[Work Revolution] Changed 'Conditions of a Boss' in the COVID-19 Era

Face-to-face approvals and reports disappear, invisible employee management
Communication methods change as remote and non-face-to-face work increase
Changes in middle managers' roles... 'Untact Leadership' needed
'Results' become more important than 'where and how long you work'
Strong-willed 90s-born workers must be led by convincing them of work instructions

On the 12th, employees are working at the smart office of SK Innovation Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The era when 'diligence and sincerity' were virtues of office workers has ended. It is time to say goodbye to the culture of writing reports with repetitive modifiers like 'revision', 'final', and 'final-final'. As remote work becomes routine, it has become impossible for companies to boost productivity while maintaining uncertain work instructions or face-to-face centered reporting culture.

As non-face-to-face work increases, 'untact leadership' is also required for middle managers. This is because there is a growing need for leaders who can break away from inefficient work and respect the diversity of team members. There are also voices saying that this should be taken as an opportunity to change the work culture and fix the problem of low labor productivity that has hindered the growth of the Korean economy.

'Untact Leadership' Required for Middle Managers

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), remote work has increased, bringing changes to work and communication methods. Although much of our work has already become possible digitally, companies inside and outside have valued arriving earlier than others and being sedentary. This also means that despite having work systems suited to digital environments such as networks, cloud, email, and collaboration tools, companies failed to innovate the 'way of working'. Most companies considered offline face-to-face reporting, approval processes, and work instructions as the default. However, now the culture must shift from valuing 'diligence' to valuing 'performance' to maintain and increase productivity in the era of remote work.

Middle managers, whose main role was to manage team members and work progress to achieve company goals, are now required to demonstrate a different kind of leadership. Some predict the 'disappearance of middle managers' as organizations become more horizontal with the normalization of remote work, anticipating a shift to a kind of 'pizza-shaped organization'.

However, the stories from companies that have actually introduced remote work are different. Rather than disappearing, the role of middle managers may even increase. Lee Seung-chan, Director of HR and General Affairs Support at NHN, said, "The role of middle managers will actually increase. They need to take care of employees who may feel isolated during remote work and help new hires settle in." He added, "Leaders must also manage the unseen minds of employees. As a culture of performance evaluation spreads, they must also address the gaps that arise based on work skills." NHN plans to introduce workshops that teach team leaders how to communicate according to various personality types of team members through personality tests such as the Birkman Method and MBTI.

Work Has Changed... Evaluation Should Focus on 'Performance' Rather Than 'Diligence'

On the 12th, an NHN HR support team employee is conducting a meeting with team members via video call at a cafe in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. / Seongnam - Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

It is widely expected that work evaluations suited to remote work and smart work systems will shift more toward 'performance'-centered assessments. Director Lee Seung-chan said, "Where and how long you worked no longer matters. What matters more is how well you adhered to schedules and the quality of the results." He added, "I think individual selfishness may appear. Even if results are examined more closely than before, it will be harder for employees to argue."

A common opinion among those who have experienced remote work is that evaluation methods for work performed remotely and fairness issues with departments where remote work is impossible due to the nature of their work must also be resolved. Choi Doo-young (pseudonym), a 7-year office worker, explained, "For remote work to proceed smoothly, tasks must be clearly assigned, which clarifies responsibilities. There is also room for institutional development."

Lee Myung-ho, Senior Researcher at Yeoshijae, said, "We have moved beyond an era where only part of the work was 'computerized'; now developers, planners, and staff departments all produce 'digital' work results. Work has changed." He added, "Korea has been proud of its fast internet speed, but the way of working was still outdated. Now it is time to shift to a performance-centered culture where only capable people survive."

He continued, "Until now, Korean corporate culture valued visible work performance over actual results, and work instructions and communication were unclear. The practice of giving vague instructions, reporting, and revising was also a form of inefficiency." He said, "Although Korea's labor productivity was relatively low, the experience of remote work should be used as an opportunity to eliminate old practices that hindered productivity improvement."

Embracing the Assertive Millennial Generation

The rise of the 'untact' culture after COVID-19 coincides with the emergence of the 1990s-born generation who reject irrational organizational cultures. Millennials are familiar with digital technology and reject inefficiencies maintained by older generations, but they also have strong growth desires. As these generations enter organizations, the outdated structures of companies become more apparent. They have adapted quickly to new work methods such as remote work and video conferencing, and to a culture where personal leisure time has increased instead of company dinners with colleagues.

Millennials do not seek 'lifelong employment'. They always look for opportunities to move to better workplaces. Companies targeting millennials as consumers must ultimately change together to survive without missing trends. Gucci's introduction of 'reverse mentoring', where young employees serve as mentors to reflect millennial employees' opinions, is a representative example.

Professor Lee Kyung-mook of Seoul National University's Business School said, "In the past, young generations did as they were told, but nowadays young people first want to understand why they have to do a task and become more engaged when they believe it is worthwhile." He added, "Middle managers now have a new role to clearly explain the meaning of work to millennial team members joining the organization and to devise efficient methods in the online environment where teamwork is difficult to form."