HD Hyundai Heavy to provide free meals for all foreign workers

HD Hyundai Heavy will become the first company in the shipbuilding industry to provide all foreign workers with free meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — at company facilities.

The company announced Saturday that it had drawn up an equal-treatment improvement plan for foreign workers by gathering feedback directly from them at the worksite.

The plan follows a series of language-specific information sessions held from June 30 to July 2, during which the company explained changes to its personnel policies — including the introduction of performance bonuses paid without differentiation based on personnel evaluations — and then reviewed and incorporated suggestions raised during those sessions.

Under the new measures, HD Hyundai Heavy will extend free meals to foreign workers on the same basis as Korean employees and will refund in full the meal fees that foreign workers had been charged since January 2023. The refund is expected to average 7 million won ($4,500) per person.

The company also announced plans to improve its compensation structure so that all workers share in company performance, including the payment of performance bonuses without differentiation based on personnel evaluations.

The moves resolve workplace issues through direct dialogue with foreign workers and are expected to translate into tangible improvements in their day-to-day working conditions.

"As the world's No. 1 shipyard, we will continue to improve treatment for foreign workers — not just wages, but also meals, housing and residency support — to fulfill our responsibilities to them," a company official said.