Samsung Electronics' Every Friday is 'Casual Day'... Executives Also Ditch Suits

Samsung Electronics building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, with the Samsung flag. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Tae-min Ryu] Samsung Electronics will operate a 'Casual Day' every Friday starting this month. It has been six years since the company implemented the 'Employee Autonomous Dress Code' in 2016.

According to industry sources on the 2nd, Samsung Electronics announced that it will operate Casual Day every Friday starting in July. The program targets executives and department heads directly under the Management Support Office and the DX (Device Experience) division heads, but it is expected to gradually expand to all organizations.

Samsung Electronics recommended on the internal bulletin board that on Casual Day, employees should take off jackets and wear casual attire such as polo shirts or round-neck T-shirts with collars, jeans or cotton pants, loafers, and sneakers. It was also stipulated that casual attire should be the norm even when reporting to management.

Since declaring a 'Culture Innovation' in 2016, Samsung Electronics has allowed employees to wear men's shorts under the autonomous dress code, but executives have still maintained suits and business casual as the basic dress code. As a result, employees found it difficult to dress comfortably on a regular basis, and there were criticisms that the organizational image appeared authoritarian. Therefore, executives have now been encouraged to participate in the autonomous dress code as well.

A Samsung Electronics official explained, "This is to create a more flexible and open organizational culture."

Meanwhile, besides Samsung, large companies such as Hyundai Motor and LG also operate autonomous dress code systems. Hyundai Motor Group and LG Electronics introduced autonomous dress codes for their employees in 2019 and 2018, respectively.