Choi Su-yeon Accelerates Organizational Culture Reform... Naver Employees Choose Their Own Working Hours and Locations

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Choi Suyeon, CEO of Naver, is accelerating efforts to reform the organizational culture.

According to Naver on the 5th, starting in July, the company will introduce a new work system called 'Connected Work,' where employees can freely choose their work style?whether to work from the office or remotely?instead of the company deciding the work arrangements.

Previously, since 2014, Naver has allowed employees to autonomously manage their working hours. With the introduction of this new system, employees’ autonomy regarding their work location will also be significantly expanded.

Under the new system to be implemented in July, Naver employees can choose their work style every six months by considering themselves, their organization, and ongoing project situations. They can select between ‘Type O,’ which is based on coming to the office at least three days a week, and ‘Type R,’ which is remote-based. Naver will also provide shared seats in the office for those who choose ‘Type R’ to work on-site when necessary.

This system introduction reflects CEO Choi’s commitment to reforming the organizational culture. Since the beginning of her tenure, she has emphasized the formation of a healthy organizational culture.

On the 13th of last month, CEO Choi held a meeting at Naver’s second headquarters, 1784, stating, “It is urgent to restore trust by narrowing the distance with employees, which had grown apart from organizational culture reform,” and announced plans to strengthen expertise in organizational culture, HR, and legal affairs.

At that time, CEO Choi said, “Naver concluded that there were no issues with productivity or work collaboration during the full remote work system implemented over the past two years,” adding, “We are not yet at the stage of deciding which work system to adopt after June. We will not force any specific work system on our members.”

Naver has maintained a full remote work system for the past two years since the outbreak of COVID-19. The existing remote work system will end at the end of this month.

CEO Choi stated, “Rather than focusing on ‘when’ and ‘where’ people work, Naver has concentrated on the more essential ‘intrinsic value of work,’ creating a trust-based autonomous culture and achieving the best results,” adding, “Based on Naver’s unique culture, we have introduced a new work system, and going forward, we will continue to explore various ways to help employees fully immerse themselves in their work in the optimal environment by focusing on the ‘essence of work.’”