In an effort to keep talent that appreciates flexible work more and more, Samsung Electronics, the largest memory chip manufacturer in the world, is offering employees in South Korea one Friday off every month. This means once a month, Samsung is recommending a four-day workweek starting next week. Full-time, non-factory employees will be able to take the day off the week they receive their paychecks, which is typically the week of the 21st, starting the following week, said a business representative.
The additional leave is a result of a contract that the tech company and its union signed in April. The labor union apparently agreed to the plan after management requested the monthly day off first, according to the daily newspaper Korea Herald. According to local media, the decision by Samsung that year adopted a flexible workweek that allowed employees to take one day off each month if they worked more than 40 hours per week. Following the outbreak, several South Korean internet companies, including the well-known social network Kakao Corp., have also implemented more adaptable policies.
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This decision by Samsung, which employs around 268,000 workers worldwide, with roughly half of them based in South Korea, demonstrates how drastically the epidemic has altered workplace dynamics, even in a nation with a more traditional work environment. In 2021, a typical OECD member worked more than 200 hours; South Koreans are among the world’s hardest overworked people. The plan aims to keep talent, especially among younger employees who value work-life balance. According to a corporate report from 2022, millennials and Generation Z, those in their 30s and under, make up nearly three-quarters of Samsung’s workspace globally.
Some flexible adaptations of South Korean firms, according to the source Bloomberg, includes…
- SK Hynix – once a month employee can take off on Friday if works more than 40 hours a day
- Kakao Corp – off on the last friday of every month
- CJ ENM – two Fridays off for a month, 2nd and 4th week of a month.
