E-commerce 3 Companies' Unique Approaches to 'COVID-19 Emergency Work'

Wemakeprice 'Prevention' · Coupang 'Autonomy' · Tmon 'Efficiency'

Wemakeprice Headquarters

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Recently, as the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has caused a surge in order volumes, e-commerce companies have reflected different management strategies in their working styles. While the common principle is to prioritize employees' health, each company places emphasis on different aspects depending on their circumstances.

According to industry sources on the 17th, Wemakeprice, Coupang, and Tmon are operating their own emergency work systems in response to COVID-19. However, the working styles of each company in the same industry differ. Wemakeprice focuses on 'prevention,' Coupang on 'autonomy,' and Tmon on 'efficiency.'

Wemakeprice has been continuing remote work for four weeks since it started on the 24th of last month. Among Wemakeprice's 1,800 employees, more than 90% are working from home. The remote work environment for the customer center has also been completed, and from the 18th, about 70% of the 600 customer center employees will begin working remotely. To this end, Wemakeprice has strengthened the remote access environment by expanding virtual private network (VPN) servers and implementing redundancy configurations to ensure that employees have no difficulties working from home. Several simulations were also conducted to minimize potential issues during remote work. The focus is on preventing and containing the spread of COVID-19.

Coupang is implementing autonomous remote work for about 3,000 employees at its Jamsil headquarters, excluding on-site delivery personnel. Remote work is recommended, and employees can choose to work from home or come to the office depending on their tasks or situations. Since various job categories such as developers and product planners are gathered, instead of a uniform approach, employees can autonomously decide whether to work remotely according to their duties. For delivery personnel, 'contactless untact delivery' is conducted for all orders. Instead of meeting customers directly to hand over items, packages are left at the door or in delivery boxes. A Coupang official explained, "This is a temporary safety measure implemented until the spread of COVID-19 subsides."

Tmon implemented full remote work for all employees at the end of last month when COVID-19 rapidly spread, focusing on employee health management and preventing community transmission. Currently, employees have returned to the office while the company is making every effort to prevent infection internally. Employees can apply for remote work anytime depending on personal circumstances such as pregnancy. For the customer center, employees must wear masks, perform personal disinfection and temperature checks, and fill out quarantine logs before entering the office. Disinfection is conducted more than twice a day. This reflects management's intention to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while enabling employees in roles such as sales, where remote work is practically difficult, to work efficiently.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.