Making a leap with “hunting” and retaining talent

Strategic move

At the end of November 2024, the Vietnamese technology and startup community shared the announcement that Sky Mavis - a billion-dollar startup in Vietnam - would lay off 21% of its staff.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, co-founder of Sky Mavis, this decision is not related to the company's budget or financial situation. This is a strategic move to allow for clearer focus and position Sky Mavis for growth in 2025 and beyond.

Sky Mavis did not share which departments would be streamlined or how the process would be implemented, but affirmed that employees would receive a severance package as well as support in finding new jobs.

Sky Mavis is a Vietnamese company as it was founded by Vietnamese shareholders (in addition to 2 foreign shareholders). The CEO of Sky Mavis is Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung. However, Sky Mavis's headquarters are located in Singapore.

In 2023, the company said it would have about 250 employees globally, of which 200 are in the Vietnam office. Mr. Trung assessed that recent crypto-friendly policies are expected to create a wave of innovation along with Web3 projects, which could create a big change similar to 2018, when the company launched the game Axie Infinity. From there, the company decided to focus on the goals of Ronin Wallet, Mavis Marketplace, expanding the Ronin blockchain to attract more developers as well as releasing more Web3 games.

Sky Mavis's decision was announced in the context of the cryptocurrency market recovering and Bitcoin approaching the $100,000 mark. Previously, Sky Mavis was also one of the few startups with a Vietnamese founder valued at over $1 billion, also known as a "unicorn".

Sky Mavis is famous for the game Axie Infinity, pioneering the play-to-earn trend and causing a fever during the pandemic when helping many people earn income from the game. To operate the game, they also built a blockchain called Ronin.

However, after the play-to-earn craze had many problems, combined with the Ronin bridge being hacked and stealing $600 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2022, the company made many changes. Including providing a free-to-play version of Axie Infinity as well as making Ronin a platform for Web3 games.

According to Mr. Trung's announcement, Ronin is still the third most used blockchain in the world, with more than 1.1 million daily active addresses. The Ronin wallet application also reached over 10 million downloads.

Also in the technology and electronics sector, Samsung previously cut thousands of employees in Southeast Asia. However, Samsung has no plans to lay off employees in the domestic market. Currently, Samsung has about 147,000 employees abroad, accounting for more than half of the total of more than 267,800 employees, according to Samsung's latest sustainability report. The company does not set a specific number target for any position. There is also no information about staff cuts in Vietnam.

But the above information is just the tip of the iceberg. Ms. Thien Kim, co-founder of Aniday (a recruitment platform that owns the largest headhunter network in Vietnam), said that the layoffs were not as widespread as the previous period, but most of them did not hire more when employees quit. In particular, although business is growing, most do not hire more workers, but invest in digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase labor productivity.

According to this representative, AI can cause 14% of the global workforce to need to change careers from now until 2030. This is an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises to recruit a group of experts with expertise and experience at suitable salaries.

Navigos Search data also shows that by the end of 2023, the global information technology industry will experience a large wave of layoffs, with more than 262,000 employees losing their jobs, mainly from large technology companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft... The main reason is due to the hot growth after the Covid-19 pandemic leading to over-recruitment and ineffective operations.

In Vietnam, according to observations from Navigos Search, the labor market in the information technology - telecommunications industry still has high recruitment needs, especially for experienced personnel (accounting for 77.3%). The reason is that the need for digital transformation of domestic enterprises and the investment of foreign projects in Vietnam are factors that create a favorable environment for the information technology industry to continue to develop.

However, according to data from recruitment consulting group Robert Walters, in the face of increasing competitive pressure and changes in employee priorities, businesses in Vietnam are actively adjusting their strategies to attract and retain talent effectively.

Accordingly, in 2025, businesses are expected to increase recruitment in areas such as human resources, legal and finance to support business expansion and growth strategies. In addition, positions in development-oriented departments such as sales, marketing and business development are still focused. Salary increases are expected to remain stable at 15-25% in most industries. According to Anphabe, in 2024, 33% of businesses participating in the survey said they will expand their human resources in the near future. Notably, only 9% of units shared that they will continue to cut staff. The number of employees receiving salary increases this year is 10% higher than the same period last year.

Benefits package competition headache

According to Robert Walters 2025 Salary Survey, many important trends are shaping the way organizations approach the volatile job market. A highlight is the salary increase plan at many businesses, when 82% of surveyed companies said they will adjust salaries in 2025.

In addition to salary increases, employers also focus on improving talent attraction programs through competitive bonuses (76%) and investing in comprehensive training and development programs (67%). These initiatives not only help attract potential candidates, but also contribute to building a team of highly capable employees who are committed to the organization for the long term.

However, attracting talent is only one side of the problem, retaining talent is another difficult problem. A survey by Robert Walters shows that 59% of employers admit that competition in recruiting talent and difficulties in offering competitive benefits packages continue to be major challenges.

According to Anphabe, in 2024, the happiness index of Vietnamese employees is falling to its lowest level in the past 5 years. As of the third quarter of 2024, only 49% of Vietnamese human resources have positive happiness indicators. Of which, the two indicators of feeling joy and excitement at work and not considering looking for another job decreased to 39% and 43% respectively.

One of the reasons is said to come from financial pressure. Nowadays, personal finance is the biggest concern for employees.

Out of 3 employees, only 1 person has positive financial "health". Even up to 74% of Vietnamese employees feel that their current income is not enough to cover their living expenses and meet their basic needs. Accumulating to own large assets such as housing is becoming more difficult, in the context of escalating prices and limited benefits.

More than half of Vietnamese employees believe that their company is paying them unfairly, making them worried about their financial stability in the future. Only 35% of employees are comfortable living on their monthly salary, the rest have to do freelance work, invest or "ask for help" from their family.

According to Ms. Thanh Nguyen, CEO and inspiration director at Anphabe, many unstable incomes will make employees with low financial "health" more likely to intend to quit their jobs. According to the survey, this group of employees intend to quit their jobs in the next 6 months 4 times higher than other groups.

Even for employees who feel happy at work, more than half of them are still willing to change jobs if they receive better benefits than their previous company. The reason is that they highly value a job that gives them a sense of financial security. Financial security here means that if an unexpected incident occurs, they are still assured that they have the ability to handle it.

Therefore, human resource recruitment consultants believe that a promising approach is to recruit candidates based on potential, instead of just relying on current expertise. Focusing on nurturing and developing long-term talent will help businesses build a team of employees that can grow and adapt with the organization. At the same time, companies are also making efforts to adjust benefits and policies to meet employees' expectations, creating a harmonious working environment that benefits both parties.

According to Mr. Pham Tuan Phuc, CEO of Robert Walters Vietnam, salary and benefits are still key factors in attracting and retaining talent. Companies should ensure that their benefits package is competitive with industry standards, and recognize and celebrate employee achievements through recognition events, annual awards, or peer review programs.

Additional perks such as additional paid time off are also effective ways to boost morale and build loyalty. Furthermore, providing career development opportunities such as training, mentoring, or a clear path to advancement is key to keeping employees engaged with the organization./.