Samsung Semiconductor, piloting four-day working system

According to Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics is trialling a flexible work schedule that allows employees to work a four-day work week once a month as long as they meet the monthly prescribed working hours.

The decision by South Korea's largest employer, with more than 121,000 workers as of December, is drawing attention for how it will affect other companies benchmarked against Samsung Electronics and threaten to reignite debate over the work week on the political stage.

The chipmaker's quasi-four-day work week will begin on the Friday of the payday week starting June 23, according to industry sources. Samsung salaries are usually paid on the 21st of each month.

Employees on the production line are divided into four eight-hour shifts but will still work regular shifts.

All other employees at Samsung Electronics, including those in the Device Solutions Group responsible for semiconductors and the Device Experience Group responsible for smartphones and consumer electronics, are entitled to optional flexibility as long as they meet the minimum work requirement of 160 to 168 hours. sex.

The flexible four-day work week was agreed upon by labor and management during wage negotiations held in April. The company's management reportedly proposed a partial four-day work week as a morale boost, and worker representatives nodded in agreement.

"Our job is to bring in good talent and form a flexible culture that enables the organization to adapt to changes," Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong told company executives at a leadership seminar last June.

Samsung's chipmaker rival SK Hynix has been operating a similar partial four-day system since April last year, allowing its employees to take the third Friday of the month off if they worked more than 80 hours in the previous two weeks.

Major Korean IT companies such as Viva Republica in 2021 and Woowa Brothers in 2022 have adopted full or flexible workweek systems in an effort to promote a healthy work-life balance and reduce office population density during the pandemic.

A spokesperson for Samsung Electronics described the new initiative as a measure to provide breaks for those working during set working hours.

However, the new work schedule is a far cry from the hotly debated four-day week.

Yoon Suk Yeol's government faced a backlash after announcing plans in March to make the 52-hour workweek system more flexible. Reducing working hours was a 2022 presidential campaign promise of then-presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung and Shim Sang-jung. Democratic Party floor leader Park Kwang-an said the main opposition party would "boldly move towards a 4.5-all-day work week" at a party meeting in May.

South Korea's attempts to ease its heavy labor burden date back to July 2004, when the six-day work week was reduced to five. Nearly two decades later, the four-day work week movement is gaining momentum in South Korea as workers demand working hours comparable to global standards.

According to data released by the OECD in March, South Koreans work 3.2 hours more per week than full-time workers in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members, who averaged about 37 hours per week in 2021. South Koreans work about five hours more than workers in the G7 countries.

Younger generations are more vocal about reducing working hours, while older generations and the self-employed are opposed to such changes.

In a 2021 Hankook Research survey on the four-day workday, 73% and 70% of respondents in their 20s and 30s respectively said they supported a shorter work week. By comparison, 65% of those over 60 and 61% of the self-employed were opposed.

Of the 1,000 people surveyed in total by the research firm, 51% said they were in favor of the change, but 64% said they would not choose to work fewer hours if their pay was reduced as a result.

Four out of every 10 Samsung Electronics employees are under 40 years old.

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