The thesis will then discuss some feasible alternative solutions regarding to the improvement of some management skills and the promotion of a more democracy working environment to incli
Introduction
Company Background
Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam Joint Stock Company – Ho Chi Minh City Branch (BIDV.HCMC), founded in 1976, is one of the oldest and largest BIDV branches Over more than 40 years, BIDV.HCMC has grown into a major unit with total assets around VND 20,000 billion and it contributes roughly 10% to BIDV’s after-tax profit, according to BIDV’s 2017 financial statements Its market network mainly serves individual customers and a large base of corporate clients across construction, high-tech industries, building materials, agriculture, and commerce In human resources development, the BIDV Head Office regards BIDV.HCMC as an ideal training ground for many future BIDV leaders at all levels The article also presents representative business operation goals for 2014–2016, shown in VND billion.
Table 1: The size of debt and deposit from 2014 to 2016
Table 2: The income of credit, deposit and other services from 2014 – 2016
Leveraging its extensive domestic and international business networks and ISO 9001:2015 quality management system, BIDV.HCMC has been selected as an experimental branch to pilot international standards (such as Basel) and to test banking products before a full-scale rollout Additionally, BIDV.HCMC serves as a key payment intermediary for numerous domestic and international organizations, including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) partners.
The branch’s structure and general goals
Figure 1: BIDV.HCMC organizational structure
BIDV.HCMC follows the standard organizational model defined by BIDV, with a Board of Directors and five main divisions of business operations: Customer Management (including Corporate Customer Management and Individual Customer Management, CCM and ICM), Risk Management, Operations (comprising Credit Administration, Customer Service, and Vault Service), Internal Management (Financing and Planning, Organization, and Human Resources), and its subsidiary units (Transaction Offices) The accompanying table shows the current total number of employees at all levels in BIDV.HCMC.
Table 3: The total number of employee at all levels in BIDV.HCMC in 2018
Internal management Financing and Accounting 15 6%
Source: Department of human resource management
BIDV’s 2017–2020 strategic goals center on maintaining a leading market position in market share, scale, and the ability to regulate the domestic financial market Accordingly, the entire BIDV system, with BIDV.HCMC at the forefront, focuses on traditional banking activities—credit, guarantee issuance, and deposits—while also strengthening international payments, trade finance, and other banking products such as internet banking and card services Although digital offerings are expanding, the traditional banking field remains BIDV’s highest priority, underpinning its strategy to sustain leadership in Vietnam’s domestic financial market.
From 2017 to 2020, BIDV HCMC's corporate banking strategy acknowledged that while retail banking and related products will be the trend in modern banking, corporate banking continues to shape current performance In March 2017, at the Corporate Banking Meeting, Van Dinh Hai, Director of BIDV HCMC, stated that the bank has already attracted a number of large corporate customers and SMEs, making these resources a competitive advantage About 80% of the bank's income comes from this segment, underscoring the importance of maintaining the corporate client base for long-term performance Therefore, corporate customer resources have the most significant impact on BIDV HCMC's performance, and the corporate front-office division plays a key role in daily operations.
Problem context
CCM departments at BIDV HCMC are responsible for three core activities: building and maintaining strong customer relationships; evaluating and routing credit proposals to the appropriate decision-makers who hold jurisdiction over all lending decisions; and collaborating with other departments to develop and sustain BIDV HCMC’s business operations Because credit activities drive a significant portion of income, the CCM teams represent the largest share of branch personnel, accounting for about 20 percent of all staff The scope of credit work involves navigating a wide range of internal and external issues, including laws, financing, communication, diverse customer business models, BIDV’s strategic priorities, and internal rules and procedures As a result, even with competitive remuneration, managing a heavy portfolio of complex customer-management tasks requires employees at all levels to be highly skilled, well-regulated, and committed to lifelong learning.
As commented above, it is undeniable that the CCM departments play a pivotal role in running the branch’s business operations Particularly, the CCM departments contribute approximately 76 percent of the entire branch income in 2016 (see table 4)
Table 4: The income of debt, deposit and other services of BIDV.HCM by category of CCM and ICM departments from 2014 to 2016 (BIL VND)
Departments DEPOSIT CREDIT OTHER SERVICES TOTAL
As commented above, the performance of BIDV.HCM concentrates on three main groups of service which are deposit service, credit service and other services including domestic and international payment, trade finance, internet banking, insurance etc The performance is evaluated on two main elements: size (balance of debt and deposit) and the efficiency (income from main groups of service) According to the figure in Table 1, both debt balance and deposit balance increase with 37% and 28% respectively throughout period 2014 – 2016 and this shows that the size of balance is expanded year by year However, the efficiency element seems not to be consistent with the increasing balance Particular, the figures in table 2 show that the growth rate of income generally decreases from 2014 to 2016, especially the income from credit services significantly decreases by 6% and 13% in 2015 and 2016 in that order, and decreases by 18% throughout the entire surveyed period
An analysis of total income by category, including the CCM and ICM departments (see tables 2 and 5), indicates that income declines during 2014–2016 were concentrated in the corporate customer segment: credit services fell by 10% from 2014 to 2015 and by 15% from 2015 to 2016, while other services declined by 4% and 2% over the same periods, respectively Consequently, the overall decrease in income in the surveyed period primarily originated from the CCM departments.
Table 5: The growth of net income of loan, deposit and other services classified by departments from 2014 to 2016
In addition to the decline in income from corporate customers, the author’s observations identify several underlying subjective and objective factors that contribute to BIDV.HCMC’s decreasing performance These factors reflect both internal perceptions and external conditions shaping the bank’s results.
One of the main challenges affecting BIDV's performance is rising competition from other commercial banks In Ho Chi Minh City, a significant number of banks—especially foreign-invested lenders such as HSBC, ANZ, and Hong Leong Bank—now offer not only a broader range of services but also products tailored to evolving customer needs, positioning them as key rivals to BIDV Major competitors in HCMC include Vietcombank, Vietinbank, and international banks like ANZ and HSBC To attract corporate customers, many rivals pursue low-cost service strategies, intensifying pressure on BIDV's officers to retain existing clients and win new ones The accompanying data on credit market shares and credit growth rates as of June 30, 2018 clearly illustrate the heightened competition BIDV and BIDV HCMC face.
Table 6: The market share of credits amongst banks in 30/6/2018
Table 7: The growth rate of credits amongst the selected banks in 30/6/2018
(Source: The mid – annual reports of banks in 30/6/2018)
- Another objective reason could be derived from the internal competitions between BIDV branches as a result of the expansion of new branches (See table 8)
Table 8: The development of BIDV branches in the period of 2010 – 2017
(Source: the BIDV annual reports)
Particularly, BIDV.HCMC is one of the main branches that are responsible for expanding the network of BIDV in Ho Chi Minh City In the period of 2014 –
In 2017, BIDV.HCMC opened five new branches by leveraging shared customers, debt and deposit balances, and human resources The expansion increased the bank’s size and income and sparked internal competition among BIDV branches in Ho Chi Minh City It also led to a shortage of experienced staff at BIDV.HCMC, as seasoned employees were moved to these new branches Although the expanded network and stronger BIDV brand raised visibility, these growth efforts had a notable impact on BIDV.HCMC’s performance.
One notable explanatory factor is the high turnover of BIDV.HCMC officers, particularly in the CCM departments, as shown in Tables 9 and 10 In line with Price and Mueller's (1981) Causal Model of Turnover, turnover rate is defined as the percentage of staff resigning from their positions within a given time frame Table 9 compares departures across departments and clearly indicates that the CCM departments experience the highest turnover.
Table 9: The number of BIDV.HCMC officers leaving job in 2014 – 2017
No The number of officers leaving their jobs 2014 2015 2016 2017
(Source: the BIDV.HCMC annual reports)
Numerous subjective and objective factors shape job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention, including workers’ expectations of their organizations, company culture, promotion opportunities, professionalism, individual development, and internal communication From the BIDV HCMC perspective, a number of recent, specific causes—will be analyzed in detail later in this thesis—have given rise to a noticeable employee turnover problem since 2014 The rising turnover trend poses concerns for managers at all levels about maintaining human resources as a competitive advantage and achieving branch business goals In particular, statistics show that CCM staff resignations have risen substantially over the past four years.
Table 10: The number of staff leaving their CCM duties from 2014 – 2017
2 Number of people leaving job 2 3 6 12
(Source: the BIDV.HCMC annual reports)
A high turnover rate is theoretically a key contributor to worker shortages and disruptions in organizational operations From managers' perspectives, rapid turnover can be costly for the organization, as pre-departure performance shortfalls and productivity losses among departing employees signal resignation and negatively affect the work of their teams Moreover, these resignations increase the workload and stress on remaining staff, worsening work-life balance and morale, which can in turn fuel further turnover (Borda & Norman, 1997; Coomber).
Over the long term, filling open positions can be a time- and resource-intensive process Prolonged vacancies in critical positions are associated with significantly negative effects on organizational outcomes Therefore, preventing an increase in turnover rate should be treated as a major management concern, as sustained turnover can undermine performance, efficiency, and stability.
Several factors may explain the decline in BIDV.HCMC outcomes, with high competition among banks and among BIDV branches representing systematic, unavoidable risks in a competitive market, while rising turnover among CCM departments constitutes a non-systematic, subjective risk As turnover increases, deficiencies and adverse outcomes at BIDV.HCMC become evident, making it essential to analyze why CCM staff leave Turnover intention often stems from fluctuations in job satisfaction, a relationship well documented in international HR literature as a predictor of organizational commitment and intent to stay; when workers are dissatisfied, turnover tends to rise Although definitions of job satisfaction vary, it is generally viewed as the individual assessment of work conditions and outcomes, and it is a complex phenomenon influenced by many factors Addressing turnover and related symptoms requires managers to identify root causes and implement targeted strategies to improve current working conditions Accordingly, the next section theoretically examines the drivers of job satisfaction and, based on in-depth interviews and theoretical analysis, classifies the elements affecting CCM staff job satisfaction at BIDV.HCMC.
The classification of initial causes leading to the decrease of job satisfaction
The theoretical initial cause and effect map
Intellectual capital, as defined by Longo and Mura (2011), is the asset base firms leverage for competitive advantage and includes human capital, relational capital, and structural capital Relational capital captures the networks a company builds through its people, linking employees with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders Human capital comprises the abilities, knowledge, experience, and expertise of employees that generate both tangible and intangible assets and give the organization a competitive edge Structural capital refers to the organization’s knowledge stored in databases, patents, procedures, systems, and routines Scholarly work indicates that intellectual capital drives corporate performance, enhances innovative capacity, and facilitates knowledge transfer within the firm Accordingly, Longo & Mura (2011) find a significantly positive relationship between the adequacy of intellectual capital and employee satisfaction, which in turn influences outcomes such as career achievement, attitudes, and turnover intention (see figure 2).
Figure 2: The conceptual cause – effect model of the thesis
The factual cause and effect map
From the BIDV.HCMC perspective, findings from in-depth interviews reveal multiple explanations for the decline in CCM employees’ job satisfaction To organize these explanations more systematically, the thesis classifies them into three main domains: human capital, structural capital, and relational capital (see table).
11), then lists them into the initial cause – effect map (see figure 3), as below:
Table 11: A variety of reasons acquired through the interviews
The lack of democracy at work and the internal communications are negatively influenced due to the large power distance
The internal procedures are somewhat complicated and the empowerment is low, this fact leads to the lateness in solving the customers’ needs
Due to the overlapped rules and procedures, the higher managers tend to avoid the uncertainty by shifting the responsibilities onto the lower levels
The inexperienced – leadership skill managers implicitly make their subordinates incapable due to inefficient feedbacks and knowledge sharing
Unfair promotions are based on personal relationships, and feeling – based judgments The workers are incapable in arranging time and balancing between work – life lead to work – life imbalance
Figure 3: The initial cause – effect map
This study develops a cause-and-effect map drawn from interview-derived practices, showing that each practice—alone or in combination—exerts a negative influence on CCM officers’ job satisfaction and generates downstream consequences such as discouragement and turnover intention These external expressions are largely contingent on the fluctuations of job satisfaction, which sits at the center of the model and depends on several independent variables, collectively termed intellectual capitals The shortage of intellectual capitals is implicitly reflected in unfavourable workplace practices—such as ineffective internal communications and unfair promotions—within the working environment In the next section, the findings from the interviews will be used to analyze this shortage of intellectual capitals and its impacts by reviewing related literature and linking it to practical elements that affect job satisfaction, including the working environment and work–life balance.
The literatures for the elements affecting to the job satisfaction and the connections of these
Working environment
Job satisfaction reflects how employees behave in the workplace, shaped by their awareness and belief about their current duties It fluctuates due to a range of internal and external factors, leading to high or low levels of satisfaction Employees form personal views on different aspects of their roles—such as the nature of tasks, relationships with colleagues, interactions with supervisors, and compensation—which together compose the broader work environment that profoundly influences individuals’ job activities, attitudes, and overall satisfaction.
Extensive empirical evidence from human resource management studies across industries indicates a significantly positive relationship between the working environment and job satisfaction A motivated work environment intrinsically boosts employee performance and, in turn, enhances job satisfaction, particularly in human capital-intensive sectors such as financial services, health care, and education While definitions vary, the working environment can be conceptualized as the blend of three core elements—technical, human resources, and organizational—and the alignment of these elements with the context of BIDV.HCMC will be explored in the following sections.
Physical working conditions, or technical elements, refer to the physical facilities that firms invest in to help employees perform their responsibilities and activities, such as tools and equipment, office layout, ventilation, lighting, noise levels, and the technological infrastructure that supports daily tasks These elements collectively shape the work environment, influencing productivity, comfort, and overall performance (Raziq & Maulabakhsh).
Research indicates a positive psychological effect of a well-designed workstation on job satisfaction (Newsham et al., 2009; Tomovska–Misoska et al., 2014; Brill & Weidemann, 2001; Wineman & Adhya, 2007) In banking, where employees spend most of their time indoors, a well-equipped workstation can enhance staff comfort, create favorable conditions that boost productivity, and yield benefits such as cost and time savings and improved health However, at BIDV.HCMC, the impact of this element on job satisfaction appears insignificant, potentially because the bank’s convenient location on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City already offers easy access, mitigating the relative importance of internal workspace amenities.
Dubbed the "Wall Street of Saigon," the branch network significantly enhances staff income through activities such as client transactions and notary-related services In the Vietnamese context, investing in the branch’s physical appearance is viewed as an effective strategy to build customer trust and attract more clients, prompting the board to prioritize creating a more convenient workplace Accordingly, tools, equipment, and the internal computer network infrastructure are regularly tested and maintained to ensure high-quality service delivery Employee perceptions of these physical factors are generally positive, and findings from in-depth interviews indicate there is no empirical evidence that the technical elements influence BIDV.HCMC staff satisfaction.
Interactional justice, a key element of human resources, governs the quality of social relations and support in the workplace and is divided into interpersonal justice (politeness, fairness, dignity, and respect shown by managers in executing procedures and activities) and informational justice (clear reasons for why procedures are used and why outcomes are distributed as they are) (Colquitt, 2001) To foster a cohesive, loyal, and engaged workforce, management must treat personnel with interactional justice at all levels; failing to act as facilitators of justice can undermine job satisfaction, productivity, and overall company performance (Amabile and Kramer, 2011) At BIDV, a formal code of conduct provides standards for staff to follow in their duties and in their interpersonal communications to promote fairness and democracy at work However, factors like power distance and uncertainty avoidance in BIDV.HCMC may create interactional injustice between managers and subordinates, particularly in internal communication and decisions about promotions and business goals Findings from interviews show that this injustice significantly affects CCM staff satisfaction and increases turnover.
Finally, organizational element refers to: (1) internal systems, policies, procedures, and
At BIDV.HCMC, organizational culture and internal systems are designed to foster distributive justice and procedural justice by ensuring fair outcomes and fair processes Distributive justice, as defined by Adam (1965), combines impartial decision-making with the allocation of resources, including tangible, short-term rewards such as salaries and bonuses and intangible, long-term rewards such as promotions, with equality in distributing these outcomes shaping staff perceptions of fairness Procedural justice, drawing on Leventhal (1980), centers on the fairness and explicitness of the procedures that produce outcomes, emphasizing employee voice, consistency, accuracy, transparency, ethicality, and freedom from bias The study examines these justice dimensions at BIDV.HCMC through staff perceptions of remuneration status and revisits procedural justice in the context of organizational culture and uncertainty avoidance Remuneration remains a key variable for assessing distributive justice and its impact on perceived fairness across the workforce.
Remuneration denotes the policies governing compensation and promotion in exchange for services rendered From BIDV.HCMC's perspective, regarding compensation—a form of short-term remuneration—findings show that most CCM staff are satisfied with the compensation for their current positions at BIDV.HCMC, indicating that compensation is not the underlying cause of the deterioration in CCM staff satisfaction.
Mr Tran Hoai Nam explains that a bank staff member with three years of experience earns an average monthly salary of around 30 million dong, a figure that remains competitive with peers working at other banks.
Mrs Ha Ngoc Giang confirms her complete satisfaction with the compensation she received from her bank She believes the payout is deserved and notably higher than what most banks in Ho Chi Minh City offer.
An empirical study conducted and published by Navigos Group, a Vietnam-based HR services firm, shows that the average income of BIDV employees ranks third among banks in Vietnam.
Table 12: the average income per head (in VND million) of several surveyed banks in 2016 – 2017
Promotion marks the major steps in an employee’s career path toward higher hierarchical levels and greater responsibilities, and is typically accompanied by more attractive remuneration packages (Malik, Danish, and Munir, 2012) In the BIDV.HCMC context, higher-level positions generally command salaries that are approximately double those of lower-level roles Specifically, the 2018 data from BIDV.HCMC illustrate the average salaries across positions from substitute to head of department, with salaries for deputy directors and the director not disclosed in this thesis.
Table 13: The average salaries of some positions at BIDV.HCMC in 2018
Position Level Class Notes department 10 65 68 71 74 – department positions
(Source: the department of human resource management)
Amid a scarcity of managerial positions, practitioners are increasingly focused on making the most appropriate promotion decisions to safeguard procedural justice in the promotion process This emphasis on fair, merit-based evaluation aims to ensure that promotions are decided transparently and consistently, reinforcing trust in leadership and supporting long-term organizational effectiveness.
- Individuals who are selected will be well – qualified for the required adaptation and response flexibly to their changing environment, and
- The perception of impartiality of managerial promotion procedures amongst employee (De Pater, Van Vianen, Bechtoldt, and KLEHE, 2009)
Mrs Le Thi Kim Nhan, Head of the Human Resources Department, emphasizes procedural justice in promotion by selecting the most suitable candidates based on past performance, managerial capacity, and communication skills, with board of directors approval and candidates demonstrating their abilities during practical work to persuade colleagues However, unexplained directives from the branch director can push promotions of candidates who may not be the best fit, particularly for deputy head roles, creating a rift between the HRM Department and the Board and making it uncomfortable to work with biased managers These practices foster perceptions of unfairness in promotion and performance appraisal, undermining candidate confidence and likely reducing employee motivation and overall job satisfaction, especially among those overlooked.
Promotional opportunities are directly linked to job satisfaction, and this relationship helps maximize return on human resources and overall company performance Malik et al (2012) argue that the strength of this link depends on employees' perceived organizational justice On the other hand, staff perceptions of bias can undermine organizational outcomes, as Lemons and Jones (2001) discuss Unfairness is often associated with financial and psychological costs, including turnover intention, job dissatisfaction, and pay dissatisfaction (Dailey and Kirk, 1992; McFarlin and Sweeney, 1992) Sashkin and Williams (1990) further report a link between perceived organizational injustice and increased physiological stress and illness among workers, along with higher absenteeism and a greater incidence of industrial accidents.
Work – life balance
Today, people juggle competing responsibilities across work and personal life, generating work–life conflict when time and energy devoted to one domain reduce capacity in the other This dynamic, described by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) and others, can drive major workplace issues such as employee turnover, lower job satisfaction, and reduced productivity A growing consensus in the literature links work–life balance with higher perceived quality of life and job satisfaction, and with lower levels of anxiety and depression (Haar et al., 2014; Ernst Kossek & Ozeki, 1998; Rice, Frone, & McFarlin, 1992; Keeton, Fenner, Johnson, & Hayward, 2007) As a result, work–life balance has become a central challenge for human resource management, prompting policymakers, organizations, managers, and employees to address the tensions inherent in work and personal roles (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; McCarthy, Darcy, & Grady, 2010; Nancy, 2003) This section synthesizes research on the sources of conflict, integrating both time-based and strain-based perspectives to identify where work–life conflict originates and how it manifests in organizational settings.
Employees often juggle multiple functions within a single day, and the time devoted to duties within one role—such as work schedules and orientation—often leaves little room for other roles like being a spouse, a parent, pursuing higher education, or handling household tasks Time-based conflict arises from two main sources: the time pressure inherent in job duties and the characteristics of other personal roles (Pleck, Staines, and Lang, 1980; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal, 1964).
Time pressures stemming from employees’ job duties—such as business trips and deadlines—can make it physically impossible to meet demands arising from another role, such as family responsibilities The reality of long weekly hours and frequent overtime reflects work–family tension, a pattern documented by Burke, Weir, and DuWors Jr (1980); Keith and Schafer (1980); Pleck, Staines, and Lang (1980); and Bohen and Viveros-Long (1981).
Mrs Nhan acknowledges that our resignation rate has risen due to multiple factors, with work-life conflict being a primary driver Today’s younger workforce seeks careers aligned with their personal characteristics that guarantee work-life balance and job satisfaction, and they often place high importance on family care, personal development, social relationships, and health and well-being These resignations have affected our current staff in both front-line and back-office roles, and the shortage of front-line personnel has forced us to reassign some back-office staff to front-line duties.
Another explanation concerns the characteristics of other roles, particularly in the domain of family practice, which require employees to devote substantial time to non-work activities and can generate work-family conflict Non-work pressures may implicitly preoccupy employees with non-work roles even when they are physically present at and attempting to meet job duties (Bartolome, 1972) Moreover, Herman and Gyllstrom (1977) found that married workers experienced greater work-family conflict than unmarried workers Similarly, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) suggest that parents may face more work-family tension than nonparents.
With many younger colleagues resigning, I’m left to manage a sizable backlog of their unfinished work, pushing my return home to late evenings around 7:00–8:00 p.m The BIDV rollout of new ISO standards tightened deadlines and cut the time available for a single credit report from three days to two, leaving little room to balance work with family and self-care As a result, some colleagues are increasingly exhausted and bored by the mounting workload, and a sense of envy has grown toward former staff who departed and seemingly fared better.
Work–life tension of the second type is role‑driven strain, a strain‑based conflict that arises when negative moods from one role spill over into performance in another, making it hard to meet the demands of a second role This spillover is linked to symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, and even depression, highlighting how stress in one domain can undermine functioning in another Foundational researchers—Brief, Schuler, and Van Sell; Ivancevich and Matteson; and Greenhaus and Beutell—have documented this phenomenon as a core aspect of work–family conflict and its impact on balance between professional and personal responsibilities.
1985) There are also two explainable dimensions for this form of conflict, including work – related stress, and family disapproval
- In relation to work – related stress, unfavorable working practices that reduce employees’ spirit, job satisfaction, and commitment are positively related to work – life conflict (i.e ambiguity and tension within the work role, low levels of supervisor’s support, interaction, and facilitation, poor job – personal capacity fit, disappointment due to unfulfilled expectations, etc.) (Jones and Butler, 1980; Kopelman, Greenhaus, and Connolly, 1983; Bartolomé and Evans, 1979)
One of the main reasons for my resignation was work-related stress, especially as a client teetered toward bankruptcy and its debts to BIDV.HCMC turned into bad debts I ran into trouble with the Department of Risk Management and Credit Administration, who asked me to explain the situation and provide the credit profiles The process was time-consuming and not only affected my other work responsibilities but also disrupted my personal life.
Family-related sources of conflict often stem from spouse behaviors that lack support and empathy, which can arise from differences in career orientations or fundamental beliefs about gender equity and family roles (Chadwick, Albrecht, & Kunz, 1976) Such discord tends to create a tense family climate and higher levels of work–life conflict (Holahan & Gilbert, 1979) Hall's (1972) findings further suggest that married women who juggle multiple roles are at risk of role conflict, but a partner who endorses feminist attitudes can buffer his wife against work–life conflict.
Figure 5: the cause and effect map
Cause validation
Based on the cause-and-effect analysis shown in Figure 4 and supported by eight in-depth interviews, secondary data from the HRM department, and relevant theoretical insights, the main factors driving high staff turnover at BIDV.HCM are promotion, management style, and work-life balance These findings indicate an urgent need for BIDV to implement targeted retention strategies immediately to address these issues.
Promotions cannot be resolved quickly due to several underlying factors First, to uphold procedural and distributive justice, biased candidates may meet all formal criteria to appear on the official standby list, but social dynamics such as close personal relationships, nepotism, and discrimination drive subjective and ambiguous judgments by the board, leading to biased promotions Resolving these issues amicably is a formidable challenge beyond the scope of this discussion Second, although biased promotions contribute to dissatisfaction among BIDV staff, this problem mainly manifests in deputy head selections, where leadership roles oversee technical controls and are tasked with monitoring and keeping the internal operations of their departments on track to meet business targets.
Defining these targets demands higher-order capabilities beyond technical proficiency, so they are set by senior leadership—heads of departments and the board of directors In promotions to top ranks, especially to the board, the process is evaluated independently by multiple stakeholders (the current board, the BIDV head office HR committee, the union, the Communist Youth Union, and local branches of the State Bank of Vietnam) to foster a more democratic and transparent selection of the most suitable candidates Finally, while the most outstanding performers aren’t always chosen, many candidates who meet the basic job requirements can still be considered adequate.
While work-life balance is sometimes cited as a factor in resignations at BIDV, it does not by itself explain a large-scale employee turnover BIDV’s ongoing business growth naturally increases working pressure on its labor force, and the Head Office’s profit-threshold policies for branches set a ceiling on headcount, making recruitment a carefully considered process to sustain profit per head At the same time, BIDV’s human resources development policies are increasingly focused on training that combines specialist knowledge with effective working methods to boost productivity and support work-life balance Ultimately, the work-life trade-off is a reality of modern life; balance remains a private matter for each employee, which means BIDV cannot implement policies that satisfy every individual beyond general HR measures such as training and remuneration Each employee should take an active role in addressing their own work-life balance.
It can be seen that organizational culture, especially in uncertainty avoidance and power distance are considered as principles behind the levels of workers’ satisfaction
Uncertainty avoidance significantly lowers employee satisfaction among the branch workforce, a problem closely tied to the formal laws, rules, and regulations governing BIDV and the State Bank of Vietnam Because solving this issue requires sustained, long-term participation from a broad set of stakeholders and is too complex to address fully within this thesis, this study concentrates on power distance as the remaining factor driving high turnover at BIDV.HCM, examined through three main reasons.
Most participants in the in-depth interviews attributed high turnover to two core organizational dynamics: power distance and uncertainty avoidance They described a lack of democratic decision-making and insufficient respect for staff at all levels as key factors undermining retention They also noted that uncertainty avoidance leads to passing responsibility to others, further contributing to turnover and workforce instability.
Mrs Le Thi Kim Nhan – the head of human resources management admits that:
High power distance undermines participatory decision-making, especially in setting business targets Coupled with a culture of uncertainty avoidance, it makes it hard for team members to receive timely and adequate support from their managers As a result, failing to meet business goals and a perceived lack of empathy can generate dissatisfaction and depression among employees.
Mr Tran Hoai Nam, a CCM officer, posits that to meet business goals and tackle difficult or ambiguous problems, managers must provide enhanced facilitation and actively participate in resolving ambiguity, rather than pointing fingers and withholding advice.
Secondly, employee salaries are directly linked to branch outcomes Driven by aggressive business goals and a lack of managerial support, there is a decline in risk appetite among staff.
In other words, the hunger for loans causes the employees to accept the riskier debts
Addressing the long-term consequences of bad debts—when bad debt provisions are allocated over time—directly reduces branch profits and employees’ incomes, which can significantly undermine organizational commitment.
Ms Tran Thi Thanh Thao, a CCM officer, said that due to provisions for sizable bad debts, her salary in 2018 rose by only about 5% on average, compared with increases of 10% in 2017 and 15% in 2016 She fears that the salary growth will barely offset inflation, and more worryingly, the provisions are set to be allocated steadily from 2018 through 2023.
Interviewees experiencing work-life balance problems identify power distance and uncertainty as notable factors driving their difficulties In the BIDV.HCM context, high power distance is evident in limited democratic participation and centralized decision-making, and in some extreme cases in a lack of interactional justice, all of which amplify stress and erode employees’ sense of fairness and belonging.
Ms Truong Thi Minh Hieu, a former CCM officer at BIDV, valued a straightforward, democratic workplace with respectful and friendly interactions, but she found it hard to integrate due to disrespectful and discriminatory behavior from her managers and the deputy director despite her constant efforts Verbal aggression over minor mistakes, along with ambiguous or inconsistent instructions when new challenges arose, left her confused about how to resolve issues The rising stress began to affect her daily work as the workload increased, making it difficult to balance family responsibilities and often requiring her to stay at work until 7:00 pm or later Consequently, she decided to leave BIDV.HCMC to seek a lighter, more family-friendly job.
BIDV.HCM currently identifies organizational culture issues as the root cause of its high employee turnover To address this, the board has implemented several measures, including recruiting new staff to offset resignations and asking the BIDV Head Office to extend the bad-debt provisions from five to ten years, with the aim of supporting employees’ income growth and potentially increasing bonuses on key occasions (such as the Lunar New Year, Independence Day, etc.) and other allowances (business trips, health, hazardous subsidies, overtime, etc.) However, the results have not met expectations, and these solutions do not appear to be very convincing for several reasons.
Within the BIDV Ho Chi Minh City context, income‑driven solutions can serve as temporary measures that appeal to younger, inexperienced employees, including new graduates, but they may fall short for more seasoned staff who have stable financial status from other incomes or own businesses and thus seek more substantial alternatives Following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, once physiological, safety, and love/belonging needs are met, people strive for higher fulfillment, notably esteem (confidence, achievement, and respect) and self-actualization (morality, creativity, spontaneity, and acceptance) Therefore, retention strategies should be tailored to career stages: short-term, pay-focused incentives might help early-career staff, while experienced employees require development opportunities, recognition, and meaningful avenues for creativity and advancement.