Progress-shy Lotte to let workers transfer between units

Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul / Courtesy of Lotte Holdings

By Kim Jae-heun

Lotte Group is taking steps to change its conservative corporate culture to prevent core personnel from leaving and going to work for competitors.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin

From 2022, Lotte will adopt what it calls the “In Career” system, which allows its 150,000 employees to move freely from one affiliate to another within the group. As long as employees apply for the same type of job, they can move to work at any of Lotte's subsidiaries.

The aim is to provide a more stable working environment for employees. Many companies are suffering from a brain drain to prospective startups, especially among key workers in the areas of artificial intelligence and big data. This has forced companies to spend more money and time on recruiting new workers to fill the void.

Lotte's In Career system reflects an emerging trend where the concept of lifetime work at a single company is no longer the norm, as talented young workers tend to find new jobs to cater to their changing needs.

Despite offering competitive wages, the country's fifth-largest conglomerate has seen many workers jump ship, complaining about its conservative ways of doing business and managing its staff.

Last month, Lotte appointed an outsider as CEO of its retail unit, Lotte Department Store, for the first time ever.

“Chairman Shin Dong-bin has called to secure super-core talent to lead change and innovation. He emphasized building an organization that is open to talented workers and creating a work environment that encourages them to try new things,” a Lotte Group official said.

Not all companies can experiment with a system like In Career, because they do not operate as many affiliates as Lotte does. The group runs businesses in the fields of retail, food, hotel and chemistry. An employee at Lotte Shopping can move to Lotte Chemical, for instance, if they are suitable for an available position.

Lotte's subsidiaries can also hire new staff internally according to their abilities as evaluated at the previous firm under the same group.

“We plan to actively utilize our in-house talents. They can experience various business sectors within the group,” a Lotte Holdings official said.