Some 70% of South Korean firms telework due to pandemic

A survey found that over 43% of companies did not see their level of productivity affected by remote work.
By: | September 2, 2021
Topics: Employee Experience | Hybrid Working | Mobility | News | South Korea

About 68.5% of South Korean companies have been teleworking after the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a survey by the Korea Economic Research Institute.

The study, which surveyed 130 non-financial companies, found that over 46% of respondents experienced lower work efficiency as a result of teleworking, while 10.1% said that their productivity increased. Some 43.8% said that remote working did not change their level of productivity. 

Over 39% of businesses expect that business performance this year would be better than their performance pre-COVID-19, while 27.7% of firms expect the opposite. Some 33.1% said that there would be minimal difference. 

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To have a flexible labour market, over half of the respondents cited an improvement in the wage system as the most urgent task to work on. Some 40.8% highlighted having an easier dismissal process, followed by longer employment of non-regular workers (25.4%), hiring more dispatched workers in more sectors (22.3%) and the provision of peak wages regarding retirement age extension (19.2%), according to Business Korea.