Employee's death to affect Naver's ESG evaluation
Naver's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file
By Kim Jae-heun
By Kim Jae-heun
Information technology giant Naver may lose valuable points in its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) evaluation following the suicide of one of its employees on April 25.
Naver has been praised for excelling in the “social” and “corporate governance” criteria of ESG principles due to its pursuit of egalitarian corporate culture.
A survey by the Korea Corporate Governance Service last year awarded the online platform the highest grade of A+ in corporate governance among the top 10 largest companies in terms of market capitalization. Naver also received an A for its environmental and social criteria, which is one level up from the previous year.
The Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA also ranked Naver second among Asian internet firms in a report evaluating ESG criteria in March.
“Naver established a union in 2018 and it implemented strict policies to protect customers' personal information, which helped the company avoid getting embroiled in serious incidents. Naver is appraised as one of the best companies to work for in the country, according to a survey conducted by a local job seeking platform,” CLSA said in its report.
Naver CEO Han Seong-sook speaks during a meeting at Naver headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on April 15. Courtesy of Naver
Naver went even further and set up various communication channels to listen to the complaints and opinions of its staffers, but it could not prevent an employee from committing suicide.
A 40-year-old worker was found outside his apartment in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, last month. He was rushed to a hospital, but did not survive. Police found written complaints at the worker's home about the stress he suffered at work.
The company's union said in a statement that the incident was clearly a “workplace accident.”
“As far as the organization is concerned, the employee had suffered from excessive stress due to work and experienced bullying in the office,” the union said.
Naver CEO Han Seong-sook acknowledged the seriousness of this incident and the company said it will conduct a separate investigation internally apart from the police.
“We will make sure nothing like this happens again,” Han said.
Naver employees said the deceased had reported his suffering, but was ignored. If this is true, Naver can also face a reshuffle of high-ranking officials, not to mention the lowering of its ESG points.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) and the Ministry of Justice emphasize human rights-oriented management in their criteria.
In 2014, the NHRCK suggested a number of responsibilities that a company must hold, including prohibition of forced labor and promotion of human and consumer rights and the environment.
The Ministry of Justice also revealed 11 new guidelines on the concept of human rights-oriented management in 2019 to prevent workplace harassment.