Sustainability
- ESG
- Environmental
- Governance
Aligned with the brand purpose, Kia has defined Culture Ambition as “Customer-Centric and People-Focused Culture,” and actively practices “Kia Values & Behaviors” in daily work.
Customer-Centric and People-Focused Culture
People are the heart of everything we do. We work together to inspire our customers and our colleagues, empowering each other to make progress. We dare to push the boundaries of what’s possible, chasing excellence everyday.
Kia Values & Behaviors
Care for People
Knowing small actions make big impacts, we lead with empathy and respect for our colleagues, customers and the planet. We never compromise on our responsibility to shape the world we want to live in: one that is more inclusive, equitable and sustainable.
We enable everyone to be themselves at work, regardless of background, culture or identity.
We make decisions to create better outcomes for our colleagues, customers and the planet, not for individual or temporary success.
We set clear and achievable goals that positively impact our colleagues, customers and the planet.
Move Further, Together
United by our purpose, we work together, embracing diverse perspectives. By debating ideas, inspiring each other, and sharing joy, we move further—together.
We work together across teams and regions to achieve shared goals.
We actively seek feedback and listen to different perspectives, constructively challenging each others’ ideas.
We celebrate and recognize our progress, not only the end result.
Empower People to Act
Our mutual trust in one another empowers us to own our commitments and take responsibility. Our freedom to act is guided by shared accountability.
We agree on outcomes at the beginning of each task and trust each other to make it happen.
We are transparent with each other, sharing information openly.
We hold ourselves accountable for our commitments.
Dare to Push Boundaries
Bold, curious, and creative, we dare to reimagine how the world moves forward. We relentlessly challenge convention, knowing it’s better to take risks—and learn from failure—than to stand still.
We stay curious we learn and grow each day.
We take calculated risks and see failure as an opportunity to learn.
We boldly and purposefully challenge the status quo to find new solutions.
Chase Excellence, Every Day
We think big and pursue continuous improvement. We adapt quickly to exceed customer expectations and simplify how we work to ensure our process never gets in the way of our progress.
We continually seek to understand our customers, to deliver on their needs and remove pain points.
We prioritize our tasks and simplify how we work to improve quality and productivity.
We make decisions and act quickly, balancing data and our best judgement.
- 1
Kia Value Meeting
Kia holds regular town hall meetings across all global regions, shaped by the principles of “Kia Values & Behaviors.” These meetings facilitate open dialogue between leaders and team members on enterprise-wide and regional business priorities. Each session is independently managed to reflect the unique characteristics of its region, fostering authentic communication and collaborative engagement.
- 2
Kia Value Activities
Kia team members actively engage in a wide range of values-based initiatives at the corporate, regional, and team levels. Through experiential programs, conferences, and family-inclusive events, they bring “Kia Values & Behaviors” to life.
- 3
Kia Value On Workshop
Through team-level workshops, Kia team members explore practical ways to apply “Kia Values & Behaviors” in their daily work. These sessions promote self-reflection on work practices and collaboration, strengthening team cohesion.
- 4
Kia Value Award
Kia recognizes exemplary divisions, regions, and individuals who have demonstrated outstanding practices aligned with “Kia Values & Behaviors.” By sharing best practices and celebrating these achievements, we reaffirm our unified direction as Global One Kia and strengthen our commitment to our ‘Customer-Centric and People-Focused Culture.’
- 5
Kia Value Communication
Leadership messages and culture initiatives are delivered through diverse content formats—including videos, webtoons, and card news—shared via groupware, email, and social media channels. Kia continues to drive values-based communication to share its cultural direction and foster mutual understanding among team members.
Idea platform,
Way to Inspiration
Way to Inspiration
Kia’s "Way to Inspiration" is an always-on idea platform where employees may freely discuss ideas and get inspiration. Regardless of job or position, Kia employee can offer and embrace unique ideas through the platform.
Leader Support Board
In order to empower leaders and employees to make changes together, all business units in Kia are running “leader support board”. Members of the board consist of diverse ranks. The members observe organizational issues in balanced manner and make suggestions to a leader. Leader utilizes leader support board as an effective channel to improve leadership behaviors and organizational operations.
Step 1Leader support board members consist of diverse ranks
(3~5 per units)
Step 2Board members observe organizational issues together (Interview, tool kit questionnaire etc.)
Step 3Making suggestions to a leader based on observations
Step 4Based on suggestions leaders improve leadership behaviors and organizational operations
Leader Support Board Activity
Repeat Step 2, 3, 4 regularly
Leader
Real voice feedback from unit members
Identify desired organizational operations of all ranks
Improve and reflect leadership behaviors
Support board
Leam how to observe leadership behaviors and organizational issues
Improve leadership skills througn "If I am a leader, how would I solve this" question
Member of KIA
Reflection business unit members' voice
Making changes together
KIA
Establish a culture of employee-led change
All business units working toward company-wide changes (with sub-culture changes)
Leader support board Expectations
Key Achievements
Kia is a multinational corporation promoting variety in all forms, including ethnicity, age, and gender. We encourage our employees to be confident in their ideas and try new things in the workplace. There are a variety of supports available, including equal chances, a diverse range of options, and high-efficiency smartwork.
1,067 persons
New Employment (2024)
23.9% Increase
Female ration in management (2024)
21.8 years
Average length of service (2024)
- Coverage: Domestic site
- Female workers in management correspond to executives, senior managers, senior research engineers and senior counsels
Total Workforce
2024
| Category | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Employees | 35,501 | 35,847 | 35,747 | |
| By employment type | Regular worker | 34,562 | 34,260 | 33,203 |
| Non-regular worker | 939 | 1,587 | 2,544 | |
| By gender | Male | 34,082 | 34,335 | 33,955 |
| Female | 1,419 | 1,512 | 1,792 | |
| By age | Under 30 | 1,017 | 2,160 | 3,015 |
| 31-49 | 12,976 | 14,077 | 12,884 | |
| 50 and above | 21,508 | 19,610 | 19,848 | |
* Coverage : Domestic
Employee Education & Training
Training & professional development programs
Kia is fostering talent who can create new customer-centered values and businesses based on job expertise. We support continuous and voluntary participation according to the content and methods desired by members, including mobility, DT/AI, professional jobs, Biz. Skill education, learning clubs (learning labs), online content development/curation, and external education (including subscription services)
2024
| Category | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
Training target employees | 34,260 | 33,225 | 32,806 |
Total no. of training provided | 176,796 | 308,794 | 391,338 |
Total training hours | 1,238,622 | 1,575,895 | 1,766,358 |
Total training investment budget | 109.6 | 176.6 | 272.6 |
Average training hours per employee | 36.2 | 47.4 | 53.8 |
Avergae training cost per employee | 320 | 531 | 831 |
Employee Capability Development
Kia operates a comprehensive educational system to ensure that employees, from executives to new hires, acquire the skills necessary for their respective roles and departments. As part of this effort, Kia has revamped its company-wide job academy framework to include diverse training programs, such as the Mobility Academy, which supports the growth of talent aligned with the Kia's vision of becoming a 「Sustainable Mobility Solutions Provider」, and the Skill-up Academy, which offers skill-based courses that can be applied immediately to current work.
| Course | Development Direction | Key Programs |
|---|---|---|
Leadership | Develop entrepreneurial leaders with a brand and customer-centric mindset | Inspiring Coaching programs, Onboarding of new team leaders, etc. |
Onboarding | Phased onboarding program to support integration as Kia members | Onboarding step1 - step5 |
Job Function | Cultivate “cross-functional” talent that can create new customer-centric value and business based on their functional expertise | Mobility Academy, Skill-up Academy |
Company-wide | Company-wide mandatory training programs, including legal compliance training | Disability inclusion awareness, Pre-retirement training, etc. |
Other | Employee-driven learning through voluntary gatherings | Learning labs, Language training, etc. |
Talent Recruitment and Career Development
To lead the future mobility industry, Kia is continuously hiring talented people in new technologies and businesses. In addition, by operating the "Veteran" system for retired employees with highly skilled techniques and experience, the company supports them so that they continue to utilize their expertise and contribute to industrial development after retirement.
Kia operates a reemployment program and a job change support program according to the life cycle of employees who wants to change jobs for career change. In addition to the career change outside the organization, Kia also operates a system for changing jobs through retraining course, if an employee wants to change to a new career(e.g. a job change within the organization), or needs to change his/her duties due to business changes.
Recruitment Status
2024
Unit : Persons
| Category | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total newly hired employees | 901 | 836 | 1,067 | |
| By gender | Male | 743 | 627 | 891 |
| Female | 158 | 209 | 176 | |
| By age | Under 30 | 545 | 527 | 562 |
| 31-49 | 305 | 276 | 437 | |
| 50 and above | 51 | 33 | 68 | |
* Coverage : Domestic
Status of Labor Union Membership
2024
Unit : Persons
| Category | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
Total member | 1,200 | 1,066 | 1,104 |
Rate of membership(%) | 3.51 | 3.25 | 3.30 |
* Coverage : Domestic
Retention
2024
Unit : Years
| Category | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
Retention | 22 | 22 | 22 |
* Coverage : Domestic
Welfare
Legally mandated fringe benefits
Health insurance, industrial insurance, national pension, employment insuranceVehicles/transportation
Car purchasing/repair, commute bus, fuel, and transportation expenses etc.Safety/health/hygiene
Medical services, group accident insurance, physical checkups, health clinics, etc.Living
Meals/snacks, expenses/vacations for family events, apartments/dorms, personal pension plans, Labor-Management Joint Fund etc.Education
School and education expenses for employee's children and in-house daycare centers, etc.Culture / Career-development
Vacation allowance, credits, long-service/retirement awards (travel), sports day, hotels and resorts for summer vacation, etc.Support for retirees
Veterans program, etc.
Parental Leave
2024
Unit : Persons
| Category | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employees who used parental leave | Total | 191 | 192 | 207 |
| Male | 118 | 115 | 90 | |
| Female | 73 | 77 | 73 | |
| Employees returning to work after parental leave | Total | 129 | 134 | 137 |
| Male | 87 | 89 | 97 | |
| Female | 42 | 45 | 40 | |
* Coverage : Domestic
Welfare System/Program Operation Status at Kia
Working System
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Flexible work hours | Able to work voluntarily within 52 hours per week (average) of working hours per month, Core working hours are 5 hours from Monday to Thursday and 4 hours on Friday |
Remote working | Implementation of remote work system based on autonomy and responsibility (Varies by place of work and job group) |
Part-time working | Operate only for some jobs (driving manager 7 hours/day, service manual multilingual translation 4 hours/day) |
Internet Phone / Text Service | Free use of Internet calls and text messages (200 calls/month) through the ERP system that can be installed on personal mobile devices |
Commuter Bus | For employee commuting convenience, commuter buses are operated at all workplaces (operating more than 4 times depending on time, on more than 200 routes in total) |
Moving Expenses | In the event of a change of residence due to a new position, moving expenses are supported according to the distance (transportation expenses, logistics expenses, etc.) |
Base office | Trial operation of 5 major locations in the metropolitan area and 6 shared office locations in the Seoul area |
Operation of in-house laundry / barber shop / clinic | Operating free laundry for engineers in Korea Plants to wash working clothes / in-house clinic for employee health care / in-house barber shop at affordable prices |
Child birth/Child care support
(Welfare services for children include adoptees and stepchildren)
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Parental leave (women/men) | Up to 2 years of parental leave per child (under 8 years old, under second grade of elementary schools) |
Maternity leave | 90 days of maternity leave for pregnant women before and after childbirth (120 days for multiple fetuses) / Maternity leave for male workers is 20 days of paid leave |
Infertility treatment support | Provide support with 3 days of paid leave for counseling and procedures related to infertility |
Shortened work hours during childcare periods | Up to 3 years of reduced working hours during childcare period (5 to 25 hours per week) for each child (under 8 years old, under second grade of elementary schools) |
Work daycare center / Consigned childcare facility | Autoland Gwangmyeong/Hwaseong/Gwangju and Yangjae Headquarters operate a total of 4 workplace daycare centers |
Education support for children with disability | Support for the use of special district educational facilities for children with disabilities (KRW 6 million per person/year) |
Family leave | Up to 90 days of a year can be used to care for the family member due to illness, accident or old age |
Operation of in-house laundry / barber shop / clinic | Operating free laundry for engineers in Korea Plants to wash working clothes / in-house clinic for employee health care / in-house barber shop at affordable prices |
Vacation support
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Summer vacation | 5 days of paid leave per year |
Pro dream vacation | 5 days of personal annual leave can be used with additional 10 days of paid leave for senior managers on the promotion |
Long-term employment award | 5 days of paid leave available for the 21st year only for employees who have served 20 years of service |
Vacation over retirement | 30 days of paid leave that can be used for the annual leave of absence is provided in the case of retirement after 20 years of service |
Four seasons resort operation | Offers member-price accommodation benefits for a total of 38 resorts |
Healthcare
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Medical insurance | National health insurance / Group accident insurance (injury, hospitalization, death, cancer) / Support for hospital expenses for employees, spouses and children (KRW 40 million/person) |
Mental care | Provide online psychological tests and offline psychological counseling services for employees, their spouses, and children (12 times a year / Designate a counseling center near their residence in connection with the national psychological counseling center) |
Healthy snacks | Providing meal options such as healthy salads, vegetarian meals, and take-out menus |
Regular medical examinations | Provision of mandatory legal general examination once a year for all employees and additional examination and recognition of attendance, additional check-ups for employees over 40 years of age (electrocardiogram, thyroid ultrasound, blood cancer test, etc.) |
General examination | Every 10 years of tenure (every 3 years for those over 35), 50% of the support is provided by the company to one member of the employee’s family every year |
Fitness facility | Operating Autoland Gwangju/Gwangmyeong/Hwaseong and Yangjae Headquarters fitness center |
Life/Convenience support
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Congratulatory and condolatory benefits | Congratulatory and condolences leave and congratulations and condolences support, Support for mourners and condolences items (garlands, etc.) |
Child scholarships | Secondary/High School/University tuition, early childhood education expenses, and special education expenses |
Housing support fund | Support for up to KRW 60 million in housing funds (purchase/jeonse*) by length of service
*lump-sum housing lease |
Staff apartment | Operates 482 households near Autoland Gwangmyeong and 536 households near Autoland Hwaseong |
Appointment and moving | Support for household items and family relocation expenses for employees who move out over a certain distance |
Vehicle discount | Vehicle discount support according to years of service |
Points | Payment of welfare points and self-development points and operation of employee shopping malls |
Partnership discounts | Affiliate discounts for hotel/resort accommodation and shopping through a year-round |
Culture support
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Clubs | Support for monthly club activity expenses |
Others
| Classification | Details |
|---|---|
Guaranteed salary in case of sick leave | Partial compensation for sick leave or sick leave due to physical or mental disability or disease (varies by period) In case of industrial accidental leave due to work-related injuries or diseases, compensation is paid in addition to the amount paid by the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation (30% of normal wages) |