Daily payscale in Thailand

[h90]

Had the pleasure of teaching a fine young man English at my local school.....top of his year in most subjects....went to khon kean uni for 5 years on an engineering course.....passed the course top of his year....got a job with Toyota in chon buri as an engineer , they liked him so much that he is now on the design team ( office job) rate of pay......for 8 hours a day....300 bht.....if he works 12 hour shift he can earn 500 bht a day....

Degree or diploma engineer. Either way I find that pay rate unbelievable. Our factory is about 30km from the main car plants in Eastern Seaboard. I am currently looking for a mechanical engineer, preferably diploma, as they tend to be more hands on. Someone with good skills and some English plus a few years experience is going to be looking for 25k plus. A degree engineer with the same experience probably 40k plus. Someone with say 10 years is probably 60k and up.

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yes below 20K you don't get any technician. One of our competitor are looking for 2 CNC operators. Willing to pay 20+K. They didn't find anyone for the last 6 month.

Design team is far above that in payment. We train them ourself and prefer people from outside Bangkok, preferable South with some college degree.

Outside because they are usually more hands-on if they grow up on the country side than people who grow up downtown.

But no way someone want to work for 300 baht 8 hours.

And for overtime beside the payment, we pay food (and the good one, not the 30 Baht meals) and coke, cigarettes....etc, etc to keep everyone happy.

I have seen other companies who pay less, ending without staff after Sonkran....The able one never came back from the holidays.

[h90]

My understanding is that the standard working week as per Labour department regulations is 48 hours per week i.e. 6 day week. This would be for formal employment where the employer is paying social security payments (5% of standard salary up to a max of 750 baht). Unfortunately a lot of Thai companies flaunt these regulations and appear to get away with it. If it is a Farang owned (49% anyway) company as is ours then you would try this at your peril as the Labour department would be onto you immediately as someone would be bound to make a complaint.

For my staff, monthly salaries vary from 13,000 baht/ Month for trades assistants and drivers etc, around 19,000 for tradesman and around 25,000 for a supervisor. They work a 48 hour week for the basic salary then 1.5x for mid week overtime and 2x for Sundays. 7 days holiday per year, 3 days personal leave and a "reasonable" amount of sick leave. On top of this they get a bonus at the end of the year that depends on company performance but is generally a minimum of 1 months salary. Employees paying the social payment above get a medical card which gives them pretty much free medical in a nominated hospital.

Before the usual "your overpaying them, Thais are lazy" critics start posting. My guys all give a solid days work and appreciate the conditions they have. We have never had an employee quit , although I have sacked a few. The same goes anywhere in the world. If you take care of your staff , they will take care of you. Those that don't appreciate that are usually the one that don't last long with me.

We pay a bit less, but it is a 5 day week and less hours and Saturday is paid extra. All get every month a bonus for work performance, the office some money calculated on the total companies turn over. The production some money calculate on the produced turn over (which is different as we have trading products and products we produce ourself).

So my bet is, that we pay almost exactly the same as you do.

7 day holiday: do you mean the public holidays or additional 7 days?

Thais are lazy...certainly not. But many are less efficient on the beginning.....try to make what they were told without finding was to optimize it themself. But as our production people are also in contact with the customer, they get to understand the customers point of view and show a responsibility I don't see in the west.

Finish a job in the evening without writing down the overtime, because they told the customer it will be ready in the morning.....From my European suppliers you only get a "we are sorry" email if they went home at 5PM instead finishing the job...

So it is different than in the west. You have lazy and active people here and there. You have smart and stupid here and there.

7days annual leave after 12 months working. We also give 13days of the public holidays as is required by government but we are lucky in that we move the holidays around a little if it suits such as Songkran where we might work the holidays before and after then add these onto the Songkran break to give a week off. We do it by majority vote with the staff.

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OK, we are similar. Instead of public vote. We let them free to decide. So I have always someone here. As well someone can say make Monday, Tuesday holidays, but work the next 2 Saturdays to keep it balanced.

We offered once that some come earlier and leave early, we have some in the office who like to come early. Like 6 to 3

Others who like to sleep long and who are on my watch list for coming late come at 9 or 10 and leave at 6 or 7.

No one liked that idea...they prefer to come all at the same time and leave at the same time.

Also flexible working, working every day a bit longer and Saturday and than make 1 week holiday to compensate is something I always liked when I was staff in Europe. But here my staff isn't interested.....

Different work-culture?

[Bcgardener]

My understanding is that the standard working week as per Labour department regulations is 48 hours per week i.e. 6 day week. This would be for formal employment where the employer is paying social security payments (5% of standard salary up to a max of 750 baht). Unfortunately a lot of Thai companies flaunt these regulations and appear to get away with it. If it is a Farang owned (49% anyway) company as is ours then you would try this at your peril as the Labour department would be onto you immediately as someone would be bound to make a complaint.

For my staff, monthly salaries vary from 13,000 baht/ Month for trades assistants and drivers etc, around 19,000 for tradesman and around 25,000 for a supervisor. They work a 48 hour week for the basic salary then 1.5x for mid week overtime and 2x for Sundays. 7 days holiday per year, 3 days personal leave and a "reasonable" amount of sick leave. On top of this they get a bonus at the end of the year that depends on company performance but is generally a minimum of 1 months salary. Employees paying the social payment above get a medical card which gives them pretty much free medical in a nominated hospital.

Before the usual "your overpaying them, Thais are lazy" critics start posting. My guys all give a solid days work and appreciate the conditions they have. We have never had an employee quit , although I have sacked a few. The same goes anywhere in the world. If you take care of your staff , they will take care of you. Those that don't appreciate that are usually the one that don't last long with me.

We pay a bit less, but it is a 5 day week and less hours and Saturday is paid extra. All get every month a bonus for work performance, the office some money calculated on the total companies turn over. The production some money calculate on the produced turn over (which is different as we have trading products and products we produce ourself).

So my bet is, that we pay almost exactly the same as you do.

7 day holiday: do you mean the public holidays or additional 7 days?

Thais are lazy...certainly not. But many are less efficient on the beginning.....try to make what they were told without finding was to optimize it themself. But as our production people are also in contact with the customer, they get to understand the customers point of view and show a responsibility I don't see in the west.

Finish a job in the evening without writing down the overtime, because they told the customer it will be ready in the morning.....From my European suppliers you only get a "we are sorry" email if they went home at 5PM instead finishing the job...

So it is different than in the west. You have lazy and active people here and there. You have smart and stupid here and there.

7days annual leave after 12 months working. We also give 13days of the public holidays as is required by government but we are lucky in that we move the holidays around a little if it suits such as Songkran where we might work the holidays before and after then add these onto the Songkran break to give a week off. We do it by majority vote with the staff.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

OK, we are similar. Instead of public vote. We let them free to decide. So I have always someone here. As well someone can say make Monday, Tuesday holidays, but work the next 2 Saturdays to keep it balanced.

We offered once that some come earlier and leave early, we have some in the office who like to come early. Like 6 to 3

Others who like to sleep long and who are on my watch list for coming late come at 9 or 10 and leave at 6 or 7.

No one liked that idea...they prefer to come all at the same time and leave at the same time.

Also flexible working, working every day a bit longer and Saturday and than make 1 week holiday to compensate is something I always liked when I was staff in Europe. But here my staff isn't interested.....

Different work-culture?

My factory staff work an extra hour every day from Monday to Thursday so over a two week period they work an extra 8 hours . That means they have a 2 day weekend every 2nd week. This was something I wanted as I didn't want to be at work every Saturday. As you said above , the Thai staff were not keen on the idea so I offered to pay them 1/2 an hour of overtime at 1.5x on the days they worked the extra hour that way they worked 1/2 hour at normal time and 1/2 hour at overtime rates. That sweetened the deal and they agreed. The overall cost was minimal.

We mainly do export work back to Australia and the low cost of labour here after doing the same work in Australia for many years has minimal impact on the cost of the finished product. We train our staff to lift their quality level to export standards as any of them coming from Thai companies tend to try and do something as fast as possible with little regard for the quality of the finished product. I guess that is just the way they have been taught. I would rather they took twice as long to do something and got it right. Making a mess of a 5,000 baht sheet of stainless steel is a high cost compared to the small extra labour cost for them to take their time.

[louse1953]

The government just raised the minimum wage to 300/baht a day (within the last couple of years). Thai's generally work 7 days a week. Sooooo you do the math .....about 9000/month. NOW not all employers (especially small business's) pay attention to rules or laws ....so they pay less....ie..small restaurants probably pay....5k-8k/month.Most small restaurants though are family run and the family are the workers.

The taxi driver who rents a cab from the owner ....well he's on his own ...kinda like a small business. The caddies ....don't get a loop everyday so their wages aren't regular or guaranteed.

In general the wages paid in Thailand are slave wages....BUT remember this is a family oriented culture so everybody works (well ...most of the time) and contributes to the family unit.

"Thai's generally work 7 days a week." aeh, NO

"BUT remember this is a family oriented culture so everybody works (well ...most of the time) and contributes to the family unit." aeh NO

Both statements might be true in some cases, we could discuss if it is the majority or not, but it is for sure not all and not almost all.....

If you would increase the "slave wages" to say the double, everything would cost the double + the companies couldn't export unless the Baht would devalue. At the end you could purchase exactly the same for 1 hour working.

The problem is the efficiency which is low because the educational system is bad.

They are slave wages and as much as my background is adverse to tipping this would be appropriate.Slip it into the person's hand not the tip jar.From small things,big things grow( Archie Roach).

[louse1953]

240 baht in Suratthani? dam_n gardener is ripping me off...

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Minimum wages.You pay what the market and your concience will bear.Pay slave wages,Thais will walk and be unreliable.Pay a living wage and you get reliable workers and friends and a good name.

[louse1953]

I think that many people worry too much about the thai wages here. A minimum is not enough to buy petrol someone said, in most european countries you not can also with the minimun so why should you here. A minimun is set, mostly not earned but much more, most simple street fendors pick up easily 600thb a day in bkk.

when service is good in a restaurant, the taxi driver is a good guy or whatever I am more than happy to tip people accordingly but for sure I do not see a reason to feel bad for them as it was like this before me and will be after me.

especialy with the low unemployement rate in bkk everyone is jumping for personnell, no one is working anymore for 300b. a day.

maybe construction workers yes... but few days ago in Buriram, the guy had money enough to buy alcohol and yaba so he could kill 16 others im sure 300 a day was more than enough for him

they made it yesterday they made it today for sure tomorrow they will make it too.

Good tradies in Bgk. get 800-1000 baht/day..As with the Lao khao and yaa bar,very cheap.

[louse1953]

F**CK all, because they didn't turn up for work!......(sound familiar?)

No it doesn't.I tried to negotiate Sunday off for myself when building my house,so I could give my brain a rest.Lads talked me out of it,12 blokes at it's peak,not one missed a day,and time keeping was spot on.Nobody wants to work for a bad boss!

[louse1953]

The village construction laborers ask 250 baht per day, trades-men that use special tools or act as lead man make 450 baht a day., I normally pay 300 baht per job and 500 baht to tradesmen.

When working in the rice fields workers make 200-250 baht per day. work day is normal day time hours.

One poster stated that Thai's did not work 7 days a week "is wrong" they do , 7 days a week 12 hours a day and usually one day off per month.

Most unskilled workers in Pattaya, are paid 250 Baht per day, I would guess it would be up to 300 baht per day now, the wife worked a Mike's Shopping Mall, in sales 7 days a week from 11 AM to 11 PM with one day off per month, she was allowed two more days off per month which required her to pay 250 per extra days off..

In the village all members of the family work and pool the money together for the families needs.

Cheers:.

I gladly give you our phone number...please explain my staff that they now have to work 3 more hours and 2 more days per week.

8AM-5PM. Monday-Friday is for us and all other companies I know the regular working time.

Everything else is paid as Overtime. Some open Saturday with half the staff and others think it is too expensive. So we can order from some of our domestic supplier on Saturday and not from others.

I don't know a single one that opens on Sunday. And never any of my staff came on Sunday. Sunday they stay with the family.

Friends of us are rubber farmer. They start in the night and come back in the morning...after 5-8 hours...no way of 12 hours.

Where do you live.Your hours are not the norm in Thailand.K-man is right.Your staff don't want to know about lower wages,they are doing very well,hope you are too and every body is happy.

[louse1953]

I would think it's a bit low.

Maids in BKK might take 300 baht for a visit, which takes 2 hours or less.

And if this caddy can't find 2 jobs a day, he will be making less then the minimum daily wages.

I would give him 400-500, considering it's his daily earnings, and it's really not that much for me (and for you I'm guessing).

you can the tip the cadet what you like usually 200 or 300 baht the golf course also has to pay them minimum wage 300 baht

So you tip a days wage.Do you do this at resturants as well.Why are caddys so special and this for 4 hours,max.

[h90]

The village construction laborers ask 250 baht per day, trades-men that use special tools or act as lead man make 450 baht a day., I normally pay 300 baht per job and 500 baht to tradesmen.

When working in the rice fields workers make 200-250 baht per day. work day is normal day time hours.

One poster stated that Thai's did not work 7 days a week "is wrong" they do , 7 days a week 12 hours a day and usually one day off per month.

Most unskilled workers in Pattaya, are paid 250 Baht per day, I would guess it would be up to 300 baht per day now, the wife worked a Mike's Shopping Mall, in sales 7 days a week from 11 AM to 11 PM with one day off per month, she was allowed two more days off per month which required her to pay 250 per extra days off..

In the village all members of the family work and pool the money together for the families needs.

Cheers:.

I gladly give you our phone number...please explain my staff that they now have to work 3 more hours and 2 more days per week.

8AM-5PM. Monday-Friday is for us and all other companies I know the regular working time.

Everything else is paid as Overtime. Some open Saturday with half the staff and others think it is too expensive. So we can order from some of our domestic supplier on Saturday and not from others.

I don't know a single one that opens on Sunday. And never any of my staff came on Sunday. Sunday they stay with the family.

Friends of us are rubber farmer. They start in the night and come back in the morning...after 5-8 hours...no way of 12 hours.

Where do you live.Your hours are not the norm in Thailand.K-man is right.Your staff don't want to know about lower wages,they are doing very well,hope you are too and every body is happy.

We buy and sell to hundreds of companies, and half of them have no one working on Saturday, and nowhere someone pick up the phone after 5.30. 100% of the companies are closed on Sunday. The question is where do you live.

Only difference are factories with shift work