Labor ministry forum showcases workplace innovation at three companies

The labor ministry said Thursday that three companies with different workforces and labor environments shared cases of workplace innovation built on cooperation and trust, at a forum organized by the Korea Labor-Management Development Foundation.

The foundation held the seventh Workplace Innovation Case-Sharing Forum of 2026 on Thursday afternoon at the Severance Building in Jung-gu, Seoul. The cases came from a consulting program run by the Korea Mutual Growth Support Association.

Bexco, Busan's exhibition and convention operator, took up the issue of ordinary wages after the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling brought the question of reflecting fixed allowances in ordinary wages to the fore. The two sides adopted a joint vision of building a happy workplace where both the company and its employees grow on participation and trust. They reorganized the wage structure so that allowances are reflected in ordinary wages while total annual pay stays fixed, launched an equal-number labor-management subcommittee that includes rank-and-file employees and produced four options for assigning duties to workers subject to the wage peak system. The company also revised or enacted three internal rules, including consolidating grievance channels. Satisfaction with personnel fairness at Bexco rose to 3.66 points in 2025 from 3.4 in 2024, and awareness of the grievance-handling system reached 100 percent, up from 88 percent in 2024.

At Lotte Aluminum, headcount fell sharply after a 2024 spin-off tied to a business restructuring, and the company joined the consulting program to keep labor-management dialogue going. Joint workshops produced four core values — trust, communication, sustainability and employee happiness — and a vision of a sustainable, mutually prospering workplace. Labor and management also launched a future forum where the union and management discuss issues together.

CM World, a 3D spatial information software company, grew past 30 regular employees at the end of 2023, making the establishment of a labor-management council a task. After joining the consulting program in 2024, it set up the election of worker representatives, council rules and a grievance-handling foundation. In 2025 it prepared job descriptions covering four job groups and nine duties and reviewed its seniority-based wage management system. This year it obtained family-friendly company certification and was selected as a Seoul-type small but strong company and a youth employment small but strong company.

"Even where union presence and company size differ, the cases of the three companies shared today show that the process of labor and management defining problems together and finding answers is itself the starting point of mutual prosperity," Park said.

He added that the foundation will continue to support labor-management partnerships grounded in cooperation and trust so they can take root at a wide range of workplaces.