Statista releases list of Korea's best employers

By Kim Hyun-bin

There are numerous factors to consider when looking for a workplace at which to devote one's time and energy, whether it be monetary, corporate culture, job security or the future growth potential of the company. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic another factor to consider is how much the employer cares for company employees, as uncertainties continue to rise.

To find out which companies have the most satisfied employees in Korea, the German market research firm Statista has worked with The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo to release the “Korea's Best Employers 2021” report.

The large-scale and comprehensive study assessed the attractiveness of employers based on an independent employee survey.

It is the first time that Statista has conducted such a survey of Korean companies.

Statista surveyed workers at companies employing at least 200 employees from all industry sectors in Korea to gather their opinions of their employers. The recommended employers have been grouped into one of 30 industry sectors.

After an evaluation of 4,500 employers through an anonymous online survey of more than 10,500 employees, Statista awarded the 400 highest-scoring companies.

Employees were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family on a scale from 0 to 10. These results were the most important factor in determining the rankings. They were also asked to recommend other companies outside of their own.

In 31 questions about work-related topics, employees rated their own employers on various aspects of their job from salary and work-life balance to potential for development, their work environment and the reputation of their employers.

It evaluated more than 480,000 recommendations.

SK Innovation stood atop the overall list of the 400 best employers, scoring 8.49 on a 10-point scale. Following close behind was the National Pension Service with 8.45, and LG Chem with 8.35.

In the electronics sector, LG Electronics led the pack with 7.92 points, followed by Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Electronics and LS Electric.

Kakao M led the IT sector with a score of 7.92 points, followed by NCSOFT, Naver, NICE Information Service and Kakao Corp.

In the construction sector, POSCO Engineering & Construction topped the list, followed by Samsung C&T, SK E&S, Hyundai Engineering and KEPCO Engineering & Construction.

Statista is one of the world's leading data platforms for strategic market analysis, statistics and editorial research results. Statista.com offers access to data, insights and trends on 80,000 topics from over 22,500 sources from 170 different industries in more than 150 countries.