It was a small moment.
“Hana, what’s your goal for this year?”
When I asked Hana, she smiled and said, “Making our company employees happier!”
If she were an ordinary child, she would have spent time with her parents and realized their importance, but Hana didn’t have parents. Instead, there were many employees who played the role of parents. They greeted her when she wandered around the building, doted on her, and even patted her head. Just as Hana cherished the employees, they cherished her too.
Kim Sehee also heard Hana’s words. If it was something Hana wanted, Kim Sehee would have plucked a star from the sky for her. Of course, that was impossible, but it showed how deep her affection for Hana was.
After hearing Hana’s words, Kim Sehee pondered deeply about how to make the employees happier. There were many ways, but she wanted something connected to Starlight Food as part of the welfare system.
If they just gave things away randomly, it would definitely make running the company difficult. But if the welfare wasn’t satisfying, the employees wouldn’t be happy either.
A welfare system where employees could consume Starlight Food products as much as possible would be ideal. For example, giving them points that could only be used to buy Starlight Food products, and so on… That way, it would kill two birds with one stone. They could sell off excess inventory, and the employees would feel like they were getting free food.
After thinking it over, Kim Sehee decided to discuss with the employees first before finalizing any welfare plan.
—
“The boss wants us to build a welfare system that fits Starlight Food?”
The Starlight Food operations team employee read the task assigned by Kim Sehee. The previous Starlight Rice distribution plan was canceled, and instead, they were instructed to create a new welfare system.
“Hmm… So, first, welfare points will be given to employees working at Starlight Food, Distribution, and the Research Institute…?”
The welfare system created by the team under Kim Sehee’s direction was as follows:
They would open an employee-exclusive online shopping mall where they could buy food handled by Starlight Food. It included various vegetables, fruits, and rice. It was already widely known that Starlight Food harvested a variety of agricultural products.
However, for agricultural products not grown by Starlight Food, there were separate companies managed by Starlight Distribution, so there was no need to worry. They simply needed to sign supply contracts with farmers who harvested the crops.
“If this happens, we’ll get free side dishes and rice, right?”
All employees working at Starlight Food, Starlight Distribution, and the Research Institute would receive 400,000 welfare points per month. They could use these points to buy any ingredients they wanted from the online mall operated by Starlight Food. It was a win-win for both married families and single individuals.
Married families would also receive additional welfare points based on the number of children they had.
Recently, the fluctuation in food prices had been so severe that ordinary people were suffering. Unfortunately, in South Korea, food prices rarely went down. Once they went up, they hardly ever came back down.
There was an invincible corporate logic at play. If food prices dropped, they couldn’t lower the prices until all the previously expensive inventory, whether imported or domestic, was sold out. But if prices rose, they immediately raised the prices, as if they had forgotten what they had said before. It was a double standard.
Of course, companies were doing this to maximize profits, but from the consumer’s perspective, it was inconvenient.
“How many employees are working at Starlight Food, Distribution, and the Research Institute? It should be less since it’s not the entire Starlight Guild, right?”
“Hold on, let me check.”
The employee checked the number of employees currently working at companies related to Starlight Food.
“Currently, there are 10,320 employees related to Starlight Food, senior.”
“Wow, that many?”
“The company has grown rapidly recently. And with such a large area to farm, how many people do you think we need? They’ve been hiring experienced and new employees non-stop, so the place is bustling. Plus, the welfare and salaries are above the average for large corporations.”
Just half a year ago, Starlight Food had only a few hundred employees. It was a remarkable leap forward. And with the company’s full-time positions…
The number of people was based on standards. Considering the number of subcontractors leading to first-tier vendors, tens of thousands of people ended up working for Starlight Food and its distribution.
“And you’re saying to slowly include subcontractor employees as regular workers?”
“Yes, but not all of them. It says to follow the rules set by the company.”
Since they were subcontractors, their wages were lower compared to regular employees who had gone through the tough interviews at the headquarters. However, the fact that there was no risk of being fired made working for a subcontractor a pretty attractive option for job seekers.
The employees just had to add flesh to the skeleton that had already been set up from above. There was no easier job than this. If they had been told to build the skeleton from scratch, it would have been chaos. Once the skeleton was set, it was hard to modify. The moment management wanted changes, it became difficult to reverse. But now, all they had to do was add a few details to what was already made.
—
Kim Min-soo was a new employee who had recently joined Starlight Food. He was considered very lucky among his peers. The reason for his luck was that he had applied during Starlight Food’s first large-scale recruitment.
A company that had fewer than a hundred employees suddenly hiring a thousand? It became a hot topic among graduating students. However, students who looked into the company couldn’t hide their disappointment. They had expected annual sales to be over 10 billion, but it was only a few billion. Of course, any job was good, but there didn’t seem to be any particular merit in joining Starlight Food.
It seemed like a company with just a good name. Still, some students thought, “It has the name ‘Starlight,’ so it can’t be bad, right?” Maybe something good was happening, which was why they were hiring a thousand employees? Of course, they weren’t just hiring new graduates but also experienced workers.
Still, due to the tough job market, the competition ratio exceeded 20:1. Out of tens of thousands of applicants, only a thousand were hired. Compared to a famous car manufacturing company hiring a few hundred out of 200,000 applicants, it seemed modest. But it was still a company with the name “Starlight.”
Of course, there was talk that half of the applicants were just filler. It was common knowledge, like in civil service exams. Half of them either didn’t show up for the interview or didn’t join even if they passed. So, it was a competition among the remaining 50%.
With that mindset, Kim Min-soo went into the interview. Although he didn’t graduate from a prestigious university in Seoul, he did graduate from a decent university in Gyeonggi Province. He had good grades and various awards. And he had been through countless interviews. Among his peers, he considered himself the best at interviews.
Of course, having been through many interviews wasn’t something to brag about. It was proof that he had been rejected by many companies. But still, having been through so many interviews, he was better off than those who were doing it for the first time. There was a reason why companies looked for experienced workers.
Anyway, after pulling himself together and giving it a shot, he got a good result.
[Passed!]
When Kim Min-soo saw the acceptance notice, he first informed his parents. Seeing how happy they were made him feel content. But soon, his joy turned into anxiety. Could he, a rookie in the working world, survive the tough corporate life?
In Kim Min-soo’s imagination, he pictured himself working hard at a computer in the office. He also imagined getting scolded by his superior. Though he wondered if there would even be a superior who would give a newbie tough tasks.
But the job he was assigned after joining was completely different. He was now standing in a vast plain, wearing a straw hat. The endless stretch of rice plants was a sight to behold. Of course, Korea has many mountains, so you could see them in the distance, but such a solid plain was rare.
He had joined the department managing Starlight Rice, cultivated through farming, as the youngest member.
