Vietnam's Workforce in 2026 Is Not Waiting: Six Findings Every Employer Needs to Know

Market Context

Vietnam's labour market has entered a new phase. After years of steady growth, the country's professional workforce is now more informed, more mobile, and more selective than at any point in recent memory. Sustained foreign direct investment, rapid digital transformation across industries, and the maturation of online recruitment platforms have fundamentally changed the dynamic between employers and talent.

To understand what this shift means in practice, Reeracoen Vietnam surveyed 254 working professionals across the country in the first half of 2026. The Vietnam Worker Sentiment Study 2026 covered seven themes: workforce mobility, compensation attitudes, retention risk, international aspirations, economic confidence, working arrangements, and digital readiness. The findings paint a clear picture of a workforce that has moved on.

For employers, HR leaders, and business decision-makers, the data carries direct strategic implications. This article summarises the six most commercially significant findings.

Finding 1: 91% of Your Workforce Is Already in the Market

The study found that 64% of employed Vietnamese workers plan to change jobs in 2026. More striking is the broader mobility figure: 91% of respondents are either actively searching for new roles or passively open to opportunities. Only 10% describe themselves as firmly committed to staying with their current employer.

This is not a dissatisfied workforce. It is a continuously evaluating one. Digital job platforms have made passive market awareness the default state for professional workers, regardless of how satisfied they are in their current role. The practical implication for employers is that recruiting pressure is permanent, not cyclical.

The top reasons workers give for considering a move are: seeking higher salary (53%), better career advancement (40%), better work-life balance (35%), and fewer learning opportunities (21%). Salary leads, but the aggregate weight of non-monetary factors significantly exceeds it.

Finding 2: Salary Is Necessary, But No Longer Sufficient

When asked to name the single most important factor in evaluating a new role, only 23% of respondents cited base salary. The remaining 77% selected non-monetary considerations: work-life balance (18%), job stability (13%), training and upskilling opportunities (12%), career advancement (11%), company culture (11%), and quality of leadership (8%).

The data goes further. 67% of workers say they would accept lower pay for better overall working conditions. Broken down by specific benefit, 60% would accept a pay cut for stronger mental health and wellbeing support, 45% for better work-life balance, and 44% for greater job stability.

These numbers challenge the assumption that salary is the primary retention and attraction lever. For employers competing in a tight talent market, the total value proposition has become the real battleground.

Finding 3: Retention Risk Is More Acute Than Most Employers Realise

Only 43% of workers express any likelihood of remaining with their current employer over the next 12 months. Of the remainder, 43% say they are unlikely or very unlikely to stay, while 30% are undecided.

That undecided 30% is the most commercially significant group in the dataset. They have not made a decision to leave, which means a well-timed, well-targeted retention intervention has a meaningful probability of keeping them. The window is open, but it will not stay open indefinitely.

The good news embedded in this data: only 4% of workers say that no factor would make them stay. That means 96% of workers who are considering leaving remain retainable with the right actions.

Finding 4: Three in Four Workers Prefer a Foreign-Owned Employer

75% of respondents say they prefer working for a foreign-owned company over a locally-owned Vietnamese firm. Only 5% actively prefer a Vietnamese-owned employer, and the remaining 19% see no meaningful difference.

The preference is not primarily financial. Workers associate foreign employers with clearer career structures, stronger governance, better working environments, and international exposure. These are communicable, deliverable advantages for organisations that choose to activate them.

The findings are particularly significant for Japanese-affiliated companies, which make up a large proportion of Vietnam's foreign-invested business community. Japan also leads as the top overseas destination among Vietnamese professionals considering working abroad, with 65% open to or actively considering an international career within three years.

Finding 5: Hybrid Work Is No Longer a Benefit. It Is the Baseline.

65% of Vietnamese workers prefer hybrid working arrangements. Only 7% want fully remote work, suggesting workers value in-person collaboration but want meaningful autonomy over when and how they come into the office. The 27% who prefer mainly or fully in-office work is a meaningful segment, particularly in manufacturing, construction, and client-facing sectors.

Employers who have not formalised a clear, credible hybrid policy are already losing candidates before compensation discussions begin. Candidates in professional roles are increasingly filtering out employers based on working arrangement policies during initial screening, before a job offer is even on the table.

Finding 6: Vietnam's Workforce Is Ready for AI. The Question Is Whether Employers Are.

77% of Vietnamese workers are comfortable or very comfortable using AI tools in their daily work. Only 3% express any discomfort. This level of AI readiness is consistent across both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and cuts across industries and career levels.

83% of respondents consider employer-provided training and upskilling to be important or critical in the next one to two years. The risk for organisations is not workforce resistance to technology. It is a leadership gap in providing structured pathways for AI integration and skills development.

Why This Matters for Employers in 2026

The convergence of these six findings describes a talent market that is structurally more challenging than it was three years ago. Workers are better informed, faster to evaluate alternatives, and increasingly willing to make trade-offs between pay and quality of employment experience.

Organisations that respond by updating their employer value proposition, formalising flexibility policies, investing in visible learning and development programmes, and building proactive retention strategies will be meaningfully better positioned than those that continue to compete primarily on salary.

Looking Ahead

The data in this study reflects structural shifts, not cyclical preferences. Mobility is becoming the default state for professionals, not the exception. The employers that perform best in this environment will be those that treat talent as a strategic priority and design their employment proposition accordingly.

The full Vietnam Worker Sentiment Study 2026 is available from Reeracoen Vietnam. It includes detailed analysis across all seven themes, a full Ho Chi Minh City versus Hanoi comparison, seven workforce trend cards, and strategic implications for employers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the biggest workforce trends in Vietnam in 2026?

According to the Vietnam Worker Sentiment Study 2026 by Reeracoen Vietnam, the most significant trends include high workforce mobility (91% of workers are searching or open to new roles), a shift from salary-first to total value proposition thinking, acute retention risk across most organisations, strong preference for foreign-owned employers, and rapidly growing expectations around hybrid work and employer-provided upskilling.

Why do Vietnamese workers prefer foreign-owned employers?

The Vietnam Worker Sentiment Study 2026 found that 75% of Vietnamese professionals prefer working for a foreign-owned company. This preference is driven by perceptions of clearer career pathways, stronger governance and management quality, international exposure opportunities, and better working conditions. The preference is not primarily salary-driven.

What is the employee retention outlook in Vietnam in 2026?

Retention risk is high. Only 43% of workers express any confidence in staying with their current employer over the next 12 months. However, 96% of workers considering leaving remain retainable through the right interventions. Recognition, career development, flexible working arrangements, and competitive compensation are the most effective retention levers.

Do Vietnamese workers prefer hybrid or remote working?

65% of Vietnamese workers prefer hybrid arrangements, combining office and remote working. Only 7% want a fully remote role. The data suggests workers value in-person collaboration but want flexibility over when they come into the workplace. Organisations without a clearly defined hybrid policy are losing candidates early in the hiring process.

How ready is Vietnam's workforce for AI and digital tools?

Highly ready. 77% of Vietnamese workers are comfortable or very comfortable using AI tools at work, and 83% consider employer-provided training and upskilling important or critical. The risk for employers is not workforce resistance to AI adoption, but a leadership gap in providing structured integration pathways and development programmes.

What salary trends are Vietnamese workers expecting in 2026?

While 53% of workers cite higher salary as a reason for considering a job change, the data shows that only 23% name salary as the single most important factor in evaluating a new role. 67% say they would accept lower pay for better working conditions. The implication for employers is that total compensation package design, not just base salary, is the key to competing for talent in 2026.

Related Articles

You may also find these useful:

• Vietnam Hiring Outlook 2026: Skills, Sectors & Salary Signals Employers Must
• The Salary vs. Total Value Shift: How Vietnamese Workers Are Redefining What a Good Offer Looks Like
• Why Retention Is Now a Revenue Issue, Not Just an HR Metric

About the Author

Valerie Ong

Regional Marketing Manager, Reeracoen Group

Valerie leads content and market insights for Reeracoen across Asia. She works closely with Reeracoen's specialist recruitment consultants to translate hiring data, salary benchmarks and labour market trends into practical guidance for Vietnam's employers and professionals. Her work draws on Reeracoen's proprietary research including the annual Salary Guide, Hiring Pulse, and Hiring Manager Survey.

Language note: This article is published in English. Reeracoen Vietnam also publishes selected content in Vietnamese and Japanese for our local and bilingual professional community.

References

Reeracoen Vietnam. (2026). Vietnam Worker Sentiment Study 2026. Reeracoen Vietnam Co., Ltd. Survey conducted 1H 2026, n=254.

Reeracoen Vietnam. (2026). Vietnam Employer Hiring Study 2026: Talent Intelligence for a Competitive Market. Reeracoen Vietnam Co., Ltd. Survey conducted March 2026, n=51.

 

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