LBM, the operator of London Bagel Museum, said on the 17th it will improve working conditions following allegations of overwork in the death of an employee in their 20s.
LBM announced a companywide innovation plan to improve working conditions on the same day. It will overhaul working conditions around three key tasks: enhancing job stability, strengthening compliance systems for statutory working hours, and reorganizing its safety and health system.
Next month, it will hire a human resources (HR) expert to overhaul labor contracts and overall HR systems. LBM said it is reviewing the introduction of a system that converts employment in one-year units after a three-month probation period to improve the short-term employment contract structure, and that it will gradually increase the ratio of full-time employees by designing a workforce structure optimized to its business characteristics through labor and HR consulting.
If there is a sudden vacancy at a store, it will also operate a separate response team supported by headquarters. During periods of increased workload, it plans to expand staffing to 1.5 times the current level.
It also promised to improve the process for managing work records. In addition to the existing overtime verification procedure, the company will make it mandatory to check the security system's guard logs at store closing. Headquarters will then identify the actual end time of work to cross-check actual working hours. In the first half of next year, it will introduce an HR ERP system and build a real-time work record management system linked to a fingerprint scanner.
LBM disputed the bereaved family's claim that the deceased employee worked 80 hours a week as untrue, but previously said it could not verify materials to support the actual work records due to fingerprint scanner errors.
Meanwhile, LBM also reorganized its safety and health management system. It strengthened training for those in charge of safety and health management, and expanded store training and regular monitoring at the headquarters level. In particular, it aims to continuously reduce the risk of industrial accidents by intensively monitoring the monthly number of such cases, the company said.
LBM CEO Kang Kwan-ku said, "We will reexamine working conditions from the ground up to create stable and safe working conditions," adding, "Through companywide efforts that feel like cutting to the bone, we will go beyond simple institutional fixes to become a corporations with a culture where members can feel pride in their work and a company where anyone would want to work."