"4 out of 10 SMEs Unprepared for the 52-Hour Workweek System"

Korea Federation of SMEs.

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Four out of ten small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have yet to prepare for the 52-hour workweek system.

On the 16th, the Korea Federation of SMEs conducted a survey of SMEs ahead of the end of the grace period for the 52-hour workweek system applied to workplaces with 50 to fewer than 300 employees. Among all SMEs that responded to the survey, 39% reported that they have not yet prepared for the 52-hour workweek system. In particular, among companies exceeding the 52-hour workweek (218 companies), 83.9% of SMEs were found to be unprepared for the 52-hour workweek system.

The main reason for not preparing for the 52-hour workweek system was the "cost burden due to additional hiring," accounting for 52.3%. This was followed by "difficulty in recruitment" (38.5%), "business deterioration due to the COVID-19 pandemic" (28.7%), and "lack of expertise and administrative capacity for system design" (24.1%).

Regarding the implementation of the 52-hour workweek system, 56.0% expressed the opinion that the grace period granted until the end of this year should be extended, while 44.0% said it was not necessary.

As for the appropriate extension period of the grace period, 40.7% responded "more than 2 years," followed by 39.3% for "more than 1 year," 12.1% for "more than 6 months," and 7.9% for "more than 1 year and 6 months."

Regarding whether expanding the unit period of the flexible working hours system to six months would resolve on-site difficulties caused by the 52-hour workweek system, 46.0% of all responding companies answered "mostly resolved."

The reasons why on-site difficulties caused by the 52-hour workweek system are not resolved even if the flexible working hours system is improved were led by "industries unsuitable for the introduction of the flexible working hours system," at 56.3%. This was followed by "the unit period or requirements of the flexible working hours system do not match reality" at 44.4%, and "although the flexible working hours system can be introduced, some workers find it difficult to utilize depending on the work type" at 31.1%.

To supplement on-site difficulties not resolved by improvements to the flexible working hours system, the system that needs to be improved was "unlimited expansion of the 8-hour additional extended work system to all SMEs," which accounted for 56.3%.

Lee Taehee, Head of the Smart Jobs Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "A considerable number of SMEs still have not completed preparations for the 52-hour workweek system due to cost burdens and labor shortages, and considering the special situation of the unexpected pandemic, an extension of the grace period is necessary," adding, "Since there are many cases where the flexible working hours system alone cannot resolve issues due to the nature of the work, systems that can complement blind spots in working hour reductions, such as additional extended work by labor-management agreement and selective working hours system, should be improved together."

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