Minister Kim Young-hoon visits Ewha Seoul Hospital's subsidiary standard workplace
Over 100 workers with developmental disabilities employed across school and hospital roles
Mandatory employment rate exceeded; minister orders task force on disability hiring
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon visited Ewha Seoul Hospital, widely cited as a model standard workplace for workers with disabilities, to encourage disabled employees and discuss ways to expand disability employment.
The visit highlighted how Ewha Hakdang, the school corporation behind Ewha Womans University, has exceeded the mandatory disability employment rate through a subsidiary-type standard workplace. Kim pledged to spread the integrated employment model across the education and healthcare sectors.
Over 100 workers with developmental disabilities: 'Finding niche jobs'
Kim visited Ewha Seoul Hospital in Gangseo-gu, Seoul on Friday, meeting workers with disabilities employed by Isu Management Co., a subsidiary-type standard workplace, and touring the facility before holding a roundtable discussion, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
Standard workplaces identify jobs suited to workers with disabilities and create barrier-free working environments that offer quality employment. Workers with developmental disabilities account for 65.3 percent of employees at subsidiary-type standard workplaces, making the model a key driver of job creation for a group that makes up a large share of young workers with disabilities.
The government provides up to 1.5 billion won (about $1.09 million) in facility investment support to companies that establish standard workplaces, along with employment consulting and hiring incentive grants.
Isu Management is a subsidiary-type standard workplace established by Ewha Hakdang.
The company has developed a wide range of roles — running convenience stores and cafes, providing hospital administrative support, manufacturing and delivering ready-to-eat meals, and handling bakery operations — and currently employs more than 100 workers with developmental disabilities.
After Ewha Seoul Hospital opened in 2019, Ewha Hakdang's headcount grew and the organization fell short of the mandatory disability employment rate, leading to rising penalty contributions. The university and medical center then joined forces to establish the subsidiary-type standard workplace.
From there, the organization identified disability-appropriate roles centered on tasks previously handled alongside nursing duties — including wheelchair disinfection and transport, specimen and medication delivery, injection room disinfection, and clerical support — and expanded them across the hospital.
On the university campus, the company started with bakery work and broadened into shop operations, cafe management and ready-to-eat meal production.
Disability employment rate climbs from 1.5% to 3.25%, surpassing mandatory threshold
Those efforts pushed Ewha Hakdang's disability employment rate from 1.50 percent in 2020 to 3.25 percent last year, surpassing the mandatory rate of 3.1 percent.
Of Isu Management's 172 regular employees, 110 — or 64 percent — are workers with disabilities, most of them with severe or developmental disabilities.
The company draws on university resources including the departments of special education, music therapy and sports science to run club programs in athletics, art and music. It also assigns one supervisor for every five employees with disabilities to support job retention and workplace adjustment.
"Disability employment is not simply about providing an opportunity to work — it is the first step toward social integration," Kim said. "We will actively support the spread of best practices, such as identifying disability-appropriate jobs, across the education and healthcare sectors." He also directed officials to form a working-level task force to drive further expansion of disability employment.
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