The interior of Kakao's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province is seen in this Oct. 19 file photo. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon

By Park Jae-hyuk

Kakao appears to be questioning the need to maintain its current work system that has encouraged employees to work from home during the pandemic, amid the country's moves to transition to managing COVID-19 as an endemic, according to industry officials, Sunday.

While many other Korean firms have forced their workers to return to the office since June, Kakao employees have been experimenting with a pilot program since July that allows them to choose between working fully remotely or going into the office.

Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek reportedly emphasized in an internal meeting last month that its work system should be reformed next year to encourage its employees to return to the office.

The company is said to be considering offering employees options of different work types, and allowing them to choose depending on their individual circumstances.

Such discussions over the reorganization of the work system come after the tech firm drew severe criticism in October, when a data center fire caused the worst-ever disruptions to Kakao's services.

"Since we started testing the hybrid work system in July, we have analyzed data on how our employees work and have listened to their opinions," a Kakao official said. "In order to fix the work system next year, we are in talks with the union and other employees."

Industry officials expect Kakao to follow Naver's work system.

Naver has allowed its employees to choose between working at the office three or more days a week (called "O" for office-based work) and working fully remotely (called "R" for remote-based work). They can change their chosen work system every six months. During the second half of this year, 55 percent of Naver employees chose to work remotely.

However, there is also speculation that Kakao could follow domestic gaming firms, such as Nexon, NCSoft and Netmarble, which started banning their workers from remote working from June.

NCSoft recently announced to its employees that the management had concluded that working at the office is more appropriate under the current conditions. Nexon Korea CEO Lee Jung-hun also told its employees in a recent meeting that office work is more suitable for the company.

Although Netmarble has not made an official announcement on remote working, it is said to be planning to maintain the current work system next year.