76% of Daegu Companies Have No Intention to Introduce 4.5-Day Workweek... Daegu Chamber Says "Support Needed for Adoption"

The Daegu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairwoman Park Yunkyung) announced on September 3 that it conducted a survey of 444 local companies regarding their perceptions of and the potential impact of introducing a 4.5-day workweek.

According to the survey results, 67.9% of respondents expressed a negative view toward the introduction of the 4.5-day workweek, while 32.1% were positive.

Daegu Chamber of Commerce and Industry

By industry, negative perceptions of the 4.5-day workweek were highest in manufacturing at 75.6%. In construction and distribution, negative perceptions also exceeded half, at 52.4% and 52.9% respectively.

Among the 171 companies that responded that the 4.5-day workweek would have a negative impact, the most cited reason was "decline in productivity" at 42.7%. This was followed by "additional labor cost burden" at 23.4%, "difficulties in workforce management" at 14.6%, "limitations in industry-specific application" at 11.7%, and "difficulties in responding to customers" at 5.8%.

On the other hand, among the 81 companies that responded the 4.5-day workweek would have a positive impact, the most cited reason was "improvement in work-life balance" at 49.4%. This was followed by "increase in employee satisfaction" at 37.0% and "enhanced work immersion" at 13.6%.

Meanwhile, 76.2% of respondents said they "have no intention to introduce" the 4.5-day workweek, while only 23.0% said they "intend to introduce" it, indicating that most local companies still consider it premature. Only 0.8% responded that they had "already introduced and are implementing" the system.

Among the 58 companies that said they "intend to introduce" the 4.5-day workweek, 34.5% selected "within one year" as the appropriate timing for introduction. This was followed by "within two years" (25.9%), "within six months" (15.5%), "within three years" (13.8%), and "after three years" (10.3%).

The factor expected to have the greatest impact on business management when introducing the 4.5-day workweek was "labor costs" (32.8%), followed by "delivery deadlines" (25.9%), "productivity" (20.7%), and "workforce management" (20.7%).

Regarding the most necessary government or local government support measures for introducing the 4.5-day workweek (multiple responses allowed), "subsidies to compensate for reduced wages due to shorter working hours" accounted for 50.1%. This was followed by "tax benefits" (31.5%), "consulting for improving work processes and procedures" (8.5%), "providing information related to introduction" (6.1%), and "support for establishing attendance management systems" (3.1%).

Lee Sanggil, Executive Vice Chairman of the Daegu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, emphasized, "For the 4.5-day workweek to take root, substantial support measures such as wage compensation and tax incentives at the government level must accompany innovation in corporate productivity. It is necessary to establish a system that can maintain corporate competitiveness while achieving both work and life balance."

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