KEPCO Employees Angry Over '100,000 Won Gift Certificates'... Retrieved After Distribution

Annual Worker’s Day Support Payments Suspended This Year Due to Severe Deficit Emergency Decision Made

Korea Electric Power Corporation (hereinafter KEPCO) caused dissatisfaction among employees after distributing 100,000 won Onnuri gift certificates to staff on May 1st, Labor Day, and then retracting them.

On the 27th, an anonymous user verified as a KEPCO employee posted on the workplace anonymous community 'Blind' under the title "I really lost respect for the company called KEPCO." The author shared a story that they sent the Onnuri gift certificate received in the morning to their parents in their hometown by registered mail during lunch break, but the company suddenly claimed severe deficits and demanded the gift certificate be returned by the next day.

According to the author, the company pressured, "There is a refund deadline, so you must submit the gift certificate quickly." The writer had no choice but to inform their parents about the recall, and the author's mother said, "As soon as I receive the gift certificate, I will take a taxi to the post office and send it by express registered mail." The author expressed frustration, saying, "The rural home and the post office are 10 km apart," and "Even if I said I would just pay 100,000 won in cash, they said no and told me to bring it back."

There was also a post with a photo of KEPCO's internal notice. The notice stated as an "urgent contact" that "The Labor Day commemorative support fund (100,000 won Onnuri gift certificate) scheduled to be distributed on the 28th has been decided by headquarters policy to be suspended. Accordingly, the distributed gift certificates will be collected again." KEPCO is known to have distributed 100,000 won Onnuri gift certificates every year on Labor Day.

KEPCO recorded a deficit of 5.8465 trillion won in 2021, 32.6552 trillion won last year, and is expected to have a deficit exceeding 10 trillion won this year. As of the end of last year, KEPCO had a total of 22,694 employees, and not distributing Labor Day gift certificates would save more than 2.2 billion won in costs.

A post uploaded by a KEPCO employee on an anonymous workplace community [Image source=Online community capture]

However, employees are strongly opposing the recall of the gift certificates, saying, "Where have you ever given something and then taken it back?" KEPCO employees are reacting intensely, saying, "The cause of the company's deficit is not the employees' fault, so why reduce employee welfare?" and "Why is it only like this when there is a deficit, while they don't give more when there is a surplus?" In response, KEPCO stated that "some departments distributed the gift certificates scheduled for the 28th early," and insisted it was not a case of 'giving and then taking back.'

Meanwhile, on the 21st, KEPCO issued a statement saying, "We will promptly prepare and announce additional measures including painful cuts in labor costs, organizational workforce innovation, support for energy-vulnerable groups, and enhancement of public convenience." Accordingly, there are even rumors of this year's wage increase and performance bonus returns.

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