Lotte Duty Free seeks to lower head count as business remains weak

Travelers visit Lotte Duty Free’s branch on Jeju Island [NEWS1]

Lotte Duty Free is offering early retirement packages as it continues to struggle with pandemic-related woes.

Resignations will be accepted for senior associates who have been working at the company for 15 years or more. That’s 15 percent of its staff, or 160 people.

The company will take resignations between Wednesday and Dec. 21.

Lotte Duty Free said it tried its best to recover from the pandemic by expanding abroad and making its business structure more efficient. However, the company is still facing obstacles due to the weak won making duty-free purchases less attractive and overall inflation decreasing spending.

The company decided to accept resignations because it had to entirely change its business strategy of operating many duty-free branches in Korea and prepare for the upcoming bid for spots at Incheon International Airport.

Those who volunteer to resign will receive 25 months of salary and 20 million won ($15,480) in compensation. An additional maximum 20 million won will be given to employees who currently have children in middle school, high school and university to use as their educational expenses.

“We are going to accept voluntary resignations so we can quickly adapt to the rapidly changing business environment,” said a spokesperson for Lotte Duty Free. “We will provide one-on-one career consultations and job training for people who wish to continue working in other fields.”

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]