| Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong / Yonhap |
Major local conglomerates had differing opinions on Samsung Electronics' plan to implement a shorter workweek, according to market watchers, Tuesday.
The local IT titan with 120,000 regular workers said it will implement a four-day workweek once a month starting June 23. Employees will be able to take every fourth Friday off, coinciding with the issuance of their monthly paycheck.
Excluded are manufacturing production workers on 12-hour shifts, since manufacturing facilities must remain in operation around the clock.
The shorter workweek is part of the final terms agreed upon during a management-labor consultation in April.
SK said its affiliates have shortened their workweeks, long before Samsung made its decision.
“SK Holdings, SK hynix and SK Telecom have differing policies, but employees of SK affiliates are given a Friday off every two or four weeks,” an SK Group official said.
An industry official said Samsung's announcement is nothing new, since most large firms have adopted flexible working hours prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Making employees take a Friday off every month is to encourage them to finish work before that day comes, not about reducing the workload itself. It goes a long way in how to best to achieve work efficiency and productivity.”
Hyundai Motor said it has no plans to adopt a shorter workweek, since over 80 percent of its workers are in manufacturing.
“We have not discussed the issue, nor do we have plans to reduce work hours,” a Hyundai Motor official said.
Samsung's decision reflects the needs of young employees, most of whom place greater emphasis on work-life balance compared to their senior counterparts.
Data from Deloitte Group released in May showed that younger employees' work-life balance satisfaction increased in the years of the pandemic, mostly due to remote work.
In a survey of 20,000 young people in 44 countries, 34 percent said work-life balance increased in the first year of the pandemic, up 13 percentage points compared to responses in 2019.
About a third of the respondents said the most desirable qualities of competent employees are the ability to strike a balance between work and their private life.