Pharma, consumer goods firms offer highest salary rises Pharmaceutical, consumer goods and chemicals have become the top industries in terms of wage increases in Vietnam this year, according to a survey conducted by Mercer, a global provider of human resource services, and Talentnet Corporation. Salary increases of the three sectors are 11% as shown in the survey, which attracted the participation of 473 multinational and local companies with nearly 165,000 employees in various industries. Hoa Nguyen, leader of Mercer Remuneration Surveys and Human Resource Consulting at Talentnet, explained incomes of employees in the sectors have been stable or on the rise as they have not been impacted by economic slowdown as much as other industries. Real estate, banking and oil-gas sectors have reported the lowest salary increases of 9% or less due to the impact of economic slowdown. For bonus payouts, banking and oil-gas sectors have topped with 22.7% and 17.7% respectively. Trading and technology are the two sectors with the lowest bonuses. The survey pointed out that the difference in base salaries paid by multinationals and Vietnamese companies still remains high, at 30%. The difference has gradually widened from professional to executive levels. However, local enterprises usually offer high bonuses than foreign firms. To attract talent from multinationals, local firms are willing to pay high salaries but it would take a couple of years before big local companies’ wages catch up with those at multinationals, Hoa said. To retain the best employees, local enterprises often use long-term incentives such as shares and share options in addition to salaries. Employers have managed to retain and hunt for sales managers, sales executives and marketing managers. During periods of tough market conditions, sales managers are more important to enterprises. The survey indicated that the employee turnover rate last year decreased slightly against the previous year and was the lowest in the past five years. Multinationals had lower turnover rates than local companies at 12% versus 17%. The highest turnover ratio was in pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and insurance sectors due to talent shortages. SGT