Samsung Electronics Reviews Introduction of Remote Work

Preparing for Prolonged COVID-19 Crisis
Demand Survey for Suwon Home Appliances Division
Focus on Potential Expansion to Affiliates

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Electronics is considering introducing remote work for some departments as the COVID-19 pandemic prolongs. As the top company in South Korea's business world, Samsung Electronics is drawing attention from the industry as it begins to prepare for changes in work systems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the business community on the 14th, Samsung Electronics is conducting a demand survey and reviewing specific implementation plans for remote work targeting employees in the home appliance division. First, excluding production lines where remote work is impossible, the company is considering partial remote work introduction for some job categories such as marketing that can work remotely. For employees in charge of product development tasks, a distributed work plan is under discussion.

Until now, Samsung Electronics has allowed remote work only for some employees, such as those showing COVID-19 symptoms, employees in the affected departments or those who accessed the same building, overseas business travelers, pregnant women, and those with underlying health conditions. However, as awareness of the need for an efficient work system has spread due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity of remote work has also been raised within Samsung Electronics.

It is practically difficult for traditional manufacturing companies like Samsung Electronics, which focus on product production, to adopt full-scale remote work. This is also why Samsung Group has not implemented company-wide remote work in response to COVID-19 so far. Accordingly, the business community views that if Samsung Group officially introduces remote work, it is highly likely to spread to other major domestic manufacturing conglomerates.

A Samsung Electronics official said, "It is true that the home appliance division staff at the Suwon plant have started reviewing remote work, but nothing has been finalized or decided yet, and the decision will be made based on employee demand." He added, "Remote work is practically impossible for production line employees, and only limited possibilities for remote work are being reviewed for some departments at the business division's operational level."

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