Incentives from Shanxi officials make staying put 
an easy choice

Staff members of Shanxi Guild, a restaurant chain in Taiyuan, are staying where they work to serve clients during Spring Festival.WU LIUHONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

Spring Festival is the most important traditional holiday in China for families to reunite, regardless of how far away from home they are.

However, Hou Jianhua from Northeast China's Heilongjiang province and his other colleagues decided to stay where they work in North China's Shanxi province during this year's Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 12.

Hou is a worker at the Foxconn Taiyuan Science Park, based in the capital city of Shanxi.

"In previous years, I would be at home with my family several days before Spring Festival," Hou said. "I made the decision to stay this year in response to the government's requirement for pandemic prevention and control."

Over the past weeks, sporadic cases of COVID-19 have been reported in several regions across the country, prompting the government to raise its alert level against the pandemic.

In Shanxi, the provincial department of health and other government institutions jointly issued a notice asking local businesses to persuade employees, especially those whose homes are far away from Shanxi, to stay in the cities where they work. The government also promised to reward companies and employees who actively respond to the proposal.

The incentives include direct subsidies to the companies and their employees.

As the Spring Festival period is traditionally a slower season for production and business activities, the government of Shanxi proposed that enterprises hold workplace skill training for staff members.

The notice said that the government's subsidy for enterprises holding training is 300 yuan ($46) per person a day during the Spring Festival holiday.

"The government's subsidy will eventually go to employees and our company will have additional bonuses to offer," said He Qihua, head of operations of the Foxconn Taiyuan Science Park.

"According to the State's regulations, the payment to our employees on duty from Feb 5-20 will be two to three times their normal wages. In addition, we will give red envelopes containing up to 3,600 yuan to employees who stay at the company," He explained. "Those who work during the festival can still take their days off sometime later in the year as a compensation."

As the government urges local businesses to take special care of the staying employees, he said the company will provide a number of festive activities.

"We will have big parties, big dinners and a variety of shows for the festival. And our budget for such activities will surpass 10 million yuan," He said.

But the most exciting news is that the company plans to provide vaccinations against the COVID-19 virus for the employees, to protect their health.

In addition to Foxconn's Taiyuan park, its industrial park in Jincheng city also offers similar treatments to employees staying during the Spring Festival holiday.

The government is fully aware that rising unemployment is possible during a period with fewer business activities. In response, authorities want to give a helping hand, said Shi Guangwei, deputy chief at the Shanxi Department of Human Resources and Social Security.

"We will provide special assistance to those who recently lost their jobs and could not return to their homes," Shi said.

The official said the government will offer incentives to enterprises recruiting laid-off workers.

"Small and micro-sized businesses signing contracts with laid-off workers valid for more than one year during the Spring Festival period will be offered a per-month subsidy of 300 yuan for each person they recruit," Shi said.

The official added that a per capita subsidy of 1,000 yuan will also be given to enterprises that sign recruitment contacts valid for more than half a year but less than one year.

Many migrant workers and businesspeople who worked and lived in Shanxi for a long time said they are not surprised with the special treatment.

Zhao Qingmei, now in her 30s, is a native of Shandong province who has been working and living in Shanxi for 10 years.

"We have been enjoying the care of the local people and the government over the past decade," Zhao said. "We have never been treated as strangers. The locals called us xin Shanxi ren, meaning that we are new residents of Shanxi."

Zhao left her hometown in Shandong to work in Shuozhou city, Shanxi province, 10 years ago.

"I was inevitably homesick in my first few years here, so I returned to my hometown to be with my parents almost every Spring Festival," Zhao said.

Zhao now has a new family in Shuozhou with her husband and children.

They run a successful snack store in the city but still keep the tradition of going back to their hometown in Shandong during Spring Festival.

After informing her parents of her plan to stay this year, Zhao said she is very supportive of the government's pandemic response.

"The government gives us red envelopes containing cash and we can also enjoy other incentives like free bus rides," Zhao said. "This is our second hometown and we're used to life here."

Guo Yanjie contributed to this story.

By YUAN SHENGGAO