[One Day 10,000 Steps One Day 1,000 Characters] Working While Resting... Where Are the Best Workation Spots?

Jaedam Media Co., Ltd., which operates in publishing including comics, implements flexible working hours for all employees, allows remote work for childcare reasons, and has a day off on the third Wednesday every other month. Notably, it has introduced a 4-night, 5-day workation (work+vacation) fully funded by the company each year. As work innovation has improved the working environment, the number of employees increased from 39 in 2021 to 59 in 2022, and 95 as of November 2023. Employees with children have more time to spend with their families, resulting in high satisfaction. With 4 nights and 5 days, one can work and rest anywhere in the country.

A customer is enjoying a workation in the business lounge of Hanwha Resort Jeju.
[Photo by Hanwha Resort]

Where do office workers consider the best places for workation? According to a survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry from October to November with 1,112 office workers, the preferred workation destinations were Jeju (32%), Gangwon (20%), Seoul (19%), Busan (14%), and Gyeonggi (6%). When asked about preferred types of workation, 74.9% chose the ‘resort type (regional stay type)’ where they work in vacation spots like mountains or beaches and relax after work, 21.2% preferred the ‘urban type’ enjoying hotel amenities in the city, and 3.5% opted for the ‘rural and traditional experience type’ combining various rural activities. Regarding the ideal duration for workation, ‘1?2 weeks’ (49.8%) was the most common response, followed by ‘less than 1 week’ (21.9%), ‘3?4 weeks’ (21.0%), and ‘5 weeks or more’ (7.3%). An office worker A who did a workation in Jeju said, "Before trying it, I was worried about concentration on work, but staying by the seaside, enjoying beautiful scenery and healing, and working intensively when needed actually improved my work efficiency. Workation allowed me to legitimately catch two rabbits: work and recharging."

Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor Oh Young-hoon held the '2023 Jeju Workation Briefing in Seoul' on September 5th in Myeongdong, Seoul.
[Photo by Jeju]

The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, through 16 private office facilities operating the private workation voucher support program, found that 9,760 people, including employees of companies outside the province, used the facilities this year. The private workation voucher program supports up to 520,000 KRW per person for office use (including accommodation) and leisure program fees when employees of companies outside the province use private office facilities in Jeju. It was identified that various occupational groups, including companies like HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daesang Wellife, Naver Cloud Corporation, national institutions such as the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, and freelancers, participated in workations in Jeju.

On November 21, Jeju Island and the Korea Metropolitan Cultural Foundation Association signed a business agreement to promote cultural and artistic exchange.
[Photo by Jeju]

Jeju Province, encouraged by the positive response from companies outside the province to the private workation voucher program launched this year, aims to attract 20,000 users next year. The plan is to expand and develop the program to induce economic vitality by linking corporate attraction through expanding corporate networks, revitalizing the private workation industry, and stimulating consumption in surrounding local businesses. Cooperation with organizations such as the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) will also be strengthened to increase participation in Jeju workations by small and medium-sized enterprises located in the metropolitan area.