Starting in the second half of this year, LG Chem has simultaneously deployed two strategies targeting its Advanced Materials Division at the Cheongju plant in North Chungcheong Province: expanding internal transfers and increasing voluntary retirement compensation. The company aims to maximize the number of transferable positions across all business sites to broaden pathways for employment retention while also raising the special voluntary retirement allowance from 60 months of base salary to over 65 months, thereby expanding employees' options.
According to the petrochemical industry on the 18th, LG Chem plans to identify more than 150 transferable job roles across all company business sites within this year and reassign personnel from the Cheongju Advanced Materials Division accordingly. This involves identifying positions available for transfer from the petrochemical sector at Daeasan in South Chungcheong Province and Yeosu in South Jeolla Province, as well as from the life sciences division and research institutes at Iksan in North Jeolla Province, to deploy employees currently working on advanced materials such as cathode materials and separators for secondary batteries, and OLED (organic light-emitting diode) projects.
This approach reflects LG Chem's intent not to simply reduce headcount within the Cheongju Advanced Business Division but to disperse personnel across other business sites to maintain employment levels as much as possible. Following a decision in May to implement temporary suspensions for employees who did not wish to inherit jobs after selling off the polarizing film materials and water treatment filter businesses, labor-management friction arose. The company explains that this time around, greater emphasis has been placed on ensuring employment stability during the second half of the year.
In particular, differences in workforce demand arising from fluctuations in business conditions and production volumes have also driven the expansion of internal transfers. For instance, while the Cheongju separator plant extended its operation timeline to the end of 2027 due to increased demand for energy storage systems (ESS) in North America—originally scheduled to conclude by the end of this year—the cathode materials business is experiencing slower-than-expected volume growth due to delays in the recovery of the North American electric vehicle market. The company has thus concluded that flexible workforce management tailored to each business's situation is necessary to improve efficiency.
Starting this month, LG Chem will raise the level of special voluntary retirement compensation exclusively for the Advanced Materials Division at its Cheongju plant. Specifically, the severance allowance will be increased from 60 months of base salary to 65 months, with an additional 0.5 months per year of service added. As a result, employees with 10 years of tenure will receive a total of 70 months' worth of severance pay (65 months base plus 5 months for tenure), representing an increase of 10 months compared to the previous standard.
The Cheongju plant is known as the most prominent site reflecting LG Chem's strategic direction in its advanced materials business, serving as a key production hub. After divesting from polarizing film materials in 2024 and winding up water treatment filter operations at the end of last year, the company has sequentially shed non-core businesses. In contrast, it has decided to expand production capacity for copper-clad laminates (CCL), which hold global No. 1 competitiveness in the DDR5 memory package substrate market for PCs and servers. Moving forward, LG Chem is expected to continue making selective investments based on each business's growth potential and profitability, while flexibly managing both workforce and capital accordingly. In response, an LG Chem representative stated, "Nothing has been finalized yet," expressing a cautious stance.
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