Business management change to adapt to new HR realities

Vietnam has a young and well-educated workforce which is starting to dominate and grow

In the webinar “Humanized HR for the New Now” hosted by Talentnet, Tieu Yen Trinh, CEO of Talentnet shared that, “The role of the manager is very important. Managers need to have a mindset of 'it's okay to be wrong', which means that employees can make mistakes quickly, correct them quickly, and redo tasks quickly instead of waiting for everything to be perfect.”

HR management models under the new norm will shift from a triangular to a flexible circular model. That is, instead of managing from the top down through many different management levels, making processes lengthy, the pandemic caused businesses to switch to a new model where the management only provides directions while facilitating and empowering subordinates to take responsibility for implementation.

HR is no longer managed by departments based on the original job description but are managed on a project-basis, based on the skills employees possess. This governance model helps businesses quickly and flexibly change according to market realities as there are still many uncertainties ahead.

Accordingly, global HR management trends are moving towards a multi-stakeholder approach, re-skilling, employee experience improvement, science-based decision-making, focusing on employee happiness, as well as applying automation and new technology.

Talentnet also emphasised four salient features of Vietnam's labour market amid the new normal. Firstly, a young and well-educated workforce is starting to emerge into dominance. Secondly, enterprises are looking at the role of HR during the crisis to review and re-evaluate the costs and benefits of HR investment.

Thirdly, talent shortage is happening at all levels in both Vietnamese and foreign companies, not only on the senior personnel level. Therefore, many businesses have invested heavily in programmes to attract and retain talent. Finally, due to the impact of the pandemic and the trend of digital transformation, recruitment demand in the digital and e-commerce segments is increasing.

According to the General Department of Statistics, in the first half, the number of employees in new enterprises also increased by 1.3 per cent over the same period, focusing on the industries such as retail, wholesale, repair, processing, and manufacturing.

Remarkably, since the first outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, 32.1 million workers aged 15 and over in Vietnam have been negatively affected. 69 per cent have reduced working hours, reduced income or lost jobs, mainly in the service and manufacturing sectors (76 per cent).

It is predicted that the top five sectors with the highest labour shortage in Vietnam in 2021 will be real estate, finance and banking, manufacturing, and technology-related fields like IT, e-commerce, fintech, and proptech.

Recruitment demand in the first half of 2021 focuses on industries such as finance, banking, insurance, real estate, and construction. Notably, while healthcare and pharmaceuticals are the hot industries in the south while high-tech and IT are the hottest in the north. In particular, there are a lot more openings for project managers in the north than in the south.

However, according to the Talentent-Mercer remuneration survey in Vietnam in 2021, 20 per cent of surveyed enterprises plan to hire more employees. Meanwhile, 10 per cent of businesses plan to reduce the number of employees, focusing on service industries heavily affected by the pandemic such as restaurants, customers, and transportation. 70 per cent of businesses would not change the number of employees but focus on training to help employees keep up with market demands.