As K-beauty continues to grow in the global market, changes are emerging in the workforce structure of domestic beauty corporations. With overseas business expansion, hiring of foreign employees is increasing, making the organization as a whole more multinational. Foreign talent is also growing not only in marketing and sales roles but also in labs and stores.
According to industry sources on the 6th, Amorepacific recently introduced a real-time translation system to its internal messenger. As the share of overseas business grows and the number of foreign employees increases, there are more situations where collaboration must take place in languages other than Korean.
In fact, for leading export brands including Laneige, English is used for most document creation and communication. About 90% of Laneige's sales currently come from overseas. Last year, it posted about 730 billion won in sales, led by the North American and European markets.
The increase in foreign employees is particularly notable in marketing and sales. As the number of countries entered has diversified, demand has grown for talent familiar with local languages and cultures. Benefits and work environments are also changing accordingly. The company introduced a halal menu in the cafeteria to accommodate employees from the Middle East.
Earlier, CJ Olive Young established a global hiring track last year to recruit foreign entry-level employees residing in Korea. The aim is to secure talent familiar with the languages and cultures of major countries such as North America, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Vietnam, focusing on global marketing, sales, and business strategy roles.
In the case of LG H&H, there are now foreign employees working in research and development (R&D). As global interest in K-beauty rises, the inflow of overseas talent seeking to experience domestic technological strength and expertise has increased.
The company is actively utilizing foreign researchers from the initial planning stage to develop products tailored to local markets. In the lab, researchers often conduct tests themselves on skin, scalp, and more during product development, and as development that reflects characteristics by country or race expands, the role of foreign researchers is growing.
In offline stores, cases are increasing where actual foreign employees are put at the forefront, going beyond simply assigning Korean staff who speak foreign languages. APR is placing foreign staff in its Seongsu, Dosan, and Hongdae flagship stores to strengthen service for global customers.
According to the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety, K-beauty exports in the first quarter of this year reached $3.1 billion, up 19% from a year earlier and the highest on record. By country, the United States ($620 million) ranked first, accounting for about 20% of total exports. China ($470 million, 15%) and Japan ($290 million, 9.3%) followed.