[Life Chapter 3 Companies] Eliminating Age Discrimination... EverYoung Korea Announces 'Retirement Age 100' Policy

Jung Eun-seong, CEO of Everyoung Korea, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 27th. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] At the headquarters of 'EverYoung Korea,' located on the 6th floor of a newly constructed building in Sinmunno 2-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul, it is not difficult to encounter employees with white hair. Whether sitting in front of computers working or pouring coffee into paper cups to shake off fatigue, all of them are elderly with white hair. Inside the meeting room labeled 'Equality,' elderly employees engage in heated discussions, and in the training room labeled 'Development,' elderly employees can be seen diligently learning tasks through computers. Apart from their white hair, the scene is no different from any other company.

EverYoung Korea is a senior-specialized IT company founded in 2013 by CEO Jeong Eunseong (61). Currently, the company employs about 320 people. The main task for senior staff is monitoring, which involves directly filtering and handling inappropriate posts on Naver cafes and blogs. Working hours are 4 hours a day, 20 hours a week, shorter than typical companies, but otherwise similar to regular office workers. The oldest employee currently is a male born in 1947 (75 years old), who joined in August 2014 and has been with the company for over 8 years. This employee also sits in front of a monitor performing the same tasks.

Ever Young Korea. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

Although young employees can occasionally be seen in the office now, there were no young employees at the company's inception. The average age of EverYoung Korea’s employees is in their 60s, and the retirement age is 100. CEO Jeong set an age limit of '55 and older' during the hiring process to utilize senior personnel, and in 2015, the company was selected as one of the 'Top 100 Excellent Employment Creation Companies' hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. However, after the company was somewhat established, the age restriction was removed. CEO Jeong said, “This company was created to eliminate age discrimination, not to favor the senior generation. At the beginning, there were not many companies hiring seniors, so we set the restriction. Although there are young employees now, their number is still small.”

Dreaming of a society without age, educational, or gender discrimination, CEO Jeong set three core corporate values: equality, development, and sharing. Under the principle of equality, he did not establish a separate CEO office. He uses the same work desk and nameplate as other employees, and his seat is right next to the office entrance. CEO Jeong said, “Isn’t it said that the closer to the door, the lower the rank? An equal relationship between the company and employees is important.”

To join EverYoung Korea, applicants must pass document screening, practical tests, and interviews. Although not a simple process, the competition rate is quite high, sometimes reaching 50 to 1. CEO Jeong said, “Many seniors want to balance work and life. Senior employees spend their time after work on hobbies, religious activities, or their own personal time, balancing work and personal life.”

Senior employees are receiving job-related training. Photo by EverYoung Korea.

As a result, employee satisfaction is said to be over 80%. Hwang Myeongho, head of EverYoung Korea’s Brand Design Team (65), said, “Young people may quit immediately if the conditions are not satisfactory, but seniors need to feel satisfied with the work itself beyond the salary. Since the work involves creating a clean internet environment, many take pride in it.”

Below is a Q&A session.

What motivated you to start a social enterprise?

About ten years ago, when I entered my 50s, many thoughts crossed my mind. People often say that age 50 is the age of knowing the will of heaven, or 'jicheonmyeong.' At that time, I thought I should do something more meaningful not just for myself but for the country and society. During that process, I had various conversations with close acquaintances and thought about gradually changing the widespread discrimination in society.

Specifically, what kinds of discrimination are there?

Discrimination based on age, education, and gender. Among these, I focused especially on age discrimination. I thought employing seniors was a way to alleviate this problem even a little.

When you decided to establish a social enterprise, you must have faced considerable opposition.

In fact, social enterprises receive a lot of attention at their launch. But over time, many become financially unstable. Ultimately, focusing too much on the word 'social' in 'social enterprise' makes it difficult to survive in an era of infinite competition. Therefore, we focused more on the 'enterprise' part of 'social enterprise.' Even if we operate a social enterprise with good intentions, we must make every effort to run it like a proper business. Otherwise, it is meaningless.

There seems to be a gap between the words IT and senior.

Nowadays, people might accept it to some extent, but ten years ago, having seniors handle IT tasks was truly innovative. In the past, Naver outsourced simple monitoring tasks to Chinese workers. At that time, our company took on one of those tasks experimentally. Since no one had tried this path before, there was no certainty. However, senior employees adapted well to the work, and as results began to appear, the number of employees increased.

What are the most common tasks employees currently perform?

Initially, the main task was map blurring. When you look at Naver Map’s Street View, personal identification information such as people’s faces or vehicle numbers may be exposed. The job was to blur these out. But as artificial intelligence (AI) technology has advanced, monitoring tasks are now the main focus. For example, when inappropriate posts, advertisements, or pornography appear on Naver cafes or blogs, employees find and handle them.

The tasks seem not easy for senior employees.

Since the work is not easy to do immediately, employees usually undergo about three months of training. Recently, as the types of illegal posts on Naver keep changing and evolving cleverly, continuous education is provided.

How is the satisfaction level of senior employees?

It is high. Once, when I asked, ‘What do you like most about working?’ someone said, ‘I gained a family.’ Another employee nearby said, ‘Better than family.’ Currently, they work from home, but originally, they met almost every day. Many also felt satisfaction through company club activities.

Please explain the company club activities in detail.

There are various clubs such as film production, band, table tennis, and hiking. Especially, the film production club, composed of people who had never held a camera or written a script in their lives, won awards at national silver film festivals. Seeing members gain fulfillment through club activities makes me proud as well.

What is your ultimate goal?

I want to become the 'best' social enterprise in the world. The word 'best' can also be 'good' in English. Especially, the word 'good' includes the meaning of 'virtue.' My goal is to be the kindest social enterprise.