The IT sector continues to grow and Vietnamese IT professionals are happy working in outsourcing companies when they get job satisfaction and training. Working for a foreign company in Vietnam is highly regarded and leads to higher retention levels and better outcomes for employers and employees.
Talented IT workers are in high demand, and Vietnamese seeking work in the industry are looking beyond the pay packet to training initiatives and job satisfaction.
This is good news for employers and employees.
The $USD2.3 billion software and digital content industry in Vietnam have grown by an average of 20-25% a year since the turn of the century. As India and China become more expensive and less reliable as outsourcing destinations, global companies have begun looking elsewhere for low-cost technology outsourcing opportunities. IT labour costs are 40% less expensive in Vietnam than in China and India. Global advisories such as KMPG are predicting that Vietnam will be one of the most sought after outsourcing hubs for software development.
So what makes Vietnam so attractive to western companies looking to offshore their software development?
Vietnamese looking for work in the industry are being more selective. And it's not just good pay that they are looking for. Surveys show that they also want a career that gives them opportunities to contribute to something that is innovative and makes a difference. Not many Vietnamese workers have a passion for anything other than work and can be known to forgo holidays and time off in pursuit of improving their occupational skills and knowledge.
IT professionals will quite often make more than double the national average wage, but it is not unknown for them to still face financial pressures at home. Knowing this, you might expect higher incomes and job stability to be more important to them. This is proven not always to be the case. A survey by ITViec (one of Vietnam's top IT jobs websites), found that Vietnam’s IT workers were driven more by passion than by profit. A poll of 500 skilled IT workers, revealed that more than 80% said they chose to work in IT because they loved working with computers. Almost 50% said working on an interesting product is more important than anything else, and less than 12 % ranked money and job stability as their primary job motivation.
Vietnam’s IT services sector is continuing to grow and those looking for self-fulfilment through their work have increased work options. At quality outsourcing companies, such as Remote Resources, they can work on a range of projects and gain exposure to different industries, programming languages, and client options. That’s because we have an end product where they can achieve a sense of ownership and a deeper personal stake in what they build.
Unfortunately, not all outsourcing companies provide the opportunities that Remote Resources gives its staff. Rather than improve the development of such a strong talent source they operate as little more than digital sweatshops, limiting workers into narrow practice areas and subjecting them to repetitive, unrewarding tasks. Likewise, some product companies lack supportive cultures and fail to make workers feel invested in their products.
Companies that invest time in their company culture, and employers that have regular open conversations with their staff - providing them with a clear career path - will usually get the best results and productivity. At Remote Resources, we recognise talent in our dedicated offshore team and develop staff through training and teamwork.
Offshore staffing companies can offer a better alternative to the onshore client companies with an office based in Vietnam. To the worker, it is no different to being employed by a foreign company in Vietnam with benefits that entail. Workers share a greater sense of belonging to an organisation that will nurture their talent and provide an ideal working environment for them to hone their skills. Working for a foreign company in Vietnam is highly regarded and leads to higher retention levels and greater recruited talent outcomes.