On the 21st, it became known that the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which is pushing to introduce a 4.5-day workweek, is also reviewing ways to increase workers' vacation time. Ideas include expanding the number of annual leave days that typically increase by one day every two years, allowing the carryover of annual leave and letting workers split annual leave into hourly units. Office workers are split in their reactions.
◇ "If you use 3 days of annual leave, do you go to work an hour late for a month?"
The reason the government is reviewing ways to work less is because it believes "our workers work far longer than those abroad." A national agenda item of the Lee Jae-myung administration includes a plan to "shorten Korea's annual actual working hours to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average." To do that, hours must be cut by 129 a year. As of last year, Korea's annual actual working hours per worker were 1,865, compared with the OECD average of 1,736.
The Labor Ministry is said to be reviewing ways to use vacations to reduce working hours. Measures include increasing paid leave and introducing an "annual leave savings system" that lets workers bank unused leave from this year to use the following year. For example, an eighth-year office worker with 18 days of annual leave could attach a week of saved leave from last year and potentially take a full month off.
The government is also pushing to introduce "hourly annual leave." Typically, office workers use annual leave in "one-day units." In shorter cases, they take a half-day in the morning or afternoon. If hourly annual leave is introduced, someone who worked 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. could, for example, work only 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. Based on an eight-hour workday, using three days of annual leave would let them arrive one hour late for an entire month.
However, most of these measures require legal revisions. Under the Labor Standards Act, paid leave expires if not used within a year. After one year of employment, employees are granted 15 days of paid leave, and after that, one more day is added every two years. Hourly annual leave is permissible under current law, but it is said to be difficult to operate in actual workplaces. It is implemented only at some large companies, including Samsung Group.
◇ "Improved quality of life" vs. "We can't even use the leave we have"
Office workers are generally positive about the possibility of more days off. A person surnamed Kim, an eighth-year office worker (33), said, "In terms of expanding options and flexibility for vacations, it seems the quality of life will improve." A person surnamed An, a sixth-year office worker at a large company (32), said, "Who would dislike being allowed to rest more?" adding, "Doesn't this mean we might not have to go to the office for one or two months?"
Some are skeptical about the government's proposals. A person surnamed Choi, an eighth-year office worker (33), said, "In a rigid corporate culture, annual leave savings or hourly leave will be out of the question," adding, "There must also be measures to encourage actual corporate use."
Some say it is a pipe dream for manufacturing or small and midsize companies. A person surnamed Park (58), who works at a manufacturing company in a provincial area, said, "The manufacturing economy is at the bottom, so there is no labor to do the work. Because there is no substitute labor, we already cannot use annual leave at will," adding, "It may be useful if big companies implement it, but for small companies it will be meaningless."