If you look at the whole of labor-company relations, employees at the level of around department head are usually closer to the management than others, but as of late such employees have been joining unions in increasing numbers. They, too, are workers so in principle there should be nothing strange about them joining unions, but instead of this phenomenon being something you should be pleased about because it means the labor community is enjoying a wider base, you find that the reasons for it present cause for concern. Managerial level workers are in desperate need of protection from the chilly winds of forced early retirement. They are feeling seriously insecure about their job security.
You had hoped that “early retirement” had was going to be a temporary pain experienced during the corporate restructuring in the wake of the foreign currency crisis of 1997, but the practice is gradually becoming part of the norm. Ours has become a society where once you’re in your 40’s, you never know when you could be kicked out of your job. In a survey of 560 white collar workers done early this year by an online job-finding site, 46.1 percent of respondents said they have experienced anxiety about being forced quit.
The job market is going against the currents of a society that is aging, and the country needs to find something that will reverse the situation. It causes a loss in skilled workers and to anxieties over job security and as a result leads to lower productivity. Furthermore, it will force our society to pay massive costs in welfare expenditures. We are not saying that people should automatically be guaranteed lifetime employment like was common in the past. However, it would be right to not employ uniform personnel management methods that involve “honorary retirement,” “desired retirement,” or “reassignment and transfer” once people reach a certain age. Do they not say that in Japan, companies are actually raising the retirement age?
While there does need to be policy incentives that encourage extending the time people are in their jobs, since the culture of employment also follows social trends it is critical that there be a change in the overall atmosphere in society. It might be worth considering having the government and public agencies be the first to get rid of programs that uniformly call for “honorary retirement,” and to then make that atmosphere spread to the corporate world. In addition, the government needs to work harder at building the infrastructure needed for a livelier job market for people who have been retired before retirement age.
The Hankyoreh, 29 April 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Changing the ‘Early Retirement’ Trend |
