Naver Bonus Conflict Continues... Union States at General Meeting "Relative Deprivation is Significant"

The Naver labor union held a picketing protest on the 24th ahead of the shareholders' meeting.

[Asia Economy Kang Nahum, Boo Aeri reporters] Conflicts over performance bonuses and compensation plans continue within Naver. Voices of employee dissatisfaction also erupted at Naver's regular shareholders' meeting.

On the morning of the 24th, Oh Seyoon, head of the Naver labor union branch, expressed dissatisfaction at the shareholders' meeting, saying, "Despite recording the highest sales every year, the compensation for employees remains the same while the compensation for executives is rapidly increasing."

He added, "Salary adjustments were made only for low-tenure employees, and salaries were raised to last year's level, causing a strong sense of relative deprivation," and "Meanwhile, last year's compensation for executives was measured higher than the year before."

He further pointed out, "There is serious distrust of management and a decline in work motivation. Nothing is more important than investing in people," and criticized, "(The company) focuses only on the present under the name of efficiency rather than the future, neglecting investment in people."

In response, Choi Inhyuk, Naver's Chief Operating Officer (COO), said, "We are considering various issues and will continue to think about related improvements," and asked, "Please watch over us with time."

Naver recently became embroiled in internal conflict after freezing the performance bonuses paid to employees earlier this year at the previous year's level based on last year's results. The Naver labor union demanded that the company clarify whether employee performance bonuses are appropriate compared to executive compensation, but this was not accepted.

At the ‘Companion Day’ held on the 25th of last month, management responded to employees' dissatisfaction by stating that they are implementing compensation policies focused on long-term performance such as stock options, but did not mention any additional compensation measures. Meanwhile, it was revealed that the total compensation of five key Naver executives, including CEO Han, increased by 55% from 8.187 billion KRW the previous year, further fueling employee dissatisfaction.

For now, at this shareholders' meeting, Naver decided through a board resolution on the 23rd of last month to grant a total of 1,114,143 stock options to 3,253 employees. The exercise period is from February 23, 2023, to February 22, 2029, and the exercise price is 362,500 KRW. At the time, Naver stated, "This decision was made to share future growth potential with employees, secure the fundamental driving force to increase corporate value in the mid to long term, and thereby promote shareholder value enhancement."

Separately, a proposal to grant stock options with strengthened exercise conditions to executives who will lead challenges for future growth was also approved. The executives to receive stock options include CEO Han, COO Choi Inhyuk, and a total of 120 executives. CEO Han will receive 40,000 shares, COO Choi will receive 20,000 shares, and the remaining 118 executives will receive 746,000 shares. The exercise period is from March 24, 2024, to March 23, 2029, and only executives and employees with more than three years of service can exercise the options.

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