SJM Holdings Ltd.’s, Macau operations unit, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA (SJM) has announced it plans to pay qualifying employees what is being called ‘living subsidies.’ The subsidy will be equal to two months or one and a half months of the employee’s salary. The amount will be provided in two equal payments. One will be sent this month on January 6 and the other in July.

Details of the Payments

Board of directors chairman Daisy Ho Chiu Fung commented in a statement on the subsidies, saying that the company would like to thank staff members for working diligently during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as being dedicated to the job.

It is unclear as to what makes an employee eligible for the living subsidies based on employment position. We do know that those who earn MOP20,000 ($2,505) or less will be given a bonus worth two months’ salary. A memo was seen by GGRAsia which revealed this detail.

Employees who earn more than MOP20,000 ($2,505) will earn the smaller, one and a half months salary payment, or MOP40,000. The higher amount will be provided. Those who have worked with SJM Holdings for less than one year will be able to receive a bonus, but it will be prorated.

Helping Employees

SJM began offering a living subsidy plan to employees back in 2014. It was being considered a guaranteed allowance for staff members. In the past, the company planned to offer subsidies through 2020. In 2019, the company announced the plan would be extended for three years, beginning in 2020.

Slow Recovery

The announcement by SJM comes at a time when casinos in Macau are slowly recovering. After November figures were revealed, it showed that the city saw monthly year-on-year declines for 14 months running. While the yoy was down, November was a month where the city saw its second-highest total since January. This shows that Macau is slowly on the path to recovery.

Recovery started back in October when the local government decided to start re-issuing group travel visas as well as Individual Visit Scheme visas. With visitors allowed to come to Macau, traffic started to increase once again.