The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 356



Only Krnovel

356. New beginning (5)

Today, I visited Gangnam to see the new building, which is nearing completion.

The exterior was already more than 90% complete, and interior construction was also underway along with construction on the top floor.

The planning director and I looked up at that figure endlessly.

When I saw the new headquarters announcing the new beginning of Taewo Group, my heart swelled for the first time in a long time.

“Director, how long is left until completion?”

“The exterior construction will be completed in two months, and it will take six months for the interior construction to be completed.”

It’s only been half a year now.

We couldn’t be satisfied with simply entering the new headquarters.

I hoped that the employees would have a changed mindset as much as the changed office building.

In order to do this, of course the corporate atmosphere of Taewo Group had to change first.

“There is a saying that you should put new wine in a new wineskin, right? In other words, shouldn’t you put new alcohol in a new wineskin as well?”

“Are you talking about a large-scale restructuring? However, Taewoo Group’s growth is very rapid. If restructuring is carried out now, there is a very high possibility that not only within the group but also outside the group will not agree.”

“Why are you restructuring? I put a lot of effort into selecting talented people. Even if they leave, I have to keep them.”

Restructuring without justification was poisonous.

Moreover, Taewo Group was in a situation where there was no need for restructuring.

For most affiliated employees, I personally checked detailed information and placed them in the right positions.

Why would I cut off talented people who were painstakingly selected by pouring in buckets of artificial tears?

Of course, there were no problems at all.

There were also employees who were highly capable but had misguided greed.

I have periodically worked on cutting off such personnel.

“The new drink refers not to new employees, but to the corporate culture of the Taewoo Group.”

“Do you think Taewoo Group’s corporate culture needs to change? I am confident that we have a better corporate culture than any other large company in Korea.”

Taewo Group’s corporate culture was not bad.

The culture of inviting company dinners has largely disappeared, and people who use subordinates as personal assistants are subject to severe punishment as soon as they are caught.

And most importantly, salary and benefits.

The salary was the highest in Korea, so there was no need to worry.

We are also able to provide welfare in a variety of ways because we operate various affiliates.

But what if we raise the bar?

It was not a very good culture if it was adjusted to world standards, not Korean standards.

“Taewoo Group is no longer large enough to compete with Korean companies. In order to compete with global companies, shouldn’t we compare their cultures?”

“My thoughts were short. What do you plan to improve?”

“I have a few things in mind. However, the priority would be to conduct an internal survey of the Taewoo Group. I would like to conduct a survey of all employees.”

Among Korean college students, Taewo Group was the number one company they wanted to work for.

However, as the size of the company grew, Korea’s talent pool alone was not enough to select quality talent.

Therefore, in order to attract global talent, more areas had to be improved, and of course the people who knew best what needed to be improved were the executives and employees.

“The human resources department and welfare center conduct periodic surveys. Based on this, we continue to eliminate bad habits.”

“Such a survey is not enough. I will create and distribute the survey items. And I will guarantee your anonymity. The moment you put your name on the line, there are bound to be many restrictions.”

“We will be ready to conduct a survey at any time.”

* * *

Taewoo Motors design team assistant manager Lim Jin-woo.

As soon as he arrived at work, he was taken to the training room by the planning office staff from the headquarters.

“We will conduct a survey. If anonymity is guaranteed, even fellow employees will not know that Assistant Manager Lim conducted the survey. The survey will be conducted through a laptop we have prepared, and will be sent directly to the headquarters via the Internet. “Because the survey data is being moved, the planning office does not know what answers were given.”

“Something is very grandiose. It’s not like we only conducted a survey for a day or two.”

Assistant Manager Lim Jin-woo felt like the current situation was making a fuss.

I’ve taken dozens of periodic surveys, but I didn’t understand the need to go through such a complicated process.

But even for a moment.

The moment I start the survey in the training room where I am left alone.

I learned something was different about this survey.

[One. Did you use parental leave? If you were unable to use it, was there pressure from coworkers or superiors?]

“The first item is too strong a question? What should I say?”

It was Assistant Manager Lim who was talking to himself without realizing it.

These days, a social atmosphere that encourages parental leave is slowly being created, but it is still difficult.

Especially in the case of male parental leave, it was close to impossible.

‘Let’s just write honestly. ‘Because they said they would guarantee anonymity.’

Assistant Manager Lim cleared his head and took the survey as is.

After filling out question 1, I moved on to question 2.

However, question number 2 was also a very sensitive question.

[2. How many overtime do you work per month? Have you ever been forced or encouraged to work overtime by a superior?]

Overtime was a daily routine for the design team.

There were only a handful of days when I left work on time, and I had to work overtime to barely keep up with my schedule.

[3. Have you ever gone to work on vacation or holidays? Was there pressure from your superiors to prevent you from using your vacation freely?]

[4. Do you think you need a sabbatical? If necessary, what is the appropriate period of time? ex. 6 months, 1 year, etc.]

[5. If you could work from home, would you? If you were to work from home, how many days a week would you like to work?]

Assistant Manager Lim had a headache from the questions in the questionnaire.

It was a series of questions that were completely different from the dozens of surveys conducted so far.

There were more than 10 questions, all of which were inapplicable to the current corporate culture.

‘Aren’t you asking these questions to select people for restructuring?’

Assistant Manager Lim was naturally suspicious.

Although they said they would guarantee anonymity, it was unclear whether anonymity would actually be guaranteed.

However, I was able to be sure that anonymity was guaranteed by looking at the phrase at the end of the questionnaire.

[All survey items were written by Chairman Kim Min-jae, and Chairman Kim Min-jae promises to guarantee anonymity. If you suffer even the slightest disadvantage as a result of this survey, we promise to provide all compensation.]

‘If the Chairman’s name is included, anonymity will be guaranteed. I don’t know. ‘You just have to be honest.’

The same survey as Assistant Manager Lim’s was being conducted simultaneously at several affiliates.

It took as long as a week for the survey of all employees to be completed.

* * *

The survey results were accepted.

I wasn’t really surprised because the results were as I expected.

I could only sigh at the fact that Taewoo Group’s culture was still backwards.

“He’s still going on vacation at the mercy of his superiors. How can something like this happen in Taewo Group, the best group in Korea?”

“We are sorry. We are using a variety of methods to encourage leave use, but we are not implementing them properly.”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand the planning director’s feelings.

Every industry had a cycle, and it was impossible to go on vacation during busy times.

However, even in non-special cases, there were too many cases where vacation was restricted.

“From now on, change the payment method when using vacation. Instead of approving vacation use, use a notification method. If an employee registers to use vacation on the desired date, you can let it go without even asking why.”

“Shouldn’t we discuss with our team members and coordinate vacation dates?”

“For long-term vacations of a week or more, make arrangements only, and for short-term vacations of less than two days, make sure to notify them. If a superior makes a difference over vacation, threaten that you will be personally reprimanded.”

Vacation wasn’t the only problem.

There was a more serious problem.

“And why are there so many overtime workers? From now on, please absolutely ban the use of electricity after 6 o’clock.”

“Isn’t there a case where overtime is necessary?”

“In that case, tell the department head to apply directly to the head office. Also, tell him that if he works overtime a lot, his evaluation by executives will be negative. If he works overtime without applying for overtime, we will discipline the department head.”

Working for a long time was not necessarily a good thing.

Because the working hours were long, there were many cases of putting off work, which also had a negative impact on efficiency.

Vacations and overtime were not the only problems.

There were also systems that have not yet been implemented at all.

“Less than 20% of people have taken parental leave.”

“This is because many women have to retire when they become pregnant. And male employees are not legally required to take childcare leave.”

“From now on, force them to take leave. Create a system where they will have to take leave for a year unconditionally and can return when the leave ends.”

These were talented people that I selected step by step.

It was impossible to see such talented people resigning from the company due to raising children.

The same was true for men.

How can you keep up with your work when you have a newborn at home?

“What the Chairman said is correct, but if that happens, there will be a personnel vacuum.”

“Isn’t Taewoo Group only capable of that? Shouldn’t the work of those on parental leave be shared among fellow employees? And if there is a gap in personnel, we can hire more people.”

“If that happens, labor costs will inevitably rise.”

“Raising labor costs is better than an outflow of talent. Conversely, wouldn’t there be cases where talented people from other companies transfer to our company due to childcare issues?”

Taewoo Group was, of course, the best company in Korea.

So, although many talented people wanted to work at Taewo Group, there were also many talented people who chose other companies.

In order to bring them in, I needed merit.

Parental leave policy was one of them.

“After a period of guidance, we will proceed to implement it in earnest starting next year.”

“Of course, a guidance period will be needed. So this year, encourage employees who need child care to work from home. If working from home is not possible, implement a 4-hour voluntary attendance system.”

“If the 4-hour flexible work system is… is it a policy that requires only 4 hours of work per day at the company?”

“No matter what time you go to work, make sure you only work four hours a day. The same goes for working from home. Make sure you only work four hours from home.”

Parental leave wasn’t actually a big problem.

It was a time when paternity leave for men was being discussed socially, and it was something the government was also interested in.

But the sabbatical year was different.

There is a reason for childcare leave: childcare.

In the case of a sabbatical year, it was a case of taking a leave of absence simply because you wanted to rest.

“For those who have worked for more than 5 years, please apply for a 6-month sabbatical. For those who have worked for more than 10 years, please apply for a 1-year sabbatical.”

“No Korean company has implemented a sabbatical system yet. And I don’t know if a sabbatical year would be helpful in improving corporate culture.”

“I understand the director’s feelings. If we take a break for a year, the continuity of work will be lost and professionalism may decrease significantly. Nevertheless, we will implement it.”

It was a necessary measure to change the corporate culture of Taewo Group.

If I could recruit talent not only from Korea but also from overseas, I was willing to take stronger measures than a sabbatical year.