Part 2 | How to Interpret Salary Data Without Being Misled by the Numbers

Hello, this is Nagahama from ICONIC.

Today, we bring you the second installment of our three-part special series, “Understanding Vietnam’s Salary Market.”
Based on the findings from ICONIC’s latest “Vietnam Salary Report 2025 (Full Edition)” released on October 2, this series explores the current state of salary trends in Vietnam and how to interpret market data accurately.
If you missed the first article, “Vietnam’s Quiet Wage Shift: The Subtle Seismic Change Beneath the Surface,” you can read it here.

Avoid Getting Lost in “Higher or Lower Than the Market?”

When reviewing salary data, it’s natural to wonder whether your company’s pay is higher or lower than the market average.
However, relying solely on external figures means giving up control of your own pay strategy.

Raising salaries just because you’re “below average” or cutting them because you’re “above average” turns the goal into “being the same as others,”. This not only makes it unclear whether the decision is optimal for your company, but also does not lead to any competitive advantage.

Compensation is fundamentally a means to attract and retain the talent your business truly needs.
Referring to market data is important—but once “matching the market” becomes the goal, you lose sight of your own strategic intent.

 Identify Your Critical Positions First

Before diving into the numbers, it’s essential to define your company’s strategic core—its Critical Positions.
These are the roles that have a direct and significant impact on key business drivers such as growth, profit, technology, or customer relationships. Not every role is critical.

For example, one trading company defined its Critical Positions as “all sales functions” and “finance and accounting management roles.”
These positions directly supported business expansion and cash management, making them vital to the company’s growth.
For those roles, the company aimed to offer a highly competitive pay level sufficient to attract and retain top talent.

In contrast, other administrative and warehouse roles were benchmarked around the median market level.
Furthermore, because the warehouse was located outside the city center, the company used the salary range of manufacturing firms in the same province—its true labor competitors—rather than sticking strictly to the trading industry benchmark.

This distinction—deciding where to invest more and where to hold back—is the first step toward using market data through the lens of your own strategy.

Applying “Pay Differentiation” in Times of Pressure

In recent years, many companies have faced situations like:
“A nearby factory suddenly raised salaries by 1–2 million VND.”
“Key employees have been poached.”
It’s in these moments that your strategic compass—knowing your Critical Positions—matters most.

If your budget allows, you could raise everyone’s salary. But for most companies, resources are limited.
To respond effectively, you need a pay differentiation strategy—deciding where to allocate more and where to restrain.

This means paying above-market levels for truly critical roles, while containing costs for others through restrained raises or optimized headcount, in order to minimize the overall increase in personnel costs.
When the direction of differentiation is clear, discussions shift from “high or low compared to the market” to “is this position priced exactly as we intend?”
For roles deliberately set below market rates, being “lower” is not a problem—it’s the right decision, not an unintended direction.

Regaining Control Over the Market Narrative

With a clear internal rationale, even when headquarters questions “why your pay is off-market,”
you can confidently explain that “the higher (or lower) positioning is intentional, based on strategic allocation of resources by role.”

In short, it’s not about aligning with the market, but using market data to reinforce your own strategy.

For a deeper, data-driven understanding of Vietnam’s salary market, explore our “Vietnam Salary Report 2025 (Full Edition),”
which includes the latest data by industry, job function, and level.