The challenge of retaining tech talent.

Retaining talent is a challenging task for many large companies, especially when it comes to senior management. The end of the year is a crucial period, and how bonuses are awarded will significantly impact the company's employee turnover in the coming year.

According to Herzberg's two-factor theory, retaining an employee requires two elements: the 'Hygiene' component (salary, benefits, company policies, working conditions, etc.) which ensures the necessary elements for an employee to stay in the job and minimizes discomfort, and the 'Motivators' component (achievements, recognition, responsibility, etc.) which helps employees feel satisfied, motivated, and strive for improvement. A good job needs to ensure both of these important elements.

However, in practice, different companies will need to adjust the policy to suit both employee expectations and company policy. This is a difficult challenge for HR professionals, especially during the year-end season when market fluctuations are increasingly significant. In large companies like Zalo, retaining employees requires a combination of many factors.

Retaining talent is a challenging task for many large companies.

Nurture your team with knowledge and experience.

At Zalo, with a focus on rapid and sustainable growth centered on people, a lifelong learning spirit is highly valued, demonstrated through a series of employee learning programs. From large-scale recruitment programs like Tech Fresher or Product Management Training, the Zalo team often dedicates months to training, guiding, and mentoring new employees, ensuring that young staff members learn as much as possible during their initial employment.

Numerous training programs have been and are being implemented to help employees improve not only their professional skills but also their team management capabilities. Over the years, Zalo has partnered with leading universities in the region, such as the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Fulbright University Vietnam, to develop the "me.grow" leadership training program. This program covers essential learning topics such as management skills, data-driven storytelling, and motivational coaching.

Over the past eight years, Zalo has successfully organized the Zalo AI Summit, attracting thousands of participants both in person and online. The Zalo AI Summit provides an academic space where AI experts from Vietnam and abroad share their experiences and new knowledge, creating opportunities for young AI engineers at Zalo to keep pace with global technological advancements. This year, the Zalo AI Summit will return on December 20th.

The Zalo AI Summit opens up an academic space for the AI-loving community.

In addition to focusing on on-the-job training and domestic training, Zalo's young management team also participates in study trips abroad and visits to major technology companies in the US such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Empowering employees to take ownership of their work within a large-scale ecosystem.

With its diverse technology ecosystem, Zalo employees have the opportunity to directly participate in the development of products that serve tens of millions of Vietnamese users every day. More importantly, the opportunities offered at Zalo are clearly demonstrated through the way they are assigned large, challenging tasks with real risks.

Zalo employees not only follow pre-established guidelines but also directly make decisions that can affect the experience of tens of millions of users. Each choice requires careful consideration of the balance between innovation and stability, between the speed of development and the security of the product. This pressure helps employees mature quickly, develop a sense of ownership over their work, and clearly feel the trust the organization places in them.

Alongside addressing major strategic challenges, Zalo also fosters employee autonomy in shaping their own career paths. Through regular meetings with management, individuals can express their desire to learn more in new areas, expand their expertise, or seek challenges more aligned with their abilities and career stage. These aspirations are listened to and seriously considered as part of the organization's long-term human resource development strategy.

Zalo also provides opportunities for employees to proactively shape their own career paths.

In the context of a continuously expanding product ecosystem, the need for personnel rotation and reallocation between departments is also seen as a development opportunity, rather than a risk. Employees wishing to change roles or try their hand at new areas will receive support from both their direct managers and the HR department to ensure a smooth transition, without disrupting overall work and maintaining their personal development trajectory.

This flexibility helps employees feel less confined to a fixed position, giving them room to explore and develop long-term. When empowered with choices, challenged with impactful problems, and supported throughout their career, employees are more motivated to stay, contribute, and ultimately grow with the organization.

Special reward and incentive scheme

In addition to providing opportunities for long-term learning and development, Zalo also builds a reward and incentive system to strongly motivate individuals and teams with outstanding achievements. The forms of recognition go beyond regular salaries and bonuses, and are designed to be flexible, honoring exceptional contributions that bring clear value to the product and the organization.

Over the years, Zalo has repeatedly awarded generous prizes to honor outstanding individuals. In 2022, two Mercedes GLC 200s were awarded to employees who achieved exceptional performance.

In 2023, marking the successful launch of KiLM - a Large Language Model developed from scratch by Zalo's AI engineering team, Zalo also awarded a Volvo XC60 B6 Ultimate worth over 2.3 billion VND to the project leader. This year, Zalo continues its tradition of rewarding outstanding employees with a Lexus car.

Zalo awarded a Lexus car to an employee with outstanding performance.

Zalo's special reward programs are well-deserved recognition for contributions that exceed expectations. These substantial rewards not only have material value but also serve as proof of public recognition from the organization. This allows employees to feel appreciated and is encouraged, reinforcing their dedication to their work.

At the same time, maintaining substantial rewards over the years demonstrates that Zalo not only focuses on developing its human resources but also commits to recognizing outstanding contributions through practical, transparent, and inspiring methods.

It is clear that retaining talent does not come from a single policy, but rather a combination of many factors, from learning opportunities, empowerment, and recognition of contributions to a work environment that cares about people's long-term development.

For large organizations like Zalo, human resource management requires a long-term and flexible approach to meet the increasingly high expectations of employees while ensuring the sustainable development of the organization in a constantly changing market.

Source: https://znews.vn/bai-toan-niu-chan-nhan-tai-cong-nghe-post1611663.html