This Year’s SME Resignation Rate at 11.2%... Four Out of Ten Are Sales Positions

JobKorea Survey... Top Reason for Resignation: 'Work Stress'

IT Jobs Focused on Government Financial Support Projects Account for 17.5%

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] A survey revealed that the resignation rate of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hit by overlapping adversities such as COVID-19-related business difficulties, the expansion of the 52-hour workweek system, and minimum wage increases exceeded 10% this year. It was found that four out of ten resigning employees were in sales positions. The resignation rate of information technology (IT) workers, who are covered by major government financial support job programs such as the 'Youth Digital Job Project,' was also found to be close to 20%.

Job portal JobKorea announced on the 26th the results of a survey on the '2021 Employee Resignation Rate Status' targeting 307 SMEs with fewer than 300 employees. Companies with fewer than 300 employees have been subject to the 52-hour workweek system since January last year, and this year marks the second year of its application.

According to JobKorea, the average employee resignation rate at SMEs is 11.2%, which is 3.7 percentage points (p) lower than last year's 14.9%. JobKorea explained, "As the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic continued this year, workers chose to stay with their current companies rather than change jobs."

Although the resignation rate has decreased compared to the first year of COVID-19, structural issues such as resignations due to workplace stress have not improved. Regarding the departments with the highest number of resignations, HR and recruitment managers at each company answered sales and sales management (40.2%). This was followed by production, technology, and field positions (31.7%), marketing and public relations (18.0%), IT development and operations (17.5%), and planning and strategy (15.3%). Notably, the resignation rate for IT development and operations positions, which are covered by government financial projects that inject labor costs into companies such as the 'Youth Digital Job Project' and the 'Youth Work Experience Support Project,' reached 17.5%.

The top reason for employee resignation was work-related stress (response rate 51.9%). This was followed by higher work intensity than other departments, such as overtime and special work (45.0%), lower salary levels compared to other jobs (28.0%), the nature of departments or jobs where job changes to competitors or affiliates can easily occur (24.9%), lack of leadership from department heads or managers (17.5%), and neglect in management (17.5%).

It was found that six out of ten SMEs conduct interviews when resignations occur. However, only 25.1% of companies develop and implement measures to increase employee retention based on the interview results. The remaining 50.3% prepare measures but do not follow through with implementation. Additionally, 24.6% do not prepare any measures at all.

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