[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The communication corporate culture implemented by Gwangju Bank (President Song Jong-wook) as part of creating a ‘happy workplace that is good to work at’ is drawing attention.
On the 30th, according to Gwangju Bank, at the head office’s KJ Sangsaeng Maru, President Song and employees gathered in one place to temporarily put down the weight of daily life, watch a movie together, and spend time fostering harmony through communication.
This event, personally proposed and promoted by President Song, was the second communication occasion inspired by the positive response to the ‘Toktok Empathy Festival with Song Pro,’ held eight times over two months since May, involving a total of 131 employees.
To commemorate its 52nd anniversary last year, the KJ Sangsaeng Maru was renewed to serve as a place for employees to share work and self-development as well as a cultural communication space for local residents. There, they watched the movie ‘Voice’ on a 400-inch large screen. Following the phased transition to daily recovery measures, the event was conducted with strict quarantine steps including checking COVID-19 vaccination status and temperature, wearing masks, and disinfecting the venue.
President Song and the employees watched the meaningful movie ‘Voice,’ co-produced by Gwangju Bank, which recently finished a successful screening, raising awareness of voice phishing. They freely shared their impressions between the CEO and employees, narrowing the perceived distance between them.
President Song said, “As the representative bank of Gwangju and Jeonnam, the positive energy of our employees is most needed to fully commit to ‘coexistence with the region and companionship with local residents,’ and I believe this starts from a happy workplace that is good to work at. While securing competitiveness in the fiercely competitive financial market is important, more than that, I hope to firmly establish Gwangju Bank’s warm corporate culture so that employees working together are happy and become a model for a healthy local community.”
Even at the moment of achieving a record high net profit of 163.3 billion KRW in the third quarter cumulative period, what President Song consistently emphasized to employees was communication among them.
He said, “If employees find it good and happy to work, the direction the organization pursues can be properly set, and the harmony and united hearts among employees become the strength to overcome fierce competition with digital and AI.”
In particular, reflecting the trend of the times that views the 20-30s MZ generation from a different perspective, as highlighted by the book ‘The 90s Are Coming,’ great effort is being devoted to understanding the minds of MZ generation employees whose work styles and values differ significantly from older generations, and to sincere communication.
To break down the invisible wall between the MZ generation and older generations and enable casual communication, new methods have been introduced such as Toktok Day via the metaverse platform and the ‘Toktok Empathy Festival with Song Pro,’ as well as a new style of management strategy meetings where branch managers freely exchange opinions one-on-one instead of the traditional presentation and reporting format.
Additionally, communication channels such as ‘Dadok Dadok Communication Plaza,’ where only the bank president can view employees’ messages, and ‘CEO Sales Report’ are operated to share concerns with employees and find areas for improvement.
This horizontal leadership helps employees carry out creative and efficient work and plays a major role in establishing Gwangju Bank’s unique communication and work-life balance corporate culture. Such cases are becoming exemplary for local organizations and companies.
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