Most South Korean workers cannot adopt flexible work arrangements
- Claire Lee
- Topics: Flexible Work, Home Page - News, News, South Korea
Despite the growth of flexible working arrangements, most South Korean workers still cannot afford to take advantage of such arrangements, according to data from Statistics Korea.
Analysis by the Federation of Korean Industries revealed that the number of workers adopting a flexible working arrangement totalled 3.53 million in August 2021, comprising 16.8% of the total workforce. Although the number of workers adopting a flexible working arrangement has been growing by 25.6% each year, the number of workers who want to work flexibly but cannot afford to do so is estimated at 7.48 million.
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Of this, 14.6% voiced out that they would like to have a selective work hour arrangement, 10.2% opted for a shortened work hour arrangement, and 9.1% wanted a staggered commute arrangement.
The rollout of flexible working arrangements differed according to the size of the companies. Some 42.6% of large firms with over 300 employees offered flexible working arrangements, as compared to 7.2% of small firms with fewer than 30 employees.
