Dutch businesses in Vietnam amidst the Corona crisis

Business leaders of Dutch companies in Vietnam help each other with support and advice amidst Corona crisis

Businesses face many challenges during the COVID-19 crisis, can we learn from one another to combat these issues together? 25 CEO’s of top Dutch companies talk about challenges and mitigation of the COVID 19 Crisis to find solutions together. Amongst the participants were leaders of top companies such as Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), De Heus, HEINEKEN, Royal Haskoning, and Friesland Campina.

How? 

The Dutch Business Association Vietnam (DBAV) organized and facilitated multiple group calls, revolving around two main topics: People & Safety, and Business Continuity. During these calls participants also shared their insights on how their company deals with the COVID-Crisis, and identified their biggest COVID challenges. The findings resulted in the following infographic (click to expand view).

Key take-outs on people & safety

Key take-outs under all participants were:

• All companies indicated that they expect that the crisis will end someday and aim to come back stronger than ever before. They are fighting to keep their employees on board during this difficult time in order to excel when the economical tide is coming back. Structural lay-offs really are the last resort. Some companies are struggling to keep up, and they shared they communicate open and honest with their employees about the situation their company is in.
• Some of those companies successfully discussed with their employees that they pay a percentage of their salary, up to 40% or reduce the working hours in mutual agreements. Most companies that can afford it try to take away the sorrows for employees by guaranteeing them they can stay with the company throughout the crisis;
• Most companies are not in that phase yet, and can still manage to keep salaries and contract intact for their employees. These companies are mainly working on keeping employee morale high in these difficult times. 
• All companies want to contribute to “flatten the curve” and do so by working in shifts from home, offering elaborate remote working options, regular safety checks such as health and temperature checks and letting only the vital employees work at their working locations;

More information

Interested to learn more? Please follow this link for the full rapport.