Seoul, South Korea – Go Kyoung-min, 34, a nurse at Severance Hospital in Seoul, discovered a brand new sense of steadiness in her life in the course of the first half of this 12 months.
Because the mom of dual daughters born in 2021, Go typically felt responsible about not spending sufficient time together with her kids due to work.
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However after opting into the four-day workweek supplied by her office, Go was capable of spend extra time together with her household, attending daycare occasions she had beforehand missed and relying much less on her in-laws for childcare.
Severance is the primary hospital in South Korea to trial a four-day workweek, aiming to enhance the work-life steadiness of its employees.
Beneath this system, launched in 2023 following an settlement between labour and administration, some hospital workers are allowed to take three days off per week in change for a ten % discount in wage.
Employees take turns collaborating in six-month rotations, after which they return to a five-day week.
This system seems to have improved nurses’ well being and wellbeing, enhanced the standard of medical providers, boosted organisational effectivity, and lowered turnover charges, the Korea Employee Institute-Union Middle mentioned in a report in regards to the trial launched final month.
In accordance with the report, turnover amongst collaborating nurses with lower than three years’ expertise fell from 19.5 % to 7 %.
Common sick depart per worker additionally fell by sooner or later in the course of the trial, whereas it elevated by 0.7 days in wards on five-day weeks.
Go mentioned the four-day workweek not solely improved her work-life steadiness however helped her be extra centered and kinder to her sufferers.
“I work within the pancreatobiliary ward, the place many sufferers face vital conditions. This makes the workload heavier. With a four-day workweek, I really feel I can take extra time to hearken to sufferers and look after them with larger accountability,” she advised Al Jazeera.
“My kids was once joyful when their grandparents picked them up from daycare, taking it with no consideration. However as soon as I did it extra typically, they anticipated me to be there.”
Go’s expertise is uncommon in South Korea, a rustic infamous for its lengthy working hours, the place staying late is commonly seen as a mark of a very good worker.
South Korean employees logged a median of 1,865 hours in 2024, in accordance with the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD), the sixth-highest amongst developed nations and properly above the OECD common of 1,736 hours.
They labored 248 hours greater than their counterparts in neighbouring Japan.
Whereas lengthy workdays are nonetheless the norm, shorter work preparations are step by step spreading within the non-public sector.
Some corporations, notably IT corporations and startups, have been experimenting with four-day or four-and-a-half-day workweeks for a number of years.
South Korea’s main conglomerates have additionally proven curiosity in additional versatile work preparations, with Samsung Electronics, SK Group, and Kakao introducing programmes providing workers periodic breaks of a full or half-day.
Lee Jae-ho, 42, a father of two who works at sports activities and well being know-how firm Kakao VX, has benefitted from one such program, getting one Friday off every month and dealing 1.5 hours much less on the remaining Fridays.
Lee mentioned working fewer days doesn’t essentially cut back effectivity.
“When I’ve a Friday off or shorter hours, I regulate my schedule prematurely, so the lowered workdays have little influence on productiveness,” Lee advised Al Jazeera.
“I’ve extra time to have dinner with my household, recharge, and pursue my hobbies and development.”
The push to reform South Korea’s work tradition has gained momentum because the election of left-leaning President Lee Jae-myung in June.
Throughout his marketing campaign, Lee pledged to chop working hours beneath the OECD common by 2030 and introduce a four-and-a-half-day workweek.
At a July information convention, Lee reiterated that South Koreans wanted to work much less, suggesting {that a} system of lengthy hours with low productiveness was unsustainable.
“We have now competed extra on amount than on high quality,” Lee mentioned.
Cafe24, South Korea’s main e-commerce options supplier, applied a full four-day workweek in July, after beforehand providing employees each different Friday off, whereas sustaining workers’ salaries and total hours.
In June, Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, launched the nation’s first pilot challenge of a four-and-a-half-day workweek with out wage cuts amongst native governments, set to run till 2027.
The programme, operating till 2027, encourages small and midsize companies and public establishments within the province to experiment with lowered working hours by offering monetary assist to cowl the elevated labour prices.
Some specialists and enterprise leaders have expressed issues in regards to the strikes to chop the working week.
Kwon Younger-sik, director of human assets at Yonsei College Well being System, the guardian organisation of Severance, has mentioned completely shifting to a four-day workweek would price about 100 million gained ($720) per ward in labour prices alone.
“Over the previous three years, about 1.2 billion gained has been spent on labour prices,” Kwon mentioned final month at an occasion the place Severance’s labour union introduced the outcomes of the pilot programme.
On the identical occasion, Lee Kang-young, common director of Severance, mentioned institutional and monetary assist could be “completely essential” for a four-day workweek to be sustainable.
Park Nam-gyoo, a enterprise professor at Seoul Nationwide College, mentioned he could be involved about productiveness and disparities within the labour market if a four-and-a-half-day workweek grew to become the norm.
“South Korea is an export-led economic system. It faces an unsure future if it fails to stay aggressive globally,” Park advised Al Jazeera.
He mentioned the nation wanted to think about its low birthrate, sluggish economic system, and challenges to its world competitiveness.
However employees like Go and Lee hope extra individuals can expertise the advantages they’ve loved.
“There have been completely no drawbacks. The one draw back in my case was that, as it’s a pilot programme, just a few might take part, so I really feel sorry for my colleagues who couldn’t. Apart from that, it ran easily with none operational points,” Go mentioned.
“Simply because the five-day workweek was initially met with concern however ultimately settled in, a four-day workweek is predicted to step by step deliver optimistic modifications to society,” Lee mentioned.
