[K Population Strategy] "Harder than picking stars from the sky"... Breaking the Glass Ceiling at Emart

Emart Ranks 23rd in Top 100 Listed Companies for Gender Equality
30 Years Since Founding but No Female Executive Director
Jung Yong-jin's Leadership Begins Fostering Female Talent
Childcare Issues Addressed but Challenges Remain

Lee Myung-hee, the Chairwoman of Shinsegae Group, founded Emart and grew it into the largest retail company in South Korea. To forget the sorrow of losing her father, Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung, she went to the United States, where she encountered warehouse-style stores like Walmart. This experience led to the opening of Emart's first store in Chang-dong, Seoul, in November 1993. At that time, Emart lagged behind market leaders Kim's Club and Carrefour in sales, brand recognition, and all other aspects. However, the secret to elevating Emart to the undisputed leading publicly listed retail company in Korea was Chairwoman Lee's management philosophy.

"I will prioritize entrusting the company to professional managers who best understand and implement the owner's management policies, and focus on recruiting and nurturing talent."

True to Chairwoman Lee's management philosophy, Emart's growth was driven by professional managers such as Chairman Koo Hak-seo, CEO Hwang Kyung-gyu, and CEO Lee Kyung-sang. Later, the 'Jung Yong-jin era' began, and CEOs Lee Gap-su, Kang Hee-seok, and Han Chae-yang have successively taken the baton to lead Emart. However, in Emart's 30-year history, no female CEO has yet emerged. This is also reflected in the level of gender equality.

Zero Female Inside Directors... Female Executives Ratio in the Low Teens

On the 11th, according to the '2024 Top 100 Companies Gender Equality Comprehensive Score' compiled by this publication, Emart, a leading domestic retail company, ranked 23rd overall with a total score of 27.25 points. It scored above average in regular employee count (5.5 points), average years of service (9.75 points), and salary (6 points), but received zero points in the inside director category. Although women make up more than half of the total regular employees, Emart has failed to appoint even a single female inside director.

Emart has maintained seven registered executives since 2021. Among them, all three inside directors have been male. Currently, CEO Han Chae-yang, Shinsegae's Head of Management Strategy Lim Young-rok, and Emart Support Headquarters Director Jeon Sang-jin are listed as inside directors. As of this date, among Emart's registered executives, there is only one female outside director: Associate Professor Kim Yeon-mi of Sungkyunkwan University Law School. She was appointed as an outside director in 2021 and has held the position for 39 months. Her term expires in March next year.

The number of female employees has also been declining annually, which requires improvement. The number of female employees at Emart was 15,123 in 2021, decreased to 14,430 in 2022, and further dropped to 13,522 last year. Although the total number of employees decreased by about 2,000 over three years, considering that the number of male employees only decreased from 9,476 in 2021 to 9,222 last year, a reduction of about 200, it is clear that the number of female employees has sharply declined.

Jung Yong-jin's Vision... Implementation of Maternity Protection Policies

Emart Daycare Center located on the 1st floor of Emart Headquarters. [Photo by Emart]

Emart is currently implementing a company-wide plan to nurture female talent, led by Jung Yong-jin, Chairman of Shinsegae Group. Since his time as Vice Chairman, Jung has aimed to foster female talent. To this end, he recognized that resolving childcare issues was a priority and published a childcare guidebook titled 'Wise Mothers, Participating Fathers,' which was distributed to about 17,000 employees.

It was around this time that Emart began implementing maternity protection policies exceeding legal standards related to childbirth and childcare. A representative example is the shortened working hours during pregnancy, introduced in September 2014. While the legal standard allows a two-hour reduction in working hours only before 12 weeks and after 36 weeks of pregnancy, Emart extended this two-hour reduction throughout the entire pregnancy period.

The infertility leave system is also considered a result of maternity protection policies. Emart proactively established this system in March 2016, before any legal standards existed, allowing female employees diagnosed with infertility to take up to six months of leave. Additionally, in May 2018, Emart introduced infertility leave, guaranteeing three days of paid leave, exceeding the legal standard of one paid day plus two unpaid days.

The in-house daycare center has also been operated since 2011 as part of maternity protection. Currently, Emart's daycare center at headquarters operates on the first floor with three classes for children aged 1 to 3 years old, each class accommodating 10 children, totaling 30 spots. Although some criticize this as small compared to other companies, the company offers a different perspective.

An Emart representative said, "Many employees use the 'shortened working hours' and 'flexible working hours' systems to enroll their children in daycare centers near their homes, so the competition rate for new admissions is low," adding, "The daycare center operates without significant shortages in capacity." In fact, in 2022, only 5 out of 10 applicants for the new 1-year-old class enrolled due to COVID-19 issues, resulting in under-enrollment. Last year, 10 applied and all were admitted without a lottery. This year, 14 applied, showing a competition rate of 1.4 to 1.

Need for an Organizational Culture that Recognizes Female Leadership

Emart has maintained certification as a 'Family-Friendly Company' under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family since 2014. This is evidence that Chairman Jung's vision to nurture female talent through resolving childcare issues is taking root. However, there are still significant challenges to fostering female talent. Although the environment for women to balance childcare and work has improved compared to the past, female leaders in senior positions, including inside directors, remain severely lacking.

In the retail industry, headquarters employees have traditionally been favored for their experience managing various brands and partner companies, often through special recruitment tracks such as ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps), which emphasize organizational control experience. This has made it difficult for female leadership to be recognized. However, considering the active social participation of women and the expansion of horizontal organizational cultures, it is argued that Emart, the number one retail company, should also actively promote female talent. Competitors such as Homeplus and Lotte Shopping have already produced female CEOs.