KB Kookmin Bank Criticized for Marching New Employees 100 Kilometers and Giving Out Contraceptive Pills
This sounds like one of these only in Korea stories:
KB Kookmin Bank has come under fire for holding a grueling 100 kilometer march for its recruits and reportedly giving out oral contraceptive pills to its new female employees — a large portion of which are under 30 — during the training period.
According to the news report from a local daily, the commercial bank gave the pills to the employees to control their menstrual cycles before they go on a 100-kilometer overnight march. The bank has traditionally carried out the marching event every year to boost the morale of the rookies, the report said.
The bank explained that it provided the pill for the health of female employees who are on their period, as they could feel relatively more exhausted than their male co-workers during the harsh schedule. The employees were not forced to take the pill, the bank added.
The act, however, caused a public backlash after it was revealed on Monday. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link, but the bank did not mandate the use of the pills, it was optional if the female employees needed it. As far as marching 100 kilometers if the new employees knew this was something they would have to complete for initial training and were being paid I don’t see what the big deal is?
Good article at: https://www.koreaexpose.com/kb-kookmin-bank-march-corporate-culture/
“Earlier this week, South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank came under fire for a rather unorthodox way of training new employees. Around 400 new recruits marched 100 km from Cheonan, south of Seoul, over a two-day period, in a temperature that plunged to -6 Celsius.”
“KB Kookmin Bank is not the only South Korean corporation enforcing rigorous physical training for their pup employees. POSCO — the fifth-largest steel-producer in the world — sends their new employees to a “Marine boot camp” involving guerrilla-style training, landing fall training, rappelling and obstacles jumping according to the company blog.”
I don’t think this would work in the USA, lol.
And we thought the ruck marches were bad.
I thought Japan did stuff like this as well? Or was that just back in the 1980s and 90s?
Anybody remember Gung Ho, with Michael Keaton and Gedde Watanabe? There were two scenes about physical fitness at the auto plant. The first was traditional Japanese calisthenics, the second at the end of the movie was closer to aerobics with music. The Japanese enjoy an at-work workout; Americans? Not so much…