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Need for staff heats up as economy recovers
The global economic downturn has forced businesses to deal with many changes in the human resources market. Viet Nam News spoke to Jeffrey A Joerress, CEO and president of ManPower Inc about this issue.
Businesses need to outline long-term plans to meet human resource demands once the economy recovers. How would you advise businesses to prepare for the recovery?
There are no short cuts, but there are ways companies can be working smarter. The economy is going to recover before we know it, and smart business leaders will be prepared.
Some specific tactics:
Focus on training and development. This is an ideal time to train and develop existing talent to improve a company’s competitiveness for the future.
Don’t take a blunt instrument approach to downsizing. Companies that cut back too much of their core talent will be struggling to catch up when the economy recovers. Evaluate your workforce carefully and be surgical and selective in removing individuals from your workforce rather than just cutting 10 per cent across-the-board.
Pay special attention to your "employer brand," and if needed, give it an overhaul. Act now to design and implement talent strategies that help attract, retain and motivate the best people in your workforce. With the rise of technology and rapid and unfiltered communications, if you don’t manage your employer brand, someone else will.
How well-positioned is Viet Nam for the recovery?
Our Viet Nam business is seeing a promising uptick in the number of job searches or requests for positions available. Although other areas of the world are still struggling, regionally, we are seeing signs of a comeback in many parts of Southeast Asia. Over time, the region is strongly positioned for growth. Viet Nam will benefit from its relatively cheap labour and the trend for "footprinting" (multinationals investing in several small sites instead of one large site.) Viet Nam is positioned ideally to grow; the large multinationals are already knocking on your door. So my advice to policymakers is to create a climate that will keep them coming. What are the shortcomings in labour markets facing developing countries?
Viet Nam’s biggest labour market challenge is the lack of skilled and experienced workers. I understand that Viet Nam has made progress with developing vocational training programmes and that’s a great first step. The challenge will be to attract individuals to participate in these programmes, and to ensure that the right individuals are getting the right training to advance professionally.
How can companies retain their best employees?
Changing motivations and preferences are profoundly impacting individual choice. The talent mismatch, combined with multiple generations in the workforce – who bring a variety of motivations and preferences – has accelerated the shift of power from employer to individual and will change how organisations attract, engage and retain talent. As a result, companies need to better understand individual motivations and work preferences, and the impact they have on their talent strategy – one size no longer fits all, rather one size now only fits one. Never before has a company’s employer brand been more important. Companies need to manage their employer brand and reputation as a talent destination. Companies will need segmented talent attraction models and well-designed employee experiences to retain the talent they need.
What is the biggest need for human resource development in Viet Nam and Asia generally?
Middle and top-level management is a challenge for Asia and there is a particularly limited pool in Viet Nam. Management is typically in short supply in emerging markets, and we are seeing this in the Middle East, as well as Asia. Experience can’t be replaced, it takes time to build. That’s where ManPower can help. We offer training in such areas as management skills, and we are currently considering bringing the world’s largest management development company to Viet Nam.
How will ManPower help human resource development in Viet Nam and what’s your strategy for Viet Nam and Asia in the coming years?
We want to set a new standard for the employment industry and be the first choice for every working-age individual in one of the most fast-growing and dynamic countries in Asia. This goes beyond mere branch expansion. We will be introducing more services to benefit companies and individuals alike.
ManPower Viet Nam serves multinational and Vietnamese companies of all sizes and industries. We enable our clients to access the right people at the right time, allowing them to focus on their core business. Also, we are working to transfer this same know-how to State-owned enterprises, seeking to make Viet Nam more globally competitive. These improvements will lead to better matching of skills and resources, better management of staff and a lower turnover rate.
In China and other markets, our cross-border hiring and recruitment programmes for hard-to-fill jobs are growing and in great demand. However, as Vietnamese law currently prohibits us from providing local talent to international markets, for now, all of ManPower Viet Nam’s energies are focused on opportunities within the Vietnamese market.
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