Nonghyup Bank Leads the Way in Shorter Working Hours
Plans to Implement One-Hour Early Leave on Fridays Within the First Quarter of Next Year
NH Nonghyup Bank is moving forward with plans to implement a system that allows employees to leave work one hour early every Friday, aiming to introduce it within the first quarter of next year.
According to the financial industry on December 22, the labor union of the NH Nonghyup branch recently reached an agreement with management to implement the system of leaving work one hour early every Friday within the first quarter of next year. This policy is expected to be applied across all affiliates, including Nonghyup Bank, Nonghyup Financial Group, and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation.
Industry experts predict that the introduction of a 4.5-day workweek will spread, starting with Nonghyup. The banking sector was also the first among all industries to implement the five-day workweek back in 2002.
Previously, in October, the National Financial Industry Labor Union and the Financial Industry Employers’ Association agreed to make joint efforts to implement one-hour shorter working hours on Fridays and to introduce a 4.5-day workweek. Since then, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, a state-run bank, took the lead in introducing shorter working hours. Recently, Industrial Bank of Korea decided to implement a system that allows employees to leave work one hour early every Wednesday and Friday, starting next year.
The discussion on introducing a 4.5-day workweek is expected to expand throughout the commercial banking sector. Currently, the labor unions of KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank have included the proposal for one-hour shorter working hours on Fridays as an agenda item for labor-management negotiations and are actively discussing it.
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