Attracting labor for FDI enterprises in Nghe An - Part 2
With large investment capital, FDI enterprises always want to build the largest factory scale with the highest possible output. Along with that, the demand for human resources is also very high. However, the shortcomings in labor recruitment in recent years are a difficult problem.
Lesson 2:
Many difficulties and shortcomings
With large investment capital, FDI enterprises always want to build the largest factory scale with the highest possible output. Along with that, the demand for human resources is also very high. However, the shortcomings in labor recruitment in recent years are a difficult problem.
Struggling to find human resources
As a 100% foreign-invested enterprise operating in the field of electronic components manufacturing in VSIP Industrial Park, since its operation (2020) up to now, Luxshare ICT Nghe An Company is one of the enterprises with the highest labor recruitment demand in the province.
Two years ago, the crisis caused by the lack of human resources to complete orders forced the company's leaders to make a "rescue" request for the intervention of provincial leaders. Worried that this situation would affect the company's reputation in the eyes of partners, the leaders of this business had to widely communicate the urgent recruitment needs to vocational schools and training facilities, and had to develop special labor attraction policies.
During a meeting with representatives of vocational training institutions in the province at the end of 2022 on coordination in labor recruitment, in addition to reporting on the need to recruit a large number of unskilled workers, this enterprise also informed about many special policies and regimes specifically for highly skilled workers.
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Up to now, although the "crisis" of human resources has been temporarily overcome, according to the leader of Luxshare - ICT Nghe An Company Limited, the company still faces many difficulties in recruiting workers due to expanding its scale and having orders requiring urgent progress.
In March 2024, the company needed to recruit 1,500 workers/month and the company applied many different recruitment methods at the same time: Direct recruitment at the enterprise, recruitment through intermediaries, and going to localities to find labor sources.
However, the company's labor recruitment problem is still in a state of alarm, with only 60-90 workers submitting applications each day. This situation has forced the company to send a document to the Provincial People's Committee requesting support in recruiting human resources.
As for Everwin Technology Co., Ltd., starting from June 2024, the company will officially start operating, but it is very difficult to recruit highly skilled engineers in Nghe An. Therefore, in the initial stage, the company is temporarily recruiting foreign workers to meet the requirements.
Ms. Pham Kim Chi - Assistant Director of Everwin Precision Technology Co., Ltd. shared: “The company has just received recognition from 2 major customers and will increase mass production in the fourth quarter of 2024. At the same time, we are also cooperating with 2 other major customers, expected to start mass production in early 2025. We are still looking for more business opportunities. Therefore, the company's current demand for human resources is very large. By the end of 2024, we expect to have 2,500 workers and by 2025, this number must increase to 4,500 people.”
It is known that this enterprise is currently lacking 100 technicians and 400 workers to meet production requirements.
Although the total number of workers needed to recruit is only 700 people, since the beginning of the year, Haivina Kim Lien Company Limited has been struggling to solve this problem.
Mr. Le Van Son - Chairman of the Trade Union of Haivina Kim Lien Company Limited shared: "Although we have registered recruitment information in many places, taking advantage of the weekends to brave the sun and rain to go to remote districts to recruit, we still cannot find enough numbers."
In addition to the difficulty in recruiting workers, another sad reality of many businesses in general and FDI enterprises in particular is the difficulty in retaining workers. According to statistics released in early July by the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board, in 2023 and the first 6 months of 2024, the number of workers quitting their jobs accounted for over 50% of the number of recruited workers. For example, Luxshare Nghe An Company recruited 7,126 workers in 2023 but 3,793 quit, accounting for 53% of the number of recruited workers; in the first 6 months of 2024, it recruited over 9,800 workers but 7,759 quit, accounting for 79% of the number of recruited workers.
According to Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Vi Ngoc Quynh, the objective reason why FDI enterprises face many difficulties in recruiting and retaining workers is that currently, essential infrastructure works such as: traffic infrastructure, social housing, housing for low-income people; kindergartens, medical facilities, entertainment areas, sports training areas, markets, supermarkets serving the essential needs of workers in economic zones, industrial parks and neighboring areas are still lacking, not meeting the needs to attract workers, especially high-quality labor sources.
On the other hand, due to the influence of the flexible labor market, there are many job opportunities for Nghe An workers, both in the province and outside the province, especially labor export is attracting the attention of workers due to the increasingly reduced and transparent costs, the ability to work stably, and income 5-8 times higher than working in enterprises in the province.
Along with that, some workers in the province, especially young workers without families, are thinking of looking for jobs in other provinces and cities or prefer to work freely, do not like to work in enterprises because they are subject to management, bound by the rules and regulations of the enterprise, and the provisions of the law on labor. Moreover, untrained workers mainly come from rural and mountainous areas, the quality of the labor force does not meet the requirements of industrial style, skill level, foreign language, discipline awareness... is still low.
In addition, the cooperation and connection between vocational training institutions and enterprises, especially in recruiting and organizing vocational training to meet the human resource needs of enterprises, are still inadequate when some current training occupations do not meet the needs of enterprises in industrial parks, and the majority of workers when recruited cannot immediately meet the requirements of enterprises.
Difficulty retaining workers
In addition to the above objective reasons, it is impossible not to mention the subjective reason that makes FDI enterprises face difficulties in recruiting and "retaining" workers: wages and incomes at Nghe An enterprises are lower than the national average.
According to statistics from the Department of Labor Relations and Wages (Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs), by the end of June 2024, the average salary paid by enterprises to employees reached 6.63 million VND/person/month. Although it increased by 5% compared to the average salary in 2022, the average salary of Nghe An is much lower than the national average (8.49 million VND/person/month) and lower than neighboring provinces (Thanh Hoa is 7.848 million VND/person/month, Ha Tinh is 7.633 million VND/person/month).
The Southeast Economic Zone Management Board reported: The average income of workers working at enterprises in economic zones and industrial parks in the province, including allowances, is only 5 - 6 million VND/month. In case of overtime plus bonuses and other allowances, the total income of workers is only 7 - 8 million VND/month.
The fact that the basic salary in this region is lower than other regions, and that this province or city is lower than other provinces or cities is also one of the factors that create the flow of labor. But is that the only factor?
One year ago, at VietGlory Company Limited (Dien Chau), there was a collective work stoppage of nearly 6,000 workers. After a period of work, the company's leaders and the trade union recorded 8 groups of petitions from workers, of which the 2 main contents were to increase the basic salary and review the product contract rate. The remaining contents were related to other worker benefits such as toxic regime, maternity, fines for diligence, meeting time, management attitude, timekeeping mechanism, etc.
The incident, which lasted for many days, not only caused instability in the security and order situation in the area but also caused heavy losses to the company and its workers. Not to mention, at this time, VietGlory Dien Chau Company Limited was implementing the construction of a second factory with the same scale as the old factory right on the company's premises.
According to the records at the meetings between the company representatives, workers and trade unions at all levels, although the main reason is related to the regime, the workers' frustrations are focused on the attitude of the direct management team. Issues such as managers cursing, making things difficult, and looking down on workers have become topics that workers have reinforced and affirmed through many specific situations with specific individuals.
Directly dealing with many collective work stoppages at FDI enterprises, Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Huong - Chairwoman of the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union said: "Attracting and retaining workers is not simply about salary. There are many FDI enterprises with salaries that are not higher than the average, but if the enterprise leaders are respected by the workers, the company respects the workers, and cares about practical benefits, then the workers will still hear about it and come to them or stay for a long time.
Besides, rigid, disrespectful, uncaring, and ununderstanding businesses find it difficult to retain workers. For example, businesses only give workers one day off when their parents pass away. Or after many years of dedication, older workers are pushed by businesses to departments such as sanitation, janitors, etc. They do not understand Vietnamese culture, customs, and ethics.
This shows that building harmonious and stable labor relations is a very important factor, not only to prevent labor disputes and strikes but also to contribute to attracting and retaining workers in enterprises, especially FDI enterprises...