[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] Hecto Group is strengthening the competitiveness of its workplace culture through “evolving welfare” that continuously improves benefits centred on employee experience. Moving beyond simply providing benefits, it has built a virtuous cycle that quickly reflects employee opinions and applies them to actual operations. It is raising both employee satisfaction and commitment to the organisation.

Hecto Group is aiming for “continuously developing welfare,” not finished benefits, and is building a workplace culture created together with employees. This philosophy is reflected in the operation of its in-house cafeteria, Chaeum, which is meaningful in that it puts workplace culture into practice in an area employees can most easily feel in daily life.

Chaeum provides breakfast, lunch and dinner free of charge. It is run as a space that goes beyond dining to help manage employees’ condition and work efficiency. In the morning, it offers a balanced meal along with quick options such as gimbap and cereal. Lunch is organised into A and B sections to consider different dietary habits.

Recently, it further raised the perceived value of benefits by revamping menus and services based on employee feedback. It newly introduced a “healthy salad menu” for summer health management. For dinner, it added a self-serve instant hot pot corner, allowing employees to cook and enjoy various menu items such as budae hot pot, instant tteokbokki and mushroom shabu hot pot. A feature of these changes is that improvements are based on actual user experience and data-based feedback.

Hecto Group is also focusing on expanding meals from “welfare” to “experience.” Through the monthly special meal programme, Orange Plate, it offers premium menu items such as lobster and short ribeye steak. It is also running menus developed in collaboration with restaurants featured on the recently talked-about “Black and White Chef.” In addition, its Hecto ramen corner, previously centred on popular domestic ramen, has introduced global themes such as Japanese tonkotsu and miso ramen and Chinese-language-region mala ramen and beef noodle soup, widening choices and continuously improving operational details.

In this way, Hecto Group is continuously raising experience standards at its in-house cafeteria so employees can enjoy highly satisfying daily life even at the company.

Along with this, Hecto Group is strengthening workplace culture programmes to promote employee health and activate communication. Tteubuk Together, a programme in which teams take walks after meals, has been continuously improved based on employee feedback and is now in its sixth year. To expand exchange across departments, it is also in its second year of operating Make Friends, a programme in which employees walk together after dining at Chaeum.

These programmes, based on employees’ voluntary participation, are contributing to health management in daily life and to boosting internal communication through welfare point benefits. At the in-house cafe, Tieum, it plans to introduce trendy desserts through collaboration programmes with popular dessert brands. Based on this, it also plans to expand opportunities for communication among employees.

A Hecto Group official said, “Welfare is not a system you make once and finish, but an area that must be continuously improved to match changes among employees.” The official added, “We will continue to create a better environment based on ongoing communication with employees and strengthen a virtuous cycle in which the company and employees grow together.”