Labor ministry announces Naver partnership to expand IT reemployment

The labor ministry said Wednesday that the Labor Foundation and Naver agreed to expand reemployment support across the IT industry, using Naver's operating experience to help smaller firms build capacity and provide employment stability for middle-aged and older workers.

The partners signed a memorandum of understanding at Naver's headquarters to offer ESG-based consulting, expand an IT-industry-specific reemployment-services model and improve small and medium-sized IT companies' operating capacity. The agreement was prepared in response to the ministry's reemployment-support system overhaul, with the aim of establishing an ESG-based shared-growth cooperation model and spreading specialized services across the industry.

The ministry said Naver built what it described as the country's first IT-specific reemployment-support model through the foundation's corporate consulting and received the Employment and Labor Minister Award in 2025. The foundation this year launched a joint-consulting program linking large companies' operating experience with its professional consulting to extend such practices to smaller businesses.

"This agreement is a shared-growth cooperation model combining large companies' strong operational experience with a public professional support system," said Park Jong-pil, secretary general of the Labor Foundation. "We will actively support the continued expansion of IT-industry-specific reemployment services so that more small and medium-sized companies and middle-aged and older workers can benefit."

Hwang Sun-bae, Naver's chief human resources officer, said, "Helping middle-aged and older employees develop sustainable careers amid rapidly changing IT industry conditions is one of a company's social responsibilities." He added that Naver would share its experience operating the service with small companies to pursue shared growth.

The reemployment-support system, introduced in 2020, requires companies with at least 1,000 employees to offer career planning, job and start-up training, and job placement for people aged 50 or older who expect to retire.