Helicopters are a rare luxury, even for the wealthiest business tycoons, but there is a company that regularly deploys choppers for its employees: LG.

At LG Electronics, the flagship arm of LG Group, helicopters shuttle the research staff to and from headquarters and out-of-Seoul manufacturing sites.

From Seoul to LG’s Gumi plant, the chopper cuts the travel time down to 45 minutes, compared to the three to four hours for a ride on the train. LG is tightlipped on the expenses, but it must no doubt cost a bundle.

However, LG’s philosophy is that money is no issue when it comes to research and development, which the company considers the key factor for growth and development for bolstering its technology-oriented business.

In the past, there had been times when LG was held back due to a lack of breakthrough technologies, but as one of the world’s leading makers of televisions and mobile phones, the company is once again in the lead, thanks to its strong R&D initiative.

“We must constantly be a step ahead in source technologies to create differentiated customer value and lead the markets,” says Koo Bon-moo, LG Group Chairman, on the worth of R&D. 

His promise to the R&D staff is that the LG management will muster up whatever is needed to help create an environment where the researchers can focus on their jobs.

On that note, LG plans to invest some 6 trillion won ($5.4 billion) into R&D this year, up 20 percent from last year.

Starting from 2008, LG also has been offering exceptional promotions to particularly gifted research staff.

On March 13, such promotions were offered to 18 of the 24 recipient teams of the LG “R&D Award.”

The six were headed by researchers who had previously received promotions, meaning all the newly competing researchers were given promotions.

It was the first time in more than 30 years since the award was created that all the competing teams were rewarded.

Consequently, a dozen researchers were given promotions to either “Research Fellow” or “Functional Fellow,” who all enjoy executive employee status. Another seven were promoted to senior research positions or other similarly high posts.

Handpicking these top-seeded individuals was a trend started in 2008. They are chosen every year from each LG affiliate, based on their achievements and competence.

Once selected, the employees, regardless of their age or gender, are offered benefits that used to be exclusively for executives.

At the same time, to keep them on their toes, they are evaluated on their achievements every three years.

Retirement is no concern, as those deemed to be a valuable addition can continue to work well after the official retirement age.

Chairman Koo makes it a point, those close to him said, to personally meet with these select researchers to offer them his encouragement.

LG Display is one such affiliate where R&D personnel are given extensions on their retirement based on their accomplishments, and of course, whether they would like to stay on.

Once the researchers hit the retirement age of 59, they receive assessments on whether their employment should be extended.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)