Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm officially announced its penetration in Vietnam on December 15, 2008 by acquiring SMART Human Resource Vietnam Company Limited (“SMART HR”), a premier HR consulting services firm in Vietnam.
Watson Wyatt (WW) is the trusted business partner to the world’s leading organizations on people and financial issues. The firm’s global services include: managing the cost and effectiveness of employee benefit programs; developing attraction, retention and reward strategies; advising pension plan sponsors and other institutions on optimal investment strategies; providing strategic and financial advice to insurance and financial services companies; and delivering related technology, outsourcing and data services. WW currently has offices across 13 markets in the Asia Pacific region – Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The immediate action plans implemented by WW through the acquisition are to develop a skilled team of consultants and to build good relationships with clients in Vietnam. Expressing at the announcement ceremony, Mr Andrew Heard, Managing Director of WW ASEAN said that the acquisition greatly strengthens WW’s presence in the broader ASEAN market place; this will allow WW to provide its global and regional clients with world-class consulting advice in Vietnam – one of the Asia’s most dynamic emerging markets.
There has been a considerable change in 2008 in terms of business environment standpoint as well as a change in pursuing business and people strategies. The challenge that remains is to attract, retain, motivate and develop a workforce in line with company strategic growth in the market. According to the recent survey hosted by Smart HR and WW Worldwide in November 2008, there is a significant market movement on pay due to high inflation; companies are under pressure of salary increase. In addition, Vietnam is experiencing the highest staff turnover rate ever since the country opened to foreign investors.
Based on the survey, the top reason for leaving continues due to better pay elsewhere, outranking personal issues by 10 per cent. All these are forcing foreign and local companies to confront with recurring talent shortage in the market. In response to the challenges, Jessica Lu, Managing Director of WW Vietnam, encourages companies to review their benefit provisions and to look at such options as introducing flexible benefits for high performers and family health plan coverage. For management retention, Jessica Lu recommends implementing retention bonuses, long-term incentives as well as other measures.
In short, the move from Human Resource Management to Human capital growth is more essential than ever in Vietnam. How to engage the heart and strengthen the relationship with employees, how to get the good business results? The answer is the employment champion. Should a company implement a cost of living allowance of provide a straight salary increase; should a company advocate a linking pay and performance to orient compensation structure to short-term incentive or merit increases? All these are included in WW’s consulting services which will be implemented in the near future.
Le Phuong
Vietnamese
