Today, I came to Gangnam to see the nearly completed new headquarters.
The exterior was already more than 90% finished, and work was underway on the top floor along with the interior fit-out.
The planning director and I stood there for a long time, gazing up at the building.
Seeing the new headquarters, which signaled the fresh start of Taewoo Group, I felt a surge of pride I hadn't experienced in a long time.
"Director, how much longer until it's fully completed?"
"The exterior will be done in two months, but finishing all the interior work will take at least six months."
Half a year. That was all.
But simply moving into the new building would not be enough.
I wanted the employees to adopt a new mindset to match the transformed headquarters.
To make that happen, the company atmosphere at Taewoo Group would have to change first.
"There's a saying—new wine should be put in new wineskins. But if you think about it in reverse, shouldn't new wineskins also hold new wine?"
"Are you talking about a massive restructuring? But Taewoo Group's growth is extremely steep at the moment. If we carry out restructuring now, it's highly likely both internally and externally there will be strong opposition."
"Why would I order restructuring? These are people I handpicked with great care. Even if they try to leave, we should be holding on to them."
A restructuring without cause would be poisonous.
And in truth, Taewoo Group was in no need of one.
Most of the employees across our subsidiaries had been personally evaluated by me, with their detailed profiles reviewed before placing them exactly where they were needed.
After exhausting several bottles of artificial tears to keep going during that grueling talent search, why would I cut them with my own hands?
Of course, that didn't mean there had never been problems.
Now and then, a capable person would fall prey to misguided greed.
When that happened, I made it a point to remove those individuals through periodic prunings.
"I wasn't talking about new staff when I said 'new wine.' I was referring to Taewoo Group's corporate culture."
"You think our corporate culture needs to change? I would say we have one of the best corporate cultures among all major Korean conglomerates."
Taewoo Group's corporate culture was indeed not bad.
The tradition of pressuring employees to attend after-work drinking gatherings had largely disappeared, and any executive caught using subordinates as personal assistants was immediately subjected to severe disciplinary action.
And then there were the most important aspects — salary and benefits.
In terms of salary, Taewoo Group was at the top of the Korean market, beyond question.
As for benefits, the wide variety of subsidiaries allowed for creative and diverse approaches to employee welfare.
But what if we raised the standards?
Measured not by Korean standards, but by global ones, our culture was not particularly exceptional.
"Taewoo Group is no longer competing at the level of Korean companies. If we intend to go head-to-head with global corporations, we must compare ourselves against their cultural standards."
"My thinking was shortsighted. What aspects do you intend to improve?"
"I have a few ideas in mind. But first, we should conduct a thorough internal assessment of Taewoo Group. I'm considering running a company-wide survey for all employees."
Among Korean university students, Taewoo Group was ranked as the number one dream company to work for.
However, as the corporation grew larger, the Korean talent pool alone was no longer enough to supply the caliber of employees we needed.
To attract international talent, we needed to improve in many areas — and the people best informed about what needed improvement were, naturally, our employees.
"HR and the Welfare Center already conduct periodic surveys, and we've been eliminating harmful practices based on those results."
"Those surveys aren't enough. I'll draft the questions myself and handle distribution. And it will be completely anonymous — the moment people put their names to it, their answers are inevitably constrained."
"I'll make sure we're ready to conduct the survey at any time."
***
Assistant Manager Lim Jin-woo of Taewoo Motors' design team.
The moment he arrived for work, he was escorted to the training room by a staff member from the headquarters' planning office.
"We're going to conduct a survey. Anonymity is guaranteed — even your colleagues won't know you participated. You'll be answering it on one of the laptops we've prepared, and your responses will be sent directly to headquarters over the internet. Not even the planning office staff will know exactly what you wrote."
"This feels overly dramatic. It's not like surveys are a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
To Lim, the whole situation felt overblown.
He had taken periodic surveys dozens of times before and couldn't understand the need for such a cumbersome process.
But that doubt lasted only a moment.
As soon as he was left alone in the training room and began the survey, he realized — this one was different.
[1. Have you ever taken parental leave? If you haven't, was there pressure from colleagues or superiors preventing you?]
"Starting with a loaded question right off the bat… How am I supposed to answer this?" he muttered without realizing.
Although recent years had seen a gradual push in society encouraging parental leave, it was still far from easy — and for men, taking paternal leave was near impossible.
'Let's just be honest. They said it's anonymous.'
Clearing his mind, Lim began answering the survey in full sincerity.
Once he finished the first question, he moved on to the next.
But the second was just as sensitive.
[2. How many days a month do you work overtime? Have you ever been pressured or encouraged by your superior to work overtime?]
Overtime was a daily reality in the design team.
Days when he left work on time could be counted on one hand, and only by putting in extra hours could they ever meet project deadlines.
[3. Have you ever had to work during your vacation or a public holiday? Have you faced pressure from a superior not to take time off freely?]
[4. Do you believe a sabbatical is necessary? If so, how long would be appropriate? e.g., 6 months, 1 year, etc.]
[5. If remote work were possible, would you choose to do it? If implemented, how many days a week would you prefer to work from home?]
Assistant Manager Lim felt a headache coming on as he worked through the survey questions.
They were a continuous stream of prompts vastly different from the countless surveys he had completed in the past.
There were more than ten questions in total, and each one seemed almost impossible to implement within the company's current corporate culture.
Are they using this to pick people for restructuring?
The thought crossed Lim's mind unbidden.
They had guaranteed anonymity, but in truth, he had no way of knowing if that promise would be kept.
Then he saw the statement at the very end of the questionnaire — and it was enough to convince him.
[All survey questions were written by Chairman Kim Min-jae. Anonymity is guaranteed by Chairman Kim Min-jae himself. If you suffer even the slightest disadvantage as a result of this survey, the headquarters promises full compensation.]
If the chairman is putting his name on it, then anonymity must really be assured. Whatever… I'll just answer honestly.
The same survey was being conducted simultaneously across multiple subsidiaries.
It took a full week before the company-wide survey — involving every single employee — was finally completed.
I received the survey results.
They were exactly what I had expected, so there was little room for surprise.
Still, I couldn't help but sigh at the undeniable truth — Taewoo Group's culture was still stuck in the past.
"They're still taking vacations only when given the tacit approval of their superiors. How can such a thing happen in Taewoo Group, which prides itself on being Korea's top conglomerate?"
"My apologies. We've tried various ways to encourage employees to take time off, but they haven't been properly implemented."
It wasn't that I didn't understand the planning director's position.
Every industry has its cycles, and during busy periods, vacations simply aren't possible.
But the problem was that employees were far too often restricted from taking leave even when such special circumstances didn't apply.
"From now on, change the vacation approval process. It should no longer require formal approval — it should be handled as a simple notification. When an employee registers their vacation for the date they want, don't ask the reason, don't question it — just let them go."
"Shouldn't they at least coordinate with their team members on the dates?"
"Only for long-term vacations of more than a week. For short leaves of two days or less, it should be handled entirely by notification. And if any superior tries to block someone's vacation, warn them that I will personally hold them accountable."
But vacations were far from the only issue.
There was a far more serious problem.
"And why is there so much overtime? From now on, no electricity is to be used after 6 p.m. — absolute rule."
"There are situations where overtime could be necessary."
"In that case, the department head must submit a request directly to headquarters. And make it clear that frequent overtime will count as a negative mark in the executives' evaluations. If any department works overtime without submitting a request, I will discipline the department head."
Just working long hours does not automatically mean better results.
Long hours often led to delaying tasks unnecessarily, and in terms of efficiency, they had a detrimental effect.
Vacations and overtime were not the only problems.
There were also policies that had never been implemented at all.
"Less than 20% of employees have taken parental leave."
"Most women resign when they become pregnant. And for male employees, paternity leave is not legally mandated."
"Then mandate it internally. Require a one-year leave for all eligible employees, and create a system that ensures their return once the leave ends."
These were people I had handpicked, one by one, with meticulous care.
I would not stand by and watch such talent leave over childcare responsibilities.
And that went for men as well.
With a newborn at home, how could anyone really focus on work?
"What you're saying is correct, Chairman, but if we do that, we'll have staffing gaps."
"Is Taewoo Group really so limited in capability? Other employees can share the workload of those on parental leave. And if there's still a shortage, we simply hire more people."
"That would inevitably lead to higher labor costs."
"Increased labor costs are a lesser price to pay than losing talent. In fact, wouldn't such policies even bring in talented people from other companies who are struggling with childcare issues?"
Taewoo Group was, of course, Korea's top company.
Many dreamed of working there — but there were also plenty of talented people who chose other companies instead.
To bring them in, we needed unique advantages.
A strong parental leave policy was one of them.
"After a transition period, we will aim to fully implement the program next year."
"Of course a transition period will be necessary. So for this year, introduce remote work for employees who need to care for children. If remote work isn't possible, then implement a four-hour flexible workday."
"A four-hour workday… meaning employees would only work four hours on-site?"
"Yes. Regardless of the start time, they'll work exactly four hours a day. The same applies to remote work — four hours only."
Parental leave, in truth, wasn't the hard part.
Male parental leave was already being discussed at the national level, and the government was paying close attention to it.
Sabbaticals, however, were different.
Parental leave had the tangible reason of childcare.
Sabbaticals were often taken simply because someone wanted time off.
"For employees with over five years of service, allow them to apply for a six-month sabbatical. For those who have worked more than ten years, allow for a full year."
"No Korean company has yet implemented a sabbatical system. And there's still the question of whether it would really help improve our corporate culture."
"I understand your concerns. Yes, taking a year off might break continuity and weaken expertise. But we're implementing it regardless."
This was an essential measure to transform Taewoo Group's corporate culture.
If it meant being able to attract talent not just from Korea but from abroad, I was willing to take even stronger steps than a sabbatical policy.