Multinational companies managers paycheck higher than domestic firms: survey

[ASEAN NOW News]

An employee counts Vietnamese banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy.

 

Managers in Vietnamese enterprises receive 41 percent less salary than their counterparts in multinational companies (MNCs), according to a recent survey done by two human resource companies according to a VN Express report.

 

The survey by Talentnet and Mercer covering six hundred businesses found Vietnamese enterprises were paying 35 percent less basic salary than MNCs.

 

The difference at positions below management level was 21 percent. The higher the position, the larger the difference, the survey found.

 

"The managers of domestic enterprises get 41 percent less salary than similar positions at a multinational company, which is around $44,000 a year," said Hoa Nguyen, senior consultant with Talentnet.

 

However, domestic enterprises tend to pay more expenses, bonuses, and stock purchase incentives than multinational companies.

 

The salary disparity also appears between industry groups and departments within companies. Oil and gas, supply and chemicals are sectors with the highest salary among foreign companies.

 

For domestic enterprises, real estate is the leading industry in terms of basic salary, followed by financial and non-banking service sector, which are growing strongly and generating great profits.

 

Data analysis is the highest-paid department in foreign companies for both expert and management positions. The next highest-paid departments at the management level are treasury services, investment management and wealth management.

 

Administration, quality management and production divisions receive the lowest salaries in the enterprises, the survey found.

 

Most MNC respondents said that they still maintained performance-based bonuses. Finance – non-banking, finance – banking and agriculture were the three sectors with the highest bonus payers, ranging from 19.8- 24.9 percent of basic salary per year.

 

No pay rises

 

In 2021, about 7.7 percent of domestic enterprises and 6.4 percent of multinational companies did not raise the salaries because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

This marked a fall from the first year of Covid-19, when the rate of enterprises putting salary adjustment plans on pause was 34 percent domestically and 14 percent internationally.

 

Thirty-eight percent of enterprises that participated in the survey said they will recruit more people next year for their business expansion plans and another 38 percent said their staff strength will remain unchanged. Only 3 percent said they intend to cut staff.

 

The rest said they have not specific decisions because the pandemic situation was still complicated.