Lotte Wellfood Implements Voluntary Retirement Again This Year... "Organizational Streamlining"

For employees aged 45 or older with at least 10 years of service

Lotte Wellfood will carry out a voluntary retirement program again this year, following last year.

On the 24th, Lotte Wellfood stated, "We are moving to streamline our organizational structure in order to respond preemptively to the rapidly changing environment and to secure future competitiveness," adding, "To that end, we are currently operating a voluntary retirement program for some employees."

Lotte Wellfood also implemented a voluntary retirement program in April last year.

Lotte Wellfood Corporate Identity. Lotte Wellfood

This year's voluntary retirement program is open to employees aged 45 or older (born in 1981 or earlier) with at least 10 years of service. Lotte Wellfood plans to support employees who take voluntary retirement so that they can stably plan the second act of their lives. In addition to the statutory severance pay, the company will provide 18 months of base salary to employees with at least 10 years but less than 15 years of service, and 24 months of base salary to those with at least 15 years of service. On top of that, it will provide 10 million won in re-employment support funds and up to 10 million won per person in college tuition support.

Together with organizational streamlining, Lotte Wellfood plans to accelerate efforts to strengthen its future competitiveness by nurturing mega-brands and reinforcing its global expansion.

Lotte Wellfood's decision to implement voluntary retirement comes amid weak earnings. On a consolidated basis, Lotte Wellfood posted record-high annual sales last year of 4.216 trillion won, up 4.2% from a year earlier, but operating profit fell 30.3% year-on-year to 109.5 billion won. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company recorded an operating loss of 10.5 billion won. The company explained that there were cost pressures from raw materials such as cacao and dairy products, as well as one-off expenses.