Communication and behavior at FDI enterprises in Nghe An

INEVITABLE DIFFICULTIES

The first difficulty that FDI enterprises encounter is the difference between employers and employees in terms of language and culture. Basic disagreements combined with disadvantages in the working environment can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - interpreter of Kido Vinh Company Limited (Do Luong) shared: "I have also encountered situations where employers know a little Vietnamese and do not use words correctly, leading to workers misunderstanding each other. That is why the team of interpreters is extremely important."

Workers of Viet Glory Company Limited have been on strike in recent days. Photo: DT

Working directly with FDI enterprises, Ms. Nguyen Hoang Yen - Dong Nam Economic Zone Trade Union shared: “Everyone wants to build a polite and civilized working environment, but it is not easy to turn that wish into reality. Besides situations of misunderstanding due to language barriers, the noisy and stuffy space of factories also makes people have to speak loudly to hear each other clearly. There are situations that are both funny and sad when speaking loudly but still cannot be heard, or hearing a sentence and missing a sentence leading to misunderstanding, which also makes people easily feel frustrated. In addition, working style and qualifications are also big barriers that businesses need to overcome. I have heard many company leaders share that they lose patience because they keep talking but workers do not understand or remind them many times but workers still violate the rules.”

As an FDI enterprise specializing in processing and manufacturing sports gloves and sportswear located in Nam Giang Industrial Cluster, Nam Dan District, Haivina Kim Lien Company Limited has been operating in Nghe An province for 10 years. Share aboutdifficultiesIn the early years of establishment, Mr. Le Van Son - Chairman of the Company's Trade Union said: "The limitation we encountered was the Vietnamese management team - the intermediary between foreign leaders and Vietnamese workers. The company had to strictly handle, even fire, cases where the Vietnamese management team used incorrect language, insulted and offended workers during the process of handing over and directing work."

Solve problems one by one

Can the above disadvantages and disagreements be improved? The answer is yes. With goodwill and professionalism, many FDI enterprises have built a civilized and polite working environment based on mutual respect.

A cheerful and friendly atmosphere between Korean leaders and Vietnamese workers at Kido Vinh Company Limited (Do Luong). Photo: Document

At Nghe An PP Paper Materials Joint Venture Company Limited (Nghi Loc), during 17 years of operation, the company has had up to 70% of its employees stay with the company for more than 3 years. Of which, 40% of the employees have been with the company since its inception. Sharing the "secret" of the Taiwanese and Chinese Board of Directors, Ms. Pham Thi Hau - Chairman of the Company's Trade Union said: "Company leadershipextremely interested in workers and support all union programs. Not only providing additional funding for the company's union to operate, the Board of Directors also spends a lot of time understanding the lives and families of each worker, proactively building welfare programs, and sincerely caring for workers' health... In work exchanges, despite language barriers, there is never a loud argument. If there are any questions or misunderstandings from the workers, the company's union will immediately grasp them and let the company's leaders investigate, adjust, and thoroughly correct them for the workers, not letting conflicts grow.

Ms. Hau also honestly said that compared to many businesses in the area, the salary at the company is still low, but because of the friendly and emotional environment, many workers still want to stay long-term.

Sports exchanges not only bring physical and mental health benefits to workers but also create opportunities for leaders and workers to bond more closely. In the photo is a sports tournament at Royal Food Nghe An Company Limited. Photo: Document

At Royal Food Nghe An Co., Ltd., to create a close and united environment between the Thai leadership team and nearly 600 Vietnamese workers, every year the company organizes a year-end party with activities such as exchanges, music, games, parties... For the past 10 years, this special day has become the most anticipated cultural feature of everyone, from the highest leaders to the workers. Mr. Nguyen Trung Tien - Chairman of the company's Trade Union said that the role of the Vietnamese management team in maintaining solidarity is also extremely important. This intermediary team needs to be a fair, friendly, close connecting force, honestly reflecting and accurately advising on all issues so that business management does not have the mindset of Vietnamese people defending Vietnamese people, and workers do not have the mindset of management defending management.

Foreign leaders and Vietnamese workers share the joy of victory on sports day. Photo: Document

Regarding the handling of disagreements that may arise during the working process, Mr. Tien said that his company has effectively promoted online forums for groups, teams, and groups. Accordingly, all information from company leaders and suggestions and questions from employees are posted on these groups. The leadership team and managers have the responsibility to explain thoroughly, thoroughly, and promptly to employees online and in person. This is also a method widely applied in businesses.

At Haivina Kim Lien Co., Ltd., the company has opened corporate culture training courses to improve labor relations. Mr. Son shared: “We have a department that specializes in training on corporate culture and industrial style every week for the management team and nearly 3,000 workers. The training content is considered a standard code of conduct to help reduce unnecessary stress during the work process. Thanks to that,labor relationshas improved a lot in recent years”.

Training is organized regularly and continuously by Haivina Kim Lien Company Limited. Photo: Document

To resolve the differences in qualifications, Mr. Doan Van Thuy - Vice Chairman of the Trade Union of Kido Vinh Company Limited (Do Luong) shared: "I think that if the company does a good job and carefully trains from the beginning, this will be avoided. In my company, 3,700 employees are all adapting well and meeting all the company's requirements, the relationship between foreign leaders and Vietnamese workers is very good."

“In the future,investment environmentin Nghe An will continue to expand, FDI enterprises will increase. When the demand for recruitment is high but the number of workers is limited, it will lead to labor competition. In that situation, any enterprise with a professional working environment, civilized labor relations, making employees feel like the enterprise is a second home will have an advantage" - Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet, Vice President of the Dong Nam Economic Zone Trade Union commented.