KCCI and Ministry of SMEs Expand Practical New Services on SME Welfare Platform

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 24th that they will expand new lifestyle-oriented services on the 'SME Welfare Platform,' a welfare mall for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to establish it as the representative brand of selective welfare systems for SME workers.

KCCI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups have been jointly operating the SME Welfare Platform since September last year to reduce the welfare gap between large corporations and SMEs. Currently, 26 partner companies provide welfare services in five categories?travel and leisure, hobbies and self-development, and product malls?to SME employees at market lowest prices or with additional discounts.

Since its launch, the SME Welfare Platform has registered about 5,500 companies and over 80,000 SME employees in just over nine months. The cumulative sales have exceeded 1.1 billion KRW.

KCCI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups partnered this month with SK Magic, Yogi-ottae, and others to offer various services in the product mall and travel and leisure sectors, which are frequently used by SME workers. They are also discussing additional partnerships with four companies including 11st and Miso, aiming to expand the number of partner companies from 19 at launch to 30 by next month.

A new section for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) supplies will be established to provide commonly used consumables such as copy paper at market lowest prices. In September, regional special sections will open centered on metropolitan local governments to showcase region-specific services such as local leisure facilities, experiential services, and specialty products.

Choi Won-young, Director of the Job Policy Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “The welfare level of SMEs is only 43% of that of large corporations,” adding, “We will prepare policies to alleviate the welfare gap between large corporations and SMEs and strengthen the services of the SME Welfare Platform so that more SME workers can receive welfare benefits at the level of large corporations.”

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by KCCI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups targeting companies registered on the SME Welfare Platform found that 47.5% of companies either do not provide welfare expenses to employees or provide less than 100,000 KRW per person annually.

Additionally, 82.4% of the surveyed SMEs responded that they would actively invest in employee welfare if the government partially supported welfare costs, indicating a strong willingness among SMEs to improve worker welfare levels.

Jin Kyung-chun, Director of the SME Welfare Center at KCCI, said, “It appears that SMEs hesitate to support welfare expenses for employees due to economic burdens,” adding, “If the government provides policy support enabling SMEs to invest in welfare, companies will also strive to improve worker welfare.”

The SME Welfare Platform is available to any SME without separate registration or usage fees. Applications can be made on the SME Welfare Platform website, and upon submitting required documents such as business registration certificates and SME verification certificates, registration approval is granted within 24 hours.

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