Since the youth unemployment rate has remained high during the last few years, Job Creation has become one of the greatest concerns in Korean society. The creation of new jobs would be the top priority of political parties in 2012. In order to create jobs, more factories should be built or the demand on service industries should expand. However, it seems difficult to create new jobs in this situation since the Korean economy is under uncertainty and global risk.
According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the total working hours of Korea in 2010 was 2,193 hours which was the highest level among OECD countries. On the other hand, the employment rate was about 63%, which remained in the lower rank. It clearly shows that Korean full-time employees work harder and longer. One may think what would happen if all employers decide to reduce the working hours of current workers and increase the number of new employees.
The government recently completed 'the 2012 plan for workplace flexibility in public institutions' which expands the work flexibility to all public institutions, keeping a standard 40-hour week. Basically, workplace flexibility is about when, where and how an employee works to better meet individual and business needs. This plan will provide several types of flexible working hours in the public sector workplace.
[Table-1] The types of workplace flexibility in public sector
|
Type |
Particular form |
Definition |
|
Part-time work |
Generally speaking, working fewer than the standard weekly hours. For example, two days per week, 10 days over four weeks. |
|
|
Flexible work |
Working the standard weekly hours, but changing working times or hours per day, or working days per week. |
|
|
Staggered working hours |
Altering the start and finish times of a working day, but maintaining the same number of hours worked per day; (for example, 8am to 5pm instead of 9am to 6pm). |
|
|
Flexible working hours |
Altering the working hours per day, but maintaining the same number of days worked per week; (for example, 9 hours worked from Monday to Thursday and 4 hours on Friday) |
|
|
Intensive work |
Condensing standard hours per week into fewer days; (for example, four days per week at ten hours per day). |
|
|
Discretionary work |
No duty to commute, but recognizes conducting projects as the standard weekly hours. (Since projects require professional knowledge or skills, work management or time allocation is given to the person in charge.) |
|
|
Remote working |
working away from the main office |
|
|
Working from home |
working at home |
|
|
Working remotely |
Working at a different office or at a client's workplace for some or all of working hours. |
|
The government also provided several action plans to encourage workplace flexibility in public institutions. First In 2012, a range of its application has been widening from public corporations and quasi-governmental institutions in 2011 to all public institutions, including non-classified public institutions.
Central and local governments already adopted a flexible work system on August 2010. Secondly, public institutions will have the responsibility of announcing quarterly status reports of workplace flexibility. It helps the government to estimate and manage the performance of public institutions in the business performance evaluation system.
Last, but most importantly, public institution should take actions for self-help to improve organizational culture and labor relations. For example, public institutions may provide more regular part-time positions or encourage seasonal staggered work for electric power saving. Consequentially, companies can save overtime premium payments and create new positions, which helps improving efficiency. Employers can also enjoy more leisure time for childcare or extracurricular activities. We can have our cake and eat it too!
