Innovation #5 'Rank does not correlate with age, experience'

Poing employees work in the firm’s new Hannam-dong office. / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young

• Published May 14, 2017 4:56 PM KST
• Updated May 14, 2017 4:56 PM KST

At Poing, achievements beat traditional hierarchy

This is the fifth in a series of articles on companies with innovative work cultures. — ED.

By Yun Suh-young

There are five key characteristics that represent Poing’s work culture — communal, open, proactive, positive and horizontal.

Poing is an online platform which provides information on restaurants in the country along with reservations, special offers and even cooking classes with top-notch chefs. It is a relatively young company established in 2012 with services launched in 2014. The services are available mainly through its mobile app, which, when a person registers, constantly feeds its members with information and hot deals. It currently has about 870,000 members with over 3,500 restaurants as partners.

What makes this company stand out, however, is not its rapid growth but its organizational environment. How this reporter encountered the company was through word of mouth from an Airbnb employee. She strongly recommended visiting Poing for the “hospitable attitude and heartfelt excitement of its employees” who seemed genuinely delighted to be in the office.

Half in doubt, this reporter made a visit. When she visited the then headquarters in Seonjeonlleung (they have now moved to Hannam-dong), the first thing she noticed upon entry was a group of employees sitting around a table and eating from their lunch boxes brought from home. Not only were the lunch boxes unusual — office workers usually dine out — but the communal atmosphere where they sat tightly around a small table chatting and laughing seemed uncommon.

Communal yet private

A common characteristic pointed out by the employees there was the family-like atmosphere at the company. Everyone was each other’s friend and they were so close that they would hang out after work and on the weekends.

“Everyone is very close with each other, mostly within their departments. I see people meeting on the weekends with colleagues. I often invite my colleagues to my house for dinner and I personally cook for them because I love cooking. We’ve been camping together, barbecued together and do a lot of activities on the weekends together,” said Chang Yoon-gab, strategy director at Poing.

“Because of the nature of the business, people here share a common interest — dining. So we often cook for each other at the cooking studio inside the office. People here know how to have fun. Sometimes I wonder how they could stay put in their seats. They are full of passion and energy but as much as they play hard, they work extremely hard. There’s a sense of responsibility that comes with freedom.”

Marketing strategy director Jung In-a said the office atmosphere is extremely pleasant.

“We’re so close to each other that sometimes I find that weird. Is this normal? Maybe not. A lot of people find it interesting about us. We’re so comfortable with each other and trust each other. The company is full of people with good character,” she said.

However, Poing’s communal and collective atmosphere is self-created. The 27-year-old CEO Jung Bum-jin says he tries not to overwhelm employees with communal activities, unless it’s voluntary.

“I respect the individual’s privacy. I don’t want to keep them for group events or ‘hoesik’ (company dinners) after work. Everyone leaves by 7 p.m.”

Open discussion

A big characteristic of the 60-person company is that members communicate a lot, frequently and openly.

“We laugh a lot and talk a lot. I think talking a lot is good at all times. It creates an atmosphere which is collaborative,” said CEO Jung. It was the first thing he said when asked what he thought his company’s atmosphere was like.

“We don’t have an HR team. I’m basically the HR team of the company. I listen to my staff when they have concerns. They talk to me about work and even about love. It’s my first experience working in a corporate environment, but what I’ve noticed from my friends who work at big companies is that most problems are people-related. I’ve never seen a person who doesn’t like his or her work. It’s usually their boss that they have problems with.”

Strategy director Chang, who is the same age as the CEO, said he liked the horizontal and open communication atmosphere out of all things.

“My favorite aspect of the company is that I can speak my opinion whenever and on whatever, without having to be conscious of rank and hierarchy. Junior employees at big companies have limits to speaking up. But here, even juniors can freely suggest things and it will be actualized,” he said.

“When I interned at large corporations, the atmosphere was so stiff that I had to be cautious of what to say to my boss. It was a stress eating lunch with seniors. Here, I’ve been promoted to director after only three years of being here, and I have a total of five years work experience. Everyone is like a friend and easy to work with because we all have a similar mindset.”

He said he was happy to go to work on Mondays.

“I had thought of a career working at large conglomerates before coming here. But people there didn’t look happy. If a place I spend 70 percent of my day isn’t pleasant, my life can’t be happy. A good workplace is where you feel excited to be going to work on Monday,” said Chang.

“Here I get excited to meet my colleagues when I go to the office. It’s a place where communication is real. There is zero percent turnover here.”

Achievements over age

What propels the horizontal atmosphere is the merit-based system.

“Our country places importance on age and experience but I realized here that those are not really necessary in achieving things. Here, the CEO is young but we respect him. That’s because he showed us what he can do and has done for the company. That has nothing to do with age,” said Chang.

“But that also doesn’t mean his opinion carries more weight. He is as equal to others at a discussion table.”

Although horizontal discussions are encouraged, decisions are made vertically.

“That’s because there has to be a person making the calls,” said CEO Jung.

“Discussions are bottom up but decisions are top down. If something happens, consequences will be taken care of by those responsible at the top.”

He settled on the achievement-based culture after witnessing the shortcomings of other companies.

“Here, everything is achievement-based. Even the co-founder stepped down to a lower position, admitting his capabilities. There is a hierarchy in rank but it doesn’t correlate to age or experience. If you show performance, under everyone’s consensus you will be promoted. It can always be toppled though. I could be fired by my investors too.”

Just because achievement is valued doesn’t mean competition is. Employees are not judged quantitatively.

“Let’s say two employees at the partnership team came back with five and 10 deals each. The company doesn’t discriminate the one with fewer deals. The one with 10 may not manage to keep the 10 and the one with five may manage to keep the deal longer. So it’s difficult to judge quantitatively. If we do, the one with five deals will be discouraged. We look at their effort and long-term success, not immediate numbers,” said Jung In-a, the marketing director.

“It’s not about how ‘well’ they can do it, it’s about how diligent they are. In the end, someone who is diligent and passionate is likely to do well.”

The company also doesn’t look at academic backgrounds or past career when recruiting.

“It’s about the cultural fit — whether this person is smart and trustworthy. Employees don’t know each other’s academic backgrounds,” said Chang, the strategic director.

Initiative over failure

Embracing challenges is encouraged at Poing.

“We value people who are willing to take risks and take on a project. We support them. Even if they fail, they learn a lot from it. That’s our culture,” said the young CEO.

“It’s important to learn from failure. We don’t blame them or criticize them. In fact, that’s prohibited. Instead, we hold a meeting to discuss our failures and learn from it. Then we give second chances.”

A key word here is empowerment — trusting their employees to lead and take responsibility.

“If there’s a project, we allocate based on who wants to take part. That’s because if you have interest and passion, you’re more likely to perform better. It’s okay to fail. It’s not the employee’s fault,” said Jung In-a.

“If you take on a challenge, there’s 50 percent chance of success. But if you don’t, there’s zero.”

No negatives

One interesting characteristic of Poing’s work culture is the prohibition of negative language. Employees are discouraged from using swear words, accusing another, or saying ‘no.’

“I’m not a person who scolds or swears so I don’t expect that from employees,” said CEO Jung.

“We have a culture of not using negative language. If you disagree, you don’t argue aggressively with emotion, you argue with logic. Saying ‘no, I don’t think so’ or ‘that’s not possible’ is not allowed during discussions. People need to be open and positive. We want to create a constructive atmosphere when communicating.”

There’s penalty to those who speak negatively.

“We have penalty scores but it’s symbolic. We don’t really penalize them. But those behaviors are not viewed positively. What you say is who you are so we strictly ban swearing. Also we don’t want people talking behind each other’s back. No slander is allowed. When they have issues, they will have to address the person directly. If it’s something that can’t be confronted, it is better not to be said.”