Samsung Life Joins Job Sharing Campaign

Company launches Univ Branch system to hire financial counselor interns and cuts salaries, allowances for officials

Samsung Life Insurance Co. is participating in the job sharing campaign in a positive manner, aimed at overcoming the economic slump, the company said recently.
The company said it has provided support to the FC (financial counselor) Recruit Team to increase its members and help women family heads set up and operate businesses, among the diversified moves of the campaign.
Samsung Life was the first in the industry to introduce the FC internship course in 2007, which is designed to give college seniors interested in the financial industry a five-week experience with the life insurance firm.
The company said the program became so popular that 1,000 students applied for the initial class. The company picked 100 of them to spend time with the Univ Branch, a special branch of Samsung Life. There currently are five Univ branches with 210 consultants whose average age is 25.7 years and make 2.75 million won per month in salary.
Choi Yong-woo, a graduate of Dankuk University in Seoul, finished the internship in August last year and now works as a financial counselor. He secured 180 customers in the seven months since he started working, making 4 million won a month in earnings, which is a lot more than his contemporaries working at large companies, and he is very proud of what he is doing, Choi said.
Samsung Life plans to increase the number of Univ branches to 10 this year and to hire from 400 to 450 interns, showing that a Univ Branch provides more than 200 jobs. The company plans to also recruit women for its FC intern program. The company also plans to help women family heads set up their own businesses by providing them with 25 million won in interest-free seed money jointly with banks. Those women include widows, the handicapped and divorcees who have to earn money to feed themselves and their dependents.
The 25 million won breaks down to 20 million won to set up businesses and 5 million won in management consulting fees. The fund will be made up with money set aside by financial counselors when they conclude the sale of an insurance package, 200 won per case, and the company matches the money. As of now, the company has dished out 2.6 billion won from its 170 Univ branches, and this year, the company plans to support them with 500 million won in seed money funds.
Mrs. Ryu Myung-keum opened a beauty shop in Incheon with the support fund through the introduction by a Samsung Life financial counselor. She has been donating a sum of money to the fund to help women in a similar situation as hers, although she still has debts to repay. She also visits senior citizen facilities and donates rice cakes with the haircut fee she earns from middle school students for touching up their hair.
In the meantime, Samsung Life cut monthly salaries and vacation allowances for its officials by 20 percent and froze the salaries of general employees. From March 16, the company allowed its staff to take a month off for vacation instead of taking off a number of days at a time for annual and monthly vacations under the so-called "special vacation for self-development." Samsung Life Insurance stands at an important juncture, poised to achieve a quantum leap from Korean market leader to global prominence, President and CEO Lee Soo-chang said.
"The core global competencies for this transition are secured by hiring the best human resources, adopting the best systems and nurturing the best corporate culture. To this end, we are increasing our investments in training and are revamping our systems to remain ahead of the competition," the CEO said. "In addition, we are acquiring future business drivers by making inroads into the emerging Chinese, Indian and Thai markets. We will build a sound management system, nurturing the necessary global competencies for us to become a major world player." nw

President & CEO Lee Soo-chang of Samsung Life Insurance Co.

Various photos showing social service activities by officers and employees of Samsung Life.