South Korean steelmaker POSCO is adopting a four-day work week every other week. Photo courtesy of POSCO
In a country notorious for long working hours, more and more South Korean companies are adopting a four-day work week.
Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO announced Friday it would introduce a four-day work week on a bi-weekly basis for its office staff beginning next week. Advertisement
The new plan, however, requires POSCO employees to still work the same number of hours as they would in a five-day week.
Basically, they would work an hour more for nine working days from Monday to the next Thursday then have a day off on Friday.
Other Korean companies have offered similar scheduling options.
In 2022, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker SK hynix began allowing workers to take a Friday off each month, with its rival Samsung Electronics doing the same in 2023.
Other Korean firms like Kakao and CJ ENM run a similar program.
South Korean businesses used to be able to work their employees up to 68 hours a week, but that was reduced to 52 hours in 2018 – 40 basic work hours, plus a maximum 12 hours in overtime. The country’s maximum weekly work hours are still long compared to other advanced economies. Advertisement
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data, South Korean employees worked an average of 1,901 hours in 2022, the fifth-highest among the member countries.
This compares to 1,341 hours in Germany, 1,532 hours in the United Kingdom, 1,607 hours in Japan and 1,811 hours in the United States. The OECD average was 1,752 hours.
“Korea’s younger generation is more keen about work-life balance. To retain top talent, more and more Korean companies will have to brace for a four-day work week, at least partially,” consultancy Leaders’ Index CEO Park Ju-gun told UPI News Korea
