South Korea bottoms global ranking for remote work, study reveals

South Korea ranks at the bottom globally when it comes to remote work – and new research suggests the implications go beyond corporate culture, reaching deep into the nation’s demographic challenges and social wellbeing.

A survey led by Stanford University found that South Koreans work from home an average of just 0.5 days per week, the lowest among 40 major countries studied. In contrast, Canada topped the list with 1.9 days, followed by the UK (1.8 days) and the US (1.6 days). Even regional neighbours like Japan (0.7 days) and China (0.6 days) edged slightly ahead.

The study, which surveyed 16,000 college graduates worldwide, pointed to cultural differences as a key factor. Researchers cited South Korea’s collectivist workplace norms, hierarchical corporate structures, and emphasis on in-person supervision as barriers to more widespread adoption of remote work.

“In more individualistic societies, managers tend to grant more autonomy and trust to their employees, which makes remote work arrangements more common and accepted,” the Stanford research team explained.

These deeply embedded norms are now having broader social consequences. A separate study published by Dr Jung Sung-mi of the Korean Women’s Development Institute highlights how a lack of flexible work arrangements is making it harder for families in South Korea to thrive – or even form in the first place.

The study revealed that only 21.9% of women in South Korea and 17.9% of men with children under six enjoy flexible work arrangements, such as remote work or adjustable hours, compared to over 60% of women and nearly 58% of men in the European Union (EU). The gap is especially wide in smaller organisations: in firms with fewer than 10 employees, just 13.5% of employees in South Korea have access to flexible systems, compared to 45% in the EU.

READ MORE: South Korea faces looming labour shortage

Moreover, flexible work in this context extends beyond just remote options. It includes the ability to set one’s own start and end times or work reduced hours – forms of autonomy that are exceedingly rare in South Korea. Over 80% of full-time employees in South Korea say their schedules are fully dictated by their employers, nearly 20 percentage points above the European average.

The rigidity is taking a toll. South Korea’s birthrate hit a record low of 0.72 in 2023, and researchers argue that the lack of flexibility for working parents is a key reason why Dr Jung’s study found that the freedom to control one’s schedule had a stronger impact on family planning decisions than traditional incentives like cash subsidies or child benefits.

“In a society where time has become a luxury for working families,” Dr Jung said, “policies that return control over time to employees may do more to raise birthrates than any financial subsidy ever could.”

But there is also a potential silver lining, and it is economic. Organisations in South Korea that introduced flexible systems in 2021 saw an average 3.6% increase in employment, with small organisations seeing gains as high as 6.3%. These numbers suggest that flexibility is not just good for families but also for organisations, especially in a tight labour market, reported The Korea Herald.