Samsung Biologics Voluntary Turnover Falls to 1.9% as Salaries Climb

Samsung Biologics Co.’s voluntary turnover rate fell to 1.9% last year, dropping into the 1% range as the company boosted pay and benefits.

According to the company’s ESG report disclosed on June 1, voluntary turnover declined from 4.5% in 2021 to 4.0% in 2022, 3.4% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2024 before falling to 1.9% last year.

Higher pay appears to be one reason employees are staying. Average annual salary rose to about $82,600 last year from about $57,200 in 2021, for a compound annual growth rate of 9.6%.

That was more than 1 percentage point above the 8.2% average salary growth recorded by industry No. 2 Celltrion over the same period. It was also nearly triple the 3.7% increase in average monthly income for South Korea’s urban worker households with three or fewer members.

Drug and biotech companies rely heavily on specialized talent in research and development, manufacturing, quality control and regulatory affairs. As a result, turnover in the sector tends to run higher than in other industries. Voluntary turnover at other large pharmaceutical and biotech companies is around 10%, setting Samsung Biologics apart from its peers.

Samsung Biologics said it is minimizing departures among existing employees even as it steps up hiring. The company attributed its recruitment and retention results to high pay, strong benefits and continued business growth.

Yang Byung-hoon, Hankyung.com reporter, hun@hankyung.com