Dongkuk Steel, Zero Female Contract Workers... "Even Ordinary Working Moms Can Break Through Iron Doors" [K Population Strategy]

Expansion of Female Recruitment in Male-Dominated Companies
100% Return Rate from Parental Leave
Certified Family-Friendly Company

"We have zero female contract workers."

Since 2021, Dongkuk Steel Group has eliminated female dispatched and contract workers. In the steel industry, which was once a 'no-women zone,' female employees now enjoy salaries, welfare benefits, and promotion opportunities just like regular employees. This is a company effort that can be felt in everyday life, beyond the first female executive or childbirth support payments.

Choi Sun-hee, head of the HR team at Dongkuk CM, whom we met at the Dongkuk Steel Group headquarters in Ferrum Tower, Jung-gu, Seoul, said, "Even before 2021, we provided conversion opportunities to female employees whose contract periods were ending, and more than 50% were converted. Furthermore, we declared, 'Let's not use contract or dispatched workers at all.'"

Choi Sun-hee, Head of HR Team at Dongguk CM Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

Team Leader Choi is the first female leader in the steel business division of Dongkuk Steel Group. Although there are female department heads within the group, she is the first woman to lead an organization. As the first female leader to break the 'no-women wall' in Dongkuk Steel's history, the atmosphere inside the company was encouraging during last year's personnel announcement. "I felt dazed and under a lot of pressure. I was exhausted, buried in the piled-up work. But on the way back after lunch that day, a junior said to me, 'Department Head, you are our hope.' It felt like a punch to the gut."

Expanding female recruitment is a concern shared by Team Leader Choi and the company. The number of female hires at Dongkuk Steel Group increased from 5 in 2019 to 12 in 2022. The number of female employees rose from 107 to 120 during the same period. Vice Chairman Jang Se-wook personally oversees the expansion of female recruitment. Since his time as CEO of Union Steel, he has insisted, "We need to hire more female workers," and always hired more than planned.

Hiring many female workers can sometimes cause resistance in the field, where the male ratio is overwhelmingly high due to the nature of the industry. There was even a time when all field workers were male. Team Leader Choi said, "It may be slow, but we are making various efforts at our own pace to balance work and family life, and we are seeing results. As the saying goes, 'A constant drizzle wears away the stone.'" She added, "After touring the site, workers were soaked in sweat but had no shower facilities, so they roughly wiped off with wet towels in the restroom. As the number of female engineers gradually increased, a women-only shower room was established."

Dongkuk Steel Holdings, the hot-rolled steel affiliate Dongkuk Steel, and the cold-rolled steel affiliate Dongkuk CM decided from April 1 this year to start work at 8 a.m. and finish at 5 p.m., and also introduced a half-day leave system. The half-day leave system allows employees to split the existing 4-hour half-day leave into 2-hour increments. Team Leader Choi, who enrolled her son in elementary school last year, said, "For working mothers, coming to work an hour later or leaving an hour earlier is more important than childbirth support payments."

Choi Sun-hee, Head of HR at Dongguk CM Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

To foster a work-family balance culture, family events are held regularly. During summer vacation, children in third grade or higher are invited to the company, given 'Honorary Employee' business cards, and taken on factory tours. They also enjoy a special pork cutlet meal prepared in the factory cafeteria. Team Leader Choi said, "Children really love coming to the company where their mom and dad work. Seeing their genuine happy expressions makes me feel good just by looking at them."

The return rate after maternity and parental leave is 100%. In 2020, Dongkuk Steel Group received the Family-Friendly Company certification from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for its efforts to balance work and family life.

Team Leader Choi wants to advise working moms that "It’s not the mother’s fault." She said, "Because they cannot personally take care of their children, mothers tend to feel like everything is their fault. This seems to be a characteristic of Korean mothers. I was like that too. I hope they don’t blame themselves for everything."

"I want to show that women who are not glamorous in terms of credentials?such as former successful executives, holders of master's or doctoral degrees, or graduates of foreign universities?can also succeed. I hope ordinary working moms standing at the starting line again will be more successful."