"Removing 'Shackles' of Working Hours and Locations"... Diverse Flexible Work Options Supporting Childcare [K Population Strategy]

(9) Usable On-Site in Various Forms
From Flexible Working Hours to Remote Work

Editor's NoteThe key to solving South Korea's population problem lies within companies. A workplace culture that evaluates employees based on their work regardless of gender and a family-friendly environment are crucial to addressing the K-population issue. Although low birth rates are influenced by multiple factors, it is important to ensure that workplace burdens do not become obstacles that make people hesitate to have children. Asia Economy visits companies leading family-friendly policies to identify the factors that helped these systems take root steadily, and plans to explore various solutions with companies that lack practical conditions. Through this, we encourage change starting from companies and analyze the government's role in enabling this. We listen to voices emphasizing that company culture and atmosphere, which reduce psychological burdens more than financial support, are key, and present alternatives from various perspectives.

"Removing 'Shackles' of Working Hours and Locations"... Diverse Flexible Work Options Supporting Childcare [K Population Strategy]

The 'flexible work system,' which allows flexible adjustment of working hours and locations, can be utilized in various forms on the ground. Since flexible work systems are implemented in diverse ways?from staggered working hours to telecommuting?it is important to select and combine systems optimized for the industry and tasks and apply them appropriately in the workplace.

According to Statistics Korea's '2023 August Economic Activity Population Survey Supplementary Survey on Types of Employment,' the flexible work systems mainly classified domestically include five types: ▲shortened working hours system ▲staggered working hours system ▲selective working hours system ▲telecommuting and remote work system ▲flexible working hours system. Currently, 3.27 million wage workers in South Korea use these flexible work systems, as of last year. In terms of proportion, fewer than 2 out of 10 wage workers use them. This means that most workers still commute to the office or workplace at fixed times.

The most widely used flexible work system in South Korea is the staggered working hours system. Among wage workers using flexible work systems, 33% utilize the staggered working hours system. Also called the 'autonomous commuting system,' it maintains the standard working hours?usually 8 hours per day?while allowing individuals to adjust their commuting times according to their lifestyle.

Jin Gwang-il, a working dad at the SME Motion, was able to take his two sons to daycare before going to work because his company set the commuting time window from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., utilizing the staggered working hours system. (Related article: “We were DINKs, but I wanted to become a dad”… Companies practicing childcare change families [K-Population Strategy]) Large corporations like SK in 2014 and Samsung Electronics in 2015 first introduced this system, and it has since spread to SMEs, especially in the IT sector.

One flexible work form that often appears as part of work-family balance measures these days is telecommuting. Rather than full-time telecommuting where work is done entirely from home during working hours, the so-called 'hybrid work' combining office attendance is mainly used. This involves setting core working hours during the day to enable collaboration and requiring employees to come to the office on some of the five working days.

Fintech company Finda's 'Custom Work' can be seen as a combination of this hybrid work and another flexible work system, the selective working hours system. (Related article: "Taking a short break for childcare" This place became a working mom's paradise with customized work [K-Population Strategy]) The selective working hours system adjusts weekly or daily working hours within a settlement period of up to one month, ensuring that the average weekly working hours do not exceed 40 hours.

[Image source=Pixabay]

The shortened working hours system, which generally reduces the daily 8-hour working time during childcare periods, is also gaining attention. Since working parents find it difficult to secure time for childcare, this system gives them the option to reduce working hours. Recently, Seoul City announced a system allowing employees to reduce working hours by 2 hours daily without wage cuts for a period of 3 years and 10 months, covering pregnancy (10 months) and children aged 6 to 8, which attracted attention.

Additionally, the flexible working hours system, a type of flexible work system mainly used in factories, allows employees to work overtime when workload is heavy and reduce working hours when workload is light, adjusting the average weekly working hours to 52 hours during the period.