"Minimize Going Out" SKT and KT Extend Remote Work... What About LG Uplus with 'Confirmed Cases'?

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] "Please minimize outings and face-to-face activities."

As the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has increased in triple digits for 11 consecutive days, raising concerns of a "nationwide pandemic," SK Telecom and KT have extended their work-from-home policies for another week in response. However, LG Uplus, which began epidemiological investigations after a confirmed COVID-19 case, is still maintaining its existing rotational work system.

According to industry sources on the 24th, SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho stated in a notice posted on the intranet the previous evening, "Despite all our efforts, the daily number of COVID-19 confirmed cases has increased compared to last week," adding, "Prioritizing the health of our members and the safety of society, we will extend full work-from-home for the next week."

Park urged, "Let us use this difficult situation as an opportunity to strengthen our crisis management capabilities and to approach our work in new ways," and requested, "Please minimize outings and face-to-face activities." SK Telecom began company-wide work-from-home starting from the 18th after a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases due to cluster infections such as at the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul.

KT also announced through an internal notice, "In accordance with the government's social distancing level 2 measures, we have decided to implement work-from-home for all employees from the 24th to the 30th." Previously, KT had implemented work-from-home only for employees in Seoul, the metropolitan area, Incheon, and Busan, but on the 23rd, it switched to a company-wide system. Employees outside the previously designated work-from-home areas will also work from home except for essential personnel.

However, among the three major telecom companies, LG Uplus confirmed a COVID-19 case at its Yongsan headquarters the previous day but is maintaining its existing rotational work system today. Since the 18th, LG Uplus has been conducting rotational work-from-home by dividing each organization’s personnel in half.

The company announced internally that "access to the 7th floor will be restricted on the 24th for epidemiological investigation, while other floors will operate normally." They also stated that employees wishing to work from home due to reasons such as family care can do so, but there have been reports of internal opposition to the firm stance on maintaining the existing work system.

LG Uplus plans to decide on whether to close the headquarters or expand work-from-home based on the health authorities' epidemiological investigation results later that afternoon.

Meanwhile, as of midnight on the same day, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was identified as 17,665, an increase of 266 from the previous day. Although the number of new confirmed cases, which had approached 400, slightly decreased to the mid-200s, this is interpreted as an effect of reduced testing during the holiday rather than a halt in the spread. Since the cluster infections began in earnest on the 14th, the number of new cases has been in triple digits for 11 consecutive days. The so-called "unknown source" cases, where the time and place of infection cannot be identified, are also rapidly increasing, maintaining calls for raising social distancing to level 3.

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