At a kindergarten built by Taekwang Vina Company (Photo: the company) N Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Manufacturing firms are increasingly focusing onoffering quality childcare services to ensure they retain workers.
“Without a factory-based childcarecentre, we would lose a lot of female workers who could not work due tothe difficulties of raising their children in the early stages,” said Dinh SyPhuc, head of the Labour Union Association of Taekwang Vina Company.
The export-oriented manufacturing sector hasbeen a key driver of economic growth and job creation in Vietnam, particularlyfor women who make up more than 80 percent of the sector’s workforce. While theglobal COVID-19 pandemic has impacted demand, the manufacturing industry iswell-positioned for recovery and growth, if workers can be retained.
With 35,000 employees, Taekwang Vina Companybased in Dong Nai province makes shoes for export and assemblesproducts for brands like Nike.
“It is of great effectiveness to attractfemale workers with the child-care centre and the childcarepolicies," Phuc told VietnamNews.
The firm’s centre was built at a cost of 50billion VND (2.15 million USD) on a green area inside the industrial zone (IZ)of Bien Hoa and has space for up to 500 children from three to six years old.As the centre also has extra-hour nursing available, Phuc said the women feelsecure leaving their children there to focus on their work.
He recalled the case of a disabledcouple who have been working for the firm for more than 10 years and had a babyfive years ago.
"It was a great opportunity for them asour centre opened when their daughter was at kindergarten age. They couldbring her to work and bring her back with them after work.”
“If not at least one of them would have tostay home or send their daughter back to their hometown 500km from the factoryand we would have lost one of our best workers," he added.
Last week IFC, a member of the World BankGroup, released a report that considered providing childcare for employees hasa positive impact on Vietnamese businesses, improving recruitment, retention,and worker productivity.
The IFC report 'Tackling Childcare: TheBusiness Case for Employer-Supported Childcare in Vietnam' said due to theprojected contraction of the nation’s workforce by five percent by 2040 due toan ageing population, the challenge for manufacturers will be to attract andretain quality workers
The report said offering childcare support toworking parents can be part of the solution.
Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Country Manager forVietnam, Cambodia, and Laos told VietnamNews: "The research reveals a gap between the need for and thesupply of childcare in Vietnam. Employers can play a role in addressing thisgap, not just by directly providing care, but by creating family-friendlyworkplaces that help employees combine productive work with parenting."
“When schools and daycares closed during the COVID-19pandemic, it became clear how closely linked productivity is to childcare. Wecannot forget that as we head into recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. There isan opportunity for businesses in Viet Nam to gain a competitive edge anddifferentiate themselves by introducing childcare support for employees,"he added.
With six case studies of companies withnearly 100,000 workers in the garment and footwear sector offering variouschildcare options, from on-site childcare to monthly childcare allowances, thereport found they all benefited from a reduction in employee turnover, improvedrecruitment and increased productivity.
Eric Lee, Human Resources Manager of TaekwangVina, said: “An average unplanned absenteeism rate of 0.6 percent across the33,000-people workforce costs the company close to 1 million USD a year.Opening a kindergarten has helped our factories cut unplanned absenteeism by 20percent. We have also seen a significant decrease in monthly worker turnovercompared to our other factory without a kindergarten.”
“The benefits certainly outweigh thechallenges and we believe childcare is an important part of the company’sgrowth strategy," he said.
IFC Gender Program Lead for EAP AmyLouinstra told Vietnam News:“There is an impressive reduction in staff turnover among working parentsat workplaces offering childcare support compared to at one without it. Thedifference could be nearly 200 percent. "
With many factories facing the risk of losingqualified workers, Louinstra said: “Lack of childcare is often the singlemost important reason for workers, especially female workers, leave their job.”
“In addition to on-site childcare facilities,employers can offer other, lessresource-intensive childcare support options, such as flexiblework hours, an emergency backup care, summer programmes for children, extendedpaternity and maternity leave or a breastfeeding lactation room for femaleworkers," she said.
“Manufacturers can have a better relationshipwith clients who appreciate their supplying factories to havechildcare for their employees,” she said, adding,"Other labour-intensive sectors like banking andtourism can also consider having childcare support and family-orientedpolicies as part of what can make them good employers and good businesses."
The IFC official also said there was a chancefor education centres to serve the demand of workers in the IZs across thecountry
“The private sector, which accounts for about90 percent of jobs in developing countries, is a critical engine for creatingmore and better jobs. They can work with the public to create markets forchildcare support.”
Louinstra said that while Vietnam alreadyspends more money than most of its neighbouring countries in ASEAN onearly childhood care and development, a lot more could still be done.
According to data, the current publicprovision of kindergarten, preschool and care is about 20 percent of marketdemand.
“So there is a lot more room to expand thesupply of quality and affordable childcare and preschool,” said Louinstra.
“There has to be a team effort in thechildcare support from employers, Government, parents and teachers. TheGovernment can look at incentivising private sector participation – both byhaving more employers providing childcare and promoting larger-scaleprivate-sector childcare businesses. In other countries, we can see franchisemodels or other larger-scale childcare provision moving into cities andindustrial zones.”
“There is still a gap between men and womenin Vietnam in labour participation of about 10 percentage points. Closing thegap will help contribute billions of dollars more to the economy," shesaid.
“Helping female workers with childcare andelderly-care responsibilities will enable them to work more productively,get better jobs and achieve better positions, including participationin leadership.”/.
“Without a factory-based childcarecentre, we would lose a lot of female workers who could not work due tothe difficulties of raising their children in the early stages,” said Dinh SyPhuc, head of the Labour Union Association of Taekwang Vina Company.
The export-oriented manufacturing sector hasbeen a key driver of economic growth and job creation in Vietnam, particularlyfor women who make up more than 80 percent of the sector’s workforce. While theglobal COVID-19 pandemic has impacted demand, the manufacturing industry iswell-positioned for recovery and growth, if workers can be retained.
With 35,000 employees, Taekwang Vina Companybased in Dong Nai province makes shoes for export and assemblesproducts for brands like Nike.
“It is of great effectiveness to attractfemale workers with the child-care centre and the childcarepolicies," Phuc told VietnamNews.
The firm’s centre was built at a cost of 50billion VND (2.15 million USD) on a green area inside the industrial zone (IZ)of Bien Hoa and has space for up to 500 children from three to six years old.As the centre also has extra-hour nursing available, Phuc said the women feelsecure leaving their children there to focus on their work.
He recalled the case of a disabledcouple who have been working for the firm for more than 10 years and had a babyfive years ago.
"It was a great opportunity for them asour centre opened when their daughter was at kindergarten age. They couldbring her to work and bring her back with them after work.”
“If not at least one of them would have tostay home or send their daughter back to their hometown 500km from the factoryand we would have lost one of our best workers," he added.
Last week IFC, a member of the World BankGroup, released a report that considered providing childcare for employees hasa positive impact on Vietnamese businesses, improving recruitment, retention,and worker productivity.
The IFC report 'Tackling Childcare: TheBusiness Case for Employer-Supported Childcare in Vietnam' said due to theprojected contraction of the nation’s workforce by five percent by 2040 due toan ageing population, the challenge for manufacturers will be to attract andretain quality workers
The report said offering childcare support toworking parents can be part of the solution.
Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Country Manager forVietnam, Cambodia, and Laos told VietnamNews: "The research reveals a gap between the need for and thesupply of childcare in Vietnam. Employers can play a role in addressing thisgap, not just by directly providing care, but by creating family-friendlyworkplaces that help employees combine productive work with parenting."
“When schools and daycares closed during the COVID-19pandemic, it became clear how closely linked productivity is to childcare. Wecannot forget that as we head into recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. There isan opportunity for businesses in Viet Nam to gain a competitive edge anddifferentiate themselves by introducing childcare support for employees,"he added.
With six case studies of companies withnearly 100,000 workers in the garment and footwear sector offering variouschildcare options, from on-site childcare to monthly childcare allowances, thereport found they all benefited from a reduction in employee turnover, improvedrecruitment and increased productivity.
Eric Lee, Human Resources Manager of TaekwangVina, said: “An average unplanned absenteeism rate of 0.6 percent across the33,000-people workforce costs the company close to 1 million USD a year.Opening a kindergarten has helped our factories cut unplanned absenteeism by 20percent. We have also seen a significant decrease in monthly worker turnovercompared to our other factory without a kindergarten.”
“The benefits certainly outweigh thechallenges and we believe childcare is an important part of the company’sgrowth strategy," he said.
IFC Gender Program Lead for EAP AmyLouinstra told Vietnam News:“There is an impressive reduction in staff turnover among working parentsat workplaces offering childcare support compared to at one without it. Thedifference could be nearly 200 percent. "
With many factories facing the risk of losingqualified workers, Louinstra said: “Lack of childcare is often the singlemost important reason for workers, especially female workers, leave their job.”
“In addition to on-site childcare facilities,employers can offer other, lessresource-intensive childcare support options, such as flexiblework hours, an emergency backup care, summer programmes for children, extendedpaternity and maternity leave or a breastfeeding lactation room for femaleworkers," she said.
“Manufacturers can have a better relationshipwith clients who appreciate their supplying factories to havechildcare for their employees,” she said, adding,"Other labour-intensive sectors like banking andtourism can also consider having childcare support and family-orientedpolicies as part of what can make them good employers and good businesses."
The IFC official also said there was a chancefor education centres to serve the demand of workers in the IZs across thecountry
“The private sector, which accounts for about90 percent of jobs in developing countries, is a critical engine for creatingmore and better jobs. They can work with the public to create markets forchildcare support.”
Louinstra said that while Vietnam alreadyspends more money than most of its neighbouring countries in ASEAN onearly childhood care and development, a lot more could still be done.
According to data, the current publicprovision of kindergarten, preschool and care is about 20 percent of marketdemand.
“So there is a lot more room to expand thesupply of quality and affordable childcare and preschool,” said Louinstra.
“There has to be a team effort in thechildcare support from employers, Government, parents and teachers. TheGovernment can look at incentivising private sector participation – both byhaving more employers providing childcare and promoting larger-scaleprivate-sector childcare businesses. In other countries, we can see franchisemodels or other larger-scale childcare provision moving into cities andindustrial zones.”
“There is still a gap between men and womenin Vietnam in labour participation of about 10 percentage points. Closing thegap will help contribute billions of dollars more to the economy," shesaid.
“Helping female workers with childcare andelderly-care responsibilities will enable them to work more productively,get better jobs and achieve better positions, including participationin leadership.”/.
VNA
