Hyundai Department Store upgrades reporting system

A Hyundai Department Store employee uses a mobile-based reporting system via mobile phone. [HYUNDAI DEPARTMENT STORE]

Hyundai Department Store is ditching KakaoTalk for work communications in favor of a chat room on the company’s intranet.

It is mandating the switch to ensure privacy and to end the use of private accounts for work-related conversations.

The retailer is also simplifying its reporting system with the use of information technologies.

On Monday it said it eliminated the paper-based reports and switched to a mobile-based report system.

Under the new system, employees write five to six sentences on the company intranet, and send it to senior colleagues via mobile phone or computer.

Before, they had to write a paper report using a template.

The simplified system reflects how young employees prioritize “pragmatism instead of empty formalities,” said the department store in a statement. “It is an attempt to help employees spend less time filling out the report format and instead focus more on their actual work.”

Young employees account for around 80 percent of the company’s total 3,032 employees.

The company said the latest change is “the first step” in its switch from the top-down organizational culture to bottom-up culture. It added that it hopes the change will promote active communications among employees.

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