● Horizontal organizational culture induced by uniting all staff job _ title_s into “manager” by abolishing the existing 5 job grades of “staff - assistant manager – section manager - deputy manager – general manager”

​● ​Abolishes the existing promotion system _ base_d on seniority, reducing the time by half for promotion to a team leader post

SKC (Lee Wan-jae, CEO) is unifying all of its staff job _ title_s into “manager” by abolishing its existing 5-job grade system of “staff - assistant manager – section manager - deputy manager – general manager.” This move is designed to let all its constituents demonstrate their capabilities to the hilt by instilling a culture of mutual respect while propagating a horizontal autonomous corporate culture. The job grade structure is also reduced to four steps that serve as the basis for internal HR _ eval_uation and compensation. Accordingly, section manager who have served the company for 8 years may now carry out a team leader role as early as possible. 

SKC is going to implement the new system on October 1 after presenting the details to its constituents at its head office and other units in Suwon, Jincheon, and Ulsan on September 22 ~ 26. 

Foundation provided for junior talents to grow rapidly 

 The current innovation features a systematic foundation provided for fostering human resources so that young talents with passion and competence may grow speedily. So far, employees had to undergo the steps of assistant manager, section manager, deputy manager, and general manager posts for over 17 years in order to become a candidate for a team leader position. This period is being cut down by half. 

Under the new system, talents with thirst for challenge and expertise may become team leader or even officer at the company in a much shorter period of time. Manager-level team members may become team leader if their ability is deemed outstanding. 

Efforts for reforming software following efforts for reinventing hardware 

SKC is reshuffling its job grading system _ base_d on the decision that its corporate culture should be reformed in order to adapt to Deep Change (fundamental change), a hot topic of the SK Group management. SKC has attempted to introduce fundamental reform since it disclosed the new vision of “Global Specialty MARKETER” last October. It has pursued Deep Change with efforts to reshuffle its business into specialty products with high values added and set up a new electronic materials unit responsible for semicon chip materials. 

SKC has also made efforts to reform its operational methods or processes fundamentally in accordance with its business reorganization efforts. This is aimed at propagating a horizontal organizational culture wherein projects may be implemented speedily with creative ideas flooding in. To that end, a “communication hub” was deployed on one floor, with “collaboration belts” installed at window sides of offices to provide a foundation for mutual communication when the company was relocated to a new office building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul last May. The current HR management reform, which is removing top-down relations _ base_d on job grades or positions, suggests a software reform following the upgrade of hardware, which meant an “innovation of office space.” 

< SKC constituents chatting pleasantly at a “collaboration belt” located near windows on each floor of the new office building>

“We could be dislodged from the market anytime unless Deep Change is effected because the business environment is changing rapidly with the 4th industrial revolution just round the corner, competition accelerated further, and labor market conditions seeing rapid changes as well,” said Han Shin, Director of the SKC Corporate Culture Office. According to him, the current reform is designed to introduce promptly a fundamental innovation of business models while swiftly addressing changes by transforming the company into a “speedy, creative, lightweight organization.” [End]