Companies Excelling in Fulfilling Social Responsibility through ESG Management

47th National Productivity Awards Ceremony
Chairman Jenniel Park In-joo Awarded the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit

This year, the key figures leading 'Productivity Improvement for the Future of the Republic of Korea' gathered in one place. It is the National Productivity Conference hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and organized by the Korea Productivity Center. The National Productivity Conference actively discovers and awards exemplary cases that have contributed to national economic development by strengthening corporate competitiveness through productivity improvement in industrial sites. Especially this year, the significance was enhanced as companies that are doing their best in ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) management activities alongside productivity innovation activities, practicing social responsibility in diverse and proactive ways, were awarded.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Bang Moon-kyu) and the Korea Productivity Center (Chairman Ahn Wan-gi) held the '47th National Productivity Conference' on the 31st at the Seoul International Conference Center of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with representatives of award-winning companies and others in attendance. The National Productivity Conference is the most prestigious domestic event in the field of productivity, promoting the importance of productivity innovation, which is key to strengthening national competitiveness, and discovering and awarding leading productivity companies and contributors. Since its inception in 1975, it has been discovering and awarding contributors and organizations that have achieved exemplary productivity improvements.

Park In-joo, Chairman of Jenniel, is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit from Jang Young-jin, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Seoul) International Conference Hall on the 31st.

This year's event was attended by over 200 people including Jang Young-jin, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Ahn Wan-gi, Chairman of the Korea Productivity Center; Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice President of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Park No-seop, Executive Vice President of the Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association; and Jung Gap-young, former president of Yonsei University and chair of the judging panel, along with award-winning companies and industry executives. For those unable to attend, a simultaneous broadcast was also conducted via YouTube.

At this event, 18 contributors and 35 companies were honored, including Park In-joo, Chairman of Jeniel, who received the Gold Tower Industrial Medal, and Yoon Tae-yang, Vice President of Samsung Electronics, who received the Silver Tower Industrial Medal. Chairman Park, who received the Gold Tower Industrial Medal, was recognized for contributing to productivity improvement by achieving innovation in the comprehensive human resources (HR) service and outsourcing industry for 37 years, expanding business in various fields, and maintaining continuous growth. Jeniel, established in 1996, started with card delivery business, expanded to debt management and call center operations, and grew by expanding into outsourcing services. Moving away from the traditional manpower recruitment-centered outsourcing model, the company developed 'Jemos,' a comprehensive HR mobile solution, and built various IT systems such as hospital patient transfer programs, sales management systems, and logistics daily worker management systems, enhancing productivity in the outsourcing service industry.

Chairman Park particularly set the company's mission as 'realizing a happy society where people who want to work can work freely,' and continues to strive for job creation. The company operates job projects with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and local governments, and through 25 employment support centers nationwide, it has directly and indirectly contributed to creating about 200,000 jobs annually. To create jobs for people with disabilities, Jeniel Plus, a social enterprise, operates five cafes employing over 120 disabled people. Additionally, the Blue Dream Job Foundation, a non-profit foundation, was established to support job provision for about 800 women with career interruptions and vulnerable groups annually.

Samsung Electronics Vice President Yoon Tae-yang is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit from Jang Young-jin, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry International Conference Hall (Seoul) on the 31st.

Yoon Tae-yang, Vice President of Samsung Electronics, who received the Silver Tower Industrial Medal, was recognized for his contribution to strengthening the competitiveness of Korea's semiconductor industry by securing a competitive edge in the memory manufacturing sector and building the world's largest semiconductor production facilities. Samsung Electronics provides eco-friendly value to customers based on its environmental management philosophy that contributes to human life and environmental preservation. Specifically, it is conducting eco-friendly activities from production sites to products to overcome the global climate crisis. To reduce greenhouse gases in manufacturing processes, it focuses on process gas treatment and energy saving, and has established a Carbon Reduction Committee to set a greenhouse gas reduction roadmap and monitor reduction performance quarterly. The 'New Environmental Management Strategy' declared last year includes a plan to achieve net-zero direct and indirect carbon emissions by 2050. To this end, it plans to secure innovative technologies such as ultra-low power semiconductors and energy-saving electronic product development.

Samsung Electronics also supports win-win growth by dispatching smart factory experts in various fields to small and medium-sized enterprises to assist in automating production systems. Currently, it supports more than 2,800 companies.

At the National Productivity Conference, Jang Young-jin, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "To overcome recent difficult economic conditions such as declining working population, falling potential growth rate, and unstable international situation, productivity innovation by companies is important," adding, "The government is actively promoting improvements in the business environment such as regulatory reforms and investment expansion support." Vice Minister Jang also said, "To turn the export recovery trend into a positive one, a full-scale joint response by the public and private sectors is necessary," and added, "We will further strengthen regulatory reforms and on-site communication to resolve corporate difficulties with the attitude that 'the government and companies are one body.'"