Extra Monthly Holiday
Samsung Electronics, Korea’s largest company with 120,000 full-time employees, will implement a four-day workweek once a month. As more and more companies are already implementing it or pushing for its introduction, it remains to be seen if this partial four-day workweek system will spread across the Korean business world.
According to a report on June 15, Samsung Electronics will implement a four-day workweek once a month by introducing a mid-month holiday system from this month. Accordingly, employees will not have to go to work on Friday of the week that falls on the 21st day of a month, the mid-month holiday, if they fulfill the required number of hours of work (160-168 hours) each month.
If that day falls on an existing holiday, the mid-month holiday will take effect on the Friday of the previous week. The Friday holiday will be named Development Day for employees at the Device Experience (DX) Division and Family Day for those at the DS Division in charge of the semiconductor business. Samsung Electronics’ labor and management agreed to the change through a labor-management council meeting in April and decided to introduce the partial four-day workweek system in June after consultation.
Samsung’s competitor in the semiconductor business, SK hynix, has been operating what it calls a Happy Friday Program since March 2022, also taking off the third Friday of every month. Other SK Group companies, such as SK Inc. and SK telecom, have also implemented a partial four-day workweek system.
CJ ENM has also been running a de facto four-day workweek system since February. On two Fridays a month, CJ ENM employees do not go to work and do leisure activities outside. Kakao also operates a partial four-day workweek system under the name of Recovery Day, which is a day off on the last Friday of every month.
The spread of the partial four-day workweek system has been fueled by the fact that work-life balance is becoming a big trend across industries. Companies that have already implemented a partial four-day workweek system report high levels of satisfaction among their employees and the partial four-day workweek system gives them an advantage in attracting people of talent.
In fact, four companies that have adopted the partial four-day workweek system are included in the top 10 most popular companies that college students want to work for released by Recruit the day before. Samsung Electronics is in first place, Kakao is in second, CJ ENM is in sixth, and SK hynix is in seventh place.
However, many employers are cautious about the full-scale spread of the partial four-day workweek system. They point out that each company has different work situations so it may be necessary to utilize systems such as flexible and/or shortened work systems rather than unconditionally introducing a four-day workweek.
Major LG affiliates such as LG Electronics, LG Innotek, and LG Household and Health Care have implemented a flexible work system that allows employees to choose their own working hours. “There are no discussions about introducing the four-day workweek system at the group level yet,” an LG official said.
At Kia, currently in the midst of labor-management wage and collective bargaining, the labor union is demanding the introduction of a four-day workweek system, but management is reluctant.