Overtime still seen as sign of diligence in South Korea

For 26-year-old office worker Lee Hye-ri, it seems like a far-fetched dream to exercise and enjoy her hobbies after work every day. It is quite difficult to imagine life outside her workplace as she works as late as 11pm.
The newcomer, who was employed by a state-run company last year, often works overtime and sometimes works at home on weekends. She dozes off on the bus while commuting and sleeps a lot on weekends to fight a chronic lack of sleep.
“It has become a habit to work overtime. I might be able to finish my job during working hours if I focus, but I just think to myself, ‘Let’s just work overtime,’” she told The Korea Herald.
“For workers, going back home in time is a special occasion and working late is part of everyday routine.” Lee is one of many South Korean workers who suffer from chronically long working hours in a society where overtime work is seen as a symbol of diligence.
According to a 2014 survey by the Labour Ministry on 1,300 workers on South Korea’s work culture, only 26.5 per cent of labourers left work on time five days a week. Among those who could not leave the office in time, 35.1 per cent cited the nature of their job as the reason behind their long working hours, followed by company culture taking overtime work for granted at 25.8 per cent and low productivity during working hours at 20.9 per cent.
Some 10 per cent of them could not leave work because they felt pressured, while 6.4 per cent cited a heavy workload.
South Koreans, including salaried employees, the self-employed and part-timers, worked 2,124 hours in 2014, the second-longest hours among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, according to OECD statistics. It is 354 hours longer than the average for OECD countries.
To root out the practice of working long hours in South Korea, Lee Chan-yeol of the Minjoo Party of Korea this week submitted a package of revisions to the existing labour acts to reduce working hours upon the opening of the 20th National Assembly.
The bill – dubbed the “kal-twegeun bill, referring to leaving on time from work – includes imposing financial penalties on companies who violate legally-mandated working hours and making it mandatory for companies to record when workers come to work and leave work.
“We welcome the symbolic bill. We expect the bill to tackle the prevalent overtime work culture in the country and create significantly more jobs,” said Lee Joon-young, spokesperson for the Federation of Korea Trade Unions.
“Once the bill is passed, it would take time for small and medium-sized companies to root out overtime work, but the bill will certainly affect larger companies and their employees.”
The long working hours cause health problems for labourers, and is linked to low labour productivity, an expert said.