[Digital Today reporter Hojeong Lee (이호정)] Naver will overhaul its work system from January next year so employees choosing a work format with a high share of remote work must go through a prior consultation process with their organisation head. The move is seen as aimed at responding to a rapidly changing business environment and boosting connectivity and execution across organisations.

According to the industry on July 16, Naver is revising how it runs the "Connected Work" system introduced in 2022. Currently, Naver employees have been able to choose freely between Type O, which requires coming to the office on average at least three times a week, and Type R, which is based on remote work while also conducting in-person collaboration at least four times a month.

Going forward, employees seeking to choose Type R must discuss in advance with their organisation head the characteristics of their assigned tasks, collaboration methods and expected levels. This effectively adds a step to review organisation-specific task characteristics and collaboration conditions in the Type R process, which had been left to individual choice.

Naver said it is not uniformly mandating that all employees come to the office at least three times a week or scrapping the work-from-home system itself. Employees who choose Type O can also work from home on the remaining workdays as before, as long as they meet the requirement of coming to the office on average at least three times a week. The change under the revamp is limited to the selection process for Type R, which has a relatively higher share of remote work.

Naver plans to first provide guidance on the direction of the operating approach that will apply next year, then collect feedback from employees and each organisation during the second half of the year to refine the details.