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COVER STORY

and the company focuses on diversity in the
Finding people, workplace to increase productivity and cre-
ativity. “Those in senior management positions
keeping people come from different countries and we continue
to ensure a gender balance in such positions,”
he said. “In our future plan for executive
Foreign-invested enterprises have been creating appropriate levels, however, we aim to replace foreigners
strategies to retain talent amid a challenging recruitment environment. with local talent, recognizing Vietnamese
people are at the very highest level.”
T HONG NHUNG rEPOrTS “Despite the pressure on revenue and profit
caused by the pandemic, MM’s business has
been well-managed and continues to grow
thanks to its strong foundation and agile strate-
gies. Salaries and benefits have been unchanged,
and we even supported employees in certain
matters during the difficult times. We have
continued with efforts to recruit more talent,
in both medium and high-level managerial
positions, to align with our future growth.”
Hiring demand fell significantly last year as
the majority of business sectors and organiza-
tions around the country focused on retaining

existing staff. “FMCG [fast-moving consumer H

goods] has seen recruitment demand improve
since the third quarter, however, thanks to the
government’s pandemic control efforts,” said
Mr. Laurent Levan, President and General
Director of URC Vietnam. “We did our best
last year to maintain our team and avoid fur-
loughing when Covid-19 became a complex
issue. Most of our recruitment was replacing
or adding capabilities in existing teams. As one
of the leading food and beverage manufacturers
in the industry, we have an extensive team of
PHOTO: VIET TUAN

more than 3,500 employees in Vietnam working

ver 18,000 foreigners, including HR Director at MM Mega Market Vietnam, in both the office and at manufacturing plants.”

experts, skilled staff, and managers explained. “Senior human resources (HR) Enterprises are now competing fiercely
O primarily working for foreign- recruitment in 2020 exhibited a steep decline to attract talent in the “new normal”. “The

invested enterprises (FIEs), have been expected and supply mostly exceeded demand.” pandemic gave us a different perspective,
to return to Vietnam since last year, according The senior managerial level represents and we must quickly adapt to the market and

to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social around 3 per cent of its 5,000 employees, bring about changes in recruitment needs
Affairs (MoLISA). Due to Covid-19, Vietnam’s
economic growth momentum has been slow-
ing, with declining economic indicators, and EMPLOYEES AT FIEs
the country suspended the entry of all for- Number of workers at FIEs
eigners in March, which put a huge strain on Average growth rate
Vietnam’s labor market as well on foreign 7.72% per year
companies’ efforts to recruit foreign talent. 330,000 (2005-2017)
Adapting to change 6,100,000
FIEs in Vietnam have created 4.5 million
direct jobs and millions of indirect jobs, 1995 2019
according to figures from MoLISA. They rep-
resent 23-25 per cent of national development
investment capital and over half of industrial Employee density in electronics industry Workplace productivity at FIEs
production value, while helping the country
develop a modern financial and banking sys-
tem. They also account for 70 per cent of 2017
total export turnover, 20 per cent of State 2012 2017
budget contributions, and 20 per cent of GDP. VND330.8 million ($14,573)/worker
Covid-19 brought unprecedented chal- 8.03% 15.7%
lenges and had a significant impact on Viet-
nam’s economic development. “Border clo-
sures prevented many experts from filling
jobs in Vietnam,” Mr. Jimmy Techottiussanee, Source: MoLISA, 2020

16 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | FEBRUARY 2021