Lotte Duty Free permanently adopts work-from-home system

Lotte Duty Free workers hold a videoconference. The company started a telecommuting program for headquarters employees on Monday. [LOTTE DUTY FREE]

Lotte Duty Free will develop a business culture that reduces face-to-face contact among employees to prepare for the post-Covid era, announced the duty-free operator Monday.

Lotte will encourage videoconference and allow employees to work at home.

“We frequently hold meetings [to discuss measures] to respond to post-Covid era," wrote Lotte in a statement. “Videoconferences have been helpful in reinforcing communications between the headquarters and the overseas business scene.”

Lotte adopted the videoconference system in March.

It also enabled its headquarters employees to take turns telecommuting starting Monday, with about 25 percent of employees working from home at any time. The company tried out the system in March.

An additional 20 percent of employees will work in a satellite office near the headquarters to decrease the number of people in the office.

“Transforming to a smart work system is no longer an option, but a must,” said Kim Ju-nam, a spokesperson for the company. “Lotte Duty Free plans to prepare for the post-coronavirus era by continuously expanding the untact working system.”

"Untact" is a Korean term that uses the prefix “un” to create a new word meaning the opposite of contact.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]