Speaking after presenting the company's survey "2013 Asia Pacific Benefits Trends", Mayes said it was clear that Thai companies had invested a significant amount of money in setting up benefits for their employees. The survey, he said, showed that almost 40 per cent of companies in Thailand had spent 20 per cent or more of their total payroll on benefits. The survey was conducted from February to March this year, with 1,066 respondents in varying industry sectors across the region. Five per cent of them were Thais. The survey is carried out every two years.
However, Mayes said cost remained a major concern for Thai companies implementing a benefit strategy for workers over a 12-month period. The survey found that 77 per cent of Thai companies acknowledged that the rising cost of employee benefits would be a major challenge for them when planning regional expansion.
Mayes acknowledged that the global economic uncertainty had forced many companies to take a closer look at their budgets. However, he said results of the 2013 survey were very similar to those of two years ago, suggesting that the cost of benefits had changed little in the Asian region.
Mayes also said the amount spent on benefits was not the main issue. What mattered most was how companies maximised the use of those benefits within their budgets. Clearly, employee benefits were the best way to invest in one's workers, as well as attract new talent to a company. This in turn strengthened a company's competitiveness and set it apart from its rivals, he said,
Survey figures also indicated that 68 per cent of Thai companies were planning benefit strategies over the next 12 months in readiness for the AEC and greater regional competition.
In terms of the variety of benefits in 2013, Thailand had fewer companies with a choice of benefits -