Celltrion employees unimpressed by company's new dress code

South Korean pharmaceuticals giant Celltrion last week announced a set of new workplace policies, including a stricter dress code, prompting complaints and mockery among young employees.

According to the company on Sunday, the official dress code bans employees from wearing jeans and other casual attire such as hoodies, sweatpants, crew-neck tees and anything that has large brand logos. Instead, workers are advised to wear collared shirts, jackets, slacks and black sneakers.

Celltrion allowed workers to wear more casual attire for the last few years during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the new workplace policy came after Chairman Seo Jeong-jin returned to management last month after a two-year hiatus, and goes against the trend of other companies here that are increasingly adopting a more flexible corporate culture.

Other codes of conduct also included minimizing idle time at office lounges; abiding by a one-hour lunch break; and not to handle any personal affairs during working hours.

The new workplace policy was sent out via email to employees last Wednesday. In the email, the company said it has decided to make several changes to create a work environment in which Celltrion employees can focus on their duties. The new policy is also in line with the company’s latest corporate campaign, dubbed “Going back to the basics,” it added.

The new dress code sparked heated debate online over the weekend.

In a poll posted on the anonymous workplace app Blind, 1,350 people, or 81 percent of the 1,667 that voted, said they cannot accept Celltrion's new workplace practices, while only 317 people, or 19 percent, answered that they can.

“The reason that we got angry was that Seo seemed to have made this change because he wasn't happy (with what he saw at the office). I think it's unreasonable for a leader of the company to make such a change so suddenly without providing a grace period," read a comment from a Celltrion staff left on the poll.

Another Celltrion employee said, “Executives have started to increase inspections of their own departments."

After Celltrion’s new workplace policy faced backlash, Celltrion issued a statement in which it said: “(The intention of the company) was not to ban things but to remind (employees) of the basic rules at the company.”

Celltrion workers, however, argued that the company's original email had specifically used the word, “ban.”

Seo, the Celltrion founder, took up the top post again in March about two years after he had stepped down. At the time, he had hinted he might come back “if necessary.” Amid the ongoing uncertainties in the global economy, the chairman is expected to expedite an urgent business decision about Celltrion’s global expansion, especially in the all-important US market.

With his return to the helm, the chairman said the company will be able to secure some 5 trillion won ($3.8 billion) for mergers and acquisitions of pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, through which it aims to boost new drug development capabilities. The company also plans to build its fourth manufacturing plant in the US.