Improving Working Effectiveness and Conditions: Human Resources Play Vital Role in Development

Improving Working Effectiveness and Conditions: Human Resources Play Vital Role in Development

To gain an optimal benefit from international trade activities, enterprises should change their way of thinking to increase their competitiveness based on their products’ quality and productivity. The Worker Management - Factory Improvement Programme is implemented jointly by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for this purpose.

The fact is that many enterprises have invested in renewing and upgrading their technology and equipment on various scales to seek opportunities to get access to customers. They have spent big sums advertising products and promoting their sales networks, building strong trademarks in the market. However, they have not attached importance to groups of factors which produce major impacts on enterprises’ productivity and their products’ quality. These are workers who directly manufacture products. If these workers are considered as suppliers, what they offer enterprises and the society is their labour value. Clearly, enterprises want this value to reach a certain stability level to ensure products’ quality while consumers want it to be perfect to meet the rapidly changing requirements. However, not many enterprises can optimise workers’ labour results and manage productivity well. Some enterprises are not yet aware of how they can do that. Also, for many reasons, workers are not willing to speak out or contribute their ideas to managers to improve productivity and quality of enterprises’ products.

Do Thi Tu Anh, national WMFIP project co-ordinator, said that the programme’s target is to promote social dialogues and information communication between managers and workers to improve productivity, renew quality management systems and control quality, manage human resources and policies, as well as maintain labour safety. VMFIP provides tools for renewing and maintaining the above implemented steps.

Twelve enterprises in Hanoi have been selected to join WMFIP. These include the Viet A Electric Equipment Company, the MSA-Hapro Joint venture Company, the Hiep Hung Company, the Technology Development Supporting Company (Detech), the Vietnam Stanley Motorbike Light Company, the Printing Plant N⁰ 1 under the Map Publishing House, the Medical Plastic (Mediplast) Company, the Thanh Tri Garment Factory (Haprosimex), the Vietnam-Hungary Engine Manufacturing Company (Vihem), the Hanoi Shoes Company (Hanshoes), the Chien Thang Garment Company, the Hanoi Public Lighting and Equipment Company (Hapulico). They are profitable enterprises with more than 200 workers each. Leading Vietnamese and foreign experts will help them during the implementation of the programme. Apart from seminars and training courses, WMFIP will organise consultancy meetings at factories and plants to help workers renew their work. Initially, experts will organise field trips and invite enterprises which need to renew their work. After a certain period of time, these experts will return to the enterprises and learn what they have done and what they have not yet done. Programme co-ordinators will then learn reasons and work out other methods for a further implementation. Tu Anh said that despite a short time for implementation (about nine months), enterprises had gained some initial benefits. The programme has helped boost dialogues between workers and mangers. The working conditions have been improved and the work planning has become more suitable, helping save time. Also, the living standard of workers has been given careful attention. Enterprises can launch activities by combining different factors not concentrating on a single factor.  Therefore, they will be aware of what they are facing and what they should continue to develop.

However, enterprises’ awareness of productivity remains low, they have not yet paid any single attention to added value and are unaware of methods to calculate or measure added value. Also, there is still a barrier in improving the relationship between workers and managers. Tu Anh said that for the programme to gain a high effectiveness, the change of awareness of renewing production activities should be in the mind of everybody in enterprises, from managers to workers with tools provided by WMFIP experts. If it succeeds with high effectiveness, the programme will be multiplied for enterprises nationwide.

• Lan Anh