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COVER STORY

efforts to lead the change. “Transformation
takes time, but employees may be worn out
by fatigue and companies risk losing track in
terms of leadership and internal engagement
along the way,” said Ms. Thanh Nguyen. “Hence,
leaders should place strong focus on both agile
operations and continuous communications
in order to overcome the challenges and become
a pioneer in their market.”

Promising market
According to the “Vietnam Employment
Outlook Survey in the New Normal” from
the Manpower Group, Vietnamese employers
have a positive outlook on hiring, with 38.6
per cent of respondents expecting hiring
activities to return to pre-Covid-19 levels
within the next three months. In the longer-
term, 35 per cent expect to see their hiring
recover in the next six to nine months, and
about 21 per cent say hiring activities will
return to normal within a year. “We can
expect Vietnam’s control of the pandemic to
continue,” Mr. Matthews said. “With vacci-
nations now rolled out in Western countries,
Vietnam is expected to see its workforce
demand increase as well.”
Mr. Vu Anh told VET that 2020 was the
second year Coc Coc was profitable, because
online access increased during the pandemic.
Its total users stood at 25 million at the end of
last year, with 4 million being mobile platforms,
increasing its market share in this regard to
2.7 per cent, up 1.5-fold against 2019. In par-
ticular, with 13 million downloads on mobile
phones, Coc Coc has moved into the top 4
most popular mobile browsers in Vietnam.
“This creates favorable conditions for Coc
Coc to invest in people,” he added. “In fact,
we spent 70 per cent of revenue on HR.”
Moving forward, according to the results
of Anphabe’s “Vietnam Best Places To Work
pHoto: VIet tUAN
Survey 2020”, working professionals in Viet-
wage costs, which account for a large pro- the news that more and more multinational nam tend to look for opportunities in industries
portion), HR must find ways to make the companies are relocating their factories in such as consumer goods (FMCG food & non-
cost structure more adjustable and in line other countries to Vietnam, the demand for food), retail / wholesale / trading, IT / software,
with revenue fluctuations. For instance, skilled workers as well as management staff and banking. Companies providing essential
there have been changes in payment struc- will rise. This also poses the risk of Nestlé products and services have a competitive
ture at some companies, especially in sales, Vietnam suffering from a ‘brain drain’ of edge in the race for talent, especially during
where fixed base salaries are now linked to highly-qualified and well-trained employees.” turbulent times. Industries such as e-com-
sales results. Upskilling and re-skilling pro- Meanwhile, Coc Coc must address diffi- merce, logistics, and insurance are also top
grams help this group contribute directly culties in attracting talent. “It is quite hard to of mind among working professionals in Viet-
to higher revenue generation. There are attract talent when there are many big tech nam. “It should be noted, however, that advan-
also cases where companies have partly companies and startups trying to do likewise,” tages from the industry itself are not sufficient
switched to freelancers and part-time work- said Mr. Vu Anh. “Our biggest difficulty is in to maintain engagement with employees,”
ers, as well as full-time employees. recruiting software engineers, because high- Ms. Thanh Nguyen said. “We have observed
Vietnam’s HR market in 2021 will also quality workers tend to head abroad. When a companies, whether in advantageous indus-
present certain challenges to Nestlé Vietnam. recruitment exercise is successful, the difficulty tries or not, performing quite well thanks to
Ms. Dao said that as Vietnam has demonstrated is then how to retain them in the long term.” proactive communication, focusing on
its ability to effectively control Covid-19, its Anphabe’s research revealed that much effort employer branding and continuous employee
labor market can also recover more easily, was exerted last year by organizations to moti- engagement with empathetic leadership. In
especially at industries serving domestic vate and retain their employees, but engagement a nutshell, companies with inner strength
demand, such as retail, FMCG, and construc- rates continue to fall. Fifty-five per cent of and who maximize the advantages from trans-
tion. “Nestlé Vietnam will therefore face com- working people responded that they do not formation to revamp their teams will have a
petition in recruitment,” she added. “With have a positive opinion on their organizations’ chance of bouncing back more strongly.” %

FEBRUARY 2021 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | 23