"English as a Common Language Principle" Guide by Hankook & Company
"68% of Group Members Are Foreigners, Aiming for Smooth Communication"
Cho Hyun-beom, Chairman of Hankook & Company Group, has instructed employees to communicate in English during major meetings attended by team leaders.
Hankook & Company Group announced on the 5th that it has created and distributed a guide titled 'English as a Common Global Language Principle.' The guide stipulates that all meetings attended by team leaders among the group's employees should be conducted in English, both in writing and speaking, and that English should also be used for communication between overseas business sites and for internal shared documents.
Considering that about 34,000 (68%) of the group's approximately 50,000 members are foreigners, the group explained that the guide was prepared to enable employees to communicate without language barriers. Previously, Chairman Cho reportedly repeatedly urged employees at official events such as management strategy meetings to communicate in English whenever possible to enhance efficiency as a global company.
Additionally, the guide sets standards including ▲local factory production workers using both English and the local language ▲freedom to use the local language for presentations, consultations, and everyday speech ▲exclusion of external documents for government agencies and legal issue materials ▲use of English by both business sites and factories during meetings involving overseas employees.
Oh Yoon-jung, Team Leader of the Proactive Culture Team who planned and distributed the guide, said, "The global language principle is expected to eliminate communication barriers and help collaboration among members be purposeful, efficient, and concrete," adding, "We plan to gradually expand the mandatory use scope while encouraging the use of the global common language in decision-making."
She continued, "For members who are not familiar with using English, we also provide interactive AI services such as ChatHK, which supports automatic translation and interpretation, the professional translation service CompHK, and AI translation services within the company messenger." These services were introduced as part of the AI Transformation (AX) led by Chairman Cho. As a result, the group was selected as an excellent company for AI adoption in October last year.
Meanwhile, since his inauguration as group chairman in 2021, Chairman Cho has been implementing data- and AI-driven strategies including autonomous driving tire development, generative AI-based service adoption, operation of the Digital Future Innovation Center, AI deep learning and machine learning practice, and advancement of the TechnoRing monitoring solution.
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