South Korea: Hoesik BBQ, Karaoke Team Ritual

Hoesik BBQ, Karaoke Team Ritual, South Korea

Hoesik is a common Korean after-work dinner where people eat BBQ, share drinks, and sometimes sing karaoke in a noraebang (노래방). Samsung introduced a simple 119 rule: one place, one kind of drink, and home by 9 p.m., as a company-specific guideline. This can help keep the night safer and more inclusive when attendance is strictly voluntary, daytime or virtual alternatives of equal value are offered, and participation never affects performance evaluations. For organizations prioritizing cross-team collaboration, onboarding speed, and manager–employee trust, this kind of time-boxed gathering can be one tactic among others to support those goals when designed with guardrails. New international hires may adjust more quickly after a friendly, time-limited night, but equally accessible daytime or virtual versions should be offered.

Context: Korea’s Hoesik Tradition

In South Korea, hoesik (회식) literally means “eating together,” but in practice it is an after-work gathering—often barbecue, drinks, and sometimes karaoke—that many workplaces treat as an “extension of work.” By stepping outside the fluorescent-lit office into a shared meal with a brief status-levelling moment and a clear curfew, seniors and juniors can experience reduced status barriers, more self-disclosure, and more cross-level idea exchange. A classic hoesik may move through ilcha (1차, first round), icha (2차, second round), and samcha (3차, third round), but many groups now stop earlier. * *

Meet Samsung Electronics

Born in 1969 as the manufacturing arm of a family-run chaebol (재벌), Samsung Electronics now employs more than 265,000 people. Its Suwon headquarters, “Digital City”, runs on disciplined processes and steep hierarchy Monday to Friday. Management therefore prizes mechanisms that free communication channels, and while hoesik has served that role for decades, norms have shifted from pre-1997 all-night rounds through 2000s critiques to 2012 corporate rules, the 2018 52-hour cap, COVID-era declines, and younger workers’ push for lighter or alcohol-free gatherings. Yet Samsung also recognizes the downsides of Korea’s hard-drinking reputation and the risks of gapjil (갑질; abusive conduct), harassment, and coercive drinking, which modern policies aim to prevent. In 2012 it rolled out the “119 rule”: one venue, one type of alcohol, and a firm 9 p.m. curfew to curb excess and make the ritual sustainable. *

Hoesik Hangouts — Step-by-Step

Stage	Scene	Purpose
1차 (First round)	Pork-belly grill, soju & beer; manager pays	Break ice, share project wins & woes
2차 (Second round)	Craft-beer bar or pocha tent	Cross-team mingling, idea swaps
3차 (Third round)	Karaoke room (noraebang)	Bond through song, dissolve titles
귀가 (Head home)	Taxi stipends at 21:00 per “119 rule”	Safety, work-life balance

(Busy teams may stop after one round; inside Samsung the 119 guideline makes that socially acceptable, and multi-round hoesik remains common in some contexts.)

Why It Works — Trust Over Toasts

Shared food and toasting etiquette—such as seniors (sunbae, 선배) and juniors (hoobae, 후배) pouring for each other, turning one’s head to drink, and politely refusing when needed—signal respect and closeness without requiring alcohol. The informal setting can reduce perceived formality and let a new engineer joke with a VP who would be unreachable in the office, and drinking is never required or expected. Many Korean workplaces reference jeong (정; emotional affinity) as important for cohesion, alongside formal structures such as roles, contracts, and project plans. Finally, the 119 rule’s curfew supports well-being by signaling that the company values staff health and work-life balance.

Outcomes & Impact

According to internal manager reports, regular hoesik participation is associated with higher perceptions of psychological safety and faster cross-unit problem-solving, but these correlations are anecdotal and not causal. While some alumni fondly recall “those BBQ nights with my squad,” others emphasize risks such as drinking pressure, harassment, late-night safety, or caregiver conflicts, and media often frame the 119 rule as one firm’s modernization attempt rather than proof of universal change. Some recruiters report that international hires warm to Korean hierarchy more quickly after a friendly, time-boxed dinner, but avoid implying any link to retention without verified data and provide equal daytime or virtual alternatives. * *

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why It Matters	How to Translate
Shared table	Eating together sparks oxytocin & storytelling	Substitute pot-luck, picnic, or virtual lunch
Levelling moment	Titles pause, honesty rises	Rotate seating; buy the first round for everyone
Clear guardrails	Prevents burnout or exclusion	Set curfews, offer alcohol-free options
Cultural authenticity	Ritual sticks when rooted locally	Use BBQ in Texas, tapas in Spain, dim sum in Hong Kong
Manager as host	Signals care & gratitude	Budget a quarterly “coach’s dinner” picked up by leaders

Implementation Playbook

Choose cadence. Monthly or quarterly suits most knowledge teams.
Book inclusive venue. Accessible, plant-forward menus; private room for karaoke if desired.
Publish guidelines. Voluntary attendance, consumption limits, safe-ride policy.
Model behaviour. Leaders pour but never pressure; celebrate soft-drink toasts equally.
Capture insights. Quick next-day Slack thread: “Best ideas from last night’s hoesik?”

Common Pitfalls

Turning hoesik into mandatory fun breeds resentment; ignoring dietary or faith constraints alienates key talent. Keep the vibe invitational and flexible.

Reflection & Call to Action

Rituals that bind don’t have to happen inside office walls, but before hosting align with HR and Legal to classify the event for pay or comp time, apply the alcohol policy (for example, no shots and a sober host), document safe-ride and incident-reporting procedures, confirm accessibility standards, schedule with time-zone and prayer accommodations, train managers on zero-pressure norms, avoid mimicking unfamiliar honorific pouring rituals, partner with and fairly compensate Korean-owned venues or cultural advisors when relevant, and send a one-pager that ties purpose to current priorities, spells out opt-out and alternatives, and states the anonymous feedback method and a 30-60-day retention window. Run a 6-8 week pilot with two to three events across two to four teams and a comparable control group, keep the 9 p.m. curfew and alcohol-free parity, allow lunch-format alternatives, set success thresholds and stop rules before you begin, check local enablers (co-located teams and safe transport) and fragilizers (strict labor rules, high abstinence rates, caregiver burdens, and remote or shift work), and track a simple chain such as levelling plus belonging to help-seeking to cross-team tickets resolved per week with pre- and post-measures. Try pencilling a modest “one-round” team dinner or an on-the-clock lunch roundtable with a light agenda, make singing strictly opt-in with a parallel quiet table, highlight that the first round can be any beverage with zero-proof options reimbursed equally, open with a two-minute safety brief, rotate seating, use one structured cross-team prompt, keep leader speaking time under 20 percent, close by 20:55, explicitly state that opting out has no impact on performance or opportunities, and collect ideas in a general channel (for example, “Any ideas for X this week?”) via an optional anonymous form retained for 30-60 days.