Talent Attraction and Retention

Talent Recruitment

ASEH and its subsidiaries employ a diverse and inclusive recruitment policy that prohibits discrimination against any employee or job applicant on the basis of gender, age, race, nationality, religion, political affiliation or sexual orientation. The company is committed to complying with local laws and regulations, upholding its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, protecting and respecting human rights and adhering to the Responsible Business Alliance (“RBA”) Code of Conduct. ASEH forbids the use of child or forced labor and discourages recruitment agencies from collecting agency fees from foreign employees.

In 2021, ASEH recruited over 36,000 employees. Those under 30 years old accounted for 68.5%, of which 80.7% are skilled technical positions on the production lines. ASEH has also hired 121 persons with disabilities. Over 1,000 new foreign employees were hired this year. Our global and diverse talent recruitment policy has helped us improve the company’s global advantage and competitive capabilities, thus allowing us to meet the market needs of an increasingly diverse customer base. We believe that a workplace culture defined by diversity and inclusion, will allow employees to grow and develop mutual respect, resulting in a genuinely inclusive work environment. In 2021, our recruitment costs have increased significantly due to COVID-19. The average cost of recruiting an employee increased by 20% to US$644 compared with US$541 in 2020.

Employee Turnover

Employee turnover at ASEH was 19.0% in 2021, a 2.4% increase from the previous year. The increase in turnover was mainly attributed to factors such as remuneration, career growth, work environment, and personal reasons. The employee turnover rate at ASEH broken down into 57.3% male vs 42.7% female. In terms of job types, production line skill job position form the majority with 71%, while management, engineering and administrative positions formed the remaining 29%.

On a biannual basis, ASEH subsidiaries conduct employee engagement surveys to encourage feedback and opinion sharing from employees. ASEH also perform annual analyses on the causes of attrition for different job types so as to make corresponding improvements for increasing employee job satisfaction and talent retention rates. As a technology company, we apply big data analytics to identify underlying and correlating factors that affect turnover and extrapolate behavioral factors that contribute to talent attrition. The analysis combines other factors such as regional attributes and challenges, to identify talent retention risks and project potential employee turnover rates. A deeper understanding of the dynamics affecting turnover will help the company to formulate strategies to manage the risks for retaining talent. Meanwhile, for facilities with high turnover among new hires, various actions will be adopted to help employees adapt to their work environment and prevent the depletion of human capital.

Talent Retention

ASEH provides a conducive environment for employees to unleash their full potential to create innovative technologies or to demonstrate effective management skills. The growth of the company is strongly dependent on attracting and retaining talent.

Key Retention Strategy

Highly Competitive Compensation and Benefits
Fair and Comprehensive Performance Review
Open Communication and a Grievance Mechanism
A Multi-faceted Employee Engagement Survey

Compensation and Benefit Policy

ASEH provides competitive salaries and remuneration packages that consist of base salary, subsidies, employee cash bonuses and other compensation based on job responsibilities, academic qualifications, work experience and job performance etc. Employee remuneration is not determined based on factors such as gender, age, race, nationality, religion, political stance or gender orientation. In order to attract and retain talent, and reward performing employees, the company has established monthly incentive and annual profit-sharing bonuses.

Employee bonuses have increased from US$181 million in 2017 to US$578 million in 2021, an increase of nearly 200%. The an accumulated total of employee bonuses for the period amounted to US$1,616 million. In addition, employees with outstanding performance are awarded company stock options. The employee stock option program, which has a ten-year validity period from the date of issue, is aimed at retaining outstanding employees.

Flexible Work Arrangements

Creating a pregnancy-friendly workplace

Childcare Facilities

Retirement Scheme

Insurance Program

Others Benefit

Taking care of employees’ health and well-being is critical to ensure high job satisfaction, productivity and retention rates. A flexible work scheme that allows employees to adjust their work schedules according to personal needs and commitments can drive improvements in morale and productivity, and lower absenteeism. It can also augment our human resource programs to attract and retain top talents, and reduce employee turnover. Flexible work schemes at ASEH and its subsidiary companies include flexible working hours, work from home arrangements and part-time positions.

Flexible work hours
Providing flexible working hours based on the nature of work and personal needs (including family care or on-the-job training) to meet the requirements of different work hours or time zones. Our employees may apply for work hour adjustments with their supervisor's approval. Flexible work hour schemes have been implemented at ASE facilities in Chungli, Japan and Singapore, as well as USI facilities.
Work from home
At the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic, our workers were permitted to apply for work from home. USI further formulated a set of remote working guidelines that provided allowances for employees to purchase equipment and ad hoc per diem for working from home arrangements. ASE Japan and ISE Labs have also designed guidelines to allow eligible employees to apply for work from home (remote) on a short or long-term basis.
Part-time positions
ISE Labs has officially implemented a part-time employee policy which provides company benefits to part-timers who work a minimum of 30 hours per week.

To alleviate the burden on employees, ASEH has built a comprehensive leave management system in alignment with the various local government policies on parental leave. We proactively provide employees with information on labor insurance and subsidies, and assist them with the leave application procedure. Employees’ job positions are protected during their leave and they are allowed the flexibility to delay their return or return early from maternity leave. Our facilities have dedicated on-site breastfeeding rooms that provide a private, comfortable and safe environment for breastfeeding employees, with unrestricted access during normal working hours. At ASE Kaohsiung, a special maternity program was designed to monitor the health and provide support for employees who are pregnant, one year postpartum or are breastfeeding. Other pregnancy-friendly workplace programs include conducting health hazard assessments, adjusting work duties during pregnancy, and providing maternity benefits and reinstatement after giving birth. We have also launched a course for new parents in 2018 that attracts participation from over 60 employees every year, with approximately 300 participants to date.

A total of 9,105 ASEH employees were on parental leave in 2021, including 1,050 on unpaid leave. Among the 829 workers expected to return to work, 522 actually returned, equivalent to a 63 percent return rate and a 75 percent retention rate. The number of newborn children at the Taiwan facilities, ASEH’s primary location, was 1,694, accounting for 1.10 percent of all newborns in Taiwan. The data demonstrated the success of the company's comprehensive parental care and benefits allowing our employees the peace of mind to give birth and raise children.

ASEH has 3 facilities worldwide that have set up childcare facilities within their premises – ASE Chungli and ASE Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and ASE Korea.

The ASE kindergartens and childcare centers provide high-quality and affordable education and day care services for employees. To adjust to employee work schedules, our kindergartens operate flexible hours with the nursery operating from 7am to 8pm so that our employees do not need to worry about their children while at work. ASE subsidizes the operating cost of the facility including utilities, cleaning and disinfection, general maintenance, fire safety measures, meal plans designed by dietitians and outdoor learning activities. The subsidy helps to lower the tuition fees and alleviate our employees’ financial burden, while allowing the children to benefit from high-quality childcare and learning environments. The ASE childcare and kindergartens are an extension of our employee-care management and we will continue to implement programs that support family values and improve employees’ loyalty.

Defined Benefit Plans
The Company and its subsidiaries in Taiwan joined the defined benefit pension plan under the ROC Labor Standards Law operated by the government. Pension benefits are calculated on the basis of the length of service and average monthly salaries of the last six months before retirement. The Company and its subsidiaries in Taiwan make contributions based on a certain percentage of their domestic employees monthly salaries to a pension fund administered by the pension fund monitoring committee.
Defined Contribution Plans
The pension plan under the ROC Labor Pension Act (“LPA”) for the Group’s ROC resident employees is a government-managed defined contribution plan. Based on the LPA, the Company and its subsidiaries in Taiwan makes monthly contributions to employees’ individual pension accounts at 6% of their monthly salaries. The subsidiaries located in China, U.S.A., Malaysia, Singapore and Mexico also make contributions at various ranges according to relevant local regulations.

All ASEH’s employees are covered by the national labor insurance and group insurance, including life insurance, accidental injury insurance, medical insurance, cancer insurance, and more. We also provide travel insurance for employees going on business trips. We also offer free group insurance to our employees' spouses and children.

Health Examination/Health Facilities

We care about employees' health and provides free physical health examinations to our employees at the clinics. There are also well equipped gyms at many of our facilities that are free of charge. Additionally, employees have access to massage centers for fatigue and stress relief.

Performance Review

ASEH conducts a fair and equal performance appraisal of all employees across the board on a biannual/annually basis. The review involves management by objectives and performance ranking, a multifaceted evaluation, and equipment operator certificate reviews. Employees with poor performance ratings are offered employee counseling on a case-by-case basis by their managers, who are able to make adjustments to their roles and focus on individual performance.

Performance Appraisal

Evaluation	Object	Approaches
Ranking and Management by Objectives	All Employees	Work project targets and quantifiable performance indicators are presented by employees to their direct supervisors for discussion and confirmation before being set as preliminary targets. In 6 months/12 months, employees are required to present their self-evaluation to their supervisors, who shall assess their performance and determine if the performance targets have been reached. A final evaluation is made before all employees in each department are ranked according to their performance.
Multidimensional Performance Appraisal	Management, Engineering and Administration Position Employees	After receiving MTP training, performance personnel will be interviewed by their direct supervisors and then jointly evaluated by cross-departmental supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates.
Qualification ertificate Evaluation	Skill Job Position Employees	According to the various types of machine equipment at each station on the production line and the need to inspect products and resolve anomalies, qualified instructors are assigned to evaluate the performance of production line employees.

Employee Communication

ASEH values and respects the opinions and rights of its employees. In an effort to promote open and transparent communication, the company has established comprehensive communication channels including unidirectional and bidirectional communication modes. As of the end of 2021, the total number of union members was 36,678, accounting for around 41% of all ASEH regular employees.

Employee Sustainability Engagement Surveys

Employees are ASEH’s most valuable asset and strategic to the company’s sustainability development and competitiveness. To enhance the workplace environment and gain better insights on employee experiences, we began conducting the Employee Engagement Survey every two years (since 2017) to understand our employees’ emotional attachment and professional commitment to their work, and the impact to the company. In 2021, we introduced a new survey framework that extended our focus to employee sustainability engagement. The engagement survey is now based on a 5-point scale, and we will aggregate the results of the total number of responses selected under ‘agree’ and ‘agree strongly’ on the scale. The scope of the engagement survey is now expanded to all three major subsidiaries covering direct and indirect employees at 26 facilities in 8 countries, accounting for 96.1 percent (81,479) of total employees surveyed.

The 2021 survey framework is segmented into employee experience indicators and employee engagement indicators towards the company. Under the employee experience indicators segment, there are 4 dimensions – purpose, people, work and total rewards, and 12 sub-categories customized according to direct and indirect employees across different job scopes. The employee engagement indicators segment comprise 3 dimensions – engagement, retention and ESG. Employees’ rating of the company’s ESG performance is a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of ASEH’s overall ESG strategy and planning future developments. The results of the 2021 Survey indicated higher employee engagement levels in the sub-categories of organization, growth and fair rewards. Overall, the 2021 sustainability engagement survey recorded a score of 79%, exceeding the company’s target of >75%. The next Employee Sustainability Engagement Survey will be administered in 2023.