70% of businesses resort to layoffs when facing difficulties: survey

By Hong Chieu December 14, 2023 | 03:27 pm PT

Workers at the HCMC Employment Service Center apply for unemployment benefits, July 2023. Photo by VnExpress/ Thanh Tung

Nearly 70% of Vietnamese businesses’ first reaction to difficulties is to cut their payroll, with 53% stopping fresh hiring, according to a recent survey by headhunter Navigos Search.

The survey, part of the firm’s Talent Guide 2024: Salary and Labor Market Report, polled 550 businesses and 4,000 workers across 23 fields in Hai Phong, Hanoi, Da Nang, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and HCMC in the third quarter.

Some 82% of businesses suffered due to the shrinking global demand and orders.

The most common responses to them were laying off staff (69%) and a hiring freeze (53%).

Banking, transport, building materials, medicine, insurance, and healthcare businesses fired less than 25% of their staff, while finance, securities, garment, and footwear firms cut their workforce by 25-50%.

Of the construction and real estate firms surveyed, 10% chose to let go of 50-75% of their workers. This group of workers had the hardest time finding new jobs later.

Consulting firms make the most drastic cuts, reducing their payroll by over 75%.

Core skills of candidates that businesses will give priority to in recruitment. Source: Navigos Search

Priority core skills for candidates in business recruitment. Source: Navigos Search

The layoff wave has cooled down since Q3 but is expected to persist until early 2024.

Next year 60% of enterprises plan to increase their payroll by up to 25% while 15.3% plan a 25-50% increase.

Some plan to utilize seasonal and freelance workers.

Only 1% said they would to hire 75% more employees.

Businesses prefer experienced employees who can solve problems and adapt to changes.

In terms of hierarchy, the most preferred candidates are people with work experience but have not reached management levels, followed by recent graduates and department managers, while directors and interns have the lowest demand.

Navigos Search said job seekers should learn skills that employers need and adopt technology to boost their chances of employment.