Vietnamese as bosses or employer

https://www.reddit.com/r/phcareers/comments/1ia9lxe/vietnamese_as_bosses_or_employer/

created by Life-Stop-8043 on 26/01/2025 at 08:42 UTC

76 upvotes, 15 top-level comments (showing 15)

Want to get insights from people who have worked for Vietnamese bosses before.

Being recruited by a Vietnamese conglomerate that recently set up shop here in PH. Done with the interviews and we're now in compenben negotiation stage.

Country Manager is Vietnamese, fairly young, early 30s, probably 5 years younger than me. He's also new in the company, just 3 months. He gives off this sales guru / MLM upline / hustler aura. Researched more about him and it turns out he's a "motivational speaker" and an author of a book about closing high-ticket deals. The role Im applying for is operations / supply chain director, so I am not worried about expectations regarding revenue generation. That's gonna be the problem of the sales director they recently hired.

Met with the CEO as well. Vietnamese, in his 60s, son of the founder. It was a video call so I havent gotten the chance to observe gestures besides facial expressions. He sounds like Ramong Ang if he was Vietnamese. Sounds very ambitious and optimistic. Madali lang daw maachieve yung targets nila for Philippine market, which I dont agree with.

Besides the two of them, the only other person I met was the pinay recruiter they contracted to headhunt.

I like the role and the industry. Boss (country head) is tolerable. I think he's smart but has little to no idea about supply chain so I dont expect him to meddle with my work all the time. Also told him that I want to to be the king of my domain if he hires me and he's okay with it as long as I deliver results.

For those that had management jobs in Vietnamese companies, under vietnamese bosses, how would you describe the experience and work environment? Are they as strict as the Japanese? Are they kuripot like most Chinese bosses? Do they have high expectations like Singaporeans?

Thanks!

Comments

Comment by Swimming_Teach8302 at 26/01/2025 at 10:11 UTC

20 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Just curious, is this Vinfast? They're fairly new in the automotive scene in the PH

Comment by chn2101 at 26/01/2025 at 12:01 UTC

48 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Currently have a Vietnamese boss ATM, and most of my teammates are Vietnamese all based in HCM and based on my experience (2 years working with them):

1. Para silang robot, they’re focused on the job and nothing else. Barely any small talk or conversations about personal life (which has its pros and cons).

2. They’re always late to meetings. Naging normal na when we say 10AM meeting, expect them to arrive 10:10 or 10:15

3. At least with my boss, mejo pa ulit ulit sinasabi niya and has tendencies to be a micro manager.

4. Biggest adjustment I had to face was their accent, Vietnamese aren’t the most well versed in English and even though my peers and boss are more inclined to the language given that we’re in a multinational, mejo mahirap pa din intindihin.

5. They don’t understand why Filipinos have so many and such long holidays lol. They don’t have any concept of Christmas or anything similar. Their longest holiday is Tet or their Lunar New Year which is a week and after that mostly no holidays na.

6. If you’re working remotely, advantage is they are 1 hour behind so my days usually start at 10AM, and more or less (if walang anything impt), I can end my days at 5-530PM.

Comment by havoc2k10 at 26/01/2025 at 13:20 UTC

33 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I work in a tech company focused on the SEA market and Ive interacted with various nationalities. Id rank vietnamese as the 2nd best to work with. Here's my experience working with them:

Thais – very friendly, Ive never had any issues with them.

Vietnamese – not the most talkative but they are sociable. Managers are friendly and generally easy to work with even if they seem angry they dont badmouth filipinos.

Malaysians – Highly professional but should not be taken lightly. They are friendly but maintain clear boundaries based on hierarchy.

Koreans – Ive only had a few encounters with them in the company. Few of them speak Tagalog. Ive never had any issues working with them.

Singaporean - my current manager is singaporean, he is very quiet and not friendly at all. idk much with others, they dont interact much.

Taiwanese – extremely busy people. They dont engage much with other nationalities but are very professional. They often joke around by trashtalking with us Filipinos, its funny but sometimes you would think they are just badmouthing us so i'd prefer not to entertain them.

Indonesians – Generally friendly, but they can be intimidating if you upset them. I had few bad experience with indo managers.

Chinese – the most challenging to work with so far. Those from the provinces tend to be somewhat better than those from the mainland. Its an everyday occurence we get reprimanded by these racists chinese managers. Lower rank though are shy and friendly.

sorry OP, if my answer was too long and didnt directly address your question

Comment by gospelofnone at 26/01/2025 at 11:51 UTC

8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

With the few weeks I’ve spent with them, most of them are nice so far. Indirect, like many Asians. The men like to make sexist jokes. They like taking looooong lunches, don’t start on time but end their days late.

Comment by WaitWhat-ThatsBS at 27/01/2025 at 20:13 UTC

6 upvotes, 1 direct replies

My boss is not vietnamese but I have 2 vietnamese associates here in the us(Technology - INF) Pros: they have one of the best practices in terms of work(better than Indians tbh). Sabi nga ng lead ko pag nagkkwentuhan kami "those guys are meticulous mfkers". Though im not sure sure if its a pro for you. Hehe

Comment by reuyourboat at 26/01/2025 at 16:04 UTC

9 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Mas gusto ko katrabaho Vietnamese over Singaporeans lol Most Vietnamese people I worked doesnt engage with small talks probably because they're not as comfortable in talking that stuff in English or they can express themselves more in their local language. Work wise, ok naman and di sakit sa ulo.

Comment by KnownExcitement6177 at 27/01/2025 at 01:07 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Friendly once nakausap mo na at nakuha mo na trust nila. Okay din mag work, hindi sakit sa ulo. Cons lang talaga is need magfocus pag nag eenglish sila kasi medyo mahirap intindihin but you’ll get the hang of it.

Comment by pineapplewithpapaya at 28/01/2025 at 08:58 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Worked with a lot of Vietnamese in the past. They respect Filipinos. Those that are old enough to remember the Vietnam War are aware how we welcomed their countrymen. Most of the younger ones had Filipino teachers naman in school. The only challenge I had with them is that it takes time for them to communicate in English.

Comment by Impossible_Slip7461 at 28/01/2025 at 12:57 UTC*

5 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Here’s my few months experience with them:

1. Forces you to follow the team’s practice to the point na d ka pwede mg 15mins break.

2. Will lie to clients just to get the project. Grabe kaya daw ng 3 man team yung job, yun pala and daming shadow members na ng help without being recognized.

3. Sabotage even other teams just to get one up.

4. Ayaw mgbayad ng overtime dahil other teams are also doing overtime for free so you should too.

5. Social media clout chasers.

Parang familiar yung company mo ahh, 3 letters lang yung name?

Comment by KCrong at 27/01/2025 at 04:04 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Anong company ang mostly foreigner ang nagpapatakbo? 😅😅 I want to try my luck at mag apply sa kanila and also experience na din.

Salamat

Comment by chaelfosho at 27/01/2025 at 09:35 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Is this Xanh SM hahah

Comment by iaantinmeeh2 at 28/01/2025 at 11:15 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Baliktad sagot ko. Ayaw Ng mga Vietnamese amoy natin. Too "garlicy" raw. Pero happy sila at least amoy fabcon damit natin

Comment by shaped-like-a-pastry at 29/01/2025 at 13:55 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

not my boss but i work with a vietnamese team. ngmake sense ung mga sabi dito na hindi sila mahilig sa small talk (napansin ko din kasi ngattempt pa ko ng small talk first video meeting), which is great for me kasi di din aku mahilig sa small talk. direct to the point sila kausap. accent can be a struggle.