Factories struggle to find workers for year-end orders

In the second half of the year, Song Ngoc Garment Company Limited (Binh Tan District) received many export orders for Christmas and New Year. To meet production requirements, the factory needed at least 100 more workers. However, the factory had many difficulties in recruiting workers.

Mr. Tran Thanh Son, Head of the company's human resources department, said that the income of workers is not low, the current average level of direct production workers is 11.5 million VND per month. The company does not limit age, and is willing to accept candidates over 40-45 as long as they are in good health and meet the job requirements. To attract candidates, the company has added support policies for new employees, such as receiving an additional 6 million VND in the first two months of salary. Employees who introduce new employees will receive a bonus of 1 million VND.

However, according to Mr. Son, finding workers is not easy. In 2024, the company plans to expand 4 more production lines. At the beginning of the year, the factory successfully opened two lines, but the two lines opened in the second half of the year had to be dissolved due to lack of workers. After contacting many candidates, Mr. Son realized that young workers do not want to enter the garment industry. Workers in dissolved factories who used to receive hourly wages that increased according to seniority now do not want to start with piece rates or only want to work seasonally to receive unemployment benefits...

Having worked in recruitment for many years, Mr. Son said this was the first time he had failed to complete the task of recruiting enough staff for the production plan. Young workers do not want to enter the garment industry. Workers in dissolved factories who used to receive hourly wages that increased based on seniority now do not want to start with piece rates or only want to work seasonally to receive unemployment benefits... Currently, the company is considering a number of production options to ensure production progress and order completion.

Similarly, over the past few months, Pouyuen Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Binh Tan District), which operates in the footwear industry, has needed to recruit more than 2,000 workers to meet production plans, especially at the end of the year when orders increase. However, despite using multiple channels, the company has only recruited half of its needs.

"The factory needs 1,000 workers," said Ms. Dang Hong Lien, Head of Human Resources at Pouyuen Company, adding that compared to the scale of the enterprise with nearly 40,000 employees, the need for more than a thousand people is not much, but in the current market context, this is a challenge.

To reach candidates, the recruitment department reaches out to worker groups and offers incentives to employees who refer people. The factory also contacts former workers and groups that agreed to terminate their contracts during previous layoffs to invite them back to work. With difficulty finding workers in Ho Chi Minh City, the company also focuses on localities with shuttle buses...

"Not only do we have to find workers for new orders, we also have to recruit workers who will quit after Tet," said Ms. Lien. According to her, for many years, after Tet, about 1,000-2,000 workers would take Tet holiday and not return.

Not only Song Ngoc Garment and Pouyuen factory, many enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City have year-end orders but are having difficulty recruiting workers. Ms. Nguyen Van Hanh Thuc, Director of the City Employment Service Center, said that just through the center's information receiving channel, enterprises in the area currently need more than 80,000 workers. However, finding workers is not easy.

Similarly, according to the recruitment website Good Jobs, the demand for labor recruitment in the driver, warehouse, worker, construction, and real estate sectors has grown the most. However, up to 85% of businesses said they are having difficulty recruiting workers. A survey by Good Jobs showed that 30% of businesses can only recruit half of the workforce needed and only 15% of factories can recruit enough.

Ms. Hoang Thi Minh Ngoc, Director of Good Jobs, said that some manufacturing industries have shown signs of recovery, orders have returned, but the challenge at the moment is labor. If we only look at the data, the labor force can fully meet production needs. Specifically, according to the General Statistics Office, there are currently more than 1.06 million workers of working age who are unemployed or underemployed while businesses need less than 840,000 people.

"The answer employers often receive when calling candidates is that they are busy, will call back later, or have found a job. Random applications cause pain for businesses during this period," said Ms. Ngoc.

To cope with sudden increases in orders such as the end of the year, many businesses proactively plan early. According to the production plan, from mid-October, Dony Garment Company (Binh Tan District) will enter peak production to complete orders before Tet. These orders are exported to the US, the Middle East and Africa.

According to Mr. Pham Quang Anh, Director of Dony Garment Company, the factory is expected to need 300 more direct production workers to ensure the production plan. However, the factory is not facing any difficulties due to its flexible human resource strategy, suitable for the context of fluctuating orders.

For many years, the company has focused on the group of permanent workers, working officially and always consciously retaining this group as the core. When there are sudden orders such as at the end of the year, the factory cooperates with the labor supply unit. The salary is paid equally to the skilled workers who have worked for the company for many years with full insurance. The average salary for 8 working hours is 320,000-400,000 VND.

"We pay high wages and require suppliers to bring skilled workers to the factory to ensure sewing quality," said Mr. Quang Anh.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien, Deputy General Director of PPJ Group, said that the company's year-end garment orders were stable and grew better than the same period last year. However, the factory was not passive in terms of labor. Knowing that it would be difficult to find workers at the end of the year due to low job turnover, the company proactively recruited from the beginning of the year, even when orders were low.

"The garment industry's human resources are increasingly scarce, young workers do not want to enter the garment industry, so businesses that want stability must have a long-term retention plan," said Ms. Lien.