SK Group reintroduces Saturday CEO meeting after 20 years

South Korea’s energy-to-telecom conglomerate SK Group has decided to reintroduce Saturday gatherings of its subsidiaries' chief executives after a 20-year hiatus, a move that reflects a sense of crisis following industry slowdowns and heightened competition surrounding its new business investments, according to group officials.

The decision comes about one month after Chey Chang-won, vice chairman of SK Discovery Co., an intermediary holding company of the group, took over as head of the SK SUPEX council, the conglomerate’s top advisory group. He is the cousin of group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

CEOs of SK Group subsidiaries, including holding company SK Inc., SK Innovation Co., SK Telecom Co. and SK Hynix Inc., will gather on Saturdays every two weeks to discuss pending issues.

The SK SUPEX chairman will preside over the meetings.

“The reintroduction of Saturday CEO meetings reflects the increased sense of crisis among our executives,” said an SK Group official said.

The country’s No. 2 conglomerate abolished weekend CEO gatherings after implementing a five-day workweek in July 2004.

Over the past few years, it has made massive investments into the rechargeable battery, biopharmaceutical and semiconductor businesses, picked as its new growth drivers. However, these sectors are reeling from industry slowdowns and intensifying competition.

SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, posted a fourth straight quarterly loss in the third quarter of 2023.

SK On Co., a secondary battery maker, is grappling with slowing electric vehicle demand. Late last month, the group gave up its management rights over the online retail platform 11Street Co. due to a plunge in its enterprise value.

In a new-year message this month, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won urged his employees to “tighten the loose strings of the harp again.”

SYMBOLIC MOVE

The biweekly Saturday meetings will replace the once-a-month weekday “Strategy Committee Meeting" of the group arms' CEOs.

In addition, the executives and members of the SUPEX council will no longer avail themselves of the flexible work system that allows them to take a day off on Friday twice a month after working a combined 80 hours for two weeks straight.

The system will remain in place for their employees, however. SK Group is among the Korean conglomerates that pledge to guarantee the work-life balance of its employees.

Another SK Group official said the reintroduction of Saturday CEO meetings is a symbolic move to take up the slack within the group and is expected to bring a drastic change in their work atmosphere.

“We may introduce additional reform measures,” he added.

Write to Woo-Sup Kim, Hyung-Kyu Kim and Ji-Eun Jeong at duter@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.