reminds Alexander Safonov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. “It is given to employees only if the company operates successfully during the year. Therefore, this payment is not specified in the employment contract.” According to the expert, the 13th salary is paid at the end of the year, but this amount is included in the corporate budget earlier, so this year only financially successful companies will pay bonuses to employees. “The thirteenth salary does not have a set amount and is paid to each employee depending on his efficiency,” the professor said.

“This annual bonus is, rather, the prerogative of some companies and organizations, rather than something mandatory and self-evident,” emphasizes economist Andrei Loboda, director of communications at BitRiver. “It often happens that the 13th salary is not 100% of salary, but only 50% or, say, 80%. Each employer dictates its own rules and conditions for receiving it.” According to the expert, ideally it would be a good idea to systematize the introduction of the 13th salary so that it works according to the same rules throughout the country. But so far this is not possible due to the very different conditions and labor results of industries and companies. “Of course, the thirteenth salary is a huge plus, but the problem is that the rules for receiving it vary greatly from company to company,” the expert concludes.