Just wondering about this. Where I come from, the thought of getting a promotion but not more pay would be met with much hilarity, some swear words and finally a “no thanks”. However, it appears it might be about to happen to me here, and apparently it’s the norm in my very large company.
Is this common practice in Taiwan?
Congratulations on the promotion. 
:nyah: 
:roflmao:
If you get a promotion, do you get a larger annual bonus at CNY? If so, it might make up for it.
or you might get LESS pay from being pushed into a higher tax bracket.
stupid non-sliding rate tax system.
Yes, I think that’s actually the case (well, not the CNY bonus, but the stock options I get about 6 months after CNY), though the whole bonus thing is a bag of shite anyway. I mean, I got a GREAT one last year, but they can decide not to give me ANYTHING this year if they want, and I can’t say anything about it, cos it’s not part of my official salary. I don’t like them having that power.
Its quite common in many companies even in Europe. The promotion IS the “reward”, its got nothing to do with money. Thats how some companies see it.
Having said that, you usually get a bigger bonus or you will get a much better deal in your next salary review than the people who did not get “promoted”.
I once got a “Promotion” where I lost money, I no longer go paid for ovetime, but I got a bigger bonus although it was not guaranteed.
“Salary review”. What’s that? 
Don’t worry too much Irish Stu. With promotion comes power, and power is a powerful scent that attracts women. You’ll be beating the xiaojies off with a stick.
Just focus on the “perks”:
Parking space closer to the door with your name on it
Your own stapler
New company shirts - ‘Polo’ kind rather than ‘t-shirt’ style
Logo coffee/tea mug
New business cards (chance to correct any mis-spellings on the old ones)
Increased opportunity take credit for things you had nothing to do with (also take flack for same items when they go wrong)
Receptionist might actually get your name right when she transfers calls to you
Back in the day I went up 5K a month, but hours increased from 30 to 44. I lasted about a month.
I recently refused to promote someone because they were fixated on how much raise was involved. I gave the job to the guy who was willing to take on the responsibility for no more money and then paid him a tub load more cash.
I have taken many promotions at no pay rise, its all about the experience and building the resume.
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]I recently refused to promote someone because they were fixated on how much raise was involved. I gave the job to the guy who was willing to take on the responsibility for no more money and then paid him a tub load more cash.
I have taken many promotions at no pay rise, its all about the experience and building the resume.[/quote]
I hear what you’re saying, EA. If it were a company that cared about me, then I might care more. However, as far as they’re concerned, I’m just a number.
My promotion was perks and pay unchanged, but hours, grey hairs and responsibilities all up. I presume there will be a rise soon, and having talked to folks now at my lofty height, they suggest it will be sizable if I work my ring off for three months, deliver what they want and then some, then go back and say - “well looky here at what I done did.”
You’ll get nothing unless you ask. Try all means you can to find what the relevant pay scale should be for someone performing well at that level. and hit 'em with it. Don’t forget to add the "and for my next trick, I propose . . . " It’s a cliche, but a justified one. that you don’t hit management with problems, only solutions.
Congrats!
HG
[quote=“urodacus”]or you might get LESS pay from being pushed into a higher tax bracket.
stupid non-sliding rate tax system.[/quote]
Sorry, but, if I understand you correctly, you’re wrong.
When you move into the next bracket, only the portion of earnings above the bracket cut-off gets taxed at the higher rate, not the total earnings. This is why they have those adjustments you’re supposed to subtract out.
On the first 500,000 you pay 6%, on the next 400,000 you pay 9%, etc. Your true tax rate is 7.XX%. I forget the exact numbers.
This is a common misconception and I’ve heard it from colleagues many times. I finally crunched the numbers for salaries 1 NT on either side of a bracket cut-off, and guess what? You never take home less by moving into a higher bracket.
Think about it. If such a bizarre system did exist, you’d see millions of people with salaries 1 NT below the bracket cut-offs.
myury wrote [quote]This is a common misconception and I’ve heard it from colleagues many times. I finally crunched the numbers for salaries 1 NT on either side of a bracket cut-off, and guess what? You never take home less by moving into a higher bracket.[/quote]
I’ve also crunched the numbers, and came up with the same result.
I’ve had a promotion without raise back in the US, so it’s hardly that unusual. The good thing about that promotion was that it put me at the low end of the pay scale for the position. This meant that at the next performance review I was able to get a very nice bump up in pay, because the performance raise formula was more generous the lower you were in the scale for your position.
Different companies have different ways of calculating salary. My company’s salary matrix can have a similar result to jlick’s experience. Different job grades have different salary ranges. If you’ve moved up one job grade due to the promotion, you might not get that $ bump because you’re maxed out at the previous job grade. In the new job grade, you might be at the “norm” or slightly less than which would translate into a bigger % gain next time around (if you’ve earned it).
Doubt it works that way for most TW companies but for MNCs, you’ll have something along these lines.
Thanks all for the advice and sharing of experiences. My annual pay review is beginning of July, so let’s see what happens then.
thanks for the info on the tax brackets and salary increases, which is quite the contrary to the info i have had from several taiwanese locals (including one of the HR staff at work, and my wife) but much more sensible… maybe it was my poor chinese? or their english?
so the taiwan tax system is not as bad as it seemed: i may stay another few days now.
I don’t thinks this applies to Asia, most people strive for a promotion because it’s usually associated with higher pay and a more fancy title, and that’s how (bigger) companies act related to promotions.
I never get promoted in my current company - else I would have an equal or higher position as / than my boss - but I get a yearly salary review and either a raise or more paid leave for example. I am not paid a bonus anymore though since they came up with that employee pension thing, even it doesn’t apply to me as a foreigner. :neutral: