Retaining technical workers before the attraction of freelance jobs

Forgotten degrees

Mr. Tran Duc Hung (resident in Thuong Tin commune, Hanoi), who graduated from a college majoring in construction, currently opens a bicycle business store.

After graduating, he followed civil construction projects for nearly 5 years. "This job is extremely hard, enduring sun and rain, sometimes salary is delayed because the contractor is heavily in debt. My starting salary was 8 million VND/month, then it increased to 15 million VND/month but still not enough to cover expensive costs in Hanoi.

I decided to quit completely, focusing capital on opening a shop to sell and repair bicycles. Although freelance business also has ups and downs, but income is proactive, there is cash every day and I don't have to follow the construction site for a long time" - Mr. Hung said.

Also according to Mr. Hung, sometimes looking back at the college degree in the cabinet, he also regrets the 3 years of studying, but balancing many pressures, he is not persistent enough with the profession.

Mr. Tran Duc Anh (25 years old, Cau Giay, Hanoi), graduated from the College of Information Technology, currently works as an online sales collaborator combined with running a technology motorbike taxi.

He said that although he studied IT, his qualifications were only average, making it difficult to apply to a large software company. If working in a small business, the probationary salary is only about 5-6 million VND/month. Mr. Duc Anh used to work for a private company, with a salary of 6 million VND/month, working overtime continuously. Taking advantage of times when he has time, he drives a technology motorbike taxi.

“In the first month of turning on the technology motorbike taxi driving application combined with being a collaborator posting online sales articles for websites, I earned 11-12 million VND/month. Money coming to my account daily or weekly helps me manage my life immediately.

Knowing that driving or being a collaborator does not help accumulate long-term expertise, but if I return to work as a technician with a starting salary that is too low, I cannot cover my life," said Mr. Duc Anh.

How to retain technical workers?

Mr. Ngo Duc Hanh - Director of Viet A Civil and Mechanical Construction Company (Phuong Liet ward, Hanoi) - said that the shift of the group of workers with degrees to the informal sector not only creates a large waste of social training resources but also affects the production capacity of businesses.

Many businesses in the fields of construction, mechanics, technology... are falling into a "red-eyed" situation of looking for skilled technicians. One of the main reasons comes from the wave of labor migration, many young people who are well-trained in technical fields are willing to give up their degrees to work in short-term service jobs to earn cash income" - Mr. Hanh said.

Also according to Mr. Hanh, his business is always in a state of shortage of skilled mechanics and welders. In fact, many workers have graduated from technical colleges to work at the company, but most only stay for 3 to 6 months and then resign. The main reason is that this group lacks perseverance in the early stages, while the technical profession requires time to accumulate experience from the smallest tasks for skills to be solid and salaries to be high.

The fact that young workers with degrees give up and switch to driving technology cars or doing freelance services for immediate income benefits is very regrettable. Businesses both lose the cost of guidance and retraining, and have a broken successor labor force" - Mr. Hanh shared.

According to Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment, to thoroughly solve the phenomenon of "bleeding" of technical labor to the short-term service sector, we cannot only blame young workers for being pragmatic, but must frankly recognize the current labor environment.

To retain technical workers, businesses and management agencies need to implement 3 synchronous solutions.

Improve initial benefits: Businesses need to build a suitable starting salary level, combining benefits such as housing support, hazardous allowances, accident insurance to reduce financial pressure on new workers. Transparency of the promotion and salary increase roadmap: It is necessary to show workers a clear "future picture". For example, after 2 years of skill level, how will the salary increase, what are the opportunities to become team leader/manager. Innovate the working environment and corporate culture: Improve the factory environment to be safer and more modern, apply automation to reduce physical burden, and at the same time strengthen activities to care for the spiritual life so that workers feel respected and connected to the organization.

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