The Gen Z is now growing up and is expected to enter the workforce within the next few years. Now, business leaders need to be ahead in harnessing the generation’s talents and appealing to their interests.

In 2018, Nielsen published an article titled ‘How to engage with Generation Z in Vietnam. It is expected that Gen Z will comprise 25{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the labour workforce in the country by 2025. The article also described this generation as the cohort that embraces multiculturalism with care for environmental matters, gender equality, and social responsibility.

These characteristics are prominent when Gen Z workers express the sentiment through brand choices; whereas, 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} favor brand that mirrors Vietnamese cultures and values.

How Generation Z will choose their careers

Gen Z workers will be cautious. They are most likely to seek sensible career choices that are shaped by practical realities.

Adecco Vietnam reports that when it comes to choosing a job, Gen’s top priority is salary and benefits followed by professional recognition of qualities and job satisfaction.

The survey revealed that 48{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Gen Z learned about career choices through social media, while 19{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said it was through school or university. These figures complement their attitude towards technology, not knowing a world without smartphones and social media.

In a Forbes article published in 2018 titled ‘Understanding Vietnam’s Generation Z’, Gen Z uses an average of 2.77 social media platforms each week. But surprisingly, this group is least interested in sharing personal lives on social media for public record and are most likely to use anonymous social media platforms like Snapchat.

Additionally, Gen Z workers will retain the connection of their jobs to social impact as the top priority. This is according to Dell Technologies’ research in 2018 titled ‘Gen Z: The Future has Arrived. While Gen Z is seeking for job security and monetary motivation, they are also less interested in climbing the corporate ladder and are more likely to support their companies’ growth and success. 43{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that they want to work in environmentally and socially responsible organisations.

Boosting the skills of the future workforce

Technological advancements and labour markets’ rapid changes impacted the youth’s skills and are prompting them to upgrade or risk being outdated. 

World Economic Forum (WEF) conducted a research this year which revealed that 69.3{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Vietnamese youth expressed awareness on the importance of updating their current education and skills.

Adecco Malaysia and Vietnam’s General Director, Andree Mangels, said:

“They start to look for internship opportunities right in the first year of college and don’t hesitate to broaden their networks through events. Yet, their skills are still very academic, which required additional training, especially soft skills.”

Vocational schools in Vietnam are pushed to include soft skills training in their curriculum to meet the market needs. 49{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Vietnam’s Gen Z claimed that fruitful sources come from internship programs. 41{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that it may come from student clubs and 35{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} noted part-time jobs.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) partnered with SAP and has announced plans of providing quality education, digital skills, and life skills training for the disadvantaged Vietnamese communities to help them prepare for decent work.

The Vietnamese government will also take part in the plan to enhance 11,000 secondary and vocational school students in Vietnam in the first year.

Josephin Galla, Managing Direcot of SAP Vietnam, said:

“Businf Adecco Malaysia and Vietnam, said that Vietnam’s Gen Zs are proactive. “They start to look for internship opportunities right in the first year of college and don’t hesitate to broaden their networks through events. Yet, their skills are still very academic, which required additional training, especially soft skills.”

Additionally, the Boeing Company and The Asia Foundation announced plans to open a one-year vocational training that will focus on the development of practical information skills for Hanoi and Hai Duong’s disadvantaged young adults.

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Public sector expert Josephine Galla has been appointed managing director of SAP Vietnam, with a particular mandate to assist the Vietnam government in leveraging technology as a catalyst for economic growth.

Galla has more than a decade’s experience in the technology sector working across public services, mining and utilities. Most recently, she led a team of industry value advisors across South East ASiaa and worked as part of SAP China’s Growth Plan as a global account director, managing some of the largest mining and utilise customers.

Galla will report to Claus Andresen, president and managing director of SAP Southeast Asia.

“With the Vietnam government gearing up all sectors towards Industry 4.0, Vietname continues to be one of the most vibrant and dynamic economies in the region. SAP’s deep industry expertise in public and private sectors puts us in a unique position to use intelligent technologies to help the country compete in the digital economy. We remain bullish in growing SAP Vietnam and I believe Josephin has the passion to propel our growth ambition,” Andresen said.

“SAP Vietnam opened its doors to business 10 years ago, and during these 10 years of operations, we continue to serve over 450 customers in nine industries. With 70 per cent of our customers being SMEs, this just shows that SAP is the technology of choice whatever the size of business. We remain focused to work side by side with every business in Vietnam in their digital transformation journey.”

Galla said, “Now is an exciting time to be in Vietnam where both public and private sectors are united in the mandate to become an industrialized nation by 2020, build smart cities and drive sustainable development, and empower SMEs for Industry 4.0. Our vision in SAP is to power Digital Vietnam where we have highly innovative solutions to help the government’s aim to improve government services, equip Vietnamese youth with digital skills to be future-ready, and the right Design Thinking approach to co-innovate with our stakeholders. This kind of transformative vision energises me, and I look forward to working with the local team to make this happen.”

Verona Siow has also been appointed as managing director of SAP Indochina, taking responsibility for scaling the business across Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan and Maldives.

Siow has been with SAP for almost seven years, most recently as managing director of strategic conglomerates for SAP Southeast Asia. In this role, she drove the go-to-market strategies and business for the conglomerates across the region, building sustainable relationships, executive-level partnerships and innovation roadmaps with these lighthouse customers, many of which are family-owned.

Siow will report to Andresen, who commented on the appointment: “The Indochina region is a highly diverse yet major economic performer with an openness towards modernising industries and innovation. Thailand 4.0, for example, is leading the charge in creating a value-based economy driven by technology, innovation and creativity. This kind of openness is what makes us at SAP completely adamant in helping these countries thrive in the digital economy.”

“The Indochina region is a vast, diverse and prosperous economic growth area. Almost every industry from agriculture to retail are fertile prospects,” said Siow. “With Thailand 4.0’s welcoming stance towards technology driving their economy, I am thrilled to get the ground running on how SAP can support Thailand’s innovation goals. At the same time, all the rest of the countries in Indochina are coming into their own and I believe technology can even help these countries leapfrog to progress and be at par with the growth levels in Southeast Asia. Our purpose at SAP resonates well in helping these countries run better and improve the lives of their citizens.”

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The SAP employees, from across the Americas, Europe and Asia, acted as consultants to help two social enterprises, a non-profit organisation and a registered charity address operational challenges and propose solutions in areas such as strategy, marketing, IT, HR, finance and consulting to sustain their social mandate. At the end of the program, the employees delivered a sustainable business plan to each organisation that would help them improve their operating models.

The education organisations selected for the project included Saigon Children’s Charity, a UK-registered charity that aims to eliminate poverty through education; Teach for Vietnam, a non-profit organisation under the umbrella of Teach for All; and G.A.P. Institute, a social enterprise founded by trainers who had 10 years experience in youth development.

SAP employees also worked with XanhShop, a social enterprise that helps farmers and producers develop eco-friendly products and encourages them to practice natural farming, to bring clean and chemical-free local products to every household to enhance their health and quality of life.

With the challenge of managing a perishable food supply chain, XanhShop looked at the SAP team to deliver recommendations on how they can better manage their limited resources to optimise their supply chain.

“With agriculture being one of the key sectors driving the Vietnamese economy, there is a pressing need for the industry to transform and give farmers the means to access technology that can help manage their trade and harvests; and also predict in terms of products and income,” said Maria Soledad Petrucci, finance specialist, SAP Argentina. “XanhShop delivers an innovative business model for farmers to connect with their ecosystem, and with SAP solutions, the organization is better in improving its operations, processes and communication with the supplier farms to cope with the demands of the local market.”

The SAP Social Sabbatical program allows SAP talent around the world to contribute time and expertise to assist in empowering organisations in the education or entrepreneurship sector in emerging markets, including assistance in strengthening leadership competencies, cross industry sector know-how and intercultural sensitivity.

“As a company, SAP understands the value of education in supporting the advancement of society and we are constantly looking for opportunities to partner with organizations that has this mission at the core of its purpose. We hope that the mentorship that we have provided to these organizations have enabled them to sustain their operations as they continue to bridge the gap and provide youths in Vietnam with access to education,” said Nadine Elsham, customer engagement executive, SAP UK, one of the SAP employee participants.

“SAP is committed to helping the world run better and improving peoples’ lives by making strategic social investments that have a lasting and sustainable impact on society. We are pleased to see the organizations that we have collaborated in this program benefiting from the knowledge and insights shared by our top talents. With this program, SAP wants to help social entrepreneurs and expanding educational organisations unlock their potential to create sustainable economic growth and social impact,” explains Liher Urbizu, managing director, SAP Indochina.

“Through this SAP Social Sabbatical program, our aim is to empower our best talents in skills-based volunteering. SAP is a place where the next generation of leaders can apply their talents to make people’s lives simpler and improve their future well-being. This is an important part of our social investment strategy, especially as we identify ASEAN as a growth frontier region. Giving back to our community to make this a better place to live, work and play is part of our SAP focus, here in Vietnam and around the world.”

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