On an average day at Wemakeprice’s Seoul office, the older employees will report to work at 8 in the morning and put in a four-hour shift until noon. (Image: Wemakeprice)
SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – To the Everyoung Korea Corp employees working at Wemakeprice, the Hollywood film “The Intern” starring Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro – featuring the latter as an elderly gentleman hired as an intern by an online shopping startup’s founder in Hathaway – must seem to be autobiographical to a certain degree. With streaks of grey hair and lined faces indicating their average 60.2 years in age, they would certainly be excused for considering Robert DeNiro to be a kindred spirit.
Wemakeprice, one of the major e-commerce companies in South Korea, currently employs twenty senior-in-age employees through an arrangement with Everyoung Korea Corp, which on its website proudly calls itself “The Best Social Enterprise in the World”. The web content monitoring firm also mentions that the average age of its staff is 60, and the retirement age is 100.
On an average day at Wemakeprice’s Seoul office, the older employees will report to work at 8 in the morning and put in a four-hour shift until noon. Their work entails monitoring 1,500 or so posts by sellers on Wemakeprice’s homepage, methodically sifting out uploaded content that violates company policy or existing laws.
Amidst the much younger Wemakeprice workforce, with an average age of 31 years old, the seniors have no choice but to stand out, much to the benefit of the youngsters around them according to a Wemakeprice executive, who praised the elderly workers as “skilled people” and made the observation that “the Wemakeprice staff are learning a great deal thanks to [the seniors'] years of experience and absorbed knowledge.”
The company is planning to grow its senior employee base going forward. (Image: Wemakeprice)
The working arrangement suits the “Robert DeNiros” in this story just fine. One gentleman who was formerly employed at Hankook Sharp for 30 years said, “After quitting my job, I looked into opening a baked goods franchise while pondering the next stage of my life, but things were not easy. I’m happy I was able to get another job at a tech company where I can use the experience I’ve gained from working for a long time in the IT department.” His fellow co-workers expressed that their children were ecstatic that they had found meaningful work.
Wemakeprice agreed to an employment deal with Everyoung Korea Corp in September on the belief that introducing seniors’ industriousness and experience into the company’s work environment would generate positive results, which would also play a part in addressing the problem of elderly unemployment in a rapidly aging society.
The company is planning to grow its senior employee base going forward.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
