EOR benefits Vietnam: What foreign employers must provide

EOR benefits Vietnam covers the statutory paid leave, public holidays, social and health insurance, and any contractual benefits such as a 13th-month bonus that an Employer of Record administers locally on your behalf. For a Dutch or EU employer hiring through an EOR in 2026, the practical question is whether the quote funds and documents every mandatory benefit, not only monthly payroll. This guide separates statutory, contractual, and customary benefits, then gives you the evidence to request before you sign.

What EOR benefits in Vietnam include

“EOR benefits in Vietnam means the statutory, contractual, customary, and optional employee benefits administered through the local employer of record. It includes 12 statutory paid annual leave days for normal working conditions, 11 paid public holidays, social and health insurance, and contractual benefits such as a 13th-month bonus when promised in writing.”

Three takeaways before you read further. First, most Vietnam employee benefits are not perks; they are the visible output of payroll compliance. Second, the EOR benefits Vietnam employers fund are tracked and documented by the provider, but you should still verify the evidence each month. Third, the 13th-month bonus is not automatic law, so its status depends on what is written in the contract. For the wider model, see the EOR in Vietnam guide.

Statutory vs contractual vs customary benefits in Vietnam

Vietnam employee benefits fall into four groups: statutory benefits required by law, contractual benefits promised in the contract, customary benefits that are market practice, and optional benefits an employer chooses to add. Sorting the EOR benefits Vietnam employers provide into these groups tells you who funds each one, who administers it, and what proof an EOR should provide.

Statutory benefits Vietnam law requires include paid annual leave, public holidays, and Social Insurance, Health Insurance, and Unemployment Insurance contributions. The table below classifies the four groups for a foreign employer hiring through an EOR. For how this differs from a staffing arrangement, see employer of record vs staffing agency.

Paid annual leave and public holidays

Employees in Vietnam who complete 12 months of service get at least 12 paid annual leave days for normal working conditions, 14 days for minors, employees with disabilities, or heavy and hazardous work, and 16 days for especially heavy or hazardous work. This is set by the Vietnam Labor Code 2019 (Law No. 45/2019/QH14), Article 113.

Vietnam annual leave increases with tenure and is pro-rated for short service. Under Article 114, employees earn one extra day per full 5 years with the same employer. For under 12 months of service, Vietnam annual leave is pro-rated by months worked. Public holidays are separate: Article 112 sets 11 paid public holidays per year, with a compensatory day off when a holiday falls on a weekly rest day.

For a first Vietnam hire, leave tracking is where thin EOR quotes fall short. A provider should report each employee’s leave balance monthly, not at year end. This matters more when you hire without a local entity, as covered in hiring in Vietnam without an entity.

SHUI and insurance benefits through an EOR

Social Insurance, Health Insurance, and Unemployment Insurance, known together as SHUI, are mandatory benefits an EOR registers and remits for your employees in Vietnam. SHUI benefits Vietnam employees rely on include pension, sickness, maternity, and work-injury coverage funded through these contributions, and they are the largest single block of the EOR benefits Vietnam employers must fund.

Contribution rates differ between Vietnamese and foreign employees and changed under the Social Insurance Law 2024 (Law No. 41/2024/QH15), effective July 1, 2025, with implementing rules in Decree 158/2025/ND-CP. SHUI benefits Vietnam law ties to these rates, so the figures below must be human-reviewed against the latest guidance before you publish or budget, since the contribution base and caps are updated periodically. The PwC Vietnam tax summary is a useful external reference for current rates.

Foreign employees on a labor contract of 12 months or more are subject to mandatory Social and Health Insurance but are exempt from Unemployment Insurance, with exemptions for intra-company transferees, those at retirement age, and treaty cases. An EOR handles registration and remittance and should evidence both each month, not only at audit time.

Sick leave, maternity, paternity, and work-injury coverage

Sick leave, maternity, paternity, and work-injury benefits in Vietnam are mostly administered through the social insurance fund, not paid as discretionary perks. This means the funding comes from the SHUI contributions already made, and the EOR processes the claim with the social insurance authority.

Maternity leave is six months for the mother under the Vietnam Labor Code 2019 and the Social Insurance Law 2024, with the social insurance fund paying an allowance based on the average salary of the preceding six months. Paternity leave gives the father a short paid period, and work-injury coverage pays out from the occupational accident and disease fund. The practical point for your budget is that these are insured benefits, so the cost sits in the SHUI contribution, not in a separate perk line.

What an EOR should track here:

• Eligibility and documentation for each maternity, paternity, or sick-leave claim.
• Correct salary base so the social insurance allowance is calculated right.
• Evidence that claims were filed and paid, shared with you in the monthly report.

13th-month salary and Tet bonus: common practice, not automatic law

A 13th-month salary in Vietnam is not a statutory default, but it becomes legally binding once it is promised in an employment contract, a collective labor agreement, or a published bonus policy. This is the single most common misunderstanding foreign employers have about EOR benefits Vietnam packages and about Vietnam employee benefits in general.

The 13th month bonus Vietnam employers pay is usually timed around Tet, the Lunar New Year, and is a major factor in post-Tet retention. If your contract or policy commits to a 13th month bonus Vietnam-wide expectations will treat it as owed, so the wording must be precise about amount, eligibility, and pro-rating for partial years. Loose wording is where disputes start.

For budgeting, decide three things before signing:

• Commitment: is the 13th month a fixed promise or discretionary, and is that stated clearly.
• Pro-rating: how the bonus is calculated for employees who join or leave mid-year.
• Timing: whether it is paid before Tet, which affects your cash flow planning.

For the wider trade-offs of the model, including optional benefits, see pros and cons of using an Employer of Record.

What an EOR benefits package should show in the quote

An EOR benefits package quote should itemize contribution rates, leave tracking, bonus policy, payroll calendar, employee handbook, a data processing agreement, payslip evidence, and the offboarding payout process. A low monthly fee that hides these line items is incomplete, not cheap, because the EOR benefits Vietnam employers are liable for do not disappear just because a quote leaves them out.

Use this checklist to compare a complete EOR employee benefits quote against a thin one:

• Contribution rates: SI, HI, and UI shown as line items, not bundled into one fee.
• Leave tracking: monthly leave balance reporting per employee.
• Bonus policy: written 13th-month or Tet bonus wording, if committed.
• Payroll calendar: named cut-off and pay dates so payroll runs on time.
• Employee handbook and DPA: a handbook plus a data processing agreement for GDPR and AVG alignment.
• Payslip evidence: sample payslip format you can audit.
• Offboarding payout: how final settlement and any severance are handled, within 24 hours of the trigger.

How to compare EOR providers on benefits administration

Compare EOR providers on the evidence they can show, not the promises they make: registration proof, monthly remittance evidence, leave balance reports, bonus policy wording, and an employee support SLA. Strong EOR employee benefits administration is visible every month, not only at year end.

Ask each provider for proof against this checklist before you sign:

• VSS registration proof for Social Insurance enrollment of each employee.
• Monthly contribution remittance evidence, not an annual summary.
• Leave-balance report per employee, refreshed each payroll cycle.
• Bonus policy text and how a 13th-month commitment is recorded.
• Employees support SLA, including response time for benefit questions.
• Data processing agreement covering employee and benefits data under GDPR and AVG.

A provider with a Vietnam delivery hub and a 4 to 5 hour overlap with EU working hours can resolve these questions within the same business day, which matters when a payroll cut-off is approaching.

How Sunbytes administers EOR benefits without payroll guesswork

EOR benefits Vietnam administration works when leave, insurance, bonus, and payroll are handled by one local team that can show evidence every month. When the benefits checklist points to EOR as the right route for your Vietnam team, Sunbytes acts as the local employer of record, funds and documents statutory benefits, and runs payroll on time, with onboarding in 2 to 4 weeks and offboarding actions within 24 hours.

This is part of Accelerate Workforce Solutions, the broader employment infrastructure we build for international companies entering or scaling in Vietnam. Through our Employer of Record (EOR), staffing, and recruitment services, we enable compliant hiring at every stage of growth.

Why Sunbytes?

Founded in the Netherlands in 2011, Sunbytes has delivered more than 300 client projects across 20+ countries. Our delivery hub in Ho Chi Minh City gives us direct knowledge of Vietnam’s labor law, contribution rates, and benefits administration, with a 4 to 5 hour working overlap with EU teams.

Sunbytes works across three connected pillars: Digital Transformation Solutions, Cybersecurity Solutions, and Accelerate Workforce Solutions, the workforce pillar this guide sits under, so recruitment and employment are backed by the same delivery and security governance.

Our service pillars support EOR benefits administration:

• Local employment and benefits: Through our Employer of Record (EOR), we register Social and Health Insurance, track leave, and document the 13th-month bonus policy, with payroll on time each cycle.
• Monthly evidence: We provide registration proof, remittance evidence, and leave-balance reports so your finance team can review benefits administration, not just trust it.
• Onboarding and offboarding: We complete onboarding in 2 to 4 weeks and handle offboarding actions, including final settlement, within 24 hours of the trigger.