Lotte ON Introduces New People-Centered HR System... Implements 'Career Level System'

Abolishing Job Titles and Introducing Absolute Evaluation for a Horizontal and Collaborative Organizational Culture

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Lotte ON is introducing a new people-centered personnel system.

The Lotte e-commerce division, which operates Lotte ON, announced on the 11th that it will implement a 'Career Level' system across all job categories. The 'Career Level' system assigns levels based on employees' expertise, roles within the organization, and competencies. Unlike the traditional rank system, it focuses on 'nurturing talent for the future' and is evaluated as a personnel system suitable for IT companies that emphasize collaboration within a horizontal organizational culture.

Through the newly introduced 'Career Level' system, Lotte ON expects employees to grow rapidly, thereby securing the company's business competitiveness. Lotte ON stated, "The core of digital business success is 'people,' and a fair evaluation system and working methods are directly linked to business competitiveness." By changing the system, Lotte ON plans to firmly motivate individuals for growth and foster collaboration based on a horizontal communication style without ranks, enabling focus on major goals and promoting mutual growth of the company and individuals.

Lotte ON's career levels are divided into eight stages according to roles and competencies within the organization. The existing vertical ranks such as Assistant Manager, Deputy Manager, Manager, and Senior Manager are eliminated, leaving only positions like team leader and team member in a horizontal structure. Instead, each employee is assigned a growth indicator level to understand their position within the organization and motivate their development.

An individual's level is not disclosed to others, and once an employee has worked for more than nine months, they qualify for level-up regardless of tenure. Under the previous rank system, it took about 13 years for a new employee to be promoted to Senior Manager, but under the level system, it is possible to reach the highest level, stage 8, within seven years if progressing quickly.

Along with introducing the Career Level system, Lotte ON has also revamped its evaluation system. Previously, relative evaluations were conducted within a fixed ratio, but now an absolute evaluation method focused on ability is adopted. From the employees' perspective, they can concentrate solely on improving their competencies and performance, and the evaluation direction shifts from ranking to emphasizing feedback and coaching for talent development. A session called 'Talent Review' is held to discuss evaluation content, where direct team leaders and related department heads participate to conduct evaluations from multiple perspectives, including collaboration skills and contributions to the overall organization.

Lotte ON said that since the new 'Career Level' system significantly differs from the existing personnel system, they paid close attention to gaining employee consensus before implementation. Lotte ON stated, "During three personnel system briefing sessions, the Q&A alone took two hours due to strong employee interest," and added, "We also considered real-time chats and bulletin boards to ensure employees' questions were fully addressed." As a result, in the consent process for the personnel system reform, including the Career Level system, 90% of respondents overwhelmingly supported it.

Meanwhile, Lotte ON is implementing 100% remote work through various tools supporting telecommuting. Except for the focused working hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., employees can set their working hours flexibly. The company has also modernized business trip regulations and liberalized lunch hours, expanding employees' choices.

Park Dal-ju, Head of Management Support at Lotte ON, said, "'Career Level' is a personnel system focused on nurturing talent to secure future growth engines," adding, "We plan to continuously strive to transform into an organization where individuals and the organization grow together based on a horizontal organizational culture and a fair evaluation and compensation system, breaking away from the traditional seniority system."

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