Following the selection as the final acquirer of the online shopping mall TMON, which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation procedures (court receivership), the early morning delivery specialist company OA has begun internal transitions and voluntary retirement programs, causing a stir within the company.
Some employees who have applied for voluntary retirement and have already left the organization claim that OA has broken its promise of employment guarantees as part of the acquisition conditions and has effectively begun workforce restructuring.
OA emphasized that there have been no artificial workforce optimizations and that it is focused on resuming operations promptly.
According to the distribution industry on the 15th, OA notified that it would transition all non-sales employees into product planning (MD) roles earlier last month, while also announcing the acceptance of voluntary retirement applications.
At that time, it is said that OA gave employees half a day's time to decide whether to apply for voluntary retirement.
As of the end of last month, about 50 out of more than 140 employees remaining at TMON have left the company through voluntary retirement. Many are known to be non-sales employees who received the notice of transition to the MD role.
The departed employees seem to believe that OA has indeed begun a workforce reduction.
One employee who left the company after being transitioned to a sales role said, "After consulting with company executives, I determined that I wouldn't be able to return to my original duties," adding that "asking an employee who has been in planning and management work for over a decade to suddenly take on sales is an intention to push me out."
These individuals especially express feelings of betrayal over such actions taken less than a month after OA promised job security and secured acquisition rights for TMON from the court.
Earlier, OA entered into a conditional investment contract for the acquisition of TMON in March and was selected as the final acquirer by the Seoul Bankruptcy Court in April. The acquisition involves an amount of 11.6 billion won and an additional operational fund of 6.5 billion won, totaling 18.1 billion won, with the condition of guaranteeing the employment of TMON employees for five years.
Another former employee reacted strongly, stating, "The job transition and voluntary retirement are the result of the efforts to normalize the company after staying until the last moment since TMON entered court receivership in July of last year."
There are also complaints regarding OA's plan for all employees to undergo mandatory training at the logistics center.
Unlike TMON, which connects sellers and buyers via an open market, the on-site training was intended to increase understanding of OA's logistics operating methods that purchase and sell products directly. However, it is noted that the process did not adequately involve employee consent.
OA refutes any intention of workforce reduction during the process of normalizing the platform.
OA noted, "The most critical factor for the normal operation of the platform is human resources, and the number of TMON employees has decreased from the initial more than 500 to one-fifth of that, with ongoing departures occurring. We cannot promise normalization in such a chaotic atmosphere."
They explained, "We are implementing voluntary retirement to give options to those who think our direction is not right or are considering changing jobs, and for those who decide to remain, to unite and work together."
Regarding the half-day time given after the announcement of voluntary retirement applications, they stated, "The intention was to minimize the number of retirees, and based on feedback that the time provided was too short, we are now accepting applications without a deadline."
They also mentioned that the job transitions were conducted with employee consent prior to the signing of the conditional investment contract in March.
Employees currently working at TMON also issued a statement that "voluntary retirement is not a restructuring or workforce reduction measure, but rather a compensation option that employees preparing to change jobs or who have different views from OA's operational direction can choose."
They continued, "Unlike Interpark and WeMakePrice, which have uncertain recoveries due to a lack of acquisition hopefuls, TMON is committed to normalizing the platform under OA's support, and the majority of remaining employees, with a determination to resume operations, are looking forward to synergies with OA."
TMON is scheduled to hold a creditor meeting at the Seoul Bankruptcy Court on the 20th to review and resolve the recovery plan submitted to the court last month.
The creditor meeting will include secured creditors, unsecured creditors, and shareholders.
If the recovery plan is approved here, OA’s acquisition of TMON will be confirmed.
To approve the recovery plan, stakeholders holding two-thirds of the recovery claims and three-quarters of the secured claims, based on the size of the claims, must agree.
The key issue is the willingness of major creditors to accept the plan. Of the 11.6 billion won OA will offer for acquisition, only 10.2 billion won will be used for debt repayment, which is just 0.8% of the total debt amount (about 1.2 trillion won), raising concerns about how effectively OA can persuade the larger creditors.