The Korea Herald

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GS hires 2,500 contract workers as regular staff

Conglomerate responds to government’ semphasis on corporate social responsibility

By Korea Herald

Published : May 23, 2013 - 20:06

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GS Group said on Thursday it will grant regular staff status to 2,500 contract workers and part-timers, being the fifth conglomerate to make such a decision after CJ, Hanwha, Shinsegae (E-mart) and SK Groups.

GS said it will start with 2,150 product display staff and cashiers at GS Retail and 350 call center operators at GS Teleservice, an affiliate of GS Shop, in the second half of this year.

GS will be giving regular employee status to 51 percent of its 4,900 contract workers and workers dispatched from other firms.

This will lower the share of non-regular workers at GS Group from the current 19.3 percent to 9.5 percent, much lower than the national average of 33.3 percent.

Once they become regular staff, they will be guaranteed employment until the legal retirement age, and receive various benefits.

If it needs to hire new cashiers, product display staff and call center operators, GS said it will hire them only as regular staff.

Other subsidiaries of GS Group will also continue to grant regular employee staff to their non-regular workers.

GS Group plans to recruit 3,000 new employees this year, including 250 high school graduates.

Of the non-regular workers set to become regular staff, 89 percent are women and 85 percent are high school or middle school graduates.

“We expect the measure to help non-regular workers feel a greater sense of belonging and raise their motivation,” said a GS Group official.

“The company can also prevent high staff turnover and provide better customer service.”

GS Group chairman Huh Chang-soo, who also heads the Federation of Korean Industries, a lobbying group of the nation’s largest conglomerates, has often stressed that GS should “become a company that creates many quality jobs and gives hope to society based on sustainable growth through creative economy.”

The latest measure is widely perceived as GS Group’s response to the Park Geun-hye administration’s calls on the conglomerates to fulfill their “social responsibility.”

SK Group, Hanwha Group, Shinsegae E-mart and CJ Group have turned thousands of call center operators, salespeople, product display staff and other non-regular employees into regular staff and plan to increase that number.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)