"Designing Systems Like Creating Services...The Secret to Increasing Work Engagement"[K Population Strategy]

Interview with Kwon Myojin, Naver Culture & Experience Leader

Kwon Myojin, leader of Naver Culture Experience, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at Naver 1784 building in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si. Photo by Heo Younghan

Large corporations' in-house daycare centers often have fierce admission competition because parents can commute with their children and leave them for relatively long hours. Therefore, most select children through a lottery. However, Naver is different. The competition rate, which once reached 5 to 1, has recently dropped significantly to 0.76 to 1. This is partly due to the increased capacity from opening new daycare centers in 2021-2022, but it is also a result of the establishment of a flexible work system. Kwon Myojin, leader of Naver Culture & Experience, said, "Since employees can freely work from home, many respond that it is okay to send their children to daycare centers near their homes," adding, "As employees freely choose their work location and hours, the number of those fully responsible for childcare has increased."

The Culture & Experience organization led by Kwon plans all the processes employees experience at the company from hiring to retirement. This organization started in 2011 based on the philosophy of Lee Hae-jin, Naver's Global Investment Officer (GIO), who said, "To become a company where the best talents gather, we must create the best services for internal members." Composed of employees without experience in human resources (HR) tasks such as design, marketing, and space planning, they have designed internal systems by creating user services.

Among Naver’s well-known employee benefits, family-friendly policies are especially rated highly in satisfaction. This is because detailed support is carefully prepared for each stage from pregnancy to childbirth and parenting.

These detailed policies originate from internal voices. From company-wide meetings to small group discussions, employees’ opinions are heard and reflected at various levels. Just as small user feedback is never missed when creating services, a culture of actively reflecting employees’ requests for necessary policies has naturally taken root, Kwon explained. A representative example is the infertility support system newly established in August. Kwon said, "Seeing colleagues struggling with infertility made us realize that care is needed even before pregnancy," emphasizing, "Just like updating services, internal policies must also be adapted to changes in the times."

It is also important to build company-wide consensus on policies. Naver has a young workforce with an average employee age of 34, and about half are unmarried. Considering this, the company ensures there is no reverse discrimination in welfare. For example, incentive funds are operated separately based on the length of service for employees on parental leave and others. Additionally, Naver offers self-care leave for up to six months for self-development or rest, even if not for childbirth or childcare purposes.

Naver is sincere about family-friendly policies because it believes that a stable home is essential to truly draw out employee engagement. Kwon said, "Our goal is to provide meticulous support so that careers are not interrupted during pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting," adding, "Institutionalizing this can lead to pioneering change."