Seoul, Korea, 20 April 2007 - SK Telecom (CEO Shin Bae Kim, www.sktelecom.com) announced that the company was selected as one of the best employers in Asia by The Wall Street Journal Asia and Hewitt Associates, a global human resource management consulting firm.

The best employers in Asia have been selected every other year since 2001 by The Wall Street Journal Asia and Hewitt Associates. In 2007, the survey was carried out among about 750 corporations in Asia’s seven countries that include Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Australia It was aimed at investigating their entire human resource management program, and its status among Asia-wide recognized corporations. A total of 64 Korean corporations were surveyed. Of these, SK Telecom was the only company that was selected as one of the best employers. Japan’s UBS Securities, Australia’s Cisco Systems, and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong and Singapore were also selected as being among the best employers in Asia.

The survey is primarily aimed at evaluating the alignment of the personnel management system, management strategies, and their employees’ positive engagement in their duties. It is processed through a CEO questionnaire, a survey of the personnel management system and an employees’ state of mind survey. The survey ensures transparency and fairness as it is executed in the form of a blind basis test.

Andrew Bell, a Hewitt Associates’ Human Resource Management Consulting Leader in Asia Pacific regions, commented that the best workplace implies a company that promotes an optimal working environment in order to help employees attain productive and meaningful achievements with a joyful mind and attitude. The reasons why SK Telecom was selected are as follows; ▲Offering employees numerous career development opportunities in order to grow together with the company ▲ Executing an innovative personnel management system such as a horizontal job posting system, performance-based reward system and capability a development-focused training system ▲ Promoting a welfare system that offers employees substantial support for increasing the quality of their lives.

In order to promote a more horizontal and creative organizational culture, SK Telecom eliminated the conventional job post system, and restructured that entire organization last year. The company also made the utmost effort to establish a self-regulating and responsibility-based system of management through the improvement of the decision-making system. At the same time, SK Telecom has held “Idea Festivals” that are aimed at developing employees’ creative ideas about new business opportunities. It also established and operated a “Refresh System” designed to support long-term employees in developing their personal capabilities. A wide range of education and training programs designed to nurture employees’ core competencies, were also rebuilt 

“One of the most important roles of the company is to proactively support employees in developing their capabilities and potentials to a maximum extent, thereby achieving both the company’s and employees’ sustainable growth. This award has great significance as both employees and outside personnel management evaluating institutions put a premium on SK Telecom’s tireless efforts toward practicing the above-mentioned beliefs”, said Shin Bae Kim, president of SK Telecom.

SK Telecom also won the “Best of the Best Employers in Korea” in a survey of Korea’s top ten corporations.