Vietnam - The wave of layoffs rising high at businesses

VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of employees have been laid off recently in the plan to restructure personnel and cut expenses carried out by businesses in the context of economic downturn. Not only blue collar workers, but high ranking executives have also lost their jobs.

Two years ago, the general director of a company, personally invited Duc to work for his company as PR Director and offered the high salary of 2000 dollars per month. However, it is the general director who has decided to lay off Duc when the company declared a state of emergency.

Feeling offended, Duc came to see the general director directly and he was told that in the current big difficulties, it is necessary to reshuffle the apparatus of the company and remove some unnecessary divisions.

PR division has been listed as one of the “unnecessary divisions”. In the past, when the company did business well, it always allocated big budget for the branding and advertisement campaigns. However, now in the difficult period, the company needs to focus on the production and cut down expenses on advertisements. As a result, the 15 officers of the PR division do not have many works to do.

Duc was told that if the company can prosper again, it will open the doors widely to Duc to come back. However, the company cannot retain Duc at this moment, because it does not want to waste 2000 dollars to pay to Duc.

The high inflation in Vietnam, the global economic crisis and unpredictable global economic performance all have prompted Vietnamese enterprises to scale down their business and cut down expenses on personnel.

The enterprises are ready to pay higher for key persons but lay off unnecessary and unqualified officers.

In August 2011, ABTel, the owner of the well known Q-Mobile brand, also decided to restructure the apparatus and lay off some sales officers. The representative of the company said that the restructure plan was discussed earlier this year, while the implementation kicked off in August.

“This is a necessary thing we need to do now in order to settle the problem of having excessive staff but lacking manpower, which has been existing for many years,” he said.

The Hanoi-Saigon Company has carried out the biggest ever layoff campaign. There are now only 10 officers instead of 50. The company’s headquarter has also been narrowed. Half of the area has become the new office of the company, while the other has been leased for money.

The company’s director Cao Duy Phong, said that the thing that all enterprises, no matter they are small or big, have to do in the difficult period is to restructure staff. “Only the best have been retained to whom we will apply adequate treatment policy,” he said.

In the past, Phong never hired collaborators. However, he has changed his mind, believing that this is really a good solution for now, when he cannot employ many permanent officers.

“Collaborators work in seasons, while the solution helps us better control our expenses,” he explained.

Analysts say the enterprises facing biggest difficulties now are the ones in garment, footwear, structural steel and the distribution of unessential goods.

Chair of the Vietnam Steel Association, Pham Chi Cuong, said that all steel manufacturers are facing big difficulties due to the high inflation, high input costs and the policy on cutting down public investments.

“All steel manufacturers have been running at moderate capacity,” he said. And though no manufacturer has declared the bankruptcy, according to Cuong, the layoff at the enterprises proves to be inevitable. The income of workers is calculated based on the productivity, and once enterprises scale down the production, their income will certainly decrease.

A director of a computer and mobile phone distribution company which has 300 workers in Hanoi, also said that he has to think carefully before launching any recruitment campaign. “We now have to consider thoroughly every time when we spend money, even though when we spend only 100 or 200 dollars,” he said.

Source: VnExpress

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