A female worker at Dai Dung Electrical Mechanical JSC
Nguyen Xuan Son from Manpower Group said, "When customers tell us that they want to hire only men or women, we'll consult with them that they will lose 50% of potential candidates. We always suggest expanding their recruitment sources."
Vietnam has a high rate of working women compared to other countries, however, there is still discrimination. For example, women in the coastal areas are often not allowed to work aboard vessels or become a captain.
Trinh Manh Hung, director of Dai Dung Electrical Mechanical JSC, said that their line of work was more suitable for men but they still had preferential policies for female workers which account for 15% of total 3,000 workers. During maternity leave, the workers will be paid 85% of the extra shift salary.
According to Son, in order to improve recruitment equality, firms must be more open-minded, pro-active and use technology that can enable women to work from home.
At the conference, many experts suggested letting workers decide their retirement age. Hung said manual workers often wanted to retire at 50 while male managers wanted to retire at 60, while female managers wanted to retire at 55.
Nguyen Giang Nam from Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association agreed, saying that there were many people wanted to keep working despite their age.
