In order to gradually restore production and business activities in line with the new period, many enterprises in key localities in the South such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An are looking for ways to attract workers back as well as to recruit workers who are in short supply after a prolonged period of social distancing.

Production activities at Nam Anh Equipment Manufacturing and Trading Co., Ltd.
Photo: provided by the company 

Labor shortage worries

Mr. Pham Thanh Truc, Deputy Head of the Management Board of Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks (EPZs) in Ho Chi Minh City (Hepza), said in early 2021, the total number of employees working in EPZs and IZs in Ho Chi Minh City was 288,000.

When the pandemic started and firms had to carry out "3 on-site" production, only 720 enterprises performed "3 on-site" production with 64,000 employees. Currently, many enterprises are trying to restart their operations but are facing difficulties in labor and raw material supply due to disruptions. Similarly, for Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park, normally the number of workers working here is 50,000, but by the beginning of October, there were only about 25,000 people.

Mr. Tran Viet Anh, Vice Chairman of Plastics Association, General Director of Nam Thai Son Import-Export Joint Stock Company, said that at the beginning of September, a group of about 300 enterprises, most of them producing auxiliary technology and technical products. Results of a survey on human resources for October showed that just about 40% of employees want to return to work after opening.

Mr. Phan Ky Quan Triet, Deputy Director of the Center for Forecasting Human Needs and Labor Market Information in Ho Chi Minh City, said that at this time, many other businesses have started planning to resume operations. It is expected that human resource demand in the fourth quarter of 2021 needs about 43,654 - 56,869 jobs, human resource demand tends to increase among part-time workers. However, with the large number of workers returning to their hometown before the local control measures, the rearrangement of personnel and labor at the enterprise is an important issue.

Having the same fear of lack of labor, according to Mr. Pham Van Tuyen, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs of Binh Duong province, it is forecasted that Binh Duong may lack 40,000-50,000 workers. Binh Duong currently has about 1.2 million employees at about 50,000 enterprises. Previously, there were only about 3,500 "3 on-site" businesses with about 250,000 people, so about 750,000 people had to stop working.

Attracting workers a priority

Although facing many difficulties due to the pandemic, in order to maintain production activities, many enterprises said that they have developed salary, bonuses, welfare and favorable working conditions to recruit new personnel in parallel with calling former employees back to work. In particular, the end of the year is an important time for businesses to increase capacity to complete orders to serve the needs of people at the end of the year and for export.

A representative of Thanh Cong Textile - Investment - Trade Joint Stock Company said that the enterprise implemented "3 on the spot" without profit, the cost increased, but the productivity was halved.

The cost of testing and screening for Covid-19 alone costs the factory more than VND2 billion. However, about 95% of the company's orders are for export. In the terms of the contract, the partner excludes delayed delivery because of the pandemic, so the enterprise must ensure the production schedule so as not to be penalized. Currently, the board of directors is looking for ways to motivate workers. In addition to salary, workers are also paid an additional VND80,000 /day. What worries the company the most is that only 400 out of 1,800 workers performing "3 on-site" are vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine. Accordingly, businesses want Ho Chi Minh City to speed up the second dose for workers to return to normal production soon.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Hung, Chairman of the Trade Union of Cibao Co., Ltd. said that from now until the end of the year, the company has a lot of orders and needs a large number of workers.

Therefore, in addition to the existing 5,000 employees, businesses are recruiting 1,200 more workers to meet production needs, with a monthly income of VND7 million or more and many other benefits. Taekwang Vina Industrial Joint Stock Company is also looking to recruit 2,000 workers with many welfare policies. In particular, the company has a policy of re-employing old workers, retaining salary levels at the time of resignation, and a bonus of VND1.1 million when introducing a new worker to the company; bonus each new worker VND200,000/month for one year.

In order to anticipate the shift of the job market, the Youth Employment Service Center (Yes Center) has launched a program to Refuel workers with "Combo 3 in 1" lasting from October 1 to November 30. 2021. Three activities in the combo include Hostel for no money - Free quick test - Get a job right away.

Accordingly, employees are introduced to jobs completely free of charge, get a quick test when they go to a job interview or the first day they come to the enterprise to receive a job, are introduced to different cheap hostels for workers to quickly settle down and find a job with peace of mind.

Mr. Nguyen Van Sang, Deputy Director of Yes Center, said that about 200 businesses that have approached and connected during this time are in need of up to 50,000 - 52,000 workers. Currently, many workers have returned home. The center has supported to advise employees on the necessary conditions to be able to return to the city to work, quick test support for employees before coming to the company for an interview. At the same time, it cooperates with the Youth Union system in 63 provinces and cities to connect workers who need to find jobs with businesses.