Lotte Shopping Introduces 'Hub Office' for the First Time in the Retail Industry

Choose an Office Near Home for Commute
225 Seats Available Across 5 Hubs in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
Laptops Provided at Each Smart Office
Complete Remaining Work On-site Without Returning to Headquarters After Fieldwork

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] Lotte Shopping is introducing hub offices for the first time in the retail industry. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the group has been strengthening its 'smart work' system at the corporate level.

On the 30th, Lotte Shopping Headquarters (HQ) announced that following the implementation of one day of remote work per week, it will operate hub offices starting from the 1st of next month. Lotte Shopping HQ is an organization that gathers staff from various business divisions such as the Planning and Strategy Division, Support Division, and Finance Division. It was newly established in January this year. Each business division can focus solely on sales, as Lotte Shopping HQ handles support tasks.

The 'Smart Office' prepared by Lotte Shopping HQ consists of five locations in the Seoul metropolitan area. A total of 225 seats have been prepared across five hubs: Lotte Department Store Nowon Branch, Ilsan Branch, Incheon Terminal Branch, Pyeongchon Branch, and Big Market Yeongdeungpo Branch (Talent Development Center). The target users are about 3,000 employees from Lotte Shopping HQ and the headquarters of each business division including Lotte Department Store, Mart, Super, LOBS, and e-commerce. Some seats at each branch are equipped with laptops to facilitate employee convenience.

The smart office offers the advantage of reducing commuting time by allowing employees to work near their homes and the convenience of quickly handling remaining tasks at a nearby office without having to return to headquarters during fieldwork. This aligns with Lotte Shopping’s work policy emphasizing on-site communication. Employees from various business divisions can also work together according to the nature of projects, enabling free communication. A web-based seat reservation system allows users to check seat availability at the five hub offices anytime and anywhere.

Lotte Group is rapidly establishing smart work systems across its affiliates. Chairman Shin Dong-bin has taken the lead in driving change to improve the group’s organizational structure. During a two-week self-quarantine after a business trip to Japan in March, Chairman Shin managed business issues through remote work and video conferences. At an executive meeting on the 19th of last month, he stated, "Non-face-to-face meetings and reports were more convenient and efficient than expected," and emphasized, "Work methods must naturally change according to changes in the work environment." Accordingly, Lotte Holdings executives, including Chairman Shin, began working remotely one day per week from the end of last month. From this month, Lotte Shopping, Lotte Home Shopping, and Lotte Duty Free also joined in. The introduction of smart offices will start with Lotte Shopping and expand to affiliates such as Lotte Duty Free in the second half of the year.

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