Every nation is distinguished by its own culture. Thus, their national holidays are celebrated differently and uniquely. These also affect investors in making investment decisions, aside from the business and legal environment. Therefore, it is crucial for business owners to understand and familiarize themselves with traditional holidays and practices. In this article, Viettonkin will provide insights and tips for investors about Vietnamese national holidays and labor compliance.

Vietnam’s public holidays

Vietnam is known for its deep-rooted and diverse culture, in which national holidays are often associated with Vietnamese traditions and customs, or special events in history.
For example, the Lunar New Year (“Tet Holiday'') is considered the most important and desirable public holiday of the year. Tet usually happens on the 1st day of the lunar new year and symbolizes warmth and family reunions. Besides, Hung King’s Anniversary on April 30th and May 1st annually reflect Vietnamese origin and philosophy “When drinking water, remember the source”. Thus, people have several days off to commemorate and show gratitude towards Hung King and his forefathers.

In addition, another significant holiday in Vietnam is on September 2nd – Independence Day. Vietnamese people celebrate the day when the country was established and recall the heroic history of the nation.

In Vietnam, the holiday schedule for special holidays such as the Lunar New Year, and Hung King’s Anniversary, among others, will be regulated by the state. Traditionally, the Tet holiday is the longest holiday, lasting for 7 days, from February 8th to February 14th in 2024. For the remaining holidays, employees will have a maximum of 6 days off.

Regarding civil servants, they will have 7 days off on Tet Holiday as mentioned above (February 8th - 14th, 2024). For non-civil servants, the Lunar New Year holiday in 2024 will be determined by the employer's decision. Accordingly, the employer has three options following the lunar calendar for this holiday:

- 1 day off at the end of the previous year and 4 days off at the beginning of the following year 

- 2 days off at the end of the previous year and 3 days off at the beginning of the following year 

- 3 days off at the end of the previous year and 2 days off at the beginning of the following year 

If the weekly day off coincides with Tet holiday, the employee will be compensated by taking the day off on the next working day.

Implications of public holidays for enterprises and companies  in respect of the Calculation of Employee Salary and Holidays

The Labor Code 2019 stipulates how salary is calculated during public holidays, annual leave, and personal leave. In case employees are off work, the salary for employees on public holidays, annual leave, and personal leave is the salary according to the labor contract at the time they take leave. Some expenses, such as mid-shift lunches, allowances for gas, a car, a phone, and other items, are not included in the salary used as the foundation for public holidays.
In case the employees are on duty during public holidays, the employee’s salary is calculated as follows (Article 98 of the Labor Code 2019)
Employees who work overtime on public holidays and paid holidays are paid at least 300% of their salary, not including the daily salary during the public holidays or paid leave for employees receiving daily salaries. Specifically, for employees who receive hour-based wages on public holidays, the overtime pay is equal to the actual hourly wage paid on a normal working day multiplied by 300% multiplied by the number of overtime hours, excluding the daily salary during public holidays or paid leave in case the employee receives a daily salary.
Meanwhile, for employees who receive product-based wages on national time off, the overtime pay is equal to the unit price of the product salary of the normal working day multiplied by at least 300% and multiplied by the number of products.
One mindful note for investors in Vietnam is that holidays will affect the tax planning of investors. They might be extended if the legal and compliance due dates coincide with public holidays. Thus, paying attention to national holidays is essential. Being attentive to public holidays may help investors schedule their tax compliance ahead of the due date, hence fulfilling tax obligations on time.
To avoid future legal violations, investors are advised to consult leading experts in the field. In this way, investors can reduce the risk of non-compliance, and legal concerns, thus focusing more on core business activities. With decades of experience in many Southeast Asia markets, along with a team of seasoned and professional experts insightful of the regional and domestic markets, Viettonkin is willing to accompany and support investors along Vietnamese legal procedures and compliance

When establishing a business in Vietnam, managers, besides digging deep into Law on investment, Law on enterprises, should do research on a salary standard of “hot” fields in Vietnam. Each major has a different salary floor, hence understanding the standard can help entrepreneurs seduce talents, specialists since a handsome salary is considered extrinsic motivation. This article provides you precise information about the minimum wage in Vietnam and suggested the salary guide for some “hot” sectors. 

Regulations about salary in Vietnam

According to the Degree 90/ 2019/ ND-CP, the minimum salary for employees working in region I is VND 4.420.000/ month. Employees working in region II receive the minimum salary of VND 3.920.000/ month while the minimum salary of region III is VND 3.430.000/ month.  (The areas of region I, II and III will be listed here).
As to working hours: the Labor Code provides a maximum 8-hour working day and 48-hour working week. Adhering to the international standards, this enables foreign enterprises to develop and follow a consistent global strategy since they can incorporate the existing work practices into their Vietnamese production chains.

Fresh graduate salary in Vietnam

Based on a report in 2019, fresh graduate Vietnamese students made one-sixth the income of the Singaporean counterparts. Job Street, a job advertising company presented that the average minimum salary of an entry-level in Vietnam was USD 250 per month. Meanwhile, this figure was much lower than Malaysia (USD 493), Thailand (USD 605) and Singapore (USD 1, 481).

The minimum and maximum salary of the entry-level in 5 Southeast Asia countries (Source: Vietnam express)

Salary guide of some “hot” fields in Vietnam

This part provides you salary information about 5 “hot” fields in Vietnam. In the previous article, the salary guideline for IT vacancies has been presented, then you can get what salary floor for these IT-related positions. Then six fields are medicine, tourism - hospitality (hotel, F&B, and recreation), accountant, graphic design, and marketing. 

These figures used in this part come from two publications written by Adecco Vietnam and First Alliances. 

Notes: These numbers mentioned below come from the two leading HR companies in Vietnam (Adecco Vietnam and First Alliances).

Tourism - Hospitality

The salary of tourism - hospitality is divided into three sub-parts: hotels, F&B chain and recreations. 

Accounting

Graphic Design

Overall, an entry-level graphic designer (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of 225,841,991 VND/year. On the other end, a senior level graphic designer (8+ years of experience) earns an average salary of 385,972,894 VND/year. The average base salary is 308,973,962 VND/year.

In Hanoi, an entry-level graphic designer (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of 228,777,117 VND/year. On the other end, a senior level graphic designer (8+ years of experience) earns an average salary of 390,989,142 VND/year. The average base salary is 312,989,503 VND/year.

In HCM City, an entry-level graphic designer (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of 217,711,655 VND/year. On the other end, a senior level graphic designer (8+ years of experience) earns an average salary of 372,077,829 VND/year. The average base salary is 297,850,867 VND/year.

Marketing

The salary of marketing is different from the position of each industry like marketing for FMCG, marketing for healthcare and so forth.

Marketing for FMCG

Marketing in healthcare

In conclusion, it is inevitable for enterprises to catch up with the salary standards so that managers are able to distribute an appropriate salary to each employee. The minimum and maximum salary are varied from field to field, years of experience and education. This article hopes to provide you essential information about the salary of some fields in Vietnam. Viettonkin is always ready to assist you in researching the market as well as offering professional services in HR.