Payroll in Vietnam on 2022 lunar new year holiday: What Singapore employers should look out for

An ultimate guide to compensation, bonuses, and benefits on the 2022 Lunar new year holiday that’ll help foreign employers have a thorough understanding of how payroll works in Vietnam and thus, better their talent recruitment and retention in the country.

Vietnam overtime compensation on lunar new year holiday

Lunar new year or Tet is considered the most important holiday in Vietnam. It’s also the longest time off of the year for Vietnamese employees. In this year – 2022, the Tet holiday will be a nine-day break with five weekdays and four weekend days, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

So if employees are required to work during that period, the compensation will be 3 times for the extra working hours based on their current hourly salaries.

13th month’s salary vs Tet bonus

Local and foreign companies across industries in Vietnam have used those two to retain their talent there. If you’re new to the Vietnam labor market, read on as we believe the following will come in handy to you.

The 13th month’s salary is considered as a kind of annual bonus given to employees in Vietnam that have worked with the company for at least one year. For ones that have been with the company less than one year, the amount is smaller and usually based on their employment period. That partly explains why Q1 is the peak season of job switching and hiring in Vietnam while Q4 is usually the toughest period for employers to get new hires there. 

On the other hand, Tet bonus is a special bonus that is often paid to employees prior to their leaving for Tet holiday. The amount of it varies depending on both the company’s and the employee’s performance in the year. But the bonus doesn’t always have to be cash. In the past few years, for instance, employers in tech have rewarded their employees with company stock or shares as a bonus instead of money.

Signing/Sign-on bonus

In a competitive labor industry like IT, companies use the signing bonus – a one-time payment given when an employee begins a new job – to attract quality candidates. Depending on how important and urgent the position is to the company, employers can offer a signing bonus up to the candidate’s 1-month salary.

Attract and retain tech talent in Vietnam

The overtime compensation, the 13th-month salary, Tet, and signing bonus, all can certainly make a job offer more attractive, but only if they’re offered to a good fit for your JD.

Being in the field for over 5 years, we have helped Singapore-based companies attract and retain tech talent in Vietnam, who are competent in both coding and English communication skills.

Keen to explore how we help you hire and manage remote software engineers in Vietnam? Leave us a message here and we’ll get back to you shortly.

Happy hiring!