Author:
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Ha Minh Khang – Lawyer
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Tran Trung Hieu – Paralegal
Pursuant to Law No. 68/2025/QH15 and Decree 248/2025/ND-CP, from 2026 onward, the salary mechanism of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) has shifted significantly towards autonomy and economic efficiency, with three core changes:
- Autonomy in Designing Salary Scales: Enterprises have the authority to independently design salary scales for employees and the executive management; all salaries and remuneration for the Board of Members, Supervisors, and state capital representatives are included in the enterprise’s total salary fund.
- Industry-Based Basic Salary System: The basic salary of full-time management positions is clearly defined across two industry groups, with the highest level (President of the Board of Members/Board of Directors) reaching VND 80 million per month. This salary serves as the basis for determining the actual salary fund based on profit and labor productivity.
- Breakthrough maximum salary mechanism: The actual salary of full-time management may reach two to four times the basic salary (up to VND 320 million per month) if enterprises achieve profits far above the minimum or exceeding the approved plans. Conversely, where an enterprise records no profit or incurs losses, the salary is capped at 70% to 80% of the basic salary.
Enterprises need to develop a salary policy based on specific financial targets and labor productivity in order to optimize the salary fund within the new legal framework, while ensuring competitiveness compared to the labor market.
1. Principles and applicable subjects regarding salaries, remuneration, and bonuses in state-owned enterprises
According to the Law on Management and Investment of State Capital in Enterprises 2025 (“Law on management and use of state capital 2025”), salaries, remuneration, and bonuses in state-owned enterprises are determined according to the following principles:
- Compliance with the provisions of labor law;
- Based on agreements in labor contracts;
- Based on production and business efficiency, consistent with the market, industry, and nature of the enterprise’s operations;
- Based on labor productivity, job performance of employees, and task fulfillment of the direct state ownership representative and Controllers.
At the same time, Decree 248 clearly defines three main groups of subjects to which the salary, remuneration, and bonus regime in state-owned enterprises applies, including:
- The direct state ownership representative (including the Members’ Council and the President of the company) in enterprises, credit institutions with 100% of charter capital held by the State .
- the Head of the Board of Controllers, the controller (controller) in enterprises, credit institutions with 100% of charter capital held by the State.
- The representative of state capital in joint-stock companies, multiple-member limited liability companies, credit institutions with more than 50% and less than 100% of charter capital held by the State
2. Regulations on salaries, remuneration, and bonuses under Decree 248
Classification of payment regimes
For direct state capital representatives, full-time Supervisors, and full-time state capital representatives, salary grading, entitlement to salaries, and bonuses will be based on the salary table developed and issued by enterprises. For direct state capital representatives, Supervisors, and part-time state capital representatives, salary grading, entitlement to salaries, and bonuses will be paid by the state capital representative agency, linked to their position and work at the representative agency, while remuneration will be paid by enterprises. At the same time, all salaries, bonuses, and remuneration of both full-time and part-time direct state capital representatives, Supervisors, and state capital representatives are included in enterprises’ salary fund.
Basic salary of Board Members and full-time Supervisors
The basic salary of Board Members and full-time Supervisors is classified into groups corresponding to different levels and positions as follows:
Unit: million VND/month
|
Basic salary level Position |
Group I |
Group II |
|||||
|
Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
Level 4 |
Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
|
|
1. President of the Members’ Council (or President of the company), President of the Board of Directors |
80 |
70 |
62 |
53 |
48 |
42 |
37 |
|
2. Head of the Board of Controllers |
66 |
58 |
51 |
44 |
41 |
36 |
31 |
|
3. Members of the Members’ Council, members of the Board of Directors, controllers |
65 |
57 |
50 |
43 |
40 |
35 |
30 |
The application of basic salary levels for Group I and Group II is based on the industry group, sector of activity, and the enterprise’s minimum capital, revenue, and profit targets.
Maximum salary of Board Members and full-time Supervisors
The maximum salary of Board Members and full-time Supervisors is determined based on the basic salary level and enterprises’ actual profit, specifically:
If enterprises make a profit:
- Actual profit meets the plan: 2 times the basic salary
- Actual profit exceeds the plan: salary may increase, but not more than 20% above the salary calculated on the basis of 2 times the basic salary
- Actual profit exceeds the plan: salary may increase, but nActual profit below the plan: 80% × 2 times the basic salary × (ratio of actual profit to planned profit), but not lower than 80% of the basic salary more than 20% above the salary calculated on the basis of 2 times the basic salary
If enterprises make no profit: 70% of the basic salary
If enterprises incur a loss or reduced loss:
- In case of a loss: 2 times the basic salary
- In case of reduced loss (including zero profit): based on the degree of loss reduction compared to the plan, the maximum salary is 80% of the basic salary.
- If assigned to work at a loss-making enterprise undergoing restructuring, handling legacy issues, or planned losses: an additional up to 50% of the determined maximum salary may be applied
If enterprises’ profit far exceeds the minimum level, the maximum salary may be increased to 2.5, 3, or 4 times the basic salary, depending on the extent to which the profit exceeds the minimum. For newly established enterprises or those providing only public products/services, the determination of maximum salary follows a special mechanism linked to the volume of assigned public products/services.
For part-time Board Members and Supervisors, the maximum remuneration is calculated based on actual working time, up to 20% of the corresponding salary of full-time Board Members and Supervisors.
Bonuses
The bonuses of Board Members and Supervisors are determined from the bonus and welfare fund (the bonus and welfare fund is distributed from the remaining after-tax profit, after covering expenses as prescribed by law). The specific annual maximum bonus for each Board Member or Supervisor cannot exceed the number of months of the enterprise’s salary allocated to the bonus and welfare fund, multiplied by the allocation ratio between the bonus fund and welfare fund as regulated or according to the enterprises’ internal regulations, and multiplied by the average monthly salary actually received by each Board Member or Supervisor at enterprises.
While Decree 44/2025/ND-CP established the responsibility of state-owned enterprises to determine the planned salary fund and implementation based on the average salary, Decree 248 grants greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises in determining the salary fund and paying salaries to employees and the executive board. At the same time, the Decree also regulates how to determine the maximum salary based on industry, capital scale, revenue, and profit, with the Chairman’s maximum salary reaching up to VND 320 million per month. State-owned enterprises need a clear method to establish the salary fund based on the basic salary according to Decree 248, the maximum allowable increase in basic salary depending on profit fluctuations and labor productivity, and by surveying market salaries and the enterprise’s financial and production/business performance indicators.
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Time of writing: 09/02/2026
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You can refer for more information:
- Regulations on investment activities of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in 2026
- Disclosure Obligations of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in 2026
- Transfer of Investment Projects and Capital of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) under the 2025 Law
- Restructuring of state capital in Enterprises under the New Law 2025: Key amendments
- Principles of capital mobilization and lending of state-owned enterprises (SOES) under the New regulations of 2026
- What should enterprises pay attention to regarding unilateral contract termination clauses?
