Determining the Human Resource

Management Practices of VinaLearn

 Acknowledgment

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Glory be to the All-Powerful, the Creator and Sustainer, who has provided each of us with the

resources and means to fulfill this assignment.

We would like to convey our heartfelt, sincere thanks and gratitude to our course instructor, Mr.

Abdullah Al Ahad, for offering us the chance to finish the required report. We are eternally

thankful to him for his incredible class lectures that have rendered our task considerably simpler.

His insights aided us in completing this assignment quickly. Our respected professor also made

the session more engaging by offering several instances relating to several HRM challenges.

With his guidelines, we could have completed this task, for which he deserves credit.

Many thanks to Ms. Sajia Giang for assisting us by providing all the information on human

resource management of VinaLearn- a leading public school agency. Also, thanks for her

generous cooperation about how the work process of the human resource management system is

being conducted there.

Finally, we are grateful for the contributions of all those whose kind collaboration helped us,

either directly or indirectly, to make this project a reality.

 Executive Summary

VinaLearn is a public education organization with its headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam. The paper examines several HRM topics, including performance management, hiring
and staff planning, employee testing and selection, ethical and equitable treatment, training and
interviews, salary, benefits, and incentives.

VinaLearn uses a variety of HRM techniques, and they are often successful in luring, choosing,
and keeping talented workers. Still, there are a few places that might need better. For instance,
the company may use other methods for job analysis, including observation, and integrate a
scatter diagram into its forecasts of staff. VinaLearn may also strive to remove prejudice in the
recruiting process and broaden its recruitment efforts to include foreign employment
agencies.The research suggests that VinaLearn should consider modifying its strike policy to
make it more progressive and institute remedial measures for any employee who has had many
strikes.

Overall, VinaLearn shows that it is dedicated to treating its employees fairly and ethically. To
encourage ethical behavior, the company holds training sessions and has grievance procedures in
place for staff members to voice issues. Incentives and perks offered by VinaLearn to staff
members include paid time off, development programs, sponsorships, yearly increments, and
vouchers.
Table of Contents

Acknowledgement.......................................................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction....................................................................................................................................5
Main Body...................................................................................................................................... 6
Job Analysis.............................................................................................................................................6
Personnel Planning and Recruitment.......................................................................................................7
Employee Testing and Selection..............................................................................................................8
Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HRM............................................................................................8
Interviewing Candidates + Training and Developing Employees........................................................... 8
Performance Management and Appraisal................................................................................................9
Establishing Strategic Pay Plan............................................................................................................... 9
Incentives and Benefits..........................................................................................................................10
Discussion and Recommendation............................................................................................... 14
Job Analysis...........................................................................................................................................14
Personnel Planning and Recruitment.....................................................................................................14
Employee Testing and Selection............................................................................................................15
Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HRM..........................................................................................16
Interviewing Candidates + Training and Developing Employees......................................................... 17
Performance Management and Appraisal..............................................................................................17
Establishing Strategic Pay Plan............................................................................................................. 18
Incentives and Benefits..........................................................................................................................19
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 20
References..................................................................................................................................... 21
Appendix.......................................................................................................................................22
 Introduction

In this report, we were assigned to select an organization and identify the practices of human
resource management and then the deficiencies of that particular organization and compare it
using the knowledge of all the components of HRM such as acquisition, training, appraisal,
compensation, labor relations and fairness that we have acquired in this course. Both primary and
secondary data were used to complete this report.

Though we had a target of reaching a Bangladeshi organization, which we couldn’t manage,

unfortunately, we have reached out to a public school agency, “VinaLearn”, which is situated in
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Several sets of questions were prepared from each lecture by all our
group members. Then, we arranged an online interview with one of the HR executives of
VinaLearn, Ms Sajia Giang. Throughout the interview, Ms Giang enlightened us with the
practices and implementations of the components of human resources that VinaLearn follows.

We have also covered acknowledgment, executive summary, introduction, a thorough discussion

of the interview and all the Q/A conducted in the interview, which is in the appendix, discussion
and recommendation, conclusion, reference and appendix in this report.
 Main Body
This section lists the different questions related to each chapter taught in our HRM301 course
that we narrowed down and asked Ms. Sajia Giang. For each question asked, the answers are
summarized and written down to give the reader a clear overview of VinaLearn and its HR
practices.

Job Analysis
As part of its usual protocol of collecting information for job analysis, VinaLearn uses
questionnaires and diary/logs simultaneously to ensure better credibility of the information
collected.
At the end of the analysis period, the diary/logs are compared to the responses from the
questionnaire to check for discrepancies between the two. This way, the job analysts at
VinaLearn come up with informative and practical job descriptions and specifications.

Even though the job design isn’t fixed, employees at VinaLearn never have to go through job
rotation since they specialize in providing highly educated English language teachers all across
Vietnam.
However, when looking to promote an employee, VinaLearn follows the job enrichment and
enlargement method, depending on the new job responsibilities the person to be promoted is
about to have.
Since VinaLearn works with teachers, who, by their profession, have to work in stressful
environments, they see job enlargement as the best fit.

Personnel Planning and Recruitment

VinaLearn uses trend analysis to project the demand for its services over time or at a certain
period. Post-COVID, there has been a decline in the supply of foreign teachers in Vietnam
because of the strict immigration laws. Still, overall, the demand for English language instructors
hasn’t changed much, whether we’re talking about before or after COVID-19. Even though it
stays more or less constant, there are some fluctuations right before the new school year starts or
when it’s about to end - which is when the forecasting tool comes into play.
Although the need to hire internal candidates doesn’t arise all the time due to how popular
English teaching jobs are in Vietnam, if they ever do need to do so, they usually first look at their
track records and take feedback from other team members and their leaders.

Social media platforms, especially Facebook, are their most prominent source of hiring outside
candidates. Since VinaLearn has a substantial number of followers on their Facebook page
already, and because the market for English instructors is prevalent in Vietnam, they don’t need
to pay for ads but instead put up job postings on social media.

Furthermore, they also get employee referrals and help from hiring agencies. The one stable
recruitment agency they work with is called Explore Asia. Since teachers need a college degree
and mainly a TEFL certificate, Explore Asia offers people to sign up with them so they can take
the TEFL. Once that’s done, they guarantee them a job and send the best candidates to VinaLearn
after filtering through them.

Employee Testing and Selection

VinaLearn looks mostly at the qualifications and experiences of their possible candidates. If the
candidate lacks the required experience, then they take the candidate’s passion and dedication to
the work into consideration while looking for the right employees. An employee who meets all
the hard and soft skills that are required for the organization should be hired, and VinaLearn
seems to be doing very well while choosing its “right employees.”

The personality of the employees is a major concern for VinaLearn as that will directly affect
their organizational performance. As they recruit teachers for primary, secondary, and high
school, the personality of those employees reveals whether or not they are capable enough for the
students or if they will be great in the classroom with young learners or not. This helps them to
screen out the candidates before scheduling an interview. VinaLearn could also consider the costs
of recruiting & hiring and legal obligations while selecting employees.
Out of many types of pre-employment tests, VinaLearn’s preferred method is an online
application through which they require and collect all the possible information that allows them
to check if the candidate really knows about the job or not. It also shows the candidate’s
psychomotor abilities. They also make their candidates record an introduction video as a demo to
see their accent and their personalities.

If someone refuses to upload a demo video during the pretest, then VinaLearn gives them an
imaginary problematic scenario to solve during the interview. Vinalearn can also look at the
current achievements of the employee as that would help in deciding which employee has greater
work experience.

VinaLearn seems to compromise with the discrimination that they face while hiring teachers. The
demo they collect is also a part of the discrimination to see how the candidate looks. They cannot
always hire candidates who don't have white skin or someone who looks like the local people of
Vietnam, regardless of how highly qualified the candidate is, as the schools are influenced by
parents who do not want anyone but a white person to teach their kids. As VinaLearn focuses on
fulfilling the demands of its clients, there is no intention of preventing the discrimination that the
candidates face.

VinaLearn runs a proper background check that is done by the police and a personality check
while hiring employees. It alerts them beforehand if the employee that they are about to hire has
a criminal record or not, which helps them to prevent negligent hiring.

Scrutinizing all the information on the employee application, written authorization of all the
references, and rejecting applicants who have provided false information on their CV should also
be VinaLearn’s concern while hiring people. A criminal record might not be the only thing an
employee or candidate would hide.

Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HRM

VinaLearn follows a traditional way that is striking. When the strike reaches the count of 3, then
the employees face fines/pay cuts, and this rule is applicable to everyone. If a promotion comes
up, then the employees with the strikes will not be the first choice.
VinaLeran’s technique complements distributive and procedural justice. The process they follow
while promoting employees has fairness in it.

VinaLearn observes their candidates with two or three people. Each of the observers observes
and notes scores on a form. If the given score of the two observers has a drastic difference, then a
third person is assigned to observe the candidate. So even if one of the observers has a friendly
relationship with the candidate, it won't be the case for the other two observers. So, bias is
prevented, and credibility is ensured.

VinaLearn has employee feedback forms, surveys and questionnaires. Employees can also fill
out an anonymous form that is checked quarterly or yearly. Unfair treatments are looked up and
treated with justice. There is a minimal amount of insubordination only among the locals at
VinaLearn, and it's handled with orientations where policy and rules are discussed with
everyone. Written and verbal warnings, a decision-making leave or suspension from work might
warn the employees who usually cause subordination at VinaLearn.

In orientations, candidates are informed about the company culture and ethics. VinaLearn
clarifies the expectations that the employees should meet and mentions all the policies that
should be followed alongside the consequences if steps out of the line are seen. Conduction of
workshops and training every 3 months also provide physical support to the employees.

Interviewing Candidates + Training and Developing Employees

The job description is already public when they publish job openings on social media.
Everything is explained in a clear and basic manner in this approach. During the interview or
right at the start, they ask candidates to attest to their comprehension of the duties. It's like
drawing a line; once an applicant chooses a role, they have to accept the obligations that come
with it without having the chance to change their mind.

This agreement is regarded as final. However, there are times when this procedure runs into
difficulties. During the interview, several applicants who had earlier indicated they understood
something claimed not to afterward. In this case, it is necessary to go over the information again
and make sure the applicant is aware of everything. They invest in educating their interviewers,
even though it's not always smooth. Interviewers follow a predetermined list of questions to
guarantee a thorough assessment of a candidate's comprehension of the job specifications. But
occasionally, there are issues with this process.

In this instance, a review of the material is required to ensure that the applicant is aware of
everything. Although it can be challenging, they invest in training their interviewers. To ensure
that candidates have a complete understanding of the job requirements, interviewers stick to a
pre-planned set of questions.

In Vinalearn, they must undoubtedly make sure that applicants show their skills in the workplace.
They have a probationary term that is specified in the contract and lasts for one month, during
which time it is possible to decide not to hire. This probationary phase comes before any
deployment to the field or classroom, and only then is the final contract signed.

There are a few procedures in place before candidates start their probationary term. They must
first send in a demo video that highlights their abilities. After that, candidates go through an
interview where they are given a situation to see how they would manage it. The actual demo is
the next step for selected candidates, which starts their probationary term. This multi-step
procedure is intended to assess candidates' talents in-depth and guarantee they are suitably
qualified for the roles and duties.

Performance Management and Appraisal

At VinaLearn, when they evaluate how well employees are doing their jobs, they have a
thorough process called performance appraisal. This involves looking at each person's skills and
comparing them to others. They gather a lot of information to make sure they consider
everything that matters. To make these comparisons, they use a rating system, like giving scores
from 1 to 5. For example, if someone gets a 3 and another person gets a 4, they focus on helping
the first person improve to a 4 and maybe even a 5. Although VinaLearn doesn't strictly stick to
this method, they generally use something similar called the BARS method. This helps keep their
evaluations consistent, ensuring that everyone is treated fairly. This way, they have a system
that's both fair and effective for managing and appraising performance.
For specific objectives set in the past year, these vary across departments. Each department has
unique goals. Due to the majority of its staff being teachers, Vinalearn doesn't establish specific
goals for them. This rule only applies to the customer service department responsible for school
contract signings. Vinalearn sets clear targets for the CS team in the upcoming school year,
assessing employee performance based on the number of new school partnerships.

In contrast, feedback from clients, including schools and parents, determines the continuation of
teachers for the next school year. This diversity ensures that objectives align with the distinct
responsibilities and targets of each department.

Establishing Strategic Pay Plan

When VinaLearn decides how much to pay someone, they take a careful and detailed approach.
First, they figure out the skills needed for the job and set a starting point for how much they'll
pay. Then, they do a thorough study of the job market to understand what other companies,
especially competitors, are paying for similar roles.

In a competitive setting, VinaLearn knows that offering a bit more money can help bring in and
keep really talented people. They also pay attention to the timing – like at the start of the school
year, when there's a high demand for teachers, they might offer higher pay rates. It's not just a
one-time decision; they stay flexible, adjusting pay based on what's happening in the job market
and what the organization needs at that specific time. It's all about making sure they attract the
best talent and keep things fair and competitive.

VinaLearn, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is influenced by the city's cost of living,
making it an attractive choice for teachers. The lower cost of living in Vietnam compared to the
salary offered is a key factor drawing educators to the country. Teachers at VinaLearn are paid
hourly, and the time of year plays a crucial role in determining their pay rates. However, this isn't
universally applicable, and the impact of location and living costs on salary varies. It's crucial to
analyze each location independently to ensure fair and competitive compensation based on the
local economic context.
At VinaLearn, they usually review how well everyone is doing at work once a year and this lines
up with when they decide on yearly pay increases. On top of regular salaries, they also give out
extra money called performance bonuses. Sometimes, if the director is really impressed with
how everyone is doing, she might give out special bonuses. These evaluations happen more often
for some people – every three months for some, and for teachers, it's three times in a school year.
Also, when new teachers join the team, they get a nice welcome in the form of signing bonuses.

At VinaLearn, they figure out how good someone is at their job by looking at specific skills
needed for each role. The team leaders, who are like the captains of each group, are crucial in
this process. They keep a close connection with their team members and are the main people
responsible for judging how well everyone is doing. These leaders don't just sit back – they give
tasks to individuals to see how well they perform. This helps VinaLearn decide who is the best fit
for a particular job. It's like a team effort where everyone works together to make sure they
choose the right person for each role. This way, they get a complete picture of everyone's
abilities, making it easier to make smart decisions about who should do what.

Incentives and Benefits

As VinaLearn has assembled a skilled, devoted and diligent team of foreign teachers and native
Vietnamese personnel, they have different kinds of incentives and benefits for them. They
provide annual increments to their employees. They have two kinds of sponsorships. One is
sponsoring employment, and the other is financial sponsorships. Vinalearn can easily provide
employment sponsorship if they want to hire someone. Providing financial sponsorships is not
possible for everyone, as the business visa fees of different countries vary. They provide
development programs for employees interested in advancing their careers in their field. They
also have additional compensated time off and vouchers for gifts.

They develop an extensive budget for the year that details every expenditure and income. They
also make budgets for different sectors such as educational resources, staff salaries, facility
maintenance, advertisement and so on. They examine costs, income, and patterns in order to
make sound judgments.
Since the director has been operating the business for nearly 10 years, they apply referrals from
others, collaborations, and social networking sites to market their brand as opposed to depending
only on pricey advertising. Also, to save costs, they invest in in-house training. Also, they stick
to local suppliers whenever they need any kind of office supplies.

They have people to fulfill different roles. For example, instead of hiring 2 people for 2 different
jobs, they hire one and try to keep that person happy on that particular job by providing extra pay
or bonuses.

Vinalearn provides savings plans that offer an individualized monthly payment to employees and
retirees based on parameters such as compensation and duration of employment.

They follow a code of conduct like a dress code. Also, they define guidelines for conduct for
both students and faculty- how they are supposed to behave in the classroom. They try to secure
confidential educational and employment info by providing security practices to comply with the
corresponding laws.

For instance, male teachers aren’t allowed to touch students, and no one should post others’
pictures or contact info or any other personal details on social media without their permission.
They have an attendance policy, which is provided during orientation, where attendance rules are
laid out clearly, as are penalties for frequent absences, late entrances, or early leaves. Also, they
follow the immigration laws. Vietnam has good friendships with certain countries, like Russia,
for example. As a result, the company loves to hire people from Russia, even though their
performance is not so outstanding, rather than North Africa or the Middle East, because
processing papers in Russia is much easier for them.

They have a policy bridge. If someone breaks the rule for the first time, they just warn them, but
if it's for the 3rd time, they have to pay a fine. Also, there are nationality or legal issues. For
example, a person who has amazing skills with high qualifications, or the right attitude but
comes from a country where it’s tough for Vinalearn to hire them or give them temporary
residence cards in order to work there.

Vietnam has a short-term business visa for 3 months. And teachers can work there with business
visas. Also, they provide work permits valid for 2 years. It is pretty easy to get a business visa,
regardless of the more complex work permit. So if a person is having outstanding skills, but
processing work permits for them is really hard, Vinalearn gives them business visas and renews
them 3 times for an academic year.
 Discussion and Recommendation

After a thorough inspection of the answers relating to Vinalearn's HR practices, we have

concluded that the company has been trying its best to maintain an ethically sound and
comfortable workspace for its employees.

However, we think some changes may be necessary, as listed below:

Job Analysis
Aside from observations and work log, we recommend that it might be a better idea also to
incorporate observation as part of their information collection process to increase the credibility
of the answers, and to put a reliable person on the job for observation.

Personnel Planning and Recruitment

Vinalearn currently only relies on trend analysis to forecast their personnel needs. While that also
works well for them, we think it’d be more effective for them to incorporate a scatter diagram to
the trend analysis as an additional tool so that they can visualize the deviations from the planned
needs according to season and school year.

A better way to hire internal candidates would be to use the 360-degree feedback method and to
put up job vacancies in the company forum, where the information would be accessible to a more
significant number of employees all at once to save time.

Employee Testing and Selection

For Vinalearn, the right candidate is highly qualified with degrees related to the English language
and also has some experience in this field of expertise. By doing so, they’re ensuring
organizational performance while also reducing the cost of hiring and training candidates.

Qualifications and expertise aside, they also look into their personality and background because
they’ll be working mainly with children.
Vinalearn tries to match the personality of the candidates with the education level of the students
they will be teaching.

Asking candidates to upload a demo video before the interview is a great way to show their
cognitive abilities and accent since that is most related to teaching English. Furthermore, in the
online form, the candidates are required to upload their current and past achievements, which
also helps in the selection process.

As a service-based company, Vinalearn has to ensure they’re meeting their client’s demands, so
there’s nothing they can do to stop the discrimination in their selection process when their main
clientele is narrow-minded.

However, to ensure the validity and reliability of the selection process to some extent, they made
the online application portal open for all, where everyone has to upload the same things, answer
the same questions, and upload a demo video so that the interviewers don’t accidentally get
sucked into the halo effect or make snap judgments.

Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HRM

The traditional approach of “strikes” works well for Vinalearn. However, we think it would be
more efficient if they fined any employee who had more than one strike or made the same
mistake more than once.

The comfortable relationship that employees have with managers goes a long way to improving
the efficiency and effectiveness of the workforce at Vinalearn. Furthermore, Vinalearn has
specific grievance mechanisms that the HR reviews bi-yearly or quarterly.

Interviewing Candidates + Training and Developing Employees

From what was mentioned earlier, it can be concluded that candidates mostly undergo a
combination of situational, behavioral, and job-related interviews for Vinalearn.
Since all three interview methods are used, and due to the nature of the job of the candidates, this
sort of approach is best suited for the organization.

Employees are also made to attend regular skill-building workshops in and out of the company
and before the interview so that the interviewers are well prepared about the content of the
interview.

After the interview, once the candidate has been selected, they put them on probation for a month
for further assessment.

Performance Management and Appraisal

For performance appraisal, Vinalearn uses the BARS method, and the HR department constantly
updates the scale and list throughout the year and takes steps to bring up the rating of each
employee to a level above their current one.

Vinalearn assigns a specific target to its CS department for the upcoming school year, and based
on the number of new schools partnered with, it measures employee performance. As for the
teachers, the company relies on feedback from the clients (schools and parents) and then decides
whether to keep the teacher for the next school year or not.

The current method of evaluation works excellently for the company. Still, if in the future it finds
the need to improve its evaluation system, we would recommend also using the graphic rating
scale technique because then the two lists (BARS and Graphic Rating) will complement each
other well and speak for the employee.

Establishing Strategic Pay Plan

Since teachers at Vinalearn get paid on an hourly basis, the time of the year matters a lot when
deciding the pay rate of the employees. By judging an employee's qualifications, level of
nativity, and market value, the company ensures internal, individual, and external equity.
Moreover, the company tries to stay competitive by paying their employees slightly more than
their competitors since the cost of living does not affect the payroll decision at Vinalearn because
the salary paid to foreign teachers in Vietnam far exceeds the cost of living.

Incentives and Benefits

The balance that Vinalearn has established between cutting down its costs and paying its
employees enough to keep them motivated, besides giving them additional benefits, is a great
initiative and could act as a competitive advantage for the company.

HR Compliance
The code of conduct is made clear during the orientation program to maintain compliance with
HR policies in the future.

Vinalearn works closely with the immigration department of Vietnam and has to abide strictly by
the immigration laws of the country since most of their employees are foreigners, so they must
make sure they have all the relevant documents and permission to work in Vietnam.

When it comes to hiring employees, the company also has to follow the treaty that Vietnam has
with other countries so as not to violate the rules.

As a company based in Vietnam, it’s a given that it’ll have to follow the laws of the country,
regardless of whether they like it or not. Hence, we can’t provide any recommendations on this
aspect since the company is already doing all it can to support its employees.

Conclusion

Vinalearn's HR practices exhibit a thoughtful and comprehensive approach, emphasizing job

analysis, recruitment, ethics, and compliance. Noteworthy recommendations include
incorporating observation in job analysis, utilizing 360-degree feedback, and exploring
international hiring agencies for recruitment. Despite challenges, the company strives for
fairness, employing standardized procedures to address discrimination concerns. Ethics and fair
treatment are upheld through grievance mechanisms, orientation programs, and a traditional
"strikes" method for misconduct. Suggestions for corrective action with fewer strikes are
proposed. The interviewing process includes situational, behavioral, and job-related aspects,
ensuring a thorough candidate assessment. Training workshops and probation periods underscore
Vinalearn's commitment to ongoing development. Performance appraisal, utilizing the BARS
method, showcases the company's dedication to objective evaluations. Recommendations to
explore additional methods like graphic rating scale or paired comparison are made for future
enhancement. Vinalearn's strategic pay plan, focusing on internal and external equity, balances
cost control and employee motivation, fostering competitiveness in the market.Lastly, adherence
to HR compliance, a robust code of conduct, and collaboration with immigration authorities
highlight Vinalearn's commitment to ethical operations within the legal framework. Overall,
Vinalearn's HR practices contribute to a positive and productive work environment for its diverse
workforce.
References

● Website of Vinalearn: https://www.vinalearn.com/

 Appendix

1. Interview with MS. Giang on Zoom

2. List of Questions Asked