Pou Chen facing staff shortages in Vietnam
The company’s factories in Ho Chi Minh City, Long An and Dong Nai have all been particularly impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, the publication said. Production at these locations has been much scaled back since July.
At the time, Pou Chen’s roughly 56,000 employees in Ho Chi Minh City alone could not adequately socially distance, so work at the plant was suspended for 10 days by local authorities. This followed an earlier order to suspend manufacturing in the city for similar reasons in April 2020.
A director at the company, Lu Chi Yuan, was quoted as saying that as many as 6% of its employees had recently resigned, resulting in labour shortages and delayed orders. Therefore, production and export volumes are suffering at present, threatening plans to return to full capacity later this month, the spokesperson added.
Pou Chen also confirmed that it had asked administrators in Ho Chi Minh City, in particular, to support it in its immediate recruitment efforts to boost its staffing shortages.
Reuters described how tens of thousands of workers from Vietnamese industrial hubs had moved away following the lifting of covid-19-related restrictions in October, causing problems for the south-east Asian nation’s manufacturing sector.
According to its website, Pou Chen produces footwear for Nike, adidas, Salomon, Asics, New Balance and Timberland.
