The 33 Things JenniferSoft Asks Employees to Avoid

What JenniferSoft’s 33 Don’ts Say About Good Work

In January 2013, the SBS program The Conditions of Leadership introduced many Korean viewers to JenniferSoft. The software company, based in Paju’s Heyri Art Village, built its work culture around autonomy, trust and results. The approach was unusual enough in Korea at the time for people to call it the Korean Google.

The scenes on television were striking. Employees played guitar, swam or worked in a café during working hours. A seven-hour day and a 35-hour week, flexibility about coming into the office and the expectation that employees take family calls all invited a larger question about how a company should operate.

The company had set out the terms of that approach in writing. It called them 33 things employees shouldn’t do.

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Making the Don’ts Explicit

The rules spell out behavior that can make a colleague’s day harder. They give staff enough room to make choices while setting expectations for how those choices affect other people.

First, let people manage their time and where they work.

Don’t call to check where someone is or when they’ll come in. Keep after-hours calls to a minimum. Let people leave without having to read the room, and let them choose when to have lunch. Each small rule takes away one reason to feel watched.

Second, make room for a life outside the company.

A family call takes precedence over work, and the last rule tells people to put their lives first. Overtime carries no special status. There’s even a rule about taking time to eat. The company assumes people can keep doing good work when their days leave room for the rest of life.

Third, take the obligation out of workplace customs.

Team dinners, souvenirs from business trips and formal dress can all take time and energy when people feel obliged to go along. Letting people dress as themselves removes one small source of pressure to fit in.

JenniferSoft’s 33 Don’ts

1. When you call, skip the questions “Where are you?”, “What are you doing?” and “When will you be here?”
2. Don’t say you’ll call back because you’re in a meeting. A call from family comes before work.
3. Try to avoid calling colleagues outside work hours. Unless you’re calling to whisper sweet nothings!
4. Head home when it’s time. You don’t have to look around to see if anyone else is leaving.
5. Skip the group march to lunch at the same time every day. Eat what you want, when you want.
6. Don’t go out of your way to dress in a business suit. Wear something comfortable and make it your own.
7. Skip the chocolates on a business trip. Remembering to buy them is one more thing for someone to worry about.
8. Don’t make people come to team dinners. Those who want to go can go and enjoy themselves.
9. Don’t let other people run your life. It’s yours.
10. Don’t be afraid to fail. We get to take the chance. The head of the company takes responsibility.
11. Don’t do things halfway. Details matter.
12. Don’t do all your work in the office. Try working in a café sometimes.
13. Don’t stay late. Rest and time with the people we love give us strength.
14. Don’t work all the time. You can play once in a while.
15. Don’t sit silent through a meeting. Silence can sound like disagreement. Tell us what you think.
16. Don’t make fun of someone, even as a joke. You might laugh while the other person gets hurt.
17. Don’t drop into overly familiar speech with colleagues. Keep treating each other with respect.
18. Don’t get hung up on form. Pay attention to what matters.
19. Don’t quietly turn away from the conversation. Good ideas can come from talking things through together.
20. Don’t try to do it alone. It’s easier with help.
21. Don’t hesitate to say how you feel.
22. Don’t look away when a colleague is having a hard time. Listen and give them some comfort.
23. Don’t tell yourself you did it all. We did it together.
24. Don’t talk behind someone’s back. Look them in the eye and talk to them.
25. Don’t frown. Try a smile.
26. Leave the weeds alone. The company president can pull them.
27. Don’t compete with one another. Work together.
28. Don’t skip meals. Make time to eat.
29. Don’t put limits on what you could do. Keep an open mind.
30. Don’t force yourself through it. Find work you want to do and live a life that excites you.
31. Don’t neglect thinking and learning. The whole community has a part in that.
32. Don’t assume this is settled. Keep thinking it through.
33. Don’t sacrifice yourself for the company. Your life comes first.

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What Working Together Asks of People

The company gives individuals room to make decisions and expects a great deal of care in how they work together.

Speaking up in meetings, addressing someone directly and avoiding jokes at a colleague’s expense are practical ways to make it safer to talk. The rules about expressing feelings and paying attention to someone who’s struggling treat the relationship itself as part of how the work gets done.

There are expectations about the work, too. Pay attention to detail, ask for help and cooperate. The pledge that the person running the company will take responsibility for failure gives an employee room to try something without absorbing the entire cost alone.

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Autonomy Has to Be Designed

The 33 rules make it clear where employees need to spend their attention. They can get on with the work without constantly judging whether it’s acceptable to leave, whether to go to dinner or whether they can answer a call from home.

There are parallels with some Silicon Valley companies that give employees room to decide how they work while asking them to deliver. That kind of arrangement depends on people who can exercise judgment and take responsibility for the result.

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What the Culture Makes Possible

The conditions for good work show up in what colleagues and managers do every day. The latitude employees are given has to come with clear expectations about the work and how people treat one another.

Copying the visible perks would be easy. The harder part is building a workplace in which people can rely on the habits those 33 rules describe.

The company made room for better work by deciding which everyday demands people could do without. Its list is specific enough to make that decision visible in the way people spend a day.