Metaverse: Kakao to begin trial for metaverse work system for employees’ WFH setup

Kakao Corp. is set to test its metaverse work system that will allow its employees to work remotely. As part of the new setup, company staff will be required to work from home at least four days per week starting on July 1, when the trial has been scheduled to commence.

According to The Korea Herald, for the days that are not covered in the metaverse work system, employees must meet offline, but this does not mean that they have to convene in the company office. A Kakao official explained that this offline meet-up could also take place somewhere else.

On the other hand, for the virtual arrangement, everything related to work will be fully conducted online. Employees will be connected with their co-workers in the virtual space or the metaverse. They will be using voice, text, and video calls to communicate, depending on the circumstances.

The voice call system will let staff talk to each other in real-time, and it was revealed that Kakao has come up with this metaverse work structure after it was forced to switch to remote working after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. As the company develops the system, it discovered that what is more important is how the staff works than where they do their work.

"After experiencing remote work over the past two years, we have concluded that 'connection' is more important than physical space," Namkoong Whon, Kakao's chief executive officer, said in a press release. "The metaverse work system, which is centered around connection, will help our crew's efficient work and we support it becoming a culture that spreads throughout the Kakao community."

The company also explained how the employees could work in the metaverse environment that it will be implementing soon. "Kakao has prepared a 'ground rule' so that employees can collaborate efficiently in the metaverse working environment, and will have a beta operation period until the metaverse work system is settled," the company stated.

Kakao added that during the beta period of the metaverse work system, it will observe and form new ways to improve or simplify the parts that workers will find difficult or complicated. It will also be open for the employees' suggestions to make the working system even better.