SEOUL, November 17 (AJP) - LBM, the operator of South Korea’s bakery hotspot London Bagel Museum and now under expansive investigation over alleged labor abuses, on Monday unveiled a comprehensive set of remedial measures to improve working conditions.
The initiative focuses on bolstering job stability, enforcing compliance with legal working hours, and upgrading store-level safety and health systems.
Repeatedly apologizing to employees and customers, CEO Kang Kwan-gu said the company would “reassess operations from the ground up with new leadership to create a safe and stable work environment.”
Starting December, LBM will hire HR specialists to overhaul employment contracts and personnel systems, including the introduction of a one-year employment-conversion program to move away from short-term hiring practices. External consultants will support efforts to increase the share of permanent employees.
An emergency support team will be created to respond to sudden staffing shortages and prevent work overload. During peak seasons, staffing levels will be raised by 50 percent to reduce shortages and manage working hours more effectively.
Work-record management will be restructured: while employees will still self-enter and review their hours, mandatory security-system verification will be added to confirm actual hours worked. By next year, a fingerprint-based ERP system will be introduced to monitor hours in real time, enabling immediate intervention in overtime and staffing issues. Regular employee interviews and expanded manager training will also be adopted.
LBM plans to strengthen safety and health policies by increasing store safety training and broadening headquarters-level monitoring. The company is also working to enroll all employees in group injury insurance.
Comprehensive safety guidelines will be drafted to identify store-specific risks and track monthly industrial-accident metrics, with a goal of reducing accidents through proactive risk management.
“This improvement plan is only a beginning,” LBM said, aiming to become a workplace “employees feel proud of — a truly great place to work.”
The once-beloved bagel chain that helped ignite Korea’s bagel craze has in recent weeks exposed the darker side of the country’s artisanal food boom and its zeal for quick profits, including widespread reliance on short-term workers vulnerable to exploitation.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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