[Reading level: B2 – Upper Intermediate]
Each day at his company, Bao Minh typically spends only two hours of actual “work,” using ChatGPT to prepare eight pieces of content to post on the fanpage, and spends the remaining six hours watching movies.
“My office work is pretty laid-back,” the 23-year-old describes his job at a media company in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
In May, Minh was recruited for a content marketing position, responsible for writing content for the company’s fanpage and website. The workload is measured by the number of posts and social media interactions, with a monthly salary of 10 million VND.
Minh said he initially loved this job, and creating content is his strength. But his enthusiasm for the job quickly faded. “HR said they needed a ‘new breeze’ of young talent, but that wasn’t the case at all,” he recalled. The marketing manager, who was 13 years older than him, was often dissatisfied with Minh’s content, saying it was difficult to understand and too different.
In the first two weeks, Minh had to revise each 300-word post more than five times. In the end, all his ideas were changed. Feeling disheartened, he wanted to quit after a month but stayed because he remembered the instability of his two years of freelancing.
After several marketing campaigns, he realized he only needed to stick to the old ideas, without needing to be creative. “The low salary also made me ‘lazy’ to argue with my boss,” he said.
Minh turned to using AI to draft content, then slightly edited it. Every day, he would clock in at 9 AM, and by 11 AM, his work was done. The rest of the time, he would chat with his colleagues, watch movies, or read stories.
His boss, sitting in another room, didn’t care much about what Minh was doing, only judging him based on his presence in the office.
Hai Yen, 29, is often told by her friends that she has a dream job. She isn’t restricted by office hours since moving from the events department to content production at a printing company in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.
Yến said this mandatory job rotation left her feeling demotivated and uninterested. Her output was always the lowest compared to her four colleagues in the department.
However, after six years of work, she is on the permanent payroll, earning 8 million VND per month. Yến said this salary wasn’t enough of a motivator to push herself harder. She became accustomed to criticism and fell into a mindset of waiting to be laid off. “I no longer do what I love, so I always feel tired and don’t want to move forward,” she said.
Every day, Yen arrives at the office at 11 AM, has lunch, and rests until 2 PM. Her actual work time lasts one to two hours. Around 4 PM, she changes into workout clothes to go jogging at a park 3 km from the office, stops by the supermarket to buy groceries, and enjoys her evenings without bringing work home.
Yen and Minh are examples of workers falling into the “jobless employed” situation — a term describing people who have jobs but do very little or no work. They don’t want or don’t have the opportunity to advance, grow personally, or create value in their work, leading to low productivity and effectiveness.
A 2020 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) showed that about 22% of workers worldwide are in a “jobless employed” state. In Vietnam, a similar survey by CareerBuilder found that 58% of workers were dissatisfied with their current jobs.
Bui Doan Chung, founder of the Vietnam HR Community, believes this phenomenon is common among Gen Z and Millennials for various reasons.
Firstly, Gen Z — a generation that makes up one-third of the labor force in Vietnam — has changed their priorities about work. They view the overall purpose and happiness in their jobs as very important, so repetitive, boring jobs with unclear futures make them lose motivation.
The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) has also changed how many companies and individuals work, as they utilize digitalization to reduce work hours.
The “jobless employed” phenomenon highlights issues within human resource management. Managers might choose the wrong personnel or place them in unsuitable roles, making employees feel misaligned in terms of values and unable to adapt to the company culture. “A loss of motivation and trust leads to a culture of stagnation and irresponsibility,” Chung said. He believes that multiple parties share responsibility for this.
Chung also pointed out that this issue is prevalent among workers with permanent contracts since they are legally protected. Terminating these workers’ contracts is relatively difficult and fraught with legal challenges.
As a result, they inadvertently create a “zombie office worker” force — people who don’t learn, don’t work, but also don’t quit. This can easily lead to internal conflicts.
Khanh Thy, 29, is one of them. Thy and her colleagues at a dairy company in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, call a salesperson in their department “the immortal one” because he never gets fired.
He was promoted to a managerial position after bringing in some good projects for the company three years ago. Every day, he checks in on time, but then often disappears without explanation. Many colleagues complain about his slowness, lack of sharpness, and negligence, but he remains with the company.
“During the stressful phase of a new project, we had to work overtime while he was nowhere to be found,” Thy shared.
Chung believes the “jobless employed” issue can be minimized by building a system that tracks individual productivity, performance, and detailed reporting at every level, from individuals to departments.
Companies should also create legal frameworks for carrying out specific tasks in the workplace. Additionally, employees lacking motivation need to be proactively listened to and their problems identified.
In early 2024, Hai Yen decided to quit her job due to concerns about approaching 30 without a clear future direction. She said she was shocked by the work pace at a private company, as productivity and evaluation methods were entirely different.
“Perhaps I’ve let myself drift for too long, and now I find it hard to work seriously,” she said.
Source: https://vnexpress.net/nhung-nguoi-di-lam-nhu-that-nghiep-4800543.html
WORD BANK:
laid-back /ˌleɪdˈbæk/ [C2] (adj): nhàn rỗi
initially /ɪˈnɪʃ.əl.i/ [B2] (adv): ban đầu
enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuː.zi.æz.əm/ [B2] (n): sự hứng thú
fade /feɪd/ [B2] (v): phai nhạt đi
new breeze /briːz/ (n): làn gió mới
revise /rɪˈvaɪz/ [B2] (v): xem lại, sửa lại
disheartened /dɪsˈhɑːr.tənd/ (adj): chán nản
instability /ˌɪn.stəˈbɪl.ə.t̬i/ (n): sự bấp bênh, không ổn định
freelance /ˈfriː.læns/ (n): công việc tự do
stick to old ideas (v): bám chặt những ý tưởng cũ
clock in (v): điểm danh, chấm công
mandatory /ˈmæn.də.tɔːr.i/ (adj): bắt buộc
rotation /roʊˈteɪ.ʃən/ (n): luân chuyển
be on the permanent payroll (v): nằm trong biên chế
accustomed to sth /əˈkʌs.təmd/ (adj): quen với cái gì
mindset /ˈmaɪnd.set/ (n): tư tưởng, suy nghĩ
lay off /ˈleɪ ɑːf/ (v): sa thải
stop by (v): tạt qua, ghé qua
jobless employed /ˈdʒɑːb.ləs ɪmˈplɔɪd/ (adj): đi làm như thất nghiệp
phenomenon /fəˈnɑː.mə.nɑːn/ [C1] (n): hiện tượng
misalign /ˌmɪs.əˈlaɪn/ (v): sắp xếp bộ phận/nhân sự không phù hợp với khả năng, tính năng của chúng/họ
stagnation /stæɡˈneɪ·ʃən/ (n): sự trì trệ
party /ˈpɑːr.t̬i/ (n): bên (liên quan cái gì đó)
terminate /ˈtɝː.mə.neɪt/ (v): chấm dứt
fraught with /frɑːt/ (adj): nhiều cái gì đó xấu, tiêu cực
inadvertently /ˌɪn.ədˈvɝː.t̬ənt.li/ (adv): vô tình
internal conflict /ɪnˈtɝː.nəl ˈkɑːn.flɪkt/ (n): mâu thuẫn nội bộ
dairy /ˈder.i/ (adj): thuộc về sữa
immortal /ɪˈmɔːr.t̬əl/ (adj): bất tử
negligence /ˈneɡ.lə.dʒəns/ [C2] (n): chểnh mảng
proactively /ˌproʊˈæk.tɪv.li/ (adv): một cách chủ động
pace /peɪs/ [B2] (n): tốc độ
drift /drɪft/ [C2] (v): thả trôi
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