"Even the Best Welfare Should Be Changed If It Doesn't Suit Employees"

Asia Economy & Seoul City Joint Project [Towards Work-Life Balance 2.0]

Choi Nari, Consultant at Seoul City Work-Life Balance Support Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Choi Nari, a consultant at the Seoul Work-Life Balance Support Center who has been providing work-life balance consulting for the Korea Institute of Technology Management for two years (photo), emphasized, "No matter how good a welfare system is, if it does not fit the employees, it must be boldly changed."

Consultant Choi said that while conducting consulting for the Korea Institute of Technology Management, she consistently held counseling sessions to bridge the gap between the CEO and the employees. She explained, "Although the CEO's willingness to change was strong enough to apply for consulting, this could potentially become a burden for the employees, so a process to clearly communicate the opinions of both sides was necessary." In fact, the company had a welfare system where employees could learn exercise on Friday afternoons, but it was found that some employees felt burdened by participating in this. Accordingly, Consultant Choi replaced this time with a meal gathering.

Through the consulting, the company introduced voluntary use of annual leave, early leave system, and lunch gathering system. This year, the focus will be on proposing welfare systems beyond legal requirements. Consultant Choi said, "Since work-life balance systems such as the 35-hour workweek have been proactively introduced and are now on track, post-management is important going forward," adding, "It is time to continuously ask for opinions to reflect the needs of the members and to check how well the proposed systems have been established."