Compared to 2024, the labor market in the early months of 2025 has seen a 19% increase in demand. This reflects the reality of the workforce shortage faced by many businesses. Let’s explore the reasons with KMC to find effective solutions.
What problems and challenges does the shortage of high-quality workforce cause?
Reduced productivity and performance
The increasing number of customers requires employees not only to have good soft skills but also to be proficient in IT to handle a heavy workload.
Therefore, the lack of IT experts or IT-savvy staff can make it difficult for businesses to apply new technologies, leading to work overload. As a result, it reduces work performance and affects the quality of products or services.
Increased recruitment and training costs
Although many people are looking for jobs, not everyone is professionally competent or suitable for the company. Therefore, posting job vacancies, interviewing, and training new employees to meet job requirements demand significant time and financial investment from businesses. Particularly for FDI enterprises, finding personnel who can use foreign languages and understand international corporate culture further increases costs and time.
Limited opportunities for development and expansion
The lack of high-quality personnel makes it difficult for businesses to implement new projects or expand markets, especially in industries requiring specialized skills such as software development, graphic design, or supply chain management. Additionally, this challenge delays the progress of strategic plans, causing businesses to miss out on global market competition opportunities.
Risk of reduced product and service quality
When employees lack the skills or time to perform tasks thoroughly, product and service quality may be affected. This is especially serious for FDI enterprises, where customers often have high expectations for international standards. A poor-quality product or service can reduce reputation and customer trust, causing long-term damage to the brand.
Losing customers and declining competitiveness
Do many customers need to inquire about product-related issues at the same time while you don’t have enough staff to assist? Your business might lose customers to competitors.
Risk of surplus of low-skilled labor
The business market is always evolving, so the workforce needs to constantly update their expertise. If employees are not proactive and businesses do not retrain them, there is a risk of a surplus of low-skilled workers, which increases unemployment and destabilizes the labor market.
Breakthrough Solutions to Address Workforce Shortages
Build an attractive employer brand
A reputable and trustworthy employer brand can attract high-quality candidates and help retain talent. Here are things businesses can do to achieve that:
You can create engaging media content by sharing stories about company culture, core values, and development opportunities through channels like LinkedIn, company websites, or introductory videos. For example, sharing employee success stories or organizing online events can help showcase the work environment.
The recruitment process also affects candidates’ impressions of the company. Therefore, the process should be friendly, transparent, and quick. Specifically, you need to respond promptly after each interview round and provide clear information about the career path.
Promoting policies such as flexible working arrangements, health insurance, or employee care programs can leave a positive impression.
Optimize the recruitment process
To find and attract suitable talent, businesses need to optimize their recruitment process. Below are several effective methods:
Use recruitment technology platforms like LinkedIn, Recruiter, VietnamWorks, or AI tools to analyze resumes and identify potential candidates, helping businesses save significant time.
The company can search for candidates from non-traditional sources such as freelancer communities, remote workers, or by collaborating with universities to recruit fresh graduates.
Businesses can change recruitment methods to attract young and creative candidates through virtual interviews, video CVs, or gamification (integrating games into the recruitment process).
Talent retention strategy
Retaining skilled employees is key to minimizing workforce shortages. Some solutions include:
Create a positive working environment by building a company culture that encourages creativity, idea exchange, and employee achievement recognition. For example, you can organize knowledge-sharing sessions or regular reward programs.
Provide a clear development path by establishing promotion plans and mentoring programs. This helps employees feel invested in and motivated to stay long-term.
Offer flexible personal benefits packages such as tuition support, flexible working hours, or mental health care programs.
Invest in internal training
Training and developing current employees is an effective way to address skill shortages. Businesses can:
Build in-depth training programs such as courses on soft skills, digital skills, or industry-specific expertise. Specific examples include providing courses on AI technology or project management for employees.
Create internal forums for employees to share knowledge or invite external experts for training. Building such a continuous learning environment encourages employees to constantly develop themselves.
Use technology platforms for training such as e-learning: Coursera, Udemy, or learning management systems (LMS) so employees can study at their own pace.
Collaborate with educational institutions and partners
Establishing partnerships with universities, training centers, or professional organizations helps businesses access potential human resources.
Businesses can collaborate with university internship and recruitment programs to identify and train talent early.
When collaborating with other businesses in the industry, you not only share resources but also reduce risks and enhance the ability to meet human resource needs.
Connecting with industry associations or startup communities helps the company more easily find candidates with specialized skills.
The shortage of high-quality workforce is a difficult problem for businesses. To solve this issue, you need to know how to retain talent, optimize the recruitment process, apply technology, and build an employer brand to attract talent. However, if you want to save time, you can immediately connect with a KMC expert to receive a free assessment of your current human resource status and a personalized roadmap.
