Samsung executives to be called without seniority title

Rank-and file-employees at Samsung Electronics Co. will call their senior executives without their titles as part of the company’s new human resource policy aimed to further enhance a flexible and horizontal organizational culture for better management efficiency.

The South Korean tech giant on Wednesday announced a new title guideline for company board members and executives that bans employees from calling their senior managers by title.

Under the new guideline, the company workers can call their senior managers, who are presidents or higher-ranking officials, by their first names followed by the Korean honorific suffix “nim.” Or the company executives can ask staff to call them by their preferred name initials or nicknames.

Han Jong-hee, vice chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) at Samsung Electronics’ Set Division (DX), last year asked employees to call him by his initial JH.

The latest change in the company’s human resource policy is its follow-up measure to further improve a flexible and horizontal organization culture at Korea’s tech giant by facilitating communication across the company and easing seniority and rank-based hierarchy.

In 2016, the company eliminated titles for employees, allowing them to call their colleagues with “nim” to their first name, or “pro,” short for professional, to their family name. Still, they have been calling their senior managers with seniority titles despite the new guideline.

The company expects the latest change would further promote Silicon Valley’s horizontal organizational culture at the company, which is part of a “New Samsung” under the leadership of Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee.

To attract young top talent amid fierce competition for skilled experts among global giants and startups, Samsung Electronics in late 2021 announced steps to reduce management layers, including the elimination of its decades-long requirements such as a minimum period of years to serve in a certain position for promotion.

It also abolished the annual public release of the employee promotion list in 2016. The company’s job rankings were simplified from seven to four.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.