Don’t miss Anna Fifield’s superb reportage from South Korea - with accompanying slideshow - in which she looks at the employee training courses that use graphic simulations to demonstrate the finality of death.

The likes of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor send workers to Korea Life Consulting to show them the value of life and encourage them to question their priorities. The course includes mock burials - yes, attendees are actually shut into coffins temporarily - and will-readings. One aim is to discourage suicides, particularly prevalent in South Korea.

The piece left me wondering how many of the employees sent on these courses re-evaluate their priorities to the extent that they then quit their jobs. I guess it depends on the traditional internal battle between reinvention and inertia that occurs following most training courses.

Usually, the call to action articulated in a good training session - must lead team better, must lead more meaningful life - fades within a couple of days as the old ways of doing things reasserts itself.

That said, an inspirational PowerPoint slide is likely to be easier to forget than the sound of dirt being thrown on the lid of your coffin - with you inside.

July 22nd, 2008 in Human resources | Permalink