Temasek freezes salaries and promotions to support Coronavirus funds

Singapore-headquartered investment firm, Temasek is planning to implement a company-wide salary freeze and promotion increments from April for a year to help raise funds for people affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

In addition to these freezes, senior management, which includes Managing Directors and above, can take a voluntary base salary cut of up to 5 percent, for upto a year.

Temasek shared in media that the budget originally set aside for employees' salary increases will be donated to T-Touch, Temasek's staff-volunteer initiative, to support communities, both locally and abroad, when needed during this time.

The voluntary base salary reductions from senior management will also be donated, and matched dollar-for-dollar by Temasek.

Additionally, senior management was asked to take a partial cut in their annual bonuses this year.

These will not go directly to T-Touch, but will be held by Temasek as a contingent expense, to be used for future community-related efforts to support those affected by the virus.

As of Feb 24, Singapore has 90 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 77,000 people and killed more than 2,500 in China. Outside of China, the virus has spread to about 29 countries and territories with a death toll of about two dozen.

Temasek has earlier implemented wage freezes such as during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the global financial crisis in 2008.