[Car Talk Forest] Hyundai Motor Resumed Weekend Overtime... Still Struggling to Secure Additional Workforce

Operation of support from other departments without external personnel amid concerns over COVID-19 spread within the factory

On the 4th of last month, workers at Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant are leaving work wearing masks. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Hyundai Motor's dilemma over weekend overtime work continues into March. Weekend overtime, which was completely halted last month due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) originating from China, has resumed, but now manpower management has become an issue. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the factory, the company decided to prohibit the deployment of external personnel, making it difficult to secure additional manpower for overtime work.

On the 3rd, Hyundai Motor finalized its March overtime plan after a meeting of the Ulsan Plant division representatives. They decided to conduct weekend overtime four times?on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th?at most factories except for Line 2 of Plant 4 and Line 1 of Plant 5.

As can be seen from this plan, Hyundai Motor is quite determined about overtime work. However, they are also fully aware that forcibly operating the factory by deploying external workers such as part-timers under the current circumstances could lead to uncontrollable damage. The painful experience of halting operations at Ulsan Plant 2 for a day due to a COVID-19 case at the end of last month likely contributed to this caution.

Accordingly, Hyundai Motor has temporarily allowed overtime support from other divisions. This applies only while the COVID-19 crisis alert remains at the 'severe' level. The support personnel will be selected in the following order: ▲contract union members from divisions without overtime ▲general office staff ▲contract workers from divisions without overtime ▲in-house company personnel. For example, contract employees from Plant 4, which has no overtime, will support Plant 1. They also provided two hours of training time for the support personnel and implemented a public recruitment method to ensure equal opportunity as additional measures.

With this approach, Hyundai Motor finally resumed weekend overtime on the 7th. Most lines at the Ulsan Plant, except Plant 3, operated as planned over the weekend, and the Asan Plant also conducted full overtime work.

Of course, there are still various issues remaining. It is difficult to secure the same level of manpower as before even with this method. As a result, Ulsan Plant 3 could not conduct overtime during the first weekend of March due to insufficient personnel. In the second week, with Plant 3 conducting overtime, concerns arose about manpower shortages in other lines, and there were even rumors about considering a reduction in hourly production (UPH - Unit Per Hour).

The biggest reason Hyundai Motor cannot give up on overtime is that it needs to quickly resolve the backlog of orders, or 'backorders,' centered on volume models that drive overall sales. Although the waiting time for the Palisade, which was launched over a year ago, has decreased compared to last year, customers still have to wait about six months. The new Genesis GV80, released this year, is in a situation where customers who sign contracts now have to worry about whether delivery will be made within this year. Hyundai Motor's plan to speed up production of these vehicles has become precarious due to the unexpected obstacle of COVID-19. It remains to be seen whether Hyundai Motor, which is in a hurry, can overcome the current difficulties and successfully carry out its plans for this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.