Daewoo Shipbuilding Employees Returning Salary to Save Company

In the wake of growing concerns over the future of one of South Korea’s biggest shipbuilding companies, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), more than 90 percent of employees have agreed to return some of their salary as part of a collective effort to cut spending and save the company.

The shipbuilding company began taking voluntary salary returns from its employees on Tuesday after management officials and the labor union agreed to share the economic burden by returning salary last week.

Since then, 10,037 employees have been reported to have paid 10 to 15 percent of their hard-earned money back in an attempt to salvage the company, showing a high level of loyalty and commitment to their employer.

When broken down by each department, all 36 executive members participated, while over 97 percent of office workers agreed to volunteer in the company’s all-out efforts to avoid following in the footsteps of Hanjin, another South Korean shipping company that went bankrupt recently after the government refused a bailout.

Over 98 percent of production workers agreed to make sacrifices to get the company back on track, the highest number of volunteers recorded since the company was found.

DSME was able to slash spending on wages drastically with the same initiative in the past, saving nearly 300 billion won in 2015 alone.

As the company’s appeal to its employees for economic assistance is set to continue until business improves, DSME officials expressed gratitude, saying, “Though for a short period of time, we thank every one of our employees who contributed some of their salary back to the company.”
Source: KoreaBizWire