SK Group on Tuesday said it planned to upgrade the status of up to 5,800 of its temporary workers to regular employees.

The move was the first such among the nation’s top five conglomerates, and part of a bigger road map SK previously announced to reduce the portion of temporary workers to around 3 percent by 2015 from the current 12 percent.

The temporary employees are mostly those employed in the customer services or telemarketing units at the affiliates of SK Telecom or SK Planet. Others are employed at the sister companies of other SK affiliates such as SK Networks and SK Securities, mostly in units handling network maintenance and marketing.

Up to 80 percent of the workers eligible for the status upgrades are women in their mid or late 20s, the company added, saying that it hoped the move would help provide an impetus for female employment.

“We believe it’s our social responsibility to help create better jobs,” said Kim Chang-keun, chairman of SUPEX, the group’s top decision-making council. “We’ll continue to create a mutually beneficial corporate culture.”

Local companies have come under increasing pressure to step up their social contribution efforts under the Park Geun-hye administration, which was elected on a platform of fair trade for all, especially for the smaller players in the Korean economy and society.

Another conglomerate, Hanwha, recently finished upgrading the status of more than half of its 5,000 temporary workers after announcing the plan in January.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)