[Infectious Disease Lifestyle Vaccine③] Rest When You Are Sick

Rest for Us, Not Just Me

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] # The Korean branch of the US pharmaceutical company MSD implemented remote work for all employees starting February 3. This was immediately after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Korea. The decision was made proactively before the social necessity for remote work was raised. During the remote work period, tasks were conducted via the company messenger, and meetings were replaced by conference calls. After about two months, remote work shifted to a system where departments designated specific days to come to the office starting from the 6th, aiming to minimize in-office contact and ensure employee safety.

# The foreign logistics company D also adopted remote work as a principle for field departments such as sales from late February when confirmed cases surged, allowing only minimal staff to come to the office. To reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection via public transportation during commuting, work start times were delayed by one hour and end times were moved up by one hour.

The COVID-19 crisis is acting as a significant turning point for corporate work systems. As the 'social distancing' strategy has become common knowledge for effectively preventing the spread of infectious diseases, companies face social demands to adopt 'remote work' and 'online communication' methods. Moreover, after adopting these work methods for over a month, the prevailing evaluation is that 'there was almost no disruption to work,' which seems to have created incentives for companies to flexibly utilize remote work.

According to a survey conducted last month by the job matching platform Saramin targeting 1,089 companies on their 'willingness to implement remote work to prevent the spread of COVID-19,' two out of five companies (40.5%) responded that they are already implementing or planning to implement remote work. Previously, remote work was considered taboo due to concerns about work efficiency, but the COVID-19 crisis made it an unavoidable option. It has now become a testing ground for establishing a new standard of living.

In our society, the concept that 'a diligent student attends school regularly even when sick' was widespread. Thus, perfect attendance awards were a measure of diligence. In the workplace, being sick often led to criticism such as 'you can't manage yourself' or 'are you the only one struggling?' when requesting sick leave for a cold. However, as social distancing was recognized as the key to COVID-19 prevention, we have learned the lesson that reducing social contact is important during infectious disease outbreaks.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to cause a 180-degree shift in previous social attitudes. This is thanks to the recognition that coming to work (or school) while sick during annual cold or flu seasons is both discourteous and anti-community behavior. For example, Amazon in the US provides paid sick leave instead of annual leave to employees with colds, reflecting the concept that 'resting is beneficial for the company.' European countries including Sweden allow flexible work arrangements such as remote work not only for sick leave but also for childcare reasons, emphasizing performance over where and how many hours one works. Professor Choi Hang-seop of the Department of Sociology at Kookmin University said, "As society gains experience that flexible work does not harm work efficiency, we expect major changes in unnecessary offline work environments in the future," adding, "With the increase in dual-income households, flexible work can also help improve the reduced bonding between children and parents."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.