Korea HR Continues to Make its Presence Felt on the International Stage

The Chapman Consulting Group co-hosted its inaugural Korea HR Leaders roundtable in Seoul today. Korea HR Leaders from high-profile multinationals in the Financial Services, Consumer Goods, Retail, Industrial, Technology and Healthcare sectors met at the Korea headquarters of RealNetworks to take part in this enjoyable two-hour meeting. The topic of discussion was the influence of HR in business in Korea today, as well as the influence of Korea HR internationally.

The main take-away from today’s discussion was the fact that Korea HR is increasingly getting its voice heard on the regional stage. Many HR leaders in Korea have been experimenting with novel ways of exerting more influence internationally. In one example, a Korea HR Director had launched a far-reaching programme of expatriation of Korea HR talent. The advantage of this had been two-fold: The Korean executive themselves could get exposed to a more international environment at either regional or global level, and could then come back to Korea with a new appreciation of how to do business in new and creative ways within the Korean context. And the other advantage was that the Korean executive can help to get the voice of Korea heard beyond its borders. The more Koreans that can find themselves in regional HR and business roles outside of Korea, the easier it will be for issues affecting Korea to be understood amongst regional and global decision-makers.

The unfortunate downside to this policy was that it carries two very real risks. The first risk is that the Korean assignee will find the assignment abroad too overwhelming, and will fail to make a success of their opportunity. There were many examples given about how Korean talent were being nurtured for international career paths, but were being demoted or even dismissed in that foreign location due to performance issues. The answer to this issue may be that there needs to be more education as to what should be expected of these international assignees.

The second risk is that many international assignees either prefer to stay outside of Korea or get very de-motivated upon returning back to Korea after their international assignment. In many ways they prefer the variety of work that can be achieved outside of Korea, as well as the diversity of people that they can work with. The best way to counter both of these risks was to be very careful with the long-term plan for the assignee when they set off to leave Korea. In order to attract Korean talent back into Korea, there needs to be an attractive senior role waiting for them upon their return, since they will be unlikely to still enjoy the previous role that they were holding. Moreover, the Korea environment should not ‘stay the same’ while they are gone. It can be a good idea to bring in non Korean assignees into Korea from other parts of the region at the same time, since this helps to expose people in Korea to more diverse approaches without necessarily needing to leave Korea. So long as the person can be attracted back to the right role, these assignments can be a great way to boost talent.

The group went on to discuss many other matters affect Korea HR leaders, including the interaction between HR and the business, the ongoing reform of the Korean Job Title system, and the importance of mentoring the next generation of Korea HR leaders to understand the new ‘rules of the game’ in HR management and leadership in Korea. At the end of the session, it was agreed that the next Korea HR Leaders meeting will be held in a few months.