[WHY] Why do Koreans create new identity at work with an English name?

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Published: 26 Aug. 2023, 07:00 Updated: 28 Aug. 2023, 10:11

[WHY] Why do Koreans create new identity at work with an English name?

An illustration of Korean employees' English name cards [JOONGANG PHOTO]

On Blind, a popular website for anonymous company reviews, a search for “English name” yields more than a thousand posts.

Most posters are seeking advice as they pick a suitable English name for themselves while providing a description of their personality and personal traits. The suggested names are diverse and unique, such as Lindsay and Chanel, or are game character names, such as Vulture.

These posts stem from a growing corporate trend requiring employees to use English names at work.

The trend was set by IT startups in the early 2010s and has since spread to conglomerates such as CJ CheilJedang and Lotte Wellfood from late 2022 onwards. The goal is to break away from the hierarchical corporate structure and improve employee communication, although the culture is still just beginning at most companies.

“How we address others is very important in the Korean language because it is one of the rare languages in which the second-person pronoun, such as ‘you’ or one’s name, cannot be used for someone a speaker needs to show respect to,” according to Shin Ji-young, a professor at the Department of Korean Language and Literature in Korea University.

“That explains the growing adoption of English names and titles at work to allow employees to communicate on an equal level, without first determining the social hierarchy. Without this change, creating a horizontal corporate culture is impossible.”

An employee's English name written above their Korean one on a desk divider at KakaoBank [KAKAOBANK]

A growing trend

Kakao was an active adopter of the system, encouraging employees to address colleagues by their English name, including executives and the CEO.

Employees also do not use job titles, such as CEO or Managing Director after the surname, which is common in spoken Korean. Instead, they only use their English name, a culture that has been in place since Kakao was formed in 2010.

“It feels easier to initiate conversations or propose ideas to senior colleagues when calling them by their English names and without job titles,” said Jeon Beom-jun, a KakaoBank public relations manager who is called Niro at work. “Employees call the CEO by his English name, which is Daniel, both in writing and speaking.”

"It's like having a sub-character," according to an employee at an IT company who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It now feels awkward when colleagues call me by my Korean name."

Conglomerates have also started encouraging employees to use English names, with company heads taking the lead.

Shin Chang-jae, chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance, the third largest life insurer in Korea, told employees to use English names and titles on the company’s 65th anniversary in August, citing the need for innovation amid the rapid growth of fintech firms.

Last year, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won asked SK Telecom employees to call him by his English name, Tony, instead of addressing him as “sir” or “Mr. Chairman.” He uses the English name Tony Chey on his Instagram account.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee requested employees to address him by his English initials instead of by his job title to avoid “building a wall between you and me,” Han told employees in 2022.

Conglomerates have been working to create a horizontal corporate culture since the 2000s via various measures, such as eliminating or reducing job titles and allowing employees to dress casually.

Samsung Electronics unified its job titles to “Pro,” shortened for professional, from the previous five titles starting in 2017. Hyundai Motor Group also reduced the job titles to two – Manager and Senior Manager – from the previous five starting in 2019.

CJ CheilJedang, the food giant behind Bibigo, unified the job title to “nim,” which is a high-level honorific used to show respect to someone in the Korean language, as early as in 2000.

“The most convenient method to foster a horizontal corporate culture is to use an English name because it creates a new different identity of the employees,” Prof. Shin said.

But it is only recently that they started encouraging employees to use English names, a step that kicked in fairly late due to Korea’s strong custom of respecting elders, which is rooted in Confucian society, according to Kim Yong-jin, a business professor at Sogang University.

“Companies have been putting in effort to create a horizontal corporate culture for many years, Suh Yong-gu, a business professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, added.

“But an environment to be able to fully make that change has been created only in the AI and big data-driven digital era, where performance can be easily and transparently quantified and shared in numbers.”

For instance, the performance of a video creator can be easily quantified by the video's number of views.

Some companies cite rapid global expansion as a reason for adopting English names.

“There were several occasions when foreign employees could not properly pronounce Korean names,” said Lee Hye-jin, a spokesperson for CJ CheilJedang, who goes by Helen at work. “So the company started encouraging employees to use English names to make communications with foreigners easier.”

CJ CheilJedang sells food in around 70 countries with the largest revenue raised in the United States after Korea last year.

KakaoBank employees Barry, Charlie, Chloe, Bernard, Louis and Elly exchange opinions at the company's office in Pangyo, Gyeonggi [KAKAOBANK]

Side Effects

Some complain about the side effects of using English names at work.

“Having an equal or no job title makes it difficult for a team leader to assign work to the team members because allowing junior workers to think that all team members are equal makes them believe they can reject work that has been assigned by the team leader,” according to a 49-year-old team leader who works at a pharmaceutical firm. “Such a problem is especially evident amongst millennials and Generation Z.”

Millennial refers to people born between 1980 and 1995. Generation Z are those born between 1997 and 2012.

They are known to have a strong control over their lives and are not hesitant to hop jobs for better work environments and compensation.

The average tenure at the first job for those aged 20 and 34 was 19 months in May, according to Statistics Korea data.

Adopting a horizontal corporate culture isn’t easy in Korea, especially in the manufacturing industry where following manuals word for word is more important than coming up with creative ideas, according to Wi Jong-hyun, a business professor at ChungAng University.

Horizontal culture is not always good as young workers are often confused about two different matters: free discussion and the execution of work,” he added.

“Actions need to be taken based on the decisions that have been made during the free discussions. However, some millennials and Gen Z don’t follow the orders, arguing that they have not agreed to the issues discussed. Some of them regard a company as some sort of a social club.”

Another issue is that English names aren’t properly used at some companies.

“One of the first things I was told to do after getting accepted into this company was to come up with an English name,” a 31-year-old office worker at the Korean branch of the U.S.-headquartered pharmaceutical company said.

“I didn’t and still don’t understand why I have to have an English name when my colleagues just call me by my Korean name at work. Also, my Korean name is easily pronouncable by foreigners.”

“Simply changing the name and title to English does not lead to a horizontal corporate culture,” said Ryu Byong-rae, professor of linguistics at Chungnam National University.

Companies also need to “embrace the culture and customary background of the countries where the language is used.”

Tolerance and straightforward speech can be helpful, according to experts.

“Korea is a highly totalitarian society that heavily rejects others with different thoughts and perspectives,” said Kim from Sogang University. “So having the tolerance to accept others’ opinions is highly required. That’s the key to creating a horizontal corporate culture.”

Employees should also speak directly, not euphemistically, says Professor Kim Gye-soo, a business professor at Semyung University.

“An organization is a place where people meet to achieve a joint goal,” Kim said. “So to be able to improve performance, employees should speak directly to each other to communicate properly.”

To make all of this possible, employees need to be educated on the reason why companies are adopting these customs.

“To adopt a new corporate culture successfully, employees need to be properly educated on the system’s underlying philosophy to help them embrace the changes. But most companies do not even consider the need to educate employees on the changes,” Shin said.

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