[Exclusive] LG Household & Health Care Ranks 1st in Gender Equality Among Top 100 Companies... Hanon Systems Comes Last [K Population Strategy]

2024 Asia Economy Top 100 Companies Gender Equality Overall Scores
LG Household & Health Care Scores High in Internal Directors and Regular Employees
Female Internal Director Promotions Increase Ranking Volatility
'Semiconductor Rivals' SK Hynix Rises to 11th... Samsung Electronics 29th
Lower-Ranked Companies Show Changes Like Recognizing Parental Leave Despite Industry Limits

LG Household & Health Care took first place in the '2024 Asia Economy Top 100 Companies Gender Equality Comprehensive Score.' This marks a jump of 12 ranks in one year. The lowest rank (100th) was Hanon Systems, which fell 24 ranks compared to last year.

To establish a culture of work-family balance, the Asia Economy Gender Equality Comprehensive Score, announced for the ninth year this year, provides an in-depth analysis and disclosure of the gender employment status and trends of leading domestic companies. The survey targets the top 100 listed companies by sales and 36 financial companies. It conducted a full survey of regular employee numbers, years of service, salaries, and internal and external directors over the past five years (2019?2023). Starting this year, additional points were awarded using government certification systems that evaluate companies' work-family balance.

LG Household & Health Care achieved a high score (10.00 points) in the internal director category, securing the overall first place. This result followed the appointment of Lee Jeong-ae as CEO in November 2022, who was newly registered as an internal director in 2023. CEO Lee is the first female professional manager outside the founding families among the four major business groups in Korea, including LG Group, Samsung, SK, and Hyundai Motor. Starting as a regular employee, she served as head of the household goods division, luxury cosmetics division, and beverage division, and was CEO of Coca-Cola Beverage in 2019. She attracted industry attention as the first female president hired through LG Household & Health Care's 1986 new employee recruitment.

LG Household & Health Care Headquarters

LG Household & Health Care also scored 5.75 points in the number of regular employees category, significantly exceeding the average score of 2.28 points, ranking jointly 6th with Asiana Airlines. The proportion of female regular employees to the total regular employees (4,358) in 2023 was 54.31%, not only a high absolute number but also an increase of 0.39 percentage points compared to 53.92% in 2019, five years ago, earning positive points.

In the external director category, it scored 5 points, ranking joint 24th. Since 2022, Professor Lee Woo-young of Seoul National University Law School has served as an external director of LG Household & Health Care, making one out of four external directors female for two consecutive years. Additionally, the company earned extra points by being certified as a family-friendly company by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family as of the end of last year.

On the other hand, Hanon Systems, a provider of automotive air conditioning thermal management solutions, ranked last with a total score of 10.75 in the gender equality comprehensive score survey. Although it was mid-ranked in average salary, scores were generally low in female regular employee numbers, years of service, and internal and external directors. The proportion of female regular employees to total regular employees at Hanon Systems last year was only 4.07%, meaning only 4 out of every 100 regular employees were female. However, this was a slight increase from 2.98% five years ago, partially offsetting the score in growth rate. In years of service, females had less than 40% of males' tenure and dropped 10.98 percentage points compared to five years ago, earning only 2.5 points. There were no female internal directors in the past five years, and one out of five external directors was female.

It is not appropriate to simply classify companies in the upper group as 'companies with good gender equality culture' and those in the lower group as 'bad companies.' This is because employment characteristics vary by industry, with some sectors inevitably skewed by gender. Among the top ranks in female regular employee numbers were not only LG Household & Health Care but also CJ Freshway, CJ ENM, Ottogi, Lotte Shopping, and Amorepacific, mainly in food and beverage, distribution, and cosmetics sectors. Similarly, the lower group showed industry concentration in construction, automotive parts, and heavy industries. Nevertheless, by examining trends over five years, attention was drawn to whether there is room for improvement, which aspects are inevitable, or which are insufficient, to drive necessary changes.

Female Internal Directors Promoted Internally Increase Rank Volatility

Naver, ranked second among the top 100 companies, dropped one rank compared to the previous survey but maintained the same comprehensive score of 35.50 points. Naver attracted attention in 2022 by appointing a female internal director who is not part of the owner family. Currently, both internal directors (CEO Choi Soo-yeon and External & ESG Policy Head Chae Seon-ju) are female, with terms lasting until 2025.

LG Uplus rose dramatically by 21 ranks from the previous survey to third place with 35.25 points. It gained 10.00 points in the internal director category, driving the rank increase. CFO and CRO Yeo Myeong-hee, appointed as an internal director, is a female executive who has worked internally since LG Dacom in 1989. This is LG Uplus's first appointment of a female internal director. One out of four external directors is also female.

Kakao (4th place, 34.00 points) received the highest score (12.50 points) among all companies in the external director category. Among the top 100 companies, 21 companies (over 20%) have no female external directors, but Kakao is the only company with a female external director ratio exceeding half, drawing attention. In 2020, Kakao appointed Park Sae-rom, an assistant professor in Industrial Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, born in the 1990s, as an external director, showing unprecedented moves in both gender and age. At the end of 2023, CEO Jeong Shin-ah, listed as a non-executive director (former CEO of Kakao Ventures) in the business report, was officially registered as an internal director in March, and Kakao is expected to receive a higher comprehensive score in the future.

Top Companies Filled with Female Owners

The number of companies with female internal directors earning points increased from five to eight compared to the previous year. However, among them, three companies had female internal directors from the owner family, somewhat diminishing the significance.

Hanjin ranked sixth (32.25 points). The internal director score rose by 7.00 points from zero after owner family member President Cho Hyun-min was newly registered as an internal director. It also received a high score of 13.00 points in years of service, rising 24 ranks compared to last year. Joint 14th place Daesang (28.50 points) and joint 19th place Hotel Shilla (28.00 points) also received relatively high scores as owner family members Vice President Lim Sang-min and CEO Lee Boo-jin respectively continued as internal directors.

Lotte Rental (29.75 points) and Ottogi (29.50 points), each appointing one female external director, were separated by 0.25 points in ranking. Ottogi attracted attention by appointing Seon Kyung-ah, an associate professor in Tourism Management at Gachon University born in the 1980s, as an external director in 2022.

Joint 11th place was taken by Lotte Shopping, LG Display, and SK Hynix, all with a total score of 29.25 points. Lotte Shopping had relatively high scores in regular employee numbers (6.50 points), LG Display excelled in external directors (10.00 points), and SK Hynix showed strengths in years of service (11.00 points) and salary (8.75 points).

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (14th place, 28.50 points) scored zero in internal directors due to no female internal directors but achieved a high rank by scoring 7.50 points in external directors with a 50% female ratio. Samsung Electro-Mechanics has continuously appointed female external directors since 2014 and ensures that at least 20% of external director candidates are female to maintain the ratio. A Samsung Electro-Mechanics official explained, "We focus on bringing in experts in each field," adding, "Base salaries do not differ by gender for executives and employees."

Reviewing the Five Major Groups... LG Advances, Lotte Excels

LG Group affiliates generally advanced compared to last year in the Asia Economy Gender Equality Comprehensive Score. LG Household & Health Care, which produced the first female CEO, jumped from 13th to 1st place, followed by LG Uplus (24th→3rd), LG Display (42nd→11th), and LG Chem (37th→27th).

LG Household & Health Care and LG Uplus appointed female internal directors, while LG Chem and LG Display filled half of their external directors with women, earning high scores. Except for LG Chem, the three companies all obtained family-friendly certification from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. LG Innotek rose 14 ranks from 64th to 50th and received an additional point for certification as a gender-equal employment company by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. However, LG Electronics, a major affiliate, ranked 45th with only 23.50 points.

In the business community, LG Group's strong performance is analyzed as a result of talent placement and personnel changes beyond gender and age following the generational change to Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. Since his inauguration in 2018, Chairman Koo has actively recruited female personnel. LG Group's head of human resources is Executive Director Lee Eun-jung, the second female team leader following predecessor Kim Yi-kyung and an internal employee who joined LG Electronics in 1996.

Lotte Group also rose to the upper ranks in this evaluation. Lotte Rental climbed from 14th to 9th, and Lotte Shopping rose from 16th to 11th, both improving by five ranks. Lotte Group mandates one month of paternity leave for all employees across affiliates. Accordingly, in 2022, Lotte Rental's paternity leave users were 28 men and 31 women, showing similar numbers. The return rate after parental leave was 98%. In Lotte Shopping's affiliated supermarkets, male paternity leave users numbered 48, four times that of females.

According to Lotte Holdings' own analysis of birth rate data from 26 major group companies between 2017 and 2022, family-friendly policy top 30% group companies saw an increase of 0.07 births, while the lower group experienced a decrease of 1.14 births over the past five years. A disappointing point is the internal director category. Within Lotte Group, Lotte Chilsung Beverage (CFO Song Hyo-jin) is the only company with a female internal director.

Semiconductor Rival SK Hynix Up... Samsung Electronics Down

SK Hynix, a leading domestic semiconductor company, rose one rank to 11th compared to the previous survey. This was largely due to receiving an additional 2 points for being selected as the best family-friendly company with 15 consecutive years of family-friendly certification.

Besides Hynix, SK Group's SK Networks (14th place, 28.50 points) also ranked high. SK Networks scored well in years of service (12.00 points) and salary (7.75 points). SK Innovation entered the top 100 companies by sales for the first time, scoring 25.25 points and ranking 30th. SK Innovation has three female external directors among six. SK Telecom also has two female external directors among five. All these companies have family-friendly certification. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who is also chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently met with Vice Chairman Joo Hyung-hwan of the Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee and emphasized, "We will focus on solving the low birthrate problem."

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics fell eight ranks to 29th with 25.50 points. Although the comprehensive score remained the same as the previous year, other companies' ranks rose, causing Samsung Electronics' rank to drop from 21st to 29th. Among affiliates, Samsung Biologics (30.25 points) ranked highest at 8th place, followed by Samsung Electro-Mechanics (28.50 points) 14th, Samsung SDI (27.75 points) 20th, and Samsung SDS (27.00 points) 25th. Samsung SDI rose 30 ranks compared to the previous survey, gaining 10.00 points by newly appointing Lee Mi-kyung, head of the Environmental Foundation, as an external director.

Hyundai Motor rose 23 ranks to 33rd compared to the previous survey, with slight score increases in regular employee numbers, average years of service, and average salary. Kia ranked 38th, dropping 8 ranks.

Meanwhile, Hanwha's highest-ranking company was Hanwha Systems (25.25 points), tied for 30th place. Hanwha Aerospace scored 23.50 points, ranking 45th, and Hanwha Ocean scored 18.00 points, ranking 81st. Hanwha ranked 94th with 15.75 points.

Lower-Ranked Companies Unable to Overcome Industry Characteristics

Hanon Systems, ranked 100th, scored 0.75 points in regular employee numbers, 2.50 points in years of service, 5.50 points in salary, and 2.00 points in external directors. It ranked 76th in the previous survey but dropped 24 ranks this time. The ratio of female to male years of service fell by 10.98 percentage points over five years, and average salary dropped by 7.59 percentage points, causing a significant rank decline.

Companies with low comprehensive scores showed large gender gaps in the use of work-family balance systems such as parental leave. Men hardly used parental leave. For example, Hanon Systems had 705 male parental leave candidates in 2022 but only 12 actual users, a rate of just 1.70%. Women had 13 candidates and 7 users.

Kolon Global, ranked 99th with 11.75 points, avoided the bottom rank by receiving an additional point as a family-friendly certified company. Kolon Global, mainly engaged in construction and automotive sales distribution, does not yet have an official sustainability management report (ESG report) but plans to publish one this year. The ESG report contains corporate performance in non-financial ESG (environment, social, governance) areas, allowing assessment of each company's work-family balance systems and usage. However, reporting obligations will begin after 2026, currently left to corporate discretion.

Construction Companies Also Recognize Parental Leave Service

DL E&C, newly listed among the top 100 companies for the first time (96th place, 15.25 points), ranked low but is gradually establishing work-family balance systems. It recognizes up to one year of service for parental leave and provides a childbirth support fund of 3 million KRW for the third child or more. Infertility treatment support is also available up to 3 million KRW. Male parental leave users increased from 43 in 2019 to 65 in 2022.

HDC Hyundai Development Company, last in the previous survey, rose two ranks to 94th with 15.75 points. Professor Choi Jin-hee of Korea University Business School was appointed as an external director, raising the score by 5.00 points. Male parental leave users at HDC Hyundai Development increased from 1 in 2020 to 7 in 2022. Korea Zinc, ranked 98th with 13.75 points, appointed its first female external director Kim Bo-young in 2021 and extended her four-year term last year, earning 3.50 points in the external director category, but its years of service score declined, dropping the overall rank by 8.

Among the lowest-ranked companies, some have not published official ESG reports. KG Mobility (97th) and Kumho Construction (90th) have not published ESG reports. A Kumho Construction official said, "We are steadily preparing related matters until 2026."

Notable Results by Category

Hyundai Corporation (formerly Hyundai General Trading) and Coway recorded remarkable figures last year, with female years of service ratios to males at 151.25% and 145.99%, respectively. This means women worked about 1.5 times longer than men. Hyundai Corporation also had the highest increase in female years of service among the top 100 companies, rising 48.90 percentage points from 2019 to 2023.

At Hyundai Corporation, long-serving female high school graduates have continuously increased average years of service. A Hyundai Corporation official explained, "Men have new hires every year, but female employees rarely leave, so fewer new female hires come in, resulting in higher average years of service." For this reason, Hyundai Corporation scored low in female salary and had a low female ratio among total regular employees, with a total score of 24.25 points.

Coway scored high in female years of service due to women promoted to team leaders and converted from non-regular to regular employees, reflecting longer work periods. In 2023, Coway's average female years of service was 10.4 years, exceeding the top 100 companies' female average of 9.3 years. However, its gender equality comprehensive score slightly declined as the female ratio among regular employees decreased by 19.83 percentage points compared to five years ago. The decrease in female regular employees was due to the 2020 conversion of mostly male AS staff to regular employees, relatively reducing the female regular employee proportion.