$$ Package

[jeaniie]

Guys

I'm being offered a bright career growth in BKK, and would be discussing on the package with the mgmt gonna offer nex week... however I'm pretty naive on issue working abroad and doing some research on market rates for expat working in BKK.

Present post: Senior executive in a logistic firm in Malaysia, with 3 years experience

Proposed post: Join as 2nd lady of the company, and would be promoted to country mgr after a year of familiarisation in BKK. Contract - 3 years.

Purpose of the posting: To take over country mgr role and execute expansion plan for the branch.

I'd browsed through some useful website, provided by the forummers, but seems the 'Office Mgr' in BKK getting only about 50,000baht a mth. Doesn't seems +ve to me, if that would be the offer looks like.

Highly appreciate if any of the experienced expat here could provide some useful tips which would be very useful in negotiating on the offer later.

Thanks a lot !

[backflip]

"Doesn't seems +ve to me"

What does "+ve" mean?

[mr_hippo]

'+ve' = positive

'-ve' = negative

[alexth]

Well, for a job like this one, I think you should negotiate from 300k/month and above

[mr.buffalo]

Why would a person use electrical terms to express themselves ? i.e. -ve +ve... must be bright sparks

[Blake7]

Well, for a job like this one, I think you should negotiate from 300k/month and above

But she's malaysian working for a malaysian company...

would probably be much less

[backflip]

I don't know why a senior management type person would resort to "shorthand" and misspellings that could lead to miscommunication.

[OldAsiaHand]

The poster asked for some straight-forward salary guidance with respect to Thailand and you guys begin evaluating her supposed qualifications for the job in the pettiest possible terms. We've got a great bunch of folks posting here, don't we?

Now, if you people wouldn't mind me actually trying to answer the woman's question.....

More and more overseas hires throughout Asia are being treated as local hires, which lowers the salary considerably and generally blocks most if not all expat benefits. You didn't say what industry you are in, which makes it hard to give you a precise number; but on the whole, it's rare for any local hire executive here to get more than THB100,000 per month in any job (except, naturally, for the very top people and those who are related to the very top people).

For example, I know a woman here -- well qualified and very well connected -- who is a country manager for a European bank that doesn't run its own branch operation in Thailand. She makes about THB80,000.

Based on what you have told us, I would think the THB300,000 suggestion is way over the top. Unless your new employer is very generous, or they are expecting to put you on an expat package, I doubt they have in mind anything over THB100,000.

[bendix]

This is a rare instance where I find myself in agreement with Old Asia Hand. My guestimate on this is around the 100-125,000 a month range, but even that might be slightly high.

[visarunner]

Over the years I have seen many kind of expat -packages which varied from 40k to 200k up, some come with "full" benefits , like housing ,car,school , some are based on salary only.

Difficult to judge , also depends what is your current salary structure ,situation of your employer , etc .

Salaries for well paid Thais , position Country Manager or similar , are ,agree with OldAsiaHand , in the range of about THB 80K.

I assume you a Malaysian ?

[jeaniie]

Guys, thanks for your valuable input Especially OldAsiaHand, your msg in fact is informative to me. And yeap, I'm a young Malaysian lady.

If you guys really read thoroughly, I have only about 3 years working experience, right after I graduated, and 2 years experience (in logistics). And the initial offer would be 2nd lady of the branch, and will further promote at later stage.

Being offered such a position is definitely a big jump in my career path... and earning as high as 300k a mth won't happen to me, at least for the time being. In fact, I'm looking into a base of 80k a mth exclude fringe benefits, which as most of you commented, pretty hard to get from Asia country. I've checked with some of my Thai friends, and seems that the base pay isn't much different from Malaysia. I'll be meeting up with the stingy directors in these two weeks, and then will only know how much I worth in their eyes.

psst... as long as my msg delivered to you guys, it doesn't matter whether I'm using symbols or smilies to express myself. And anyway, most of the msg in the forum have lotsa typo and grammar mistakes. Why picked on me huh?

Btw, any Malaysian expat around?

Edited September 4, 2006 by jeaniie

[cwilliam]

Guys, thanks for your valuable input Especially OldAsiaHand, your msg in fact is informative to me. And yeap, I'm a young Malaysian lady.

If you guys really read thoroughly, I have only about 3 years working experience, right after I graduated, and 2 years experience (in logistics). And the initial offer would be 2nd lady of the branch, and will further promote at later stage.

Being offered such a position is definitely a big jump in my career path... and earning as high as 300k a mth won't happen to me, at least for the time being. In fact, I'm looking into a base of 80k a mth exclude fringe benefits, which as most of you commented, pretty hard to get from Asia country. I've checked with some of my Thai friends, and seems that the base pay isn't much different from Malaysia. I'll be meeting up with the stingy directors in these two weeks, and then will only know how much I worth in their eyes.

psst... as long as my msg delivered to you guys, it doesn't matter whether I'm using symbols or smilies to express myself. And anyway, most of the msg in the forum have lotsa typo and grammar mistakes. Why picked on me huh?

Btw, any Malaysian expat around?

You will find the people that write in think they know everything,like to argue and have no life.

[pedro01]

Over the years I have seen many kind of expat -packages which varied from 40k to 200k up, some come with "full" benefits , like housing ,car,school , some are based on salary only.

I think you'll find that there are many expats here on much higher packages than 40k -> 200k. I'm on an expat package myself - I won't tell you what I get but I can tell you that many of my friends here get 450K plus.

What you should be getting is:

- your Malaysian salary

plus an increase based on the greater responsibilities in your new role

plus accomodation allowance, including insurance

plus paid trips home 2-3 times a year

plus medical insurance with repatriation to Malaysia in the event of a severe problem for you & husband/children if appropriate

plus school fees at an appropriate school if you have children

If you don't have children and think you might when you are here - discuss it now.

Be ready for the "but Thailand is so cheap to live" defence by your manager when you negotiate. It's irrelevant. Your value to the company is relevant. I just negotiated myself an additional $12k a year and this was the first defence my boss in the US gave me. Don't get pulled into such negotiations.

Oh - and don't worry what an office manager gets here - that's the person that orders the coffee & makes sure the bills are paid. Mine costs me 35K Baht...

Good luck.

Pedro

[jeaniie]

Pedro, thanks for your msg and detailed reply.

At least I've some pics in my mind when nego with scrimpy mgmt.

[mouse]

Tight Management ususally get what they pay for. Sell yourself and make sure that they understand what they would gain for the additional financial investment. Even the tighfisted owners know how to use a calculator.

Do not sell yourself short. Start high and come down slowly and reluctantly, making sure that the owners understand that you are open to negotiationg all your benefits. Good luck! Keep us posted.

[h90]

what I am complete miss here is the size of the companies and there turnover and your qualification.

an international company can be 3 people small or can be big like fedex. In both you can get manager position but salary might be 1:50.

[jeaniie]

Elo

Just to keep you guys update.

Having tentative discussion, the mgmt would very much prefer if I would transfer to Vietnam/HCMC, main reason - language barriers & better BD plan. And further checking the living cost in HCMC, it's way much costly than in BKK.

Sigh....

[Crash999]

Elo

Just to keep you guys update.

Having tentative discussion, the mgmt would very much prefer if I would transfer to Vietnam/HCMC, main reason - language barriers & better BD plan. And further checking the living cost in HCMC, it's way much costly than in BKK.

Sigh....

Yeah housing costs in HCMC are up there these days.

If I were you I wouldn't focus so much on the salary just yet. It depends on what you want to do- if long term you want to work in the industry then the title of country manager is a great one to have, even if it's for a smaller office handling less business. From there you will be able to make a jump to another company in a related industry and will get a corresponding jump in salary.

As Pedro said, it all comes down to your worth in the company. Also factor in how profitable and how important the office is.

In summary don't forget that experience counts for a lot and the year or two of learning will pass by quickly. Before you know it you'll be a country manager and have great experience under your belt.