Large Corporations and Small Businesses, Clear Gap
Photos of poor-quality Chuseok gifts posted by employees of some small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have become a hot topic.
Recently, a post titled "SME Chuseok Gift Evaluation" was uploaded on an online community. Absurd holiday gift photos and experiences were continuously shared in the comments. One netizen posted a photo of a gift box containing several Naju pears, saying, "They told us to take one each." This means that the pear boxes were not distributed one per person, but employees had to share one pear each.
There was also a story accompanied by a photo of one cup of instant ramen and one chocolate bar with a post-it note saying "Chuseok gift," stating, "I came to work and the boss just set up ramen sold as 2+1 at a convenience store on the desk and went to the U.S." Another post complained, "Every Chuseok, we pick jujubes from the jujube tree in the company yard and receive them in individual envelopes as Chuseok gifts."
Another netizen claimed that the boss divided stick-type health supplements and told employees to take them. There were also posts about receiving three cans of tuna wrapped in plastic as gifts or witnessing the boss, who said the company was in bad shape and could not give Chuseok gifts, getting out of an expensive foreign car.
Chuseok Bonuses: 900,000 Won Difference Between Large Corporations and SMEs
According to a survey by Incruit of 1,055 office workers regarding bonuses, 35.5% of workers said they receive Chuseok bonuses. Those unsure accounted for 23.9%, and 40.6% said they do not receive bonuses. The average bonus amount was 838,000 won. By company size, the average bonuses were 1,460,000 won for large corporations, 1,206,000 won for public institutions and government enterprises, 743,000 won for mid-sized companies, and 526,000 won for SMEs. The difference in bonuses between large corporations and SMEs reached 900,000 won.
According to the 2024 Chuseok holiday leave survey by the Korea Employers Federation, the gap in bonuses between large corporations and SMEs is clear. Among companies with 300 or more employees, 75.4% plan to pay Chuseok bonuses, up 1.5 percentage points from 73.9% last year. However, among companies with fewer than 300 employees, 63.4% plan to pay bonuses, down 1.8 percentage points from 65.2% a year ago.
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