SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, hereinafter referred to as “SKT”) today announced that it officially opened innovative workspaces called ‘Sphere’ in three different locations in the Seoul Metropolitan Area – Sindorim, Ilsan and Bundang.
Created in line with SKT’s ‘Work From Anywhere (WFA)’ policy, Spheres are designed to maximize employee convenience and work efficiency by promoting a smarter and more flexible working environment.
As near-to-home workspaces, Spheres dramatically reduce employees’ commuting distance and time. It has been found through the company’s survey that the employees who work at SKT offices located within the Seoul Metropolitan Area spent a total of 3,969 hours commuting per day, and their total commuting distance was 118,737 kilometers.
SKT also applied diverse cutting-edge technologies to innovate employees’ experience at Spheres.
Employees can use facial recognition technology to access Spheres, and choose their desks. Using the Sphere App, employees can reserve their seats ahead of time. Employees don’t have to bring their PCs to work anymore. All seats at Spheres have a tablet that connects to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), which uses facial recognition to deploy all of the features on their PCs.
Spheres have a variety room types to best support different work and meetings. They offer meeting rooms for one person to meet the growing demand for face-to-face meetings. Oculus Quest (HMD), which supports communication in virtual space, is available in some rooms. The launch of the HMD version (Ifland) will allow employees to hold meetings in the metaverse during the second half.
Sphere provided both safety and convenience using 5G, IoT or quantum cryptography. It uses 5G in-building solutions which support ultra-fast speeds with ultra-low latency. Additionally, it provides enhanced security by combining VPN technology and quantum cryptography for first time in Korea.
Sphere also contains IoT sensors, which collect data related to the work environment. This data includes temperature, humidity and fine dust concentration, CO2 level, hazardous substance and illuminance, and AI technology uses these data to maintain a work environment that is optimal.
SKT believes that Spheres will help increase employee happiness by providing workspaces that meet their needs. SKT has selected the locations and designs for Spheres based on the residences and work characteristics of its 4,300 employees in Seoul Metropolitan Area. The company is planning to create more Spheres in different locations.
Furthermore, Sphere embodies SKT’s ESG management policy. The company plans to reduce social costs associated with commutes such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and traffic congestion by opening near-to-home office locations.
SKT also added diverse environmentally-friendly elements to Sphere. Spheres’ walls and furniture are made from upcycled textile waste. These offices also have intelligent cameras that turn off lights when there is no one present. Spheres in Sindorim, Bundang and other locations are currently working towards LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
In July 2022, SKT is planning to open a Sphere with a concept of ‘Work + Vacation’ at the Walkerhill Hotel located in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, and employees of SK ICT affiliates will also be able to use this Sphere.
“We expect Sphere to become a cradle for innovation by improving employees’ work efficiency and level of happiness,” said Ryu Young-sang, CEO of SKT. “We will continue to enhance our corporate culture to create an optimal work environment that supports employees to achieve greater goals.”