Hanwha employees get 1 month off when promoted
Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, left, talks with Edwin Feulner Jr., the former president of The Heritage Foundation, at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. The two discussed a wide range of issues, including Hanwha’s overseas ventures and Korea-U.S. relations. / Courtesy of Hanwha Group
By Lee Hyo-sik
Hanwha Group will offer its workers a month’s break when they are promoted, as part of efforts to build a more employee-friendly corporate culture, Korea’s ninth-largest family-controlled conglomerate said Tuesday.
It also has decided to introduce a flexible work system, as well as encouraging employees to leave the office on time.
Marking its 64th anniversary, Hanwha unveiled these and other measures to revitalize its corporate culture and prompt workers to perform with a strong sense of ownership.
The group has been gathering opinions from workers across its subsidiaries since March, as well as studying what multinational firms have done to create an advanced organizational culture.
“I believe that our employees should grow in line with the group’s rapidly expanding business,” Chairman Kim Seung-youn said in a speech celebrating Hanwha’s anniversary, Sunday. “Over the past 64 years, Hanwha has been making bold and innovative decisions to be where it is now. Now is the time for us to go back to basics and renew our spirit of challenge.”
Over the past few years, the group has acquired several companies, including chemical and defense units from Samsung Group, emerging as a major player in many industries.
There has been a growing need for Hanwha to improve employee welfare, and overhaul its corporate culture and other internal systems to keep up with its expansion, according to officials.
“Hanwha should create a more open, innovative corporate culture to become a globally leading enterprise,” one official said. “We listened to as many employees as possible and reflected their opinions in policies. The introduction of the sabbatical month will motivate employees to work harder and provide much-needed time for them to plan their lives.”
The group also will encourage its units to adopt a flexible work system in which employees can come and go at any time, as long as they work 40 hours a week. Those units that cannot introduce it are being asked to extend lunchtimes to two hours, allowing employees to spend more time on self-enrichment.
Hanwha also decided to implement an open recruitment system in which employees can apply for any position they seek. Unit leaders are required to allow their subordinates to leave the office on time at least two days a week to help them achieve a better work-life balance.