LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo gives a New Year's address and greetings to LG employees via video, Tuesday. Courtesy of LG Group

By Kim Hyun-bin

Major companies such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motors and LG will wrap up the end of the year quietly without a separate year-end ceremony, according to industry officials, Sunday.

Large offline year-end ceremonies have become a thing of the past as the culture of valuing work-life balance and encouraging employees to use their leftover vacation days is becoming the new normal.

Even offline New Year's ceremonies have been replaced or reduced and moved online in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Samsung Electronics plans to wrap up this year without a separate closing ceremony. The company went through a large-scale year-end personnel reshuffle, and had other key events such as a global strategy meeting for the device solution (DS) sector on Dec. 2, as well as an opening ceremony for the Vietnam R&D center on Dec. 23, while participating in the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show 2023 (CES 2023), the world's largest home appliance and IT exhibition scheduled for early next year.

Next year's New Year's greetings ceremony is expected to be held on Jan. 2 at Samsung Digital City in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, with DS Division Head Kyung Kye-hyun and other executives in attendance. Samsung Electronics held a New Year's greetings ceremony in Suwon on the first business day of Jan. 3 this year, with around 100 executives and employees in attendance.

Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, speaks at the 2022 Business World New Year's meeting held at the KCCI building in Seoul on Jan. 4. Yonhap

SK will not hold a group-level year-end ceremony but plans to leave the decision to each affiliate as to whether they will hold the event as many executives and employees take vacations during the year-end and New Year holidays.

"With the spread of culture that values better work-life balance, the use of year-end vacation days has become common, which naturally reduces large-scale gatherings, along with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," an industry official said.

SK has not held a separate New Year's event since the outbreak of COVID-19 and replaced it with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won sending a New Year greetings email to executives and employees.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, gives a New Year's address through a video screen played on its metaverse platform at the group's New Year's party on Jan. 3. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

Hyundai Motor Group will also not hold a separate year-end ceremony. Instead, Hyundai Motor plans to postpone this year's founding anniversary set for Dec. 29 by one day in order to close out the year's work day and give all employees Dec. 30 off.

Hyundai Motor Group became a hot topic of debate after developing its own metaverse platform, called Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) Park, for this year's New Year's ceremony, where HMG Executive Chair Chung Euisun made his New Year's address. However, the company is undecided on the format it will choose to conduct next year's New Year's ceremony.

In the case of the retail industry, most will greet the end of the year without any special events. Lotte On held an online closing ceremony with all employees on Dec. 22 and delivered refreshment kits containing drinks and snacks to employees' homes.

LG Group and key affiliates such as LG Corp., LG Electronics, and LG Chem will finish their business this year on Dec. 23 and recommended that their employees go on vacation from Dec. 26 to Dec. 30.

"LG does not have a separate end-of-year ceremony," an industry official said. "The recommended holiday period at the end of the year has been implemented so that employees can calmly wrap up the end of the year and get enough rest before welcoming the New Year."

On Dec. 20, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo was the first to deliver a New Year's address among major conglomerate chiefs. LG will begin work starting Jan. 2 next year without any special events, and send out New Year's speeches of the presidents of each affiliate via email and video.

Lotte Department Store and Lotte Mart are encouraging employees to use up their annual vacation days. LS Group also encourages its employees at each affiliate to use up their remaining vacation days.

Kumho Petrochemical also ended its business work day this year on Dec. 23 and is on a company-wide holiday this week. Workers at factories, who are on rotation shifts around the clock, will be compensated with holiday pay.

In the case of Hanwha Group, in the past, Chairman Kim Seung-youn and senior executives of affiliates gathered to eat rice cake soup together and announce the New Year's address, but this New Year's celebration was reduced due to COVID-19.

Chairman Kim's New Year's address was also recorded in advance and announced through an in-house broadcast at the beginning of the year. The New Year's ceremony for next year is currently undecided.

POSCO Group will not hold a year-end ceremony, but will only hold a New Year's ceremony on Jan. 3. Chairman Choi Jung-woo plans to deliver a New Year's address to executives and employees both online and offline.

Hyundai Department Store plans to hold an online New Year's ceremony on Jan 2. Lotte Group is reviewing whether to proceed with an offline event. LS Group plans to hold a New Year's ceremony on Jan. 3

LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun marks the second year of his inauguration, and the chairman is expected to reveal his thoughts on the first year and explain future management plans.