Key Points
- South Korea's government wants to increase the legal cap on weekly working hours from 52 to 69.
- Proponents say it will enhance workplace flexibility but not everyone is convinced.
- It comes as the idea of a four-day workweek gains steam in some parts of the world, including Australia.
The idea of shorter workweeks might be gaining steam in some parts of the world, but seemingly not in South Korea.
The country's government is seeking to pass reforms allowing workers to work up to 69 hours a week, and while that might sound counter-intuitive to increased work-life balance, the government insists it will enhance it, although not everyone is convinced.
So what exactly is the plan, and is there anything Australia can learn from it?
How would the plan work?
South Korea's laws allow a 52-hour workweek — 40 hours of regular work plus 12 hours of overtime.
That legislation was passed in 2018 under then-president Moon Jae-in in a bid to ensure people had "a life with breaks".
The proposal would allow employers and workers to agree on whether to count overtime by the week, with 12 hours allowed; the month, with 52 hours allowed; the quarter, with 140 hours allowed; a half year, with 250 hours; or a full year, with 440 hours of overtime allowed.
For counting periods of a month or longer, up to 29 hours a week of overtime would be allowed, for a total of 69 work hours in one week.
The plan would allow for more hours to be worked during periods with heavier workloads, and fewer during quieter periods, d.
What do proponents say?
There is a need for new laws because those currently in place aren't fit for purpose, South Korea's Labour Minister Lee Jung-sik has previously said.
He has claimed that under the existing system, there might be cases of employers falsifying overtime records in order to avoid penalties, leaving some staff without overtime pay, .
The proposal also comes amid growing concerns over the country’s falling birth rates.
South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world — 0.78 in 2022.
The government says allowing workers to accrue more hours in return for time off later will mean people who want to take longer breaks - such as parents or caregivers - will be able to do so.
“We’ll introduce bold measures to help cut working hours during pregnancy or while raising children,” Mr Lee told a media briefing on Thursday when asked whether the labour reform proposal will help tackle South Korea's fertility crisis.
The move has been welcomed by the country’s major business lobbying groups, including the Korea Enterprise Federation, which said it would give more flexibility to companies and workers.
What do critics say?
The most recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data shows that South Koreans averaged 1,915 hours of work in 2021 — the fifth-highest total.
That's 221 more hours than workers in Australia (which ranked 20th); 124 more than the United States (which ranked 12), and 199 more than the OECD average.
Unpublished OECD data also found that 18 per cent of South Koreans worked more than 50 hours a week, .
South Korea's Opposition and trade unions believe the reforms would do little to improve workers' rights.
"It will make it legal to work from 9am to midnight for five days in a row. There is no regard for workers' health and rest," the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a recent statement.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party with a parliamentary majority, took aim at the reforms in a message a colleague read out to a Federation of Korean Trade Unions event on Friday.
"In the eye of the government, workers are not members of the country, but the subject of exploitation," Mr Lee said, according to the .
"I wonder if the government wants people to die working by expanding the working week to 69 hours."
Mr Lee also said last week that his party would block the bill.
Is there anything Australia can learn from this proposal?
Australia's National Employment Standards set the maximum weekly hours of work at 38, although some awards and agreements may allow for averaging over a period of up to 26 hours.
Unlike South Korea, Australia does not have overtime caps. Employers are allowed to ask employees to work , which is typically paid at a higher rate or banked as time off in lieu. Workers can refuse to work overtime if they believe it is unreasonable.
Last week, that the 38-hour work week be reviewed, and called for the federal government to launch a four-day work week trial based on the "100:80:100" model, where workers keep their entire salary and maintain full productivity despite working 80 per cent of the week.
It's these ideas that should be considered over extending working hours, according to Dr Kristy Goodwin, a digital performance researcher, speaker, and author.
"When we ask people to work really long hours, we're working against our neurobiology," Dr Goodwin said.
"The part of our brain that does all the heavy lifting, our prefrontal cortex... can only function for about four to six hours each day. That doesn't mean you can only work for that amount of time each day, but we only have at best a six-hour maximum capacity to do the cognitively challenging work."
She is supportive of , which she believes "lends itself to the notion of how we are biologically designed to work optimally" and has also been beneficial for some businesses.
While the South Korean government says workers will be allowed to use their accrued overtime to take longer breaks, there is a risk this may not work as planned, according to Anya Johnson, an associate professor at the University of Sydney's business school.
"A lot of the recovery literature says it's just as important to manage short breaks regularly as it is to take one long break," Associate Professor Johnson said.
"And there is some research that suggests that when you give people the opportunity to take time off in lieu because of the overtime you've built up, people don't take it because of the anxiety around the amount of work that they will have to face when they come back or the pressure that they put on other people."
- With additional reporting by Reuters.
