In South East Asia, particularly Vietnam, there is a lack of corporate pensions, group health & life insurance plans. Compared to places UK, Europe & North America, why do companies in Vietnam overlook this?
Why are they, your employees, worth investing in? Here are a number of reasons you may want to consider employee benefits in Vietnam and how they can help both employers and employees alike.
Boost Productivity
with health cover & incentives
Save
with discounted group rates
Ensure Employee Financial Security
with financial plans for the future
Attract & Retain Talent
with attractive benefits
Convenient Banking for Employees
with international savings accounts
1. Health insurance can boost productivity
With an absence of good quality universal healthcare that people from a country with a national healthcare system may be familiar with, it is crucial for employers in South East Asia to invest in health insurance. Why? Keep your workforce fit, healthy & protect from out of pocket medical bills.
More importantly, for employers, providing your workforce with good healthcare can boost productivity and morale.
A Metlife study indicated that 60% of employers surveyed believed employee healthcare benefits increased productivity.
in 2017, Glassdoor conducted a survey which found 80% of employees would choose additional benefits over a pay raise.
2. Save on group insurance policies
Purchasing health insurance for your employees means you'll be sensible to get a group policy. With 2+ employees, insurance companies will offer discounts on uniform policies, saving more money than health insurance for individual ones. A recent quote comparison from Tenzing for a group of 5 resulted in a saving of 18.4%, so a larger group is going to mean thousands in discounts.
A tax advantage is also on offer as employee health insurance is considered a business expense to lower your tax burden.
3. Life insurance can make your employees feel more financially stable
An employee can rest easily at night knowing that their family members have protection in the event of the worst. By increasing your employee benefits package, it helps keep employees longer.
Employers can also purchase life insurance policies to recover the revenue that would be lost from an employee, perhaps due to a loss of their clients' business.
For more on life insurance, check out our blog below:
4. Attract and retain better employees with corporate pension schemes to help them save for retirement
Pension schemes can again make your employees feel more financially stable and encourage them to remain with the company for the long term. More compensatory benefits make a job all the more attractive to a job seeker, even with a below-average salary.
Employers can also set up a profit-sharing plan as part of an employee's retirement benefits, similar to defined contribution plans, but with extra motivation to perform.
5. Help employees save & invest with international savings accounts.
An international savings account is perfect for employees who may be working with multiple currencies, giving them the ability to save their wages and, in some cases, watch it grow.
Often the transfer charges are much lower than normal accounts, which also makes it easier for any employee dealing internationally, as many do in Vietnam.
Depositing money offshore will also allow employees to benefit from not paying income tax, only withdrawing as much money as needed, making disposable income go further.
Why don't SMEs use employee benefits in Vietnam?
SMEs account for around 50% of all employment in Vietnam, whilst contributing 40% of the country's GDP. Many exist, yet very few invest in a proper employee benefits solutions. Considering the shortcomings of social insurance, which many SMEs don't even contribute to, this leaves people working all their lives without any assets to enjoy at the end of it.
Maybe employee benefits are conceived as too expensive, or people don't understand the real benefits gained from investing in their employees' wellbeing. However, investing in something like health insurance can save your company money from healthcare bills in the first place.
