High Turnover Due to Poor Management - Anonymous employee Vietcetera Employee Review

2.0
26 Apr 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Vietcetera is a good website for culture in the city. It's highly regarded and trusted by expats in Saigon. Vietnam needs english cultural publications to spread the country to the world. There was a good amount of creative freedom given to the creatives at the company, mostly due to a severe lack of structure and direction. This allows people to work on what they want to an extent, however without the structure it is almost impossible to know what kind of content the editors are looking for. The company has good connections in the city and can introduce you to big players in the creative world of Saigon.

Cons

Almost none of the owners or upper management of Vietcetera have any professional experience in journalism. This leads to a lack of direction in the company and their editorial standards. Most of the time it felt like the content was simply a business favor for the owners rather than something that our audience would like to read. Very little reflection on content or performance or growth of the company. One individual in upper management would make crude sexual jokes and advances towards the female employees regularly. At times yelling through the office when an attractive woman was walking on the street outside. The comments made to me about other employees and myself made me very uncomfortable. I couldn't recommend women work here for this reason. Pay is extremely low for the work expected. There are alarming pay discrepancies between western employees and Vietnamese employees with similar qualifications and responsibilities. Turn over rate is astronomically high. Only one employee stayed at the company during the time I was working there. Employees are treated as disposable. It felt like the management would rather fire a person and hire another unpaid intern rather than invest in an employee and help them to fit in the position. Firings are always without notice and immediate, no two weeks notice, no pay till the end of the month. Very little regard or investment in the personal desires or goals of the employees.

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Vietcetera Response
7y
Hi, This is a disappointing, and highly inaccurate, review to read. Given the timing (and native English fluency and Western work atmosphere "no pay till end of the month" expectation) of this review, there's only one person that fits this description. I'll respond to this review given my knowledge of this individual. 1) Yes, we (were) unstructured compared to 6 months ago when we terminated your employment at Vietcetera. At the time you joined, we were 3 full time staff. It's expected to have a lack of organization and that comes with growth. Unfortunately you could not handle startup expectations. 2) Yes, we do not have experience in journalism. But we do in content, social media, marketing, and in general: building businesses. We started Vietcetera to share stories about the new Vietnam. We 'accidentally' fell into journalism out of our passion to share stories about this country. 3) 'Favors' for friends and brands - sure you can call it that. Or you can have accurate insight into our bootstrapped growth strategy which is to leverage brands and personalities that appreciate our content and are happy to share it after we create features. We are a bootstrapped company, not a brand with unlimited slush funds. 4) Sexual harassment: this is not tolerated at the company and is completely untrue. 'Yelling through the office' is totally inaccurate and ridiculous to add in an anonymous, public review. At times there have been comments made that are not tolerated and have been made clear to those who have made them. Action has been taken in the past and is well-known throughout the company. I'm sorry you were not part of those discussions, mostly likely because you were constantly on holiday and excused yourself routinely from meetings. 5) Pay. First, we have no 'expat' salaries. So your assumption that Western and Vietnamese employees experience a wage gap is untrue. You were a Western employee with an English teacher background, a job that commands unrealistic salaries in any other industry for someone with non-qualified degrees and certificates in a country like Vietnam. You were 'underpaid' relative to your past job as an English teacher. In relation to creative work, in fact, you were paid less than your Vietnamese colleague because of the gap in skill set between you and your more talented Vietnamese colleague. 6) Turnover = we have a high turnover rate for probation (1-2 months) because we set high standards. We're happy to share that those who have made it past 1-2 months of work at Vietcetera, the retention rate is nearly 100%. The only person that did not make it past that mark is you. Our core team of 9 employees has been with us for nearly a year, which was when we made our first full-time hire. You were the only 'core' member that left after 5 months because of insubordination, your constant undermining of company leadership, and even going as far as calling one of your Vietnamese managers a 'racist'. I would recommend you reflect on your own comments made to company leadership and understand why you were terminated before leaving this completely inaccurate review of Vietcetera. We are proud to share stories of the new Vietnam and we want to reflect the quality and stories we find in the new Vietnam in our own work environment. We are proud to employ highly talented individuals that make up a passionate and highly driven team. Unfortunately you did not meet those standards.

Explore other reviews about Vietcetera

4.0
30 Nov 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

exposure to vietnam's working environment, good location

Cons

not a lot of structure for internship program

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Vietcetera Response
4y
Thank you! Always trying to improve...for internships its always tough because they start at different times and usually as individuals, not batches. So depending on the time of year you join and how developed a team is, you'll definitely have a varying experience. For content, things are pretty set . For other teams in areas like the business team it may be different as it requires being problem solvers, so being on your toes is required,
4.0
31 Mar 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Great people. - Co-workers will give you advice on things to do in Vietnam. Very friendly. - Relaxed environment, but growing impact

Cons

- Hard to know exactly what to do for the job - Hard to give feedback to upper management

2
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Vietcetera Response
4y
Thank you for the feedback. This is a bit older review, but I'm sure remains an area of concern for new joiners! Our upper management team is more now. At the time of writing this review, we only had 2. But we have now 5 across 5 different teams! We also have more seniors on the team to support with day to day mentorship. With that increase, job roles and responsibilities are becoming more clear.
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