SK hynix's Icheon plant in Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of SK hynix

By Kim Hyun-bin

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are competing fiercely to attract and retain semiconductor experts by increasing compensation and benefits, according to company officials Thursday.

SK started to receive applications for 'Junior Talent' positions last month, a program that looks for people with less than 5 years of experience, while the interview process began, Thursday.

"For applicants that have one to two years' experience that is usually not credited as part of their experience when switching jobs, the Junior Talent position gives them the opportunity to be credited, which will allow SK hynix to better recruit young talent," a SK hynix official said.

Samsung Electronics' Device Solution (DS) division will select employees with more than two years of experience in mid-May. This comes after Samsung Electronics recruited experienced workers in the second half of last year and in January of this year.

"Although it has been tough recruiting talents in the semiconductor sector, Samsung Electronics plans to recruit a similar number of employees compared to previous years," an official at the chipmaker said.

Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee stressed the importance of strengthening internal communication at "DX Connect," a town hall meeting held at Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

"A horizontal title culture will be established, and from this year, job titles will disappear," Han said urging employees not to address an employee by his or her job title.

Han's continuous communication with executives and employees is interpreted as a measure to improve the rigid organizational culture unique to the manufacturing industry. The company's management apparently has no choice but to step forward as the talented future employees of the MZ generation are focused on companies with high levels of compensation and flexible office cultures.

In the past, Samsung Electronics has been regarded as a 'black hole' that sucks in experienced people, but this has changed recently with SK's aggressive investment in the semiconductor sector.

SK hynix established SOLIDIGM, a U.S. NAND subsidiary, launched full-scale operations of the Icheon M16 factory, as well as in the process of creating a semiconductor cluster in Yongin, which led to more active personnel hiring than Samsung.

SK also enhanced employee welfare recently by replacing the chairs of some 30,000 employees with high-end products priced at 2.5 million won each, drawing a lot of attention in the same industry.

In addition, a 'Happy Friday' system was introduced, which applies a four-day working week to every third week of each month for employees who have worked 80 hours or more in a two week period.

Last year, SK hynix's labor and management agreed to provide a starting salary of 50.4 million won for technical office workers with college degrees, overtaking Samsung Electronics' 48 million won in the same year.

While Samsung Electronics' labor-management council has not yet been finalized, SK hynix's labor and management plan to meet in the near future for wage negotiations.