‘Hell’ of a Workplace
Kim-Ki-Wan, the 56-year-old Managing Director of South Korean electronics giant LG India, is surprised to find his company among the best ones to work for in the consumer durables and non-engineering sector. He presumed his employees would hate him for being a tough taskmaster.
Kim draws inspiration from Apple’s Founder Steve Jobs who had once famously said in an interview that he would trade all his wealth if he was given employees who had the curiosity of the Greek philosopher Socrates. Like Socrates, Kim wants his employees to keep asking questions. “They must hate me because it is a pain for them to answer my questions. That’s why I am surprised when they say good things in the survey,” he says. “I thought LG to be a hell of a company to work for.”
Despite their successful run over the past two decades, South Korean firms do not necessarily have a reputation for being employee friendly. The chaebols are particularly notorious for following a strict hierarchy, long working hours, and a gruelling tempo of work. Life inside LG in Korea was not much different. In mid2015, French sales expert Eric Surdej wrote about 14-hour work schedules, and insecure, jealous colleagues in Ils sont fous ces Coreens (These Koreans are Crazy), a memoir that recounts his 10 years in the Korean firm. Had he worked in LG India, the book may have never seen the light of the day.
“Right from the beginning, for the founders of this group, the motto was human beings – customers and employees. We are not that aggressive to increase our market share or make
more money; we focus on humans more,” Kim says. “I despise hierarchy as I want to decentralise powers and give more freedom to my workers. If I try to control more, my employees will become passive, and we won’t be able to utilise the full potential of the market.”
Kim does walk the talk. In the past 12 months, LG India has taken many steps – better training, chalking out a roadmap for individual growth in the company, engaging more with families in the form of scholarships for kids, health check-ups, and adventure trips for families, besides foreign trips for best performing workers – to keep employees motivated.
Unlike other markets where risk management and the prospect of lay-offs are keeping managers busy, Kim is more preoccupied with raising the bar for his workforce, given the potential for growth of LG in India. “The most important person to me is the sales and service executive who actually gets the business for me day in, day out; not the people who sit in this office, including me,” he states. “My responsibility is to motivate them so that they can sell more, and improve productivity.”
He also wants his workers to become a bit more cheerful, humble, and admit mistakes fearlessly. “Workers here are very competitive, and have IQS higher than the global average. They are also very devoted, loyal, and hard-working,” he adds. “But why do they not greet each other every morning, even if they are strangers, like in the US or Europe? Or admit mistakes and say sorry? It is not a sin. Basic courtesy is missing in India. I encourage my people to say hello, sorry, and thank you,” Kim says.