Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Job Foundation announced on July 15 that they have selected an additional 47 companies through the second round of recruitment for the "2025 Gyeonggi 4.5-Day Workweek Pilot Project."
Gyeonggi Province explained that, as 105 companies applied for the initial recruitment, which aimed to select 50 companies, there was significant interest from businesses, leading to the decision to conduct a second round of recruitment.
The province expanded the eligibility to include mid-sized enterprises, allowing companies of more diverse industries and sizes to participate. Through this, the representativeness of the working hours reduction policy experiment and its data foundation have been further strengthened.
A total of 54 companies applied for the second round, and among them, 47 companies were selected as pilot companies for the 4.5-day workweek.
By company size, the selected companies include: 25 companies with 10 to fewer than 30 employees; 19 companies with 30 to fewer than 100 employees; and 3 companies with 100 or more employees.
By industry, the selected companies include: 22 in manufacturing; 12 in wholesale and retail; 9 in services; 3 in information and communications; and 1 in professional, scientific, and technical services.
The core goal of this pilot project is for companies to realize work-life balance and create a healthy working environment by reducing working hours through voluntary labor-management agreements without wage reductions.
The selected companies will receive a wage compensation incentive of up to 260,000 KRW per month per worker. In addition, each company will be eligible for support funds of up to 20 million KRW, which can be used for business process improvement, process consulting, and the establishment of attendance management systems, among other benefits.
As the new government has pledged to introduce the 4.5-day workweek, this pilot project in Gyeonggi Province is expected to serve as a catalyst for the expansion of the system and as a key stage for verifying its effectiveness.
Choi Honggyu, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Labor Bureau, stated, "We are grateful for the high level of interest and active participation shown by companies in the second round of recruitment," and added, "We hope this will contribute to improving workers' work-life balance and enhancing corporate competitiveness."
Gyeonggi Province plans to continue identifying industrial sectors in need of working hours reduction and will carry out ongoing recruitment and selection to systematically measure the outcomes of the 4.5-day workweek.
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