KB chairman values communication

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, center, smiles with KB Securities officials behind a cardboard cutout made to look like a YouTube video at the subsidiary's headquarters, May 10. Courtesy of KB Financial Group

By Lee Kyung-min

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo will continue boosting communication with lower-ranking employees, a process he considers vital to help integrate fresh perspectives for improving corporate agility, the group said Monday.

Over 600 workers with the group's key subsidiaries have attended the group-organized town hall meetings in April and June, completing the first rounds of the annual event launched in 2018.

Similar events will be held in the latter half of 2019.

In April, over 100 workers with KB Kookmin Bank, the group's largest and most lucrative subsidiary, attended the meeting, where Yoon shared his vision and business priorities, followed by an impromptu Q&A session.

At the May meeting attended by young workers from the group's securities subsidiary, Yoon stressed the importance of hotline centers amid growing demand for non-face-to-face services.

“The workers at the center are and will continue playing a crucial role to boost customer service amid fast-spreading automated work processes,” Yoon said.

“Repetitive work will be handled by robots, but interacting with customers will still be managed by people, the center workers.”

Credit card and real estate investment trust subsidiaries also held meetings in casual surroundings organized at coffee houses and lounges.

Participating workers were encouraged to speak up about their own experiences and challenges as well as ways to improve work ethic and reinforce positive attitudes.

The events, in which the chairman listens to the voices of the workers regardless of rank or seniority, will in turn help change the strict and conservative corporate culture.

“Rather than relying on traditional, top-down corporate norms, allowing workers to have their say in the decision-making process is a far greater way to boost their morale in the long term,” a KB Financial Group official said.

“Workers will be better motivated and stay that way. This will help enhance productivity and their performance.”