Please congratulate POSCO for being selected as one of the best companies to work for in South Korea! According to 2014 Korea Great Work Place Index (K-GWPI), POSCO ranked 1st in steel industry – for seven consecutive years – and 3rd in manufacturing sector as the ‘Best Company to Work For’. K-GWPI was developed by Korea Management Association Consulting (KMAC) in 2008 and it releases annual reports to encourage corporations to promote ‘happy workplaces’ since KMAC’s annual reports act as an objective measurement for corporate evaluations.

K-GWPI released its 7^th report this year, and over the period of three months since March to June, it surveyed over 6,200 industry workers, 300 Human Resource specialists via both online and offline questionnaires. The aim is to nominate ‘Best 30 Corporations’ regardless of industry and to honor ”The Best Corporation” in each industry.

POSCO Tops in Steel Industry for Seven Consecutive Years

‘The Best Corporation’ survey was based on 220 companies of 47 industries, including 17 from manufacturing, 22 from service and 8 from public sector.  In this assessment, POSCO recorded a score of 78.1, which granted POSCO seven consecutive win as the steel industry’s best company since the initial start of KMAC’s annual reports in 2008.

This result shows that, POSCO has been successfully managing and investing in its employees despite of difficult business environments, locally and abroad. This effort, along with the seven-consecutive-year title as the industry’s leading company, will not only secure happiness amongst workers, but also contribute in achieving future corporate goals.

POSCO Selected in Top 3 in Manufacturing Sector

‘Best 30 Corporations’ were selected from a total of 101 candidates (Manufacturing Sector 50 Corporations · Service Industry 51 Corporations) and POSCO came in third on the list, following Samsung Electronics and Yuhan-Kimberly.

According to KMAC, POSCO ranked high on the list for various aspects, including excellent vision (3^rd), fair system in HR (3^rd), happy corporate culture (5^th), commitment of employees (4^th), and overall happiness level (3^rd).

This year’s reward is especially more meaningful since POSCO has earned recognition for its effort in enhancing working environments and satisfaction of the employees. In comparison with corporate evaluation from last year, POSCO stepped up from 9^th to 5^th and 4^th to 3^rd in ‘happy corporate culture’ and ‘overall happiness level’ category respectively.

POSCO’s Efforts to be ‘The Great Company to Work At’

1. Extended and Flexible Retirement Age 

Reflecting social trends and changes in the world, POSCO extended retirement age from 56 to 58 years old. Furthermore, POSCO has been boosting motivations of employees by adopting a salary peak system and hiring back retired employees.

2. Improvement in In-house Baby Care System 

POSCO made significant improvements in POSCO’s daycare center and other maternity-related policies, including, but not limited to, maternity leave up to 2 years, flexible working hours, and flexible leave of absence to support all employees to seek happiness and balance between work and home.

3. Expanding Opportunities in Employees’ Cultural and Leisure Life 

POSCO offers tickets, opportunities and access to various events, concerts, eco-friendly farming educational center POSCO ECOFARM, and other diverse recreational facilities where both employees and his/her family can interact and spend quality off-work time.

4. Please check out more for what else POSCO is doing for employees! (Please click the titles)

“POSCO, the Great Company to Work at” Episode #1 Training Future Global Leaders at POSCO

‘POSCO, the Great Company to Work at #2’-Building Global Competence: POSCO’s Global Human Resource Development Programs

‘POSCO, the Great Company to Work at #3′: The Health of Employees Represents the Company’s Power, POSCO’s Health Up Program!

Customized Diet Plan Care

It is truly difficult for office workers to control their diet by themselves. This is a leading cause why the ‘Health Up’ program includes the employee cafeteria menu.

Especially, the low-calorie (350~400kcal) lunch box was tremendously popular. Since the program is not limited to the ‘Health Up’ participants but is open to everyone by application,the program has been receiving an enthusiastic response. According to the employee cafeteria manager, Lee So-young, “There were many concerns about trying out the low-calorie lunch box of less than 400kcal menu. However, I was impressed by unexpected compliments and appreciations after it was released. I am glad to see the increasing number of   employees participating in the ‘Health Up’ program”.

Individual Goal Set-up

In health promotion center, medical specialist Kim Shin-hye from Severance Hospital individually checks the participant’s health status. At first, through ‘Inbody’, a body composition analyzer, she displays every data including muscle mass, body fat and body balance in numerical figures. Combining this data with the participant’s recent health check-up record, she provides a 1:1 personal counseling to each participant. Also, the participants set up their individual goals by thorough consideration on eating and exercise habits estimated by digitized data and surveys. And there is more. Every week, the ‘Health Up’ program operates a one-on-one care by sending weekly challenge record data via email.

According to the health promotion center manager, Lee Kye-sun, she is “happy about this opportunity to let people know that personal health care is not about partial efforts but by proper balance of exercise, nutrition and medical care” and said “I hope every participating employee can maintain self-care even after the program is finished”.

‘Exercise Prescription’ Diagnosis for Each Participant

The current ‘Health Up’ program suggests a customized exercise program through checking each participant’s muscle strength, flexibility, endurance and other capabilities required for exercise. The program does not simply suggest boring repetitions of lifting heavy slugs, but offers an easy and fun program filled with yoga, stretching, squat, body pump, ABT with schedule options of morning, lunch and afternoon.

The dominating opinion of the participants was “it is less tedious since we share the pain”. Anyone who has attempted exercise understands how difficult it is to endure a lonesome challenge of losing weight. Nevertheless, with assists from trainers and cheers from peers, the participants rarely find the 50-minute program boring.

The ‘Health Up’ program benefits both employees and the company. Since health concerns can affect a worker’s ability to effectively perform his job duties, the employers would like to keep their employees fit and healthy. POSCO will provide more health programs to actively care for the employees’ health going forward. Please stay tuned for “POSCO, the Great Company to Work at” series to continue in the future!