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Enterprises need to invest in talented staff
Last year, as the Vietnamese economy showed signs of recovery, enterprises' human resource (HR) needs to be increased and are expected to continue rising this year. Viet Nam News had a talk with Mr Andreas Dernbach, a founding member and managing partner at Human Resource Solutions Viet Nam Ltd, a Vietnamese HR consultancy company.
Last year, following the global and domestic economic recovery, what do you think of the Vietnamese HR business and how has it developed?
Viet Nam successfully managed to mitigate the negative effects of the global economic crisis. Last year, the low-qualified labour force was mostly affected by the recession. Many workers lost their jobs.
However, qualified experts and executive managers that are able to work in an international environment have been in short supply for years, even last year when many companies had to lay-off staff. As the economy is about to recover, HR management remains a challenging business in Viet Nam.
What do you think are the weaknesses and disadvantages of the labour market in a developing country like Viet Nam?
The most significant weakness is the shortage of qualified workers. While this alone is already a barrier for the economic development of Viet Nam, other factors aggrevate the challenge, namely the still underdeveloped cooperation between education/training providers and the industrial sector.
More needs to be done to foster a labour-market oriented school-industry that has collaboration projects. Employers need to provide more opportunities for young Vietnamese to develop practical skills, and educational institutions need to pay more attention to the requirements of the labour market.
Many HR experts said in Viet Nam there is lack of local-qualified senior management positions in some sectors like retail trade, finance-banking, customer service, etc, particularly in large enterprises and multinational corporations. What do you think of this?
This statement is very true, but times are changing in Viet Nam. The number of qualified and internationally experienced Vietnamese is dynamically increasing. With the rapid economic development, it is getting more and more attractive for high profile executive managers abroad to return to Viet Nam where interesting career opportunities are available.
However, the shortage of experienced senior managers will remain a challenge for years to come. Instead of buying-in human resources, companies have to develop their own HR development strategies. Employers have to invest more in their own people to make them fit for senior management positions in the future.
This year, the Vietnamese economy is expected to perform better than it did last year. What do you think local enterprises should do to restructure HR and to reduce business costs, while increasing their competitiveness?
As salary levels are still comparatively low in Viet Nam, I think companies should strive to increase their productivity and effectiveness in human resources.
Many entrepreneurs try to reduce labour costs instead of striving to increase the output of their staff. In effect, this causes high staff turnover and leaves no opportunities for motivational salary increases.
In the current context, competition for talent is heating up. Many talented individuals are seeking better opportunities in other companies. Could you provide some advice for companies to retain their competent employees?
First, employers have to make sure that they provide competitive remuneration packages, but that alone is not enough. They got to be responsive to the needs of their staff, which may widely vary between e.g. a young female professional (Who may need more flexible working hours) and a senior manager (Who is probably more interested in earning more money).
To understand the needs of their staff, companies have to invest more time and attention into relationship management. This is especially a challenge for foreign companies in Viet Nam.
As an HR consultancy company, how can HR Solutions Viet Nam help develop Vietnamese enterprises in order to satisfy their HR needs? And what is your development strategy in Viet Nam in the coming years?
As a professional HR consulting company, we work hard to provide competent and balanced advice to both sides – employers and candidates who are looking for new career opportunities.
We help applicants looking for new employment through professional counselling, training and coaching to enable them to develop a sustainable career. When talking to employers, we show them new ways to develop their existing staff instead of just looking for hire/fire solutions.
Regarding our own development, we give first priority to quality and strategic HR development plans instead of just providing quick provisional solutions that will not last for long.
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