Why is it difficult for Nghe An businesses to retain high-quality workers?

CONNECTION, DEFICIENCY AND EXCESS

Recently, under the arrangement of the Southeast Economic Zone and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, a meeting between businesses and universities and colleges in the area was held. The event aimed to solve the labor shortage. From this meeting, it can be seen that the relationship and connection between schools and employers in the province still have many issues to discuss.

Workshop on connecting labor supply and demand between investors, the state and schools in 2021. Photo: DT

This issue was mentioned in early 2021, when the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board also organized a workshop to connect labor supply and demand between 3 parties: Investors - State - Schools. At this workshop, representatives of the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board introduced the labor demand of enterprises and projects in the Southeast Economic Zone and Nghe An Industrial Park in 2021 and the period 2021 - 2025. It clearly stated that the labor demand at enterprises is expected to increase dramatically in both high-quality and unskilled labor. Representatives of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and universities and colleges also proposed solutions to develop human resources in the coming time, while promoting the work of connecting with enterprises to create sustainable jobs after training.

Speaking at the workshop, the representative of the provincial People's Committee affirmed that with more than 1.9 million workers (surplus labor), Nghe An will provide enough labor to meet the labor recruitment needs of businesses. The province also requested that investors set out necessary criteria on the number of workers, recruitment time, commitment to recruitment, employment, welfare regimes, etc.

School representatives visit businesses before developing a labor connection program. Photo: DT

That was the wish, but since then, this connection has not really received attention and until the serious labor shortage occurred after the Lunar New Year 2022, a large enterprise in the area urgently called for help from relevant departments and sectors to get urgent support from labor sources at universities, colleges, and vocational training.

Mr. Ho Van Dam - Principal of Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical College shared: "In fact, we do not lack labor resources, but up to now, we have mainly connected and provided for businesses in the Northern provinces. Of the 52 businesses that we have worked with,Connecting to provide high quality laborOnly about 10 enterprises are from within the province. This is the third time we have been connected with a large enterprise in the area." Not only the Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical College, representatives of many schools in the province also have the same opinion.

DO NOT LET LABOR "BLEED"

Explaining the lack of coordination and connection between the school and local businesses, Mr. Ho Van Dam - Principal of Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical College said: "Businesses outside the province, especially large corporations in the Northern provinces, are more proactive in connecting with the school. Every year, they put forth specific work plans including the amount of time, notes on the training program... In addition, the strengths in technology, modern machinery and salary are also outstanding advantages of these units. Therefore, students have more aspirations to do internships here."

Sewing class of Nghe An Ethnic Minority Secondary School. Photo: My Ha

However, to make the cooperation in training and connecting labor supply and demand between vocational schools and businesses in Nghe An effective and long-term, businesses and schools need to sit together, develop plans, roadmaps, training programs, especially updating technology, supporting equipment and machinery. For highly skilled workers, businesses need to sign separate training contracts so that schools can have a recruitment plan, and at the same time, there must be a plan to bind workers after training.

Mr. Tran Thanh Ha - Principal of Vinh University of Industry said that businesses and schools need to match the training program, avoiding the situation where when students can work, businesses do not need it, and when businesses need support, students are in exam season or have plans to do internships elsewhere.

Mr. Ho Van Dam - Principal of Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical College said that businesses need to change salary issues and add support policies to attract workers from schools. Photo: DT

In addition to the training program and practical equipment,salary issueand support policies are also the top concern of students. "Salary is the core issue for workers to decide whether to work at a business or not. Human resources are not interested in working in Nghe An because the income is lower than other regions. Workers are willing to spend a month's income to pay for the cost of working in the South and they can earn money to cover this cost in the next few months" - Mr. Tran Ngoc Quang - Vice Principal of Nghe An College of Economics and Technology 1 frankly shared.

In the meeting with businesses, from the sharing of the schools, it can be seen that 100% of the students are connected to jobs, the school's interns introduce jobs at businesses with starting salaries of 5-8 million VND. In large corporations, many new graduates can get a salary of 12 million VND/month without having to try too hard. In case of overtime, it can be up to 14-15 million VND. Many students share that they choose to work in other provinces because working 1 year away from home is equivalent to working 1 year and a half near home.

Currently, businesses have a large demand for skilled workers. However, many students still prefer to work instead of going to vocational school. Photo: My Ha

It can be affirmed that the connection between schools and businesses in the province will bring many benefits. Businesses will have high-quality labor, schools will have advantages in building training programs, easily inspect and supervise students, and students will not have to travel far. Not only that, this is also a way to support and attract businesses to invest in Nghe An. However, to achieve the above benefits, it is necessary to have the attention and direction of relevant authorities and departments as well as changes and initiatives from businesses.

“We hope that after this event, the coordination between businesses in the province and the school will have changes, opening up many cooperation opportunities, improving the situation of labor “bleeding” in the future” - Mr. Ho Van Dam - Principal of Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical College expressed./.