It is clear that we have entered a recession” that will be worse than in 2009 following the global financial crisis, she said in an online press briefing.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday (Mar 27)
A sunny morning, my son woke up at 7am, started to play by himself, but it took us another hour to get up from the bed – we just want some extra rests on a beautiful Saturday.
Brew myself a cup of coffee, Milo for my wife, and a cup of Abbott Pedisure for my son, we enjoyed a joint breakfast together with some breads bought from barcook bakery at sim lim yesterday. As usual I checked my whatsapp message while drinking the hot coffee, and found a shocking message from my colleague.
“No increment (crying face), but better than having to axe anyone in the team”
What? I am confused, we just got the announcement from our CEO two weeks ago that our bonus for 2019 is going to be slightly above market rate, we did a salary appraisal exercise a week ago, and HR sent out a mass email saying that the salary increment will be paid in May payroll, retrospective to April. All good, I gave my team a pretty good increment, and expect a good rating from my line manager as well (he should be quite generous, I hope). What change?
After few minutes’ chat, I realised that there is an emergency announcement from CEO late last night, the management had made a tough decision not to raise the salary in this fiscal year, in view of the unprecedented CoronaVirus outbreak. This is bad, unexpected, and rather sad news to everyone, especially to my team who had gone through a tough December month on site, and they should be awarded generously for their efforts! Can’t imagine how disappointed they are when they hear the news on Monday.
It is not that I didn’t expect such cost cutting initiative to come, quite the contrary, I actually am prepared for a small retrenchment in our office by June. But the speed of how things’s change is horrendous! It proves that we have all underestimated the effect of the wide spread virus to our daily life, and we are not mentally prepared to take it, though we thought we are.
This news did disrupt my investment plan, which is to take advantage of the recent market crash to increase my stock exposure. I would have to dip into my emergency war chest now if I follow my initial plan – not ideal. I need some time to digest it, and make a new plan quickly.
Last hope for me is that no surprise for the imminent bonus payout in April, please don’t cancel this payout, my dear management, we are prepared for a bad year in 2021, but not 2020 please 😦
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