HR solutions bear NVM name

CEO Huynh Minh Quan

What do you think about Vietnam’s ability to attract foreign investment?

I think Vietnam is one of the best destinations for foreign investment in South East Asia. From a regional perspective, we could look at the “China Risk”, the political turmoil in Thailand, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) opportunities for Vietnam, and the country’s forthcoming free trade agreements with other nations. These factors are all promoting foreign investment inflows into Vietnam.

Secondly, the Vietnamese government has strong commitments to support business. During the 2014 mid-term Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi on June 5, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reiterated Vietnam’s social and political stability, its fast and sustainable economic development and its friendly investment environment. Vietnam is always a friendly and reliable partner of countries and an active member of the international community, the PM stressed.

When it comes to consumption, Vietnam has very fast changes in trends. There is a huge demand from the population of over 90 million and the consumers are quick to take up technological and luxury products like Apple devices and cars.

Regarding the workforce, there is a large pool of mid-tier labourers who are familiar with the FDI working environment, trained by foreign companies and eager to work for foreign-invested enterprises. Vietnam is also one of a few places where FIEs can incorporate future graduates for their young talent recruitment strategies. Vietnam offers to FIEs some competitive advantages compared to other regional countries. One of them is a huge private sector with lots of potential for further development.

However, Vietnam is also facing challenges, and one of them is an undeveloped legislation system. There are too many legal documents, rules and regulations mixed together. There are also descrepancies in the ways of doing business, management and communication languages. This has contributed to a shortage of high-level staff.

What are your suggestions for foreign companies to do business in Vietnam?

I think a good way would be mergers and acquisitions. But they can also start up a business from the private sector. This strategy requires more time and patience, and the business owner has to be more involved with the workforce, be aware of cultural gaps, and make sound decisions on business placement.

What do you think are suitable methods to implement these strategies?

We suggest three steps. Firstly, research, research and research. Please bear in mind that Vietnam is a fast changing market. Therefore, all your assumptions and objectives should be adjusted accordingly. Secondly, select the right consultancy agency for you. Thirdly, employ a rightfit workforce that can get things done.

What do you think about the Vietnamese HR market?

The workforce always plays a very important role. The issue has become even more significant since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2007, because workforce quality improvement is crucial in this respect. Competition for talent has become stiffer, and employers have to pay a higher cost to secure talent.

FIEs often hire Vietnamese employees for HR operations and to do administration works such as data processing, tracking and filing, doing payroll, taxation and legislative compliance. I know some cases where companies have received penalties from government authorities for non-compliance. There have also been worse cases in which companies faced loss of data or system failure due to the people factors.

What can NVM offer in the market?

Our mission since our establishment in 2003 is to do research, deliver effective performance and meet clients’ requirements. Our mission is built upon our deep understanding of client demand. FIEs and private companies always need a reliable and experienced partner to do business, and we are such a partner with solutions focusing on payroll management, HR compliance, HR insights, and research and HR management systems.

We have invested in our own system and technology in order to enable our clients’ local data and systems to integrate with global data systems. In addition, we have partnered with two global payroll firms – Celergo (USA) and Activpayroll (UK) – to ensure the global streamlining for Vietnam and the region. Our payroll management solutions have already served more than 50 companies in Vietnam and Cambodia with over 2,000 employee payrolls processed every month and almost $20 million transferred per year.

Will these numbers increase?

We aim to reach $50 million or more transferred per year in the next two years. We’ll get more clients in Myanmar and Indonesia, and this will expand our service delivered to nine cities - Yangon, Jakarta, Phnom Penh; and Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Binh Duong, Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In addition to that, we’ll launch a new system of talent management this year, which is intended for corporate use.

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