Lotte Homeshopping CEO Lee Wanshin Communicates with Employees via 'YouTube Live'... Transforming Organizational Culture

Lee Wanshin, CEO of Lotte Homeshopping (center), appearing on the CEO YouTube live broadcast 'Completely Innovative Live.' (Photo by Lotte Homeshopping)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte Homeshopping announced on the 25th that it will transition to an untact (non-face-to-face) organizational culture by introducing an in-house broadcast called ‘CEO YouTube Communication Live,’ featuring the CEO directly appearing, in response to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 24th, Lotte Homeshopping held ‘Wansin Live (Completely Innovative Live)’ named after CEO Lee Wanshin through its YouTube channel. This program allows two-way communication between the CEO and employees on various topics, from the company’s strategic direction to questions about the CEO. It was held twice as an offline event since 2018, but this year, an untact system was newly introduced.

In the first broadcast, through the segment ‘Belligom Meets the President of Lotte Homeshopping,’ Belligom, the company’s character who surpassed 100,000 YouTube subscribers, represented the employees and conducted an interview asking about CEO Lee’s management philosophy and interests. At this event, the CEO also shared episodes from his early days as a new employee and tips for social life as a senior colleague.

Additionally, the program included an ‘Unboxing Live’ segment where the CEO recommended Lotte Homeshopping products and opened them together, and a ‘Love Call Center’ segment where random employees were called to answer quizzes, with prizes awarded to those who answered correctly, receiving high praise.

Since joining Lotte Homeshopping in 2017, CEO Lee has consistently emphasized a creative and flexible organizational culture. Recently, due to the COVID-19 impact and the work environment minimizing face-to-face contact, new non-face-to-face communication programs have been introduced. This communication method suits the home shopping culture with a high proportion of employees in their 20s and 30s, garnering strong positive responses.

Moreover, from mid-May, after the work-from-home period (late February to early May) ended, in-house broadcasts have been held every Monday and Thursday at 9 a.m. Lotte Homeshopping reported that these broadcasts, which introduce stories and song requests to strengthen communication among employees weakened by reduced face-to-face communication, have shown high participation and positive responses.

Park Jaehong, Head of Management Support Division at Lotte Homeshopping, said, “Due to COVID-19, we converted the existing town hall meetings to a non-face-to-face format. Through accessible platforms like YouTube channels, it has become an opportunity for more comfortable and flexible communication between the CEO and employees. We will continue to plan various untact organizational culture programs to ensure communication is not hindered by external circumstances.”

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