How Can Businesses Successfully Adopt Digital Transformation Amid High-tech Worker Shortage?

The talent shortage 

In 2021, Forbes listed the 30 fastest-growing industries in the next 10 years, and that list includes many tech-related jobs such as software developers, computer numerically controlled (CNC) programmers, etc. According to a survey by McKinsey, 61% of HR professionals believe hiring developers will be their biggest challenge in the years ahead.

Besides, the growth of technology and e-commerce companies also requires an abundant workforce. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, US), Vietnam is gradually becoming a new digital powerhouse in Southeast Asia and also one of two countries with the fastest e-commerce market growth in Southeast Asia (besides Philippines) – statistics provided by Google-Temasek-Bain. However, this creates a race for high-tech talents, which puts pressure for HR to attract talents amid the shortage.

The solution to the high-tech employee shortage  

Mr. Jack Nguyễn – Deputy CEO of Talentnet commented: “As remote working becomes popular, many large foreign businesses extend their recruitment to other countries to attract more high-tech workers. This attracts many Vietnamese talented IT workers because they can still work in Vietnam and receive much more salaries and compensation packages according to these companies’ policies.” 

Mr. Jack Nguyễn suggested two strategic moves to avoid “brain drain” and employee shortage:

Reskilling and upskilling: Leaders can promote training and provide technology-related knowledge for the internal workforce through short-term training programs, upgrading them to a higher level and having them ready for new roles. According to Mr. Jack, the strategy of improving internal human capital will yield outstanding advantage because these employees already possess a certain amount of knowledge, and the business only needs to upskill them with technology-related knowledge.

Reskilling and upskilling not only help businesses to utilize and retain talents but also save recruitment and training costs when hiring new employees. In addition, with these upskilling and reskilling programs employees will appreciate and feel valued by the company. Thereby, more attached to the business and increasing their value and contribution to the business.

Using a third-party recruitment service: Businesses can consider choosing executive search and selection services to shorten the time and costs. Headhunters often have an abundant source of qualified and well-selected candidates. With “ready-to-serve” experts from abroad, these agencies can help businesses quickly find suitable employees if the domestic talent pool cannot respond to business needs.

“With the necessary expertise and management skills, the candidates provided by this service are ready for high-level positions. Having collided with the diverse cultures of different companies, this workforce can adapt quickly to the dynamic and fast-paced working environment. As a result, businesses can focus on other strategic activities as catching up with the 4.0 transformation without worrying about dismissal due to incompatibility with the environment or corporate culture” – Mr. Jack confirmed.

Enterprises can also combine the two solutions above: both internal training to improve the digital skills of existing employees and consider using recruitment services to quickly fill the staffing gap. An HR strategy that combines both internal and external support will bring optimal efficiency, not only meeting the needs of instant digital transformation but also helping businesses transform themselves to be ready for the digital era.

Source: VnEconomy