Being CEO of Rich Field JSC, she always impresses her employees with her warm, caring and kind-hearted gestures. To them, she is not only a Boss but also a Mentor, a Coach whose positive energy is a source of ínpiration and encouragement.
Let’s join us in our New Year’s talk with Ms. Phung Thi Thu Thuy, CEO of Rich Field Joint Stock Company (Rich Field JSC) as she is sharing her company’s plan and goal on human development in which is one of the top priorities that RF JSC has set and pursued.
Good morning!
Rich Field JSC is known for having a big number of senior staff many of who are in sales team. This is quite uncommon in a consumer goods distribution company where staff turnover is normally high. What do you think is the reason to make high retention possible?
Being CEO of Rich Field JSC, she always impresses her employees with her warm, caring and kind-hearted gestures. To them, she is not only a Boss but also a Mentor, a Coach whose positive energy is a source of ínpiration and encouragement.
Rich Field Joint Stock Company in English (Công ty cổ phần Phú Trường Quốc tế) introduced CHEWING GUM Doublemint of Mars Wrigley, USA in Vietnam’s market for the first time 25 years ago. Rich Field JSC is also Vietnam’s reliable partner of many such foreign trade marks and brands as Thailand’s “Red Bull” energy drink, France’s BIC razors, razor blades and lighters and Taiwan’s NEW CHOICE Fruit Jellies. At Rich Field, the highest priority is not sales and profits, rather it is the people within it. Employees are the greatest asset of the company as they are the major contributors to our company’s success and growth. Our company ‘s mission and is, therefore, build up a strong, stable, highly-engaged and dedicated staff with the motto “we care”. For the last 25 years, we have, under no circumstances, been late in salary and bonus pay out. With this practice in place, Rich Field is labeled the leading company in distribution branch when it comes to employee benefits.
As a CEO of Rich Field, what does your daily work schedule look like?
You may know that i am Rich Field’s CEO, but i am actually wearing two hats now. I wish i could divide myself into two as i have to share my time between Rich Field and Peony&Iris Art Gallery, my newly-founded business. Peony & Iris Art Gallery now serves as an artistic meeting place, attracting creators, collectors, and art lovers alike with a program of experimental shows, fostering connections between local and international as well as emerging and established artists.Many are wondering how i can manage my tight schedules at both Rich Field and Peony&Iris Gallery as the two businesses are totally unrelated. My answer is just simple: I am so lucky to have a highly professional, dedicated and trustworthy management team to support me. Daily activities are managed by the Managing Director and Department Heads. Many of them have been working for the company for a long time and they all know well my characteristics, my approaches, my methods and my expectations. To them i am not only an Employer, a CEO but also a coach, a mentor, a supporter and a source of inspiration.
As far as PR is concerned, I am representing Rich Field in many activities organized by Vietnam’s and International Business Associations so as to build up RF’s image and seek opportunities for business cooperation and expansion.
It is said that you always make an emphasis on staff empowerment and development.
Could you share with us why and how?
The best way to improve employee engagement and retain top talents is to empower them. Most of employers/bosses that i know would prefer empowering to micro-managing
when understanding and trust are established.
It may sound uncommon, but the truth is the most documents i have signed so far are Letters of Empowerment. Decisions for empowerment are always based on thorough observation, discussion, and evaluation by our Management team. Empowering provides employees with opportunities to work with more flexibility but responsibility at the same time. It is also a key factor for more motivation, productivity as well as employee satisfaction, engagement and development. It is important to make them feel that company is where they belong to and they are vital contributors the success and growth of the company. It is our company’s policy to provide our employees with opportunities to improve their skills and knowledge with regular professional trainings, business talks and seminars. We take into our consideration equal professional development opportunities to all employees. With this in mind, we always prioritize internal promotion to external recruitment. To make our company’s development plan for the coming years a success, we are aware of a high demand for talented and dedicated members to join our management team. We, therefore, are implementing the plan to develop talented and potential employees to guarantee an effective succession management.
It it your concerns and worries that Richfield is a planter just for others to harvest? Highly skilled and well-trained employees would have more opportunities for themselves.
I hope the story i am going to share with you now will give the answer to your question. It reflects Richfield’s views in the whole process of discovering, nurturing and retaining talents. The story goes like this: Two managers are discussing about training and developing employees. The first manager shows no interest in employee training as he thinks well -trained employees would likely leave for better opportunities some day. The second manger’s argument is opposite: if your employees don’t get any training and see no chance of development, will they be motivated to stay? If, for some reasons, unskillful, unmotivated employees chose to stay, what would become of your business then?
So, what we see is that It is not uncommon that many employers do not want to spend too much on employee training, fearing that well-trained employees would likely leave when better career opportunities are available. But what would become of the business if un-trained, low-skilled and unmotivated employees stay?
Many human resources experts agree on the formular: Train them well enough so that they can leave; treat them well enough so that they don’t want to”.It is my opinion that a good leader/employer is the one who, among other things, knows how to train, develop his employees, transforming them from a stone into a gem that shines.
You are known to be very interested and highly involved in company’s extracurricular activities that aime to supporting women development.
At Rich Field, the number of female employees at back office amounts to nearly 80 percent of staff and i believe that the majority will be a pivotal factor to make any change happen. Women basically have the ability to influence their families, colleagues and customers. A happy woman is source of positive energy that exudes and inspires people around her. With this belief, i have tried my best to initiate a number of extracurricular activities for our female employees. We have created a women’s development fund at Rich Field to facilitate and support women-related initiatives and activities.
Some of the activities include consultations on beauty, image building, family-related issues. We also invite professional psychologists to give talks on office conflict management. Entertaining activity like zumba dance class is a highlight of our team building initiative which is much appreciated hy our female employees. All these activities are helping them be aware of and eventually achieve self-confidence, self-esteem, self-respect and self-love.
As the New Year is just around the corner, i would like to wish Rich Field’s employees, partners and customers a New Year blessed with Good Health, Peace and Prosperity!
We thank you very much for your time and wish you and your company all the best!