'Corona Culprit?'... Unprecedented Level 4 Social Distancing Leads CEO to Stay Home

Executives also practice distancing... Meetings via Zoom, reports as electronic documents
Unnecessary meetings canceled or switched to remote
Increased employee remote work ratio and prohibition of all gatherings

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] As the social distancing level in the Seoul metropolitan area was raised to Level 4, heads of financial institutions are minimizing their movements. Like regular employees, executives are also actively participating in working from home and distributed work.

According to the financial sector on the 14th, recently, the president of Bank A decided not to come to the office for the time being. The number of participants in internal face-to-face meetings has been limited to two, and it was judged that there was no need to take the risk of COVID-19 by coming out. Executives also decided to basically work from home unless there is an urgent matter. Work is conducted using laptops provided by the company for remote work, and executive meetings are held via Zoom. Reports to the president are also received electronically without face-to-face meetings for the time being.

In the case of Financial Group B, all internal events and business trips that the holding company and the president were scheduled to attend have been canceled. Executive meetings have also been minimized and are planned to be switched to non-face-to-face. A representative of the financial company said, "During Level 3, small-scale internal events were possible, but now it has become difficult," adding, "While Level 4 is maintained, it should be considered that executives have virtually no external activities."

There have been disruptions or urgent rescheduling in work processes such as agreements or meetings with related organizations. Bank C had planned for its president to meet directly with CEOs of other industries this week for a business agreement. However, due to the government's social distancing level upgrade, the schedule was urgently changed. They are discussing switching the agreement ceremony to a video conference to proceed non-face-to-face.

In the case of Bank D, the president took a one-week vacation starting next week. Although it is not a measure to comply with quarantine guidelines, it appears that the long vacation was taken considering the COVID-19 situation.

'To avoid becoming the "COVID-19 culprit"... High-intensity social distancing from regular employees to executives'

Within the industry, it is considered unusual that heads of private financial companies have started participating in working from home. Even during Level 3 social distancing, private banks implemented intensive distributed work, but generally, executives including holding company chairpersons and presidents commuted to the office.

Banks are paying close attention to avoid being labeled as the "source of COVID-19" amid the rapid spread of the Delta variant and other strains. Currently, financial companies must comply with the authorities' orders demanding strict quarantine guidelines. Also, if employees at banks, where face-to-face work is frequent, test positive, it inevitably disrupts operations. There is also a risk of image damage if confirmed cases surge at branches.

It is analyzed that the occurrence of confirmed cases within financial companies has also had an impact. Recently, major institutions in Yeouido such as the Korea Exchange and the Korea Securities Depository have experienced simultaneous outbreaks of COVID-19 cases. Confirmed cases have also surged in private securities firms such as NH Investment & Securities, Eugene Investment & Securities, eBest Investment & Securities, and Heungkuk Securities. At Woori Bank, as of the 12th, eight confirmed cases were reported at the headquarters, including an executive at the vice president level.

Social distancing measures for internal employees have been further strengthened. KB Kookmin Bank had been "recommending" 30% of headquarters staff to work from home, but this was strengthened to "implementation." Gatherings and dinners, which were previously discouraged, have been upgraded to prohibited. Shinhan Bank increased the proportion of employees working in a split or remote work system from 15% to 40%. External visitors to the headquarters have been upgraded from controlled access to prohibited.

However, unlike the confusion seen during the Level 3 upgrade, there were relatively few such signs this time. A representative of a commercial bank said, "Most regular employees, except for essential personnel, have been working remotely since Level 3," explaining, "As social distancing measures have been prolonged, executives have also become accustomed to non-face-to-face communication methods."

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