Samsung Electronics Personnel Restructuring Proposal Posted on the Cheong Wa Dae Petition Board

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Amid internal backlash over Samsung Electronics' recently announced personnel system reform plan, a national petition claiming "the company is forcing consent" has emerged. Samsung Electronics is currently conducting a vote among employees to ask whether they agree with the personnel reform plan.

According to industry sources on the 16th, a post titled "Forced Personnel Reform by Samsung Electronics' DS (Semiconductor) Division" was uploaded on the Blue House National Petition Board the day before. The author introduced themselves as an employee of Samsung Electronics' DS division and wrote, "Recently, Samsung Electronics presented a personnel system reform plan and is surveying employees on whether they agree," adding, "Employees who are dissatisfied with the reform plan have expressed opposition, but Samsung Electronics continues to force consent."

The author cited the following reasons for opposing the reform plan: ▲ concerns that the salary increase rate will be lower than before the reform and doubts about the fairness of the calculation method ▲ insufficient measures to address side effects ▲ despite raising several questions, the company only responded that they would get consent first and reflect feedback later ▲ suspicion that there might be unfavorable clauses because changes favorable to employees do not require separate consent.

They continued, "The company has a history of unilaterally modifying salary contracts signed earlier this year without employee consent," and criticized, "The company consistently ignores employees' voices, even breaking promises to provide official responses on the internal bulletin board."

The author claimed that consent forms can currently be submitted offline or online via email, stating, "The offline form requires only a name, but employees distrust it due to past incidents of official document forgery." They also said, "The online method adopts an incomprehensible approach where employees must write 'agree' as a response to the personnel system consent form," adding, "It is impossible to directly express refusal, and rejection can only be done by not replying to the email."

The author expressed, "The Ministry of Labor has repeatedly stated that methods such as electronic signatures are rejected," and shared the opinion, "I receive an email every day asking for consent, and there is no deadline for submitting this consent form. In other words, it can only be interpreted as coercion to keep sending until the consent exceeds the majority (according to the law)."

Additionally, the author claimed that when they returned after leaving their seat, the consent form was placed on their desk, and despite the spread of COVID-19, the company forcibly held briefing sessions by gathering those who did not consent in the main auditorium, even investigating attendance by scanning electronic employee IDs, thus forcing consent. As of 7 a.m. on the day, 1,531 people had agreed to this petition.

Earlier, Samsung Electronics announced a personnel system innovation plan on the 29th of last month. This innovation plan abolishes promotion periods by rank, removes rank titles, integrates vice presidents and executive directors among executives, and introduces absolute evaluation and peer reviews. The implementation is scheduled for next year, and a vote among employees is currently underway.

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