The Two Faces of 'Office Free'

Major Domestic Conglomerates Experimenting with 4-Day Workweeks and Focused Work
Positive Responses to Work-Life Balance Amid Harsh Realities Like Wage Cuts

[Asia Economy reporters Changhwan Lee and Yoonjoo Hwang] The evaluations of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won differed somewhat after the long-term 'work from home' period implemented for social distancing. Chairman Shin, who traveled between Japan and Korea, including a period of 'self-quarantine,' positively evaluated the approximately two months of work-from-home and video conference experience as "surprisingly efficient." On the other hand, Chairman Chey said, "I came to understand the feelings of working moms," and personally experienced that there are preemptive issues to solve, such as the difficulty of balancing childcare and work when the work style changes. Although the rapid growth of ICT has made remote work and work-from-home physically feasible, companies have concluded that ensuring efficiency in terms of performance and organizational management remains a challenge.

According to the business community on the 3rd, major domestic companies are conducting various experiments to find appropriate work styles in the 'post-COVID-19' era. Samsung Electronics recently allowed some employees to work a temporary four-day workweek. This concept allows employees to take one day off without coming to work all five days, provided they complete the full 40-hour workweek. This is to accommodate employees who feel the burden of childcare due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

LG Display is in labor-management negotiations to change the production worker shift system from the existing 4-team 3-shift system to a 5-team 3-shift system. Changing from 4-team 3-shift to 5-team 3-shift is effectively regarded as introducing a four-day workweek. Although wages decrease with the 5-team 3-shift system, leisure time increases, making it one of the work styles widely adopted by companies in developed countries.

SK Hynix is reviewing improvements to the core time system, which refers to the hours during the day when office workers must be present. However, conflicts have arisen between the 40-hour workweek system and core time, and the company is currently considering system improvements. SK Innovation has also started an experiment where some departments come to the office one week per month and work from home for the remaining three weeks. During the test period, the first week involves concentrated work in the office, and for the following three weeks, supervisors do not intervene in the choice of work location as a principle. SK Chemicals and SK Gas have also been experimenting with a flexible work system for two weeks since the end of last month.

Although companies have introduced various changes to work styles after the COVID-19 crisis, their intentions are complex. The biggest concern is the various side effects that may arise from changes in work styles, as organizational management becomes more difficult. Most office workers are actively accepting changes in work styles from the perspectives of infection prevention and work-life balance realization. However, there are also concerns that a 'harsh era' where only work performance is evaluated will arrive. A team leader at a major domestic company said, "It's a really scary system," adding, "Obligations cannot be forced, but leaders must bear all the responsibility."

Reduced physical interaction among team members leads to fewer opportunities to learn work, and in industries or departments where work-from-home is impossible due to the nature of the work, relative deprivation may be felt, which is another issue to be resolved. Another official said, "In fact, work hours are being reduced because of decreased workload, but it is well packaged as work-life balance realization," adding, "Young people may like the four-day workweek for now, but the harsh reality is that wages also decrease when working hours are reduced."

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