Will AI Replace HR Jobs in Viet Nam? Here’s What to Do in 2025

Introduction - HR leaders in Viet Nam can't treat AI as a future threat: 2025 is the tipping point. Vietnam's AI market is set for multi‑billion‑dollar growth with heavy adoption in manufacturing, e‑commerce and smart cities (InvestVietnam: Vietnam AI market growth (2025 analysis)), while local surveys show 73% of companies already use AI and HR teams are among the fastest adopters - 50.8% apply AI in HR and 62.5% use it for candidate screening (ITviec: Vietnam AI adoption and IT hiring report).

That combination - fast market growth, high workplace uptake and a widening AI skills gap - means HR must shift from fear to strategy: govern pilots, reskill recruiters, and redesign roles so repetitive screening and document drafting free up time for people strategy.

Practical, role‑focused training like the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (Nucamp) can close the gap quickly; see the course and registration details for hands‑on workplace prompts and tools.

The choice for HR in Viet Nam is clear: lead AI adoption, or manage its disruption.

Metric	Value	Source
Market outlook (2025)	Multi‑billion‑dollar growth	InvestVietnam
Company AI adoption	73% integrated; 13.8% scaled	ITviec
AI in HR	50.8% using AI; 62.5% use for candidate screening	ITviec

AI matters for HR in Viet Nam because the data show the shock is already here: the first half of 2025 saw over 250,000 job cuts worldwide and sectoral shocks - 72,000 tech roles and 64,000 retail jobs wiped out in H1 alone - while Viet Nam reported thousands of local layoffs across banking, technology and FMCG and major employers (for example, Mobile World cut more than 1,000 staff) that underscore structural change rather than a short blip; HR teams must therefore treat AI as a workforce‑design issue, not only a productivity tool.

The IT labour market illustrates the disconnect: AI adoption is widespread (most IT professionals now use AI regularly) even as nearly 60% of laid‑off IT workers remain unemployed long‑term, and employers report hiring official and mid‑level roles is harder than a year ago - signs that skills, role design and hiring processes are out of sync.

That gap creates both risk (unskilled workers face rising unemployment) and opportunity: HR can reduce churn and rebuild pipeline by combining targeted reskilling, AI‑aware job design and smarter screening and outreach.

See the Talentnet infographic on H1 layoff trends, VietnamWorks' IT findings on AI use, and reporting on unskilled worker risks for practical context.

Metric	Value	Source
Global job cuts (H1 2025)	Over 250,000	Talentnet H1 2025 layoffs infographic
Tech & retail cuts (H1 2025)	Tech: 72,000; Retail: 64,000	Vietnam H1 2025 tech and retail layoffs report
IT layoffs - long recovery	Nearly 60% remain unemployed after a year	Vietnam IT industry AI adoption and layoffs analysis
AI use in IT	Most use AI tools; ~60% use daily	Vietnam IT industry AI adoption and layoffs analysis

"You must plan your career first. Learning new skills, staying current with industry trends, and being adaptable are how you become indispensable to employers," Thu says.

The immediate threat to HR jobs in Viet Nam is not sci‑fi replacement but steady role erosion: payroll clerks, routine recruiters and admin teams are exposed as banks and large employers streamline with tech - thousands of cuts have already landed in financial services (for example, BIDV cut 1,000 roles while Sacombank trimmed headcount) and reporting shows firms are reshaping work around “cashier‑less” and automated processes (Vietnam News: banking layoffs and digital transformation).

At the same time, tight legal rules for restructuring mean HR must master workforce reduction law and alternatives to layoffs so cost saving doesn't translate into headline risk (Scaling Down a Business in Vietnam: restructuring guide).

Automation vendors and local adopters also promise faster, cheaper payroll and screening - tools that can hollow out transactional HR unless teams shift to governance, reskilling and strategic talent design; the new Vietnam Briefing playbook for HR & payroll highlights the speed of this shift amid rapid GDP and workforce growth and a persistent training gap (Strategic HR & Payroll Management in Vietnam).

Watch three red flags: large sectoral layoffs (banking, tech, retail), rapid vendor rollouts of HR automation, and failure to update legal‑compliant reskilling pathways - because the cost of inaction can be a quiet shrinking of entire HR teams rather than a single headline round.

Metric	Value	Source
BIDV layoffs	1,000 jobs cut	Vietnam News
Sacombank headcount change	From ~17,400 to ~17,058 (2024)	Vietnam News
Vietnam workforce (age 15+)	53 million (H1 2025)	Vietnam Briefing
Formal training rate	29% of workers	Vietnam Briefing

"It's been incredibly stressful," he said.

Expect HR roles in Viet Nam to pivot from transactional processing to orchestration: routine hiring, payroll and document work will increasingly be handled by AI platforms such as FPT's PeopleX ecosystem (FPT.iHRP, PeopleX Hiring, FPT.eLearning and FPT.eContract) while HR professionals focus on data‑driven workforce design, AI governance and bespoke reskilling programs; FPT even showcases an AI Mentor as a training assistant that can shadow a new hire through week‑one onboarding.

The shift shows up in the numbers: Vietnamese IT teams already use AI at scale, and employers are prioritising AI skills when hiring, which means HR must add analytics, vendor management and ethical oversight to core competencies while keeping people skills - communication, empathy and critical thinking - front and centre so human judgment guides algorithmic decisions.

In manufacturing and other sectors, AI is speeding recruitment cycles and changing required skill mixes, so HR leaders should become talent architects who design hybrid jobs, run targeted L&D tied to performance metrics, and partner with specialist recruiters to close AI talent gaps rather than trying to do it all in‑house.

Metric / Trend	Value	Source
IT professionals using AI	More than 80% use AI; nearly 60% use daily	AI adoption in Vietnam IT industry - BipPlus report
Businesses prioritising AI skills	More than 50% prioritise AI-capable hires	Businesses prioritising AI skills in Vietnam - BipPlus report
Notable HR tech ecosystem	FPT.iHRP, PeopleX Hiring, FPT.eLearning, FPT.eContract, AI Mentor	FPT unveils PeopleX AI-powered HR ecosystem - Vietnam Labour Forum 2025

AI presents concrete, low‑risk wins for HR in Viet Nam that quickly translate into time and attention for higher‑value work: conversational assistants and chatbots can halve routine support time, streamline onboarding and keep hiring moving in Vietnam's mobile‑first market, freeing teams to design roles and run reskilling programs rather than answer FAQs.

7‑Eleven Vietnam's Vertex AI/Gemini chatbot - integrated into the official app and Zalo for 140 stores - cut IT issue resolution time by 50% by guiding staff through step‑by‑step fixes like common printer jams, a vivid example of how in‑channel automation reduces interruptions and keeps stores staffed and selling (7‑Eleven Vietnam Vertex AI/Gemini chatbot case study).

Broader HR chatbots can do more than reply: they screen CVs, schedule interviews, deliver localized onboarding content in Vietnamese, and act as a 24/7 policy and benefits concierge while capturing anonymized trends and sentiment that flag retention risks (one study showed richer reporting and higher engagement when bots were used for incident intake).

For teams running high‑volume hiring, a conversational hiring assistant and scheduling automation accelerates time‑to‑offer and reduces no‑shows, turning hours of transactional work into measurable strategic capacity (GEM AI chatbot for business - HR chatbot benefits, conversational hiring assistant and scheduling automation for HR in Vietnam).

Metric	Result	Source
Issue resolution time	50% reduction	7‑Eleven Vietnam Vertex AI/Gemini chatbot case study
Stores served	140 stores across Vietnam	7‑Eleven Vietnam Vertex AI/Gemini chatbot case study
HR chatbot benefits	Onboarding, screening, scheduling, 24/7 self‑service, sentiment/trend capture	GEM AI chatbot for business - HR chatbot benefits

Ten concrete actions HR teams in Viet Nam should take in 2025 start with quick, practical steps: (1) make AI skills a hiring priority - nearly 80% of Vietnamese leaders now prefer AI‑capable candidates (AIFVN report: Urgency of AI education in Vietnam); (2) run role‑specific GenAI training for recruiters, managers and non‑technical staff; (3) pilot conversational hiring assistants and scheduling automation to cut time‑to‑offer; (4) deploy AI agents for repetitive HR tasks while shifting people to strategy and governance; (5) build knowledge management so internal data powers safe AI use; (6) partner with national upskilling programs and the NIC's “AI for All” initiatives to scale reskilling; (7) use regulatory sandboxes and monitor draft laws so procurement and data use stay compliant (Vietnam Briefing analysis of Vietnam AI regulatory frameworks (2025)); (8) measure pilots with clear KPIs (time saved, offer acceptance, retention); (9) negotiate vendor trials and governance clauses - FPT's PeopleX showcases AI Mentors and agent automation as examples to test locally (FPT PeopleX AI-powered HR ecosystem announcement); and (10) embed continuous feedback loops so a “digital mentor” that shadows week‑one onboarding becomes a springboard for wider reskilling rather than a replacement for human judgement.

“We should use AI in a proactive, independent, and intelligent manner - without dependency - and with a strong sense of ethicality,” shared Vice Minister Phạm Ngọc Thưởng of the MOET.

Running pilots and measuring success for HR in Viet Nam requires the same discipline used for compliant hiring: set a narrow, time‑boxed scope, map data flows and consent up front, and agree measurable KPIs before any AI touches candidate or payroll data.

Start by documenting a pilot “contract” with clear checkpoints (think 30–60 day reviews informed by Vietnam's probation practice) and legal guardrails tied to recent reforms on data privacy, unemployment insurance and reskilling from the Vietnam Employment Law 2025 guidance (Vietnam Employment Law 2025 guidance); run compliance checks against the A–Z HR compliance checklist for contracts, payroll and reporting to avoid costly missteps (Vietnam HR compliance guide 2025).

Define KPIs that matter locally - time saved, offer acceptance, retention, and training completion - and lock measurement into existing payroll and reporting cadences so pilots produce audit‑ready evidence; use an AI governance checklist to capture scope, consent and vendor SLAs before scaling (AI governance and implementation checklist for HR in Vietnam).

Treat the pilot like a contract: if it succeeds, scale with training and formal policy; if it fails, document why and iterate.

Pilot KPI	How to measure	Why it matters
Legal & data compliance	Audit trail of consent, data access logs	Meet 2025 employment law requirements on privacy and reskilling
Time saved	Pre/post task time logged in HR system	Demonstrates efficiency gains for budget and scale
Training completion & retention	% completing accredited reskilling within pilot window	Addresses Vietnam's training gap and supports unemployment insurance reforms

Upskilling and recruitment in Viet Nam must be pragmatic: make AI capability a baseline for key hires, run short role‑specific GenAI courses and use public‑private training pipelines to scale fast.

Enrol HR teams in targeted programs such as the SHRM Certified AI‑HR Program, partner with large local providers (FPT's PeopleX ecosystem bundles eLearning, AI Mentors and hiring tools and even offered 90 days free access and deployment vouchers at the 2025 Labour Forum) to pilot blended learning, and link hiring to measurable L&D outcomes so reskilling isn't just a perk but a retention lever.

Market signals are clear - 36% of Vietnamese workers already use AI and 57% expect it to affect careers - so recruitment and compensation packages should reflect digital skills and clear career pathways rather than only title‑based raises; tie stipends or fast‑track promotion to completion of accredited AI modules.

Use vendor trials and national initiatives to lower cost, and measure success with placement rates, time‑to‑competency and reduced churn - one vivid test: a 90‑day eLearning sprint that turns a generalist recruiter into a prompt‑savvy sourcer within one quarter.

Metric	Value	Source
Employees actively using AI	36%	Michael Page Vietnam AI adoption press release
Believe AI will impact careers	57%	Michael Page Vietnam AI adoption press release
FPT eLearning pilot offers	90 days free + deployment vouchers	FPT PeopleX HR Technology announcement (Vietnam Labour Forum 2025)

“The integration of AI in the workplace is not just a futuristic concept; it is happening now and rapidly reshaping the job market in Vietnam.” - May Wah Chan, Michael Page

Ethics and governance are the backbone of any HR AI programme in Viet Nam: start by treating AI like a financial system - document every data flow, insist on audit trails and vendor SLAs, and plan for statutory audits and record retention (Vietnam Briefing notes ten‑year storage for accounting records and specific filing deadlines for foreign enterprises) so procurement and payroll choices survive scrutiny (Audit and Compliance in Vietnam - Vietnam Briefing).

Pair that with algorithmic auditing - data, model, outcome and compliance checks - to catch biased screening rules or unfair outcomes before they hit hiring decisions; practical techniques include XAI explainability, statistical bias tests and adversarial checks as part of continuous monitoring (Agentic AI and Algorithmic Auditing - KMS Technology).

For transparency in public hiring and to curb nepotism, consider independent recruiter models and digitised, recorded assessments as suggested in local commentary; tie pilots to clear consent, KPIs and the Nucamp‑style AI governance checklist so short trials leave an audit‑ready paper trail rather than an ethics gap (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus and governance checklist).

One vivid test: require a verifiable audit report before any model drives an offer decision - no report, no rollout - so human judgment remains the final sign‑off.

Action	Why it matters	Source
Annual/statutory audits & record retention	Ensures compliance, tax and forensic readiness	Vietnam Briefing
Algorithmic auditing (data/model/outcome)	Detects bias, improves fairness and transparency	KMS Technology
Independent/reviewed recruitment processes	Builds trust and reduces nepotism risk	Vietnamnet reporting

"Hiring an independent recruiter is fine, but who are they, where from, and how fair and objective are they? That needs discussion," she added.

Practical, local-first tools and contacts make the difference between an anxious HR team and one that leads AI adoption: start with structured, role‑specific training from AIFVN to lift baseline AI literacy across recruiters and managers (AIFVN GenAI training & business guidance), then connect trusted data to agentic analytics using Tableau LangChain so dashboards and AI agents query the same secure sources your finance and HR teams already trust (Tableau LangChain - build AI agents on Tableau).

For automation and day‑to‑day workflow wins, experiment with Zapier's Natural Language Actions - teams can prototype an agent that reads an incoming onboarding email, drafts a short summary and posts it to Slack in seconds, turning hours of coordination into an instant, auditable record (Zapier NLA for natural‑language automation).

These three entry points - training, trusted analytics, and lightweight automation - give HR leaders practical levers to reduce transactional load, prove value quickly, and protect people through measurable pilots.

Resource	Best for	Link
AIFVN	Role‑specific GenAI training and employer engagement in Vietnam	AIFVN - AI education
Tableau LangChain	Secure analytics agents that query trusted HR data and dashboards	Tableau LangChain - agent integrations
Zapier NLA	Rapid prototyping of automation (email → summary → Slack, scheduling, ATS tasks)	Zapier Natural Language Actions

Conclusion - HR leaders in Viet Nam must stop waiting and start shaping the AI future: with 73% of companies already using AI but only 5.4% placing very high trust in outputs, and roughly half applying AI inside HR (50.8%) - especially for screening and document drafting - the job is to convert adoption into safe, measurable value (see ITviec's 2025 AI Adoption report).

Practical next steps are clear: claim ownership of AI strategy, run short regulated pilots with KPIs tied to time‑saved and retention, and make role‑specific upskilling non‑negotiable so recruiters and managers become prompt‑savvy talent architects rather than back‑office casualties.

Keep governance front and centre - Vietnam's evolving regulatory roadmap and proposed sandboxes mean pilots should be consented, auditable and compliant from day one (Vietnam Briefing: AI regulatory roadmap (2025)) - and use practical training like the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (Nucamp) to close skills gaps fast.

The “so what?”: teams that pair pragmatic pilots, clear rules and fast, role‑focused training will protect jobs and turn AI into a capability that magnifies human judgment, not replaces it (ITviec: Vietnam AI adoption & IT hiring (2025)).

Action	Quick KPI	Source
Run 30–60 day HR AI pilot	Time saved (%) and offer‑to‑start	Vietnam Briefing: AI regulatory roadmap (2025)
Make AI skills hiring baseline	% hires with prompt/GenAI competency	ITviec: Vietnam AI adoption & IT hiring (2025)
Fast, role‑specific training	Training completion → time‑to‑competency	Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (registration)

“AI is a huge technology change, but it's a business strategy and culture change, too.” - Amy Lavoie, Culture Amp