[Herald Economy=Park Young-hoon] “Compensation of 430 million won”
KT, which has started a workforce restructuring, has drastically increased its ‘voluntary retirement compensation’. Separate from severance pay, the compensation has been raised by 100 million won per person from a maximum of 330 million won to 430 million won, attracting applicants for voluntary retirement.
KT is accepting voluntary retirements for employees being transferred to two newly established subsidiaries for communication network operation and management. As of the 24th, it has been reported that 648 people have applied. At this rate, the number is expected to exceed 1,000. Special voluntary retirement applications will be accepted until November 4th.
While there are not many employees wishing to transfer to the new company, the number applying for voluntary retirement is much higher than expected. Due to fewer transfer applicants than anticipated, the transfer application deadline has been extended to November 4th.
According to KT’s second union, only about 900 people applied for the transfer in the first round by the 24th, which is only a quarter of the target number.
As personnel stagnation worsens, companies are taking drastic measures. With forced workforce restructuring being difficult, they are encouraging retirement of older employees with generous compensation. There are even departments where the youngest employee is in their 40s. At KT, it is reported that an overwhelming number of managers are in their 50s.
With many senior employees, the recruitment of new hires is also decreasing. Older employees, in an era where the lifespan extends to 100 years, feel the need to hold onto their jobs as long as possible to receive a salary. Consequently, companies have introduced generous compensation plans, and the amounts are significantly increasing.
SK Telecom has also raised the retirement bonus for those aged 50 and above from the original 50 million won to up to 300 million won. As there were not many applicants for retirement, the amount was drastically increased.
Meanwhile, according to corporate analysis firm Leaders Index, even in IT companies, which traditionally had a high proportion of employees in their 20s, there is a noticeable aging trend with a decrease in employees in their 20s and an increase in those in their 50s and older. The proportion of employees in their 20s fell from 34.2% in 2021 to 28.9% last year, while the proportion of those aged 50 and above increased from 16.6% to 19.8%.
It was also found that at Samsung Electronics, the number of employees aged 40 and above surpassed those in their 20s for the first time last year, with one in three employees being in a managerial position.