The right package of employee benefits will help your company attract talent in Vietnam’s IT sector.
Unfortunately, businesses entering the Vietnamese market can sometimes struggle to design an effective package of employee benefits. What should your company offer? Is salary enough? What else does your company need to offer?
The answers to these questions are important for businesses that intend to establish remote teams or set up fully-fledged production facilities in Vietnam. Read on for our guide to employee benefits for the IT sector in Vietnam.
Competing for IT Talent
Stack Overflow’s 2017 survey showed that while 13% of developers are actively looking for opportunities, 62% of developers would consider offers. Another local survey showed only 25% of employees in Vietnam’s IT sector are satisfied with their current benefits although just under half would consider changing jobs if better benefits were offered.
Creating a compelling offer is key to compete for talent in Vietnam. A compelling offer expands the group of IT talent that will consider joining your company. Vietnam can be a fertile place for your project, but it is a competitive labour market. Your company or project will be disadvantaged if you fail to think about what you can offer potential employees.
Traditional Employee Benefits in Vietnam
The package of employee benefits for a developer in Vietnam used to be relatively simple; a defined monthly salary, plus a bonus for Lunar New Year.
Of course, there is definitely an art to setting an appropriate salary: see our guide to developer salaries here. However, it is the area of employee benefits that is evolving rapidly in Vietnam, especially in the IT sector. Increasing competition means that employees are expecting more that the traditional offering.
Other Simple Employee Benefits
Several types of employee benefits are relatively easy to accommodate:
- Flexible work dress code
- Flexible work schedules
- Additional days of leave per year
- Small gifts for New Years, Mid-Autumn, birthdays and other occasions
- Private health insurance (potentially covering other family members)
- Support for English lessons or out-of-work hobbies (such as gym memberships)
Other Substantial / Complex Employee Benefits
The type of benefits listed in this section require slightly more thought from a company. Some employee benefits become slightly more complicated or expensive, particularly when these benefits may require application to the whole team or company.
Consider the following list of benefits that regularly appear in advertisements for IT jobs in Vietnam:
- Team building exercises or active workplace activities
- Annual company retreats
- A premium office space / environment
- Structured career development
- Adopting the latest technology and offering training in those areas
- Exposure to international travel and training opportunities
Other benefits will need to be integrated with a company’s overall business model and/or culture. For example:
- Working in a professional / friendly / dynamic / supportive work environment
- Exciting projects with international clients
- Working in an English speaking environment
Staff Perceptions of Employee Benefits
In our experience, staff appreciate:
- A decent base salary
- A commitment to a bonus for Lunar New Year
- Reasonable expectations of work-life balance and some flexibility in working hours
- Opportunities for career growth
- A good office in a convenient location
- Opportunities for further bonuses, noting that there can be skepticism about anything that is vaguely defined.
Employee Benefits Underpin Talent Acquisition and Retention
Finally, identifying an appropriate package of employee benefits can dramatically improve your attempts to get talent in Vietnam. It’s a task that can pay off significantly in the short term, and with a little help, it’s not that difficult.
Establishing and fine-tuning these benefits certainty helps to create a compelling employee value proposition. This can really pay off over the medium to long term.
As a company attempting market entry, you’ll need to strike a balance between creating expectations and competing in the local market. It can be difficult to offer a comprehensive range of employee benefits, particularly for your company’s early hires in Vietnam: it’s better to focus on the areas that you can genuinely offer and deliver.
Contact us if you’d like support to commence your operations in Vietnam.
