Restaurant chain Wowprime Corp (王品) on Wednesday said that it would raise wages for its full-time employees by up to 7 percent starting from Jan. 1.
As for part-timers, Wowprime, which owns more than 30 brands in Taiwan and China with Wang Steak as its flagship brand, said hourly pay would be raised by 2 to 10 percent from next year.
After the pay hikes, the starting wage for Wowprime’s full-time employees would be NT$35,800 (US$1,096), while the hourly pay including incentives to encourage part-timers to be present in every scheduled time slot would be up to NT$220.
Photo: CNA
In addition, the maximum hourly night shift wage at Wowprime’s hotpot restaurants Chin Huajiao (青花轎), Xianla (嚮辣) and God Guo (尬鍋) would reach as high as NT$255, the chain said.
Wowprime cited a preliminary estimate as saying the pay raises are expected to increase its operating costs by about NT$100 million annually.
Despite the higher costs after the pay increases, Wowprime said it is planning to recruit 1,200 people next year with most of them to be allocated to its barbecue and hot pot brands.
Wowprime said chefs and managerial trainees in its five major hot pot restaurants are expected to have starting wages of NT$45,000 a month, and after seven months of training and completion of a performance evaluation, their wages could top NT$70,000.
Full-time employees would receive bonuses every year, while they would have three chances a year to get a pay raise, the company added.
The restaurant chain said it has teamed up with Swedish furniture brand IKEA to remodel three employee offices and dormitories in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) and Kaohsiung by the end of this year.
Next year, Wowprime would remodel an additional 20 dormitories, it said.
In the first three quarters of this year, Wowprime posted NT$12.41 in earnings per share, compared with NT$13.55 a year earlier.
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