AI and human-centred values will define the future of HR in Vietnam
Vietnam's HR community is moving from theory to execution. On November 14 in Hanoi, ACCA Vietnam-together with VNHR, TopCV, GIMO, and BIDV-hosted nearly 100 leaders and HR professionals to trade practical ways to integrate AI without sacrificing employee wellbeing or culture.
The message was clear: use AI to make better decisions and to support people, not replace them.
AI is moving beyond automation
In the opening keynote, Tran Trung Hieu, founder and CEO of TopCV Vietnam, outlined how AI is expanding HR's toolkit. Beyond workflow automation, it gives HR access to deeper analytics and predictive insights that inform hiring, workforce planning, and retention.
"This represents a significant advancement as the labour market continues to shift and organisations are required to respond with greater agility," Hieu said.
Balance is now a core strategy
Shifting to the people side, Tran Minh Huong, country head of HR at Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam), stressed the need for balance as work and life blend. A workplace that supports holistic growth is no longer a perk-it's a retention strategy and a performance driver.
Her point landed: if AI speeds things up, HR must slow down enough to listen, set boundaries, and protect what makes the culture work.
What the panel agreed on
Huong was joined by Pham Hoang Ngoc Linh (partner, head of People and Change Advisory, KPMG Vietnam), Le Quynh Lan (CHRO & COO, Stavian Group), and Dinh Thi Thu Ha (deputy CEO of Business & User Growth, GIMO), moderated by Vu Viet Dung (northern representative, VNHR). The panel aligned on a few essentials HR teams can act on now.
- Adopt clear ethics standards for AI in HR, including fairness, transparency, and accountability. Consider frameworks such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and the OECD AI Principles.
- Build a risk management approach covering data privacy, bias testing, model monitoring, and escalation paths.
- Develop human capabilities for a digital-first environment: data literacy, prompt writing, vendor evaluation, and change leadership.
- Protect culture and cohesion with high-frequency communication, manager enablement, and clear norms on AI usage at work.
ACCA Vietnam: HR is the strategic driver
For ACCA Vietnam, the event marked a deeper partnership with the HR community on capability building and knowledge sharing. "We believe an organisation can achieve sustainable growth only by balancing technology, people, and values. HR serves as the bridge that brings this balance to life through every policy and every employee experience," said To Quoc Hung, country manager at ACCA Vietnam.
He added, "Technology is becoming HR's new collaborator." The opportunity is big, but so are the pressures: keep efficiency without losing empathy, design flexible yet cohesive workplaces, and build resilience in volatile times. That's why HR needs data-driven mindsets and tech fluency-anchored in human judgement.
A practical playbook for HR leaders in Vietnam
- Start with policy: write a concise, plain-language AI use policy for recruiting, performance, learning, and internal comms.
- Pilot then scale: run 60-90 day pilots in recruiting ops, candidate screening support, learning recommendations, and HR helpdesk.
- Measure what matters: track time saved, bias findings and fixes, employee satisfaction, hiring quality, and manager adoption.
- Guardrails first: deploy red-team tests for bias, define human-in-the-loop checkpoints, and set data retention rules.
- Upskill the team: train HR on prompts, data basics, vendor risk, and change communication. Pair HRBPs with data or IT partners.
- Protect wellbeing: set norms on after-hours communication, clarify boundaries for AI use, and coach managers to watch workload signals.
- Choose vendors carefully: demand bias reports, audit logs, local data options, and admin controls that fit Vietnam's regulatory context.
- Close the loop: publish what you learned from pilots, celebrate wins, and make it easy for employees to give feedback.
Where this goes next
AI will keep expanding HR's reach-from recruiting to performance, learning, and the day-to-day employee experience. The teams that win will pair smart automation with clear ethics, strong communication, and a culture that keeps people at the centre.
If your team is building capability in this area, you can explore practical AI courses by job to accelerate skills while keeping guardrails in place.
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