Are long holidays linked to low productivity?

This fact partly explains why labor productivity of enterprises in the first months of the year is always lower than the remaining months.

In recent years, after the long Tet holiday, many industrial parks are empty of workers.

Employers have a headache because it is not until the end of January that ordinary workers return to work due to the after-holiday festivities. Some offices are also deserted because of the large-scale “spring outings”. This fact partly explains why labor productivity of enterprises in the first months of the year is always lower than in the remaining months.

Reporter interviewed Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of Vietnam Productivity Institute about this issue.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Director of Vietnam Productivity Institute

PV:Sir, usually after the Tet holiday, many civil servants and public employees in many agencies, units or workers in industrial zones quit their jobs or change jobs. What do you predict will happen this year?

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan:I think that for civil servants, public employees or managers of enterprises, in general, there is little job-hopping after Tet. However, for workers, this situation probably has not changed, especially for workers in industrial zones or workers in industries where the work is simple and the income is not high.

During Tet, workers have the opportunity to meet each other, share information about new jobs, and many will change jobs if they are informed of a job with higher income. There are also some people who previously worked in far-away industrial zones, but when businesses tend to invest in the provinces, workers want to move back to work closer to home for more convenience.

After Tet, workers usually quit their jobs to have fun first, then look for another job. I think this situation has not changed. There may be differences between regions or industries, but this situation will continue.

PV:As you just said, is it because the mentality of "January is the month for partying" has been deeply rooted in many Vietnamese people?

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan:It must be said that this mentality has become a trend and has reached the point where an individual or an agency leader who does not organize a fun outing for his colleagues after Tet may feel guilty. Obviously, this trend is negatively affecting the production and business activities of units in general. Many business leaders have also raised the issue because it affects production and business activities and meeting customer requirements.

PV:Currently, labor productivity in manufacturing and high-end services is much higher than in agriculture. What is your opinion on this issue and how can labor productivity in agriculture be improved quickly?

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan:Currently, Vietnam has about 500,000 enterprises. In the coming years, Vietnam aims to have about 2 million enterprises.

This is also a part that can attract the labor force to work in companies and production units with better management. However, increasing productivity by shifting a part of the labor force from the agricultural sector to the industrial and service sectors is only a solution in the early stages of development.

In the future, we must increase the productivity of each sector, including the agricultural sector, which currently has low productivity. Currently, compared to the world, the output is not low. However, the problem of calculating added value divided by per capita is low and the problem here is related to the application of advances in science and technology to all stages, from farming to processing to produce products that can be sold at high value.

I think that the agricultural sector needs a lot of investment from the State from the stage of bringing equipment into agricultural production. Obviously, workers without equipment cannot have high productivity. When producing products, we also need to focus on post-harvest technology to produce valuable products that can increase productivity in the agricultural sector.

PV:As we know, Vietnam has officially joined the ASEAN Community, many trade agreements have come into effect and will soon open up many opportunities for Vietnamese workers, but the challenges are not small, especially when our skills and labor awareness have not been improved... According to you, what is the urgent issue at this time for Vietnamese workers to meet the integration requirements?

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan:When integrating, the challenge for workers is: businesses, due to competitive pressure, will have to organize and rearrange their workforce to be most effective.

So, there will be a surplus workforce, many people will be arranged to do other jobs or if the business cannot arrange for the unemployed workers, that is the challenge. But I think that this also opens up great opportunities for workers, which is to work in a better environment, have higher income, have the opportunity to work in the world's leading companies when they invest in Vietnam.

To seize this opportunity, workers themselves must change. The weakness of Vietnamese workers in recent years has been passivity in their work. Therefore, workers must change from being passive to being proactive. The first proactive step is to organize and perform their work in the best way possible. Second, proactively express their requests to their managers.

In particular, workers must also be proactive in learning and must see what is best for their work. In the past, Vietnamese workers rarely dared to speak directly to their leaders at work. Therefore, now workers must be proactive when they need to give suggestions for improvements or have suggestions about how their rights should be guaranteed. Workers should also be proactive and bold in expressing their opinions.

Another thing is that workers also need to proactively find another job if the current environment does not meet their needs. Be bold and find a better opportunity for yourself.

PV: Yes, thank you.

According to VOV