K Population Strategy - Gender Equality is the Answer

Jang Min-seok, Deputy General Manager (40), who works in the audit team at LINA Life Insurance, the first foreign life insurance company in Korea, wakes up in the morning with his 5-year-old daughter. Without the need to rush through meals, he leisurely prepares and arrives at the company around 8:30 a.m. together with his daughter. Upon entering the company daycare center, a childcare teacher who has prepared warm porridge and fruit welcomes his daughter. Deputy General Manager Jang watches his daughter eat a hearty breakfast and then heads to his desk to start work. He said, "The daycare center is larger and better equipped than public daycare centers, so my wife even wants to enroll our second child there," adding, "Even when I have to work late urgently, it’s reassuring that the daycare center takes care of my daughter’s dinner." LINA Life Insurance is striving to create a family-friendly corporate culture under the philosophy that employee satisfaction is the foundation of compan

"Both parents working within 8 hours, universal and high-quality childcare facilities, and gender equality. If the Korean government does not implement such measures immediately to solve the low birthrate, Korea's future will be disastrous." Gøsta Esping-Andersen, an honorary professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, renowned as a master of welfare state research, said this in a recent video interview with Asia Economy. Born in 1947 in Denmark, Professor Esping-Andersen is a world-renowned political sociologist. He authored The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, which classifies welfare states after World War II into types such as Anglo-American liberal, Continental corporatist, and Nordic social democratic. He also established a multi-equilibrium model showing a U-shaped relationship between the level of gender equality and fertility rates. Regarding Korea's ultra-low birthrate, he said, "The Korean government has desperately tried to raise the birthrate over the past

While planning the 'K-Population Strategy' to find solutions to domestic population issues through companies this year, a common point mentioned by overseas scholars I met was that Korea's sense of crisis is not keeping up with the actual crisis situation. Matthias Doepke, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics (LSE), who emphasized the importance of creating an environment where work and childcare can coexist, said that "among the four key factors needed to increase the birth rate, what Korea needs most is all four." This means that Korean society lacks all elements such as family policies, cooperative fathers in childcare, family-friendly social norms, and a flexible labor market. Since every aspect is problematic, it is hard to know where to start addressing the population issue. In this context, the 'Employee Special Skill Theory' frequently mentioned by the CEO of a small-to-medium enterprise with about 200 employees during new employee orientation is quite ins

Yuhan Corporation is recognized as a pharmaceutical company that has actively engaged in social contribution projects in accordance with the management philosophy of its founder, Dr. Yu Ilhan, which emphasizes 'returning corporate profits to society.' The company is also well-known for its significant attention to employee welfare, being the first in Korea to implement an employee stock ownership plan and establish welfare facilities for its employees. Last year, Yuhan Corporation's separate annual sales amounted to 1.8091 trillion KRW, which did not place it among the top 100 companies by sales in this survey. However, considering its symbolic significance, it was included in this project through additional investigation. Nonetheless, Yuhan Corporation's score related to gender equality was 23.25 points, ranking only around 48th compared to the top 100 companies, leaving some disappointment. The total score of 23.25 was calculated by combining scores for regular employees (3 points),

22.2%. This is the proportion of female executives at Samsung Biologics, recognized as the number one company in the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industry, as of the end of last year. Among a total of 36 executives, including both registered and non-registered executives, 8 are women. This far exceeds the 5% female executive ratio of the top 100 domestic companies. In last year’s personnel appointments, Hong Yeon-jin, a woman born in 1982 who had just passed her forties, was newly appointed as an executive director, reaffirming the personnel policy of "boldly selecting and nurturing young talents who produce results and have potential regardless of gender, age, or years of service." Earlier in 2022, Kim Hee-jung, of the same age, also succeeded in being promoted to executive director. On the 16th, Samsung Biologics ranked 8th overall in the '2024 Top 100 Companies Gender Equality Comprehensive Score' compiled by Asia Economy. It was the only pharmaceutical and bio company to be inc

CJ CheilJedang, which started in 1953 as Cheil Jedang Industrial Co., Ltd., began as a comprehensive food company producing sugar and flour and is the founding company of the CJ Group, encompassing four major businesses: food, biotechnology, distribution, and entertainment. Building on the founding philosophy of the late Chairman Lee Byung-chul, the company's management philosophy for over 70 years has been 'Talent First (人才第一).' It attracted industry attention by introducing several pioneering systems in Korea based on principles of fair personnel management and performance-based definite rewards. A representative example is the open recruitment (public hiring) first attempted by a Korean company. In 1957, when recruitment based on regional or school ties was common, CheilJedang implemented open recruitment for new employees in its food and textile/trade divisions with the aim of selecting talented individuals regardless of academic or regional connections. Over 2,000 applicants appli

The total number of executives at CJ CheilJedang, the leading food company in South Korea, was 174 as of last year. Among them, 35 were female executives, accounting for 20.1% of the total. This not only tops the industry but also significantly exceeds the proportion of female executives in major domestic companies. According to a survey conducted last year by Unico Search, a global headhunting specialist firm, on the status of female executives in the top 100 domestic companies, the proportion of female executives among all executives in these companies is around 5%. CJ CheilJedang has maintained a female executive ratio of over 20% since 2021, about four times higher than other surveyed companies. This reflects the group’s talent development philosophy that anyone can become a leader regardless of age, tenure, or rank, as long as they have capability and will. On the other hand, the proportion of male regular employees, which indicates employment stability, remains overwhelmingly hig

42.9%. This is the proportion of female outside directors at KB Financial Group. This figure far exceeds the 23.7% female outside director ratio among the top 100 domestic companies as of last year and surpasses the European Union (EU) female outside director ratio of 40%. KB Financial Group currently has three female outside directors, the first among domestic financial holding companies. Following the appointment of two female outside directors in 2020, the first among financial companies, an additional female outside director was appointed in March last year. In March this year, a female outside director was appointed as the chairperson of the board, leading what is being called a female wave in the financial sector. KB Kookmin Bank Leading the Female Wave in Finance... Women Take Over 'Corporate Finance,' Traditionally Male-DominatedThe glass ceiling in the financial sector has been a long-standing issue. The perception has been that male employees are assigned to high-paying, spec

1,485 people. Among Samsung Electronics' total 267,860 employees, the number who have held 'executive' positions is less than the top 1%. Among them, only 108 are female executives. Only 0.04% of women who passed through the eye of the needle have broken through the 'glass ceiling' of South Korea's top company to hold senior positions. Compared to the past, the absolute number and participation of female leaders have clearly increased, but considering Samsung Electronics' status as a leading domestic company, there is still room for improvement in its level of gender equality. On the 8th, Asia Economy compiled the '2024 Top 100 Companies Gender Equality Comprehensive Score,' where Samsung Electronics, a leading domestic company, ranked 29th overall. It scored 25.5 points by combining regular employee numbers (3 points), years of service (9.75 points), salary (8.25 points), outside directors (3.5 points), inside directors (0 points), and family-friendly certification (1 point).Even the

10,000.This is the number of jobs lost in the large supermarket industry over the past decade. The demographic changes caused by low birth rates have dealt a direct blow to large supermarkets, which were mainly used by four-person households. On the other hand, the convenience store industry targeting single-person households saw the number of employees nearly double, and as online shopping became a new trend, jobs in the e-commerce industry exploded. However, it is pointed out that online industries, like offline ones, can also shrink. On the 19th, Asia Economy analyzed business reports, audit reports, and investor relations (IR) materials from 2014 to 2023 of each company and found that the number of employees at the three major large supermarkets (Lotte Mart, E-Mart, Homeplus) decreased from 63,302 to 53,155, a reduction of 10,147. During this period, the department store industry (Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai, Galleria) also saw a decrease of 896 employees. The largest reduction in em