Sangui Publishes 'In-House Conflict Counseling' Guidebook for HR Managers

Includes Basic Principles of Meetings and Responses by Type

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has announced the ‘HR Interview Response Guide for Managing Internal Conflicts’ to assist member companies in handling various types of workplace conflicts such as workplace harassment, sexual harassment, dissatisfaction with evaluations, and grievances, and to help prevent potential legal issues that may arise during interview processes.

In the guide released on the 18th, KCCI included the importance of HR interviews, principles and checkpoints for responding to HR interviews, and tips for different types of HR interviews.

Recently, with the spread of the Me Too movement, the legislation banning workplace harassment, and the active emergence of the MZ generation raising grievances, the demand for HR interviews has increased. Inappropriate interviews have led to cases where employees post about their experiences on personal social networking services (SNS) or anonymous workplace communities like Blind, which are then picked up by media outlets, damaging the company’s image.

HR Interviews by Type [Image provided by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry]

Four Interview Principles: Confidentiality, Prohibition of Abuse of Authority, Appropriate Role According to Interview Nature, and Legal Knowledge

The guide presents four principles for responding to HR interviews. First, it emphasizes confidentiality. If confidentiality is not maintained, it can break the employee’s (interviewee’s) trust in the company and may lead to legal liability for the interviewer. The abuse of the interviewer’s position must also be guarded against. If the interviewee mistakenly believes that the interviewer holds a superior position either professionally or morally and conducts the interview under that assumption, it can result in secondary harassment or incorrect outcomes.

Interviewers must perform roles appropriate to the nature of the interview. For disciplinary investigations, the interviewer’s role is to ascertain the facts, whereas for grievance counseling, the focus should be on empathizing with the interviewee’s emotions. Since inappropriate interviews carry the risk of leading to future legal disputes, it is advised to thoroughly familiarize oneself with relevant company regulations and legal considerations before the interview.

Interview Response Tips Including Caution About Recording Risks

The guide notes that recently, it has become easy to record phone calls or conversations using smartphone recording apps, and during interviews, it is necessary to express opposition to the interviewee’s recording and inform them of the risks such as infringement on the interviewer’s voice rights and breach of confidentiality in investigations if recording is done without consent. If the interviewer records, it is necessary to notify the interviewee in advance and, if the interviewee opposes recording, to summarize the investigation interview content and obtain the interviewee’s signature.

Regarding the presence of a lawyer during interviews, the guide explains that if the company does not have internal regulations on this matter, there is no obligation to accept the attendance of a lawyer. In fact, the Seoul High Court did not deny procedural fairness in a case where a company without lawyer assistance regulations prohibited a lawyer’s attendance during a disciplinary investigation interview and proceeded with the disciplinary process. If an employee strongly requests a lawyer’s attendance, rather than refusing, allowing the lawyer to attend but only to assist the disciplinary subject and not permitting the lawyer to speak directly is a way to reduce unnecessary conflicts.

The guide advises caution when issuing disciplinary announcements due to the risk of defamation. If an announcement is unavoidable, it is preferable to focus on the misconduct itself rather than on a specific individual and to limit the scope as much as possible.

KCCI will hold an online briefing session on the interview guide for member companies on the 20th. Lawyers Lee Seri and Yoon Hyeyoung from the law firm Sejong, who provided legal advice for the guide, will be invited as speakers to explain HR interviews for resolving internal conflicts in detail and will also take real-time questions to address companies’ concerns.

Yuilho, head of the Employment and Labor Policy Team at KCCI, said, “While the legal obligation to maintain confidentiality and the protection of personal information are being strengthened during investigations of workplace harassment or sexual harassment, the development of electronic devices has made it easier to record or document interview content, making systematic preparation and approach to HR interviews even more important.” He emphasized, “Through this guide, we hope that corporate HR personnel will check legal issues from pre-interview preparation to prevent inappropriate interviews from escalating into additional legal disputes for both organizations and individuals.”

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