Amidst busy days preparing for pre-Tet export orders, Vo Thanh Vin (Head of International Market Development) could not hide his pride in his eyes when he contributed to exploring the 60th export market for Vinamilk along with the international sales team. Nicaragua is not too strict about technical standard barriers but is quite complex in terms of import procedures and documents. Vin and the International Business Department had to spend months pursuing it to open the door to the largest country in Central America.
“Every time I see Vinamilk products placed on the shelves of supermarkets in other countries, we feel that our efforts are all worth it. For us, it’s not just the business story of a company, but also the pride of contributing to bringing Vietnamese goods to the international market,” said the 9x guy.
Vo Thanh Vin (2nd from right) with the international sales team and partners attending the Fine Food Australia Fair in Melbourne in September 2022.
That pride also encouraged Vin to sign up for the first ever Management Trainee program of Vinamilk nearly 10 years ago. Vin shared that during his time participating in the student exchange program in the United States, he accidentally came across Vinamilk products on the shelves of supermarkets in one of the world’s leading consumer markets. That image sparked a strong love for the brand, which had become familiar to Vietnamese people. Through research, he realized that Vinamilk’s working environment was quite suitable for him as it created opportunities for young people to learn and develop continuously, giving them the chance to experience new things…
“For us students back then, becoming a Vinamilk staff member was a big dream. Even until now, every time I say that I am working at Vinamilk, the person in front of me can still feel the pride in my introduction,” Vin added.
Salary is not always a top priority
Surveys on the labor market indicate that the impact of Covid-19 and the volatility of the global situation have contributed to changes in job search trends and workers’ expectations. Although salary and benefits are still the top priority factors when looking for a new job, employees are paying more attention to issues such as comprehensive healthcare programs, career advancement opportunities, learning and development opportunities, and sustainable business development orientation…
“There are three daring words that I believe, no matter what the situation is, businesses can apply to confidently conquer modern laborers,” said Ms. Tieu Yen Trinh – CEO of Talentnet. The three daring words that she mentioned include: dare to step out of the comfort zone, dare to give up old habits to innovate and dare to create, expand vision to create value for people and society.
“And I want to emphasize on the third daring word. Businesses need to expand their vision and create value, thereby improving the experience and quality of life for employees and the community,” said the HR consultancy expert.
Agreeing with this view, Mr. Do Hong Quang – Mechanical, Automation and Project Implementation Engineer – said that stable income used to be a factor he considered when deciding to join Vinamilk. But certainly, salary is not the most important thing to keep an employee for nearly 2 decades.
With a personality that likes to learn and always seeks better solutions for every problem, Mr. Quang especially appreciates the openness to new ideas at Vinamilk. The most recent example is that he noticed that using outer shrink-wrap on Probi packs did not bring many benefits to customers while consuming large production costs. He spent time carefully researching and bravely proposing to eliminate this shrink-wrap layer. The idea was then seriously studied, analyzing the pros and cons before being applied in practice. Estimates show that if operated at design capacity, this idea could help the leading Vietnamese dairy unit save more than VND 40 billion in production costs and 202 tons of plastic waste.
“A positive working culture that encourages employees to share ideas with each other. When there is a new proposal, people will not immediately reject it but will thoroughly study it, find every way to turn a good idea into reality. That is the reason why I stay at Vinamilk, even though I have received many offers with better treatment,” Quang shared.
Mr. Do Hong Quang – Mechanical, Automation and Project Implementation Engineer at Vinamilk.
The best working environment is the most suitable place for each person
“The best working environment is the most suitable place for each employee,” Ms. Bui Thi Huong – Chief Human Resources, Administration and External Relations Officer of a company that has held the No. 1 position in the Top 100 Best Workplaces in Vietnam for many years, said. “At Vinamilk, we always strive to create an environment where employees can continuously improve their qualifications and promote their own values,” she added.
Since joining Vinamilk, employees have been participating in the integration and experience program for new employees. Through programs such as Farm and Factory Discovery Journey for new employees, United in Sales together… new personnel can better understand the company’s culture and build love for the brand.
Tour of the factory and farm helps new staff members better understand the corporate culture and build love for the brand.
“D-Day – United in Sales with sales staff members” event attracted the participation of 2,000 employees from offices, farms to factories, helping everyone understand each other’s work and feel proud of Vinamilk’s business activities.
In 2023, the “dairy giant” organized 584 training courses on quality management, policies, skills, mindset… attracting the participation of 28,000 employees. Estimated total internal training time at Vinamilk is up to 300,000 hours, equivalent to the time it takes to read 75,000 200-page books. In addition, the company continuously sponsors employees to participate in training programs, workshops of reputable organizations such as the University of Technology, KPMG, TikTok, Tetra Pak, or leading global marketing communication units.
To encourage employees to continue to improve their capabilities, the company also organizes various scholarship programs such as the Full Scholarship for the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program of PACE Business School, the Master of Business Administration (MBA Talent 2024) Scholarship, and the Leadership Skills Development Scholarship of FMIT Academy…
Along with that, sports, art activities, or travel programs for long-term members… create an environment for exchange and sharing among units/departments, as well as enhance the connection between employees and the company.
Collective activities create an environment for exchange, sharing among employees and strengthen the bond between employees and the brand.
Amidst the volatile economic situation, Vinamilk always ensures salary and welfare levels, which allows employees to wholeheartedly develop their long-term careers. The company has persistently collaborated with Mercer – Vietnam’s leading salary consultancy unit – to develop a competence assessment system and a corresponding salary mechanism based on results, contributing to creating a transparent working environment. Health issues, both physical and mental, of employees are fully taken care of through regular health check programs, health insurance, vacation expenses, birthday/wedding gifts…
Recently, Vinamilk was honored with the Great Place to Work certification for its excellent workplace culture. Unlike other certifications that are usually voted by the community, the Great Place to Work certification is given by the company’s employees themselves. Only companies that are rated excellent by over 65% of employees participating in the evaluation can receive this certification.
With the participation of nearly 3,000 employees, Vinamilk is one of the few candidates in Vietnam to receive the Great Place to Work certification this year, with 83% of participants giving excellent evaluations. In which, up to 93% of employees wholeheartedly believe that the company is fulfilling its mission of serving the community through good actions.
“Certification is a reliable survey to help businesses better understand the thoughts, assessments of employees about the working environment, culture, development opportunities, work motivation, love, pride in the brand, and trust in the leadership. Through that, we have the opportunity to adjust our human resources development strategy as well as policies to attract and retain talent even better,” Ms. Huong shared.
