Productivity Shrinking Koreans Work Longest Hours in the World Korea's Labor Productivity Still Ranks Low

Thus Yuhan-Kimberly, Korea's leading health and hygiene company, has a counseling program already used by 85 or 5.3 percent of staff last year to help them cope with problems in their private life with the help of an independent consulting firm. Staff have one-on-one meeting with couselors in cafes or restaurants to talk about their problems. As a result, their productivity increased three or four times and staff turnover declined to 0.2 percent, the company’s PR department says.

Such programs were introduced in the 1970s in the U.S. and are run by some 90 percent of the Fortune 500 corporations worldwide. The idea is to manage human resources more actively to remove causes of stress, “the enemy of productivity,” to increase efficiency and prevent desperate measures like embezzlement. U.S. aerospace firm McDonnell Douglas saw its staff turnover decline 35 percent and productivity increase 14 percent thanks to the program, and General Motors gained US$370,000 worth of benefit annually after implementing the program among 1,000 employees, a study says.

“The IT industry, where workers are forced to rapidly adapt to fast changing work environment, and the financial industry, where workers suffer from excessive job responsibilities, have shown particularly favorable responses,” says Human Dynamic Asia Pacific (HDAP), a Hong Kong people management consulting firm which works with some 20 Korean companies. “Those who need special stress management in most cases are section managers in their 30s and those in lower positions, but a considerable number of senior managers too.”

Hana Bank, Korea Power Engineering Co., LG Household and Health Care, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute are also carrying out counseling programs.

(englishnews@chosun.com )