SK Group to overhaul reward, assessment systems

SK Group Senior Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won delivers an opening speech at the seventh SK Icheon Forum held at Grand Walkerhill in Seoul on Aug. 21. [Courtesy of SK Group]

South Korea’s SK Group is set to experiment with revised reward policies and flexible working systems to support growth among employees. Under the companywide campaign, Deep Change, the conglomerate is seeking to hear the voices of its workers.

On Monday, SK Group kicked off the seventh SK Icheon Forum at Grand Walkerhill Seoul. The event was attended by 250 representatives from SK Group, partners, and academic institutions, including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won who joined virtually and SK Group Senior Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won.

“The keyword for this year’s forum is deep change made through active expression of opinions among members,” said Senior Vice Chairman Chey in an opening remark.

“As trust and consensus between members are essential to bringing about the fundamental change, the forum will initiate discussions about measures to address pain points within the company and to promote employee growth, along with a revision of reward and assessment policies.”

Chey highlighted that the event alone was not enough to lead the change.

“Some of our internal critics said the new strategy would be nothing but lip service if we fail to take action,” he said.

This year’s Icheon forum is being held under the theme of “Deep Change Made through Action.” Its agendas include innovative working models, strengthening employees’ future skills, and an overhaul of reward policies.

On the opening day, Fei-Fei Li, a professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, gave a key speech on the changes the ongoing shift toward generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made in the workplace and business.

Dario Amode, chief executive officer of the U.S.-based AI startup Anthropic PBC, made a presentation on the same issue. SK telecom Co. has recently decided to invest in Anthropic.

On Tuesday, the forum will enter its second day at SKMS Research Institute located in Icheon. The participants will be provided with experiment results on a flexible working system, involving 200 employees from SK Group’s affiliates.

The forum on Wednesday will touch on the challenges facing employees at international affiliates in the U.S., Europe, China, and Southeast Asia.

On the final day on Thursday, feedback will be gathered to enhance the assessment and reward framework. Chairman Chey will be back from his overseas journey to engage in discussions with his employees.