South Koreans have been known to be workaholics and at times, for good reason. We look into the South Korean working environment in 2024 and whether it has changed to a more flexible work-life balance.
Coming from the UK and receiving 30 days of annual leave per year, and a full-time working week of 37.5 hours, now I look back at it, seems like a blessing. New Zealand and some other European countries have introduced a 4-day working week, and Australia has a laid-back working culture. These countries are all at the top of their game, so to hear that Korea has around 15 days annual leave per year and a tiring 52-hour work week minimum seems like a step backward to me, and this is before the proposed but failed bid to make it a 69 hour work week earlier in the year.
Just 50 years ago, South Korea was not like we know today. It was a poor country with many citizens being unable to buy food or farm on the land giving its citizens the drive to work longer and harder. However, in 2024, much of that has changed with many young Koreans being wealthy and Korea promoting their culture (Hallyu) or big firms such as Samsung and LG paving the way in the electronic market.
The Korean work culture shows many Koreans not working a 9 AM -5 PM job, but instead a 9 AM - 9 PM job and even then receiving messages from their employers outside of work hours or having the mandatory work dinners. So where is the work-life balance here?
Sadly the work-life balance — or rather the lack of it — has been the subject of heated debate after the government recently proposed raising the maximum weekly working hours from 52 to 69. In early March, South Korea’s labor minister laid out the framework for this plan, which has been under review since last year. "Raising the cap on overtime would provide employees with greater flexibility", he claimed. The government has also said raising maximum work hours was meant to allow seasonal workers — such as delivery drivers, factory workers, and builders, to legally work and earn more when they’re most in demand, and take more time off during off-seasons. This sounded much better than it actually would be, and as a result failed.
Despite a general shift towards a better work-life balance, employees in South Korea find themselves working longer hours than in other countries. It has been proven in other countries that working smarter, not harder, and taking more rest days, or flexible working hours, increases productivity and happier staff. Could this be why many young Koreans are not having babies? Could this be why many Koreans are looking to move overseas?
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Let us know what you think the perfect work-life balance is in the comments below.
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