KCCI and Ministry of SMEs and Startups Award 10 SMEs Leading Employee Welfare Improvement

The 2nd Small and Medium Business Welfare Awards Ceremony Held

Seoul Jung-gu Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups jointly held the ‘2nd Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Welfare Awards’ ceremony at the Chamber of Commerce building on the morning of the 15th, recognizing SMEs that have taken the lead in improving employee welfare.

At the ceremony, the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award was presented to Pivot Creative Co., Ltd. and Ojik Co., Ltd., while eight companies including Ara Co., Ltd., Stars Tech Co., Ltd., CK Stack Co., Ltd., Inotes Co., Ltd., Bizgrida Co., Ltd., Double Down Games Co., Ltd., Girobotics Co., Ltd., and Hexaveil Co., Ltd. received the KCCI President’s Award.

The ‘SME Welfare Awards’ were established last year to encourage SMEs that have led improvements in employee welfare and to promote the use of the ‘SME Welfare Platform,’ jointly operated by KCCI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for the welfare of SME employees.

The awarded companies provide their employees with ‘welfare points’ that can be used to purchase various products and services on the ‘SME Welfare Platform,’ enabling employees who receive welfare points to select and purchase diverse welfare benefits according to their needs.

Professor Choi Myung-gil of Chung-Ang University, who served as the chair of the judging panel, stated, “This year’s awardees were selected based on a comprehensive evaluation of qualitative and quantitative criteria,” adding, “Many SMEs have introduced advanced welfare systems that even large corporations have not implemented.” The qualitative evaluation criteria included the employer’s welfare mindset and the diversity, sustainability, and distinctiveness of welfare programs, while the quantitative criteria included the amount of welfare points and employee welfare satisfaction survey results.

Pivot Creative Co., Ltd., a digital agency located in Gangnam, Seoul, provides all employees with 1.2 million welfare points annually through the ‘Welfare Platform.’ They operate a flexible working hours system allowing employees to start work between 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., and offer rewards (300,000 KRW, 1 million KRW, 3 million KRW) and refresh leave (1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month) for long-term employees with 3, 5, and 10 years of service. Notably, they actively encourage parental leave for male employees as well as female employees, resulting in the highest employee welfare satisfaction scores.

Ojik Co., Ltd., a software development company located in Gasan Digital Complex, Seoul, operates a four-day workweek (34 hours per week, including on-call duty). They have introduced a flexible working hours system allowing employees to start work between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., and provide long-term employees with long-service awards, special leave, and bonuses every five years.

Ara Co., Ltd., a robot automation system specialist located in Asan, Chungnam, implements various welfare programs including family vacation systems, childbirth and childcare support, workplace environment improvements, and housing and financial stability programs. They offer differentiated welfare benefits such as exclusive pensions for employees and their families on Jeju Island and local shuttle bus purchases. To address low birth rates and support child-rearing and housing stability, they provide practical assistance through child-rearing expenses, tuition support, housing purchase loans, and loan interest subsidies.

‘SME Welfare Platform’ Used by 310,000 Employees from Over 23,000 Companies

Meanwhile, through the ‘SME Welfare Platform’ launched in September 2019 by KCCI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, approximately 310,000 employees from over 23,000 SMEs enjoy welfare services comparable to those of large corporations. The platform hosts about 670 welfare service providers, including large corporate employee-exclusive malls such as SK Benefia and Hyundai Easywell, offering approximately 5.31 million types of products and services at discounted prices, including travel and resorts, hobbies and self-development, health care, congratulatory and condolence services, electronics, and local specialties.

In particular, SMEs that provide welfare points allowing employees to freely choose services on the ‘Welfare Platform’ receive preferential treatment through government policies. SMEs that provide welfare points worth more than 350,000 KRW annually to at least 30% of their employees are given priority in government support projects related to exports, funding, and manpower, as well as benefits such as automatic designation as performance-sharing companies and additional points in job evaluations. Since launching the welfare points service in July 2021, about 1,500 SMEs and 14,000 employees have received and used welfare points totaling approximately 6 billion KRW.

Park Jae-geun, head of the KCCI Membership Headquarters, emphasized, “It is not easy for individual SMEs to establish diverse welfare systems, but by using the ‘SME Welfare Platform,’ SMEs can provide welfare at the level of large corporation employees,” adding, “This will also help SMEs attract excellent talent.”

The ‘SME Welfare Platform,’ jointly operated by KCCI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is free of charge for registration and use, and can be accessed via the mobile app and website (welfare.korcham.net).

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