Just over 20% of businesses have chosen to recruit additional personnel for specific positions, while the remainder are either cutting staff or maintaining their workforce through strategic approaches, a survey by Anphabe revealed.
Over the past year, "layoff" became a prominent keyword among HR professionals and managers. Even organizations that had never previously considered downsizing found themselves facing this reality.
However, viewing the situation through a more positive lens, Ms. Thanh Nguyen, CEO & Founder at Anphabe, analyzed this process as "leaning out" (organizational streamlining). She predicts that in 2026, the "race to lean out" will become more intense than ever across all industries in Vietnam.
Anphabe’s survey of approximately 650 CEOs and HR Directors regarding their 2025–2026 objectives revealed that 44% of businesses consider restructuring for a leaner organization to be their most important goal. Furthermore, 76% of enterprises have already implemented streamlining programs, a trend that is expected to continue throughout this year.
This streamlining process has placed human resources under the spotlight. Citing a survey conducted at the end of 2025, Ms. Thanh noted that for 2026, only about 25% of companies intend to expand their headcount for specific roles, 20% were frank about planned labor cuts, and the remaining 55% chose to "maintain strategically."
According to the Anphabe representative, "strategic maintenance" occurs when a company chooses not to replace an employee who resigns, or instead hires for entirely new competency requirements that the organization currently lacks.
Notably, Ms. Thanh observed that organizations are initiating reduction processes by leveraging data and technology for automation to drive operational efficiency. At a more advanced stage of development, Anphabe classifies this trend as "upskilling for streamlining."
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