In a country notorious for its long working hours, South Korea is slowly embracing a more balanced approach to work and life. Go Kyoung-min, a 34-year-old nurse at Severance Hospital in Seoul, is one of the beneficiaries of this shift.

After opting into the hospital’s four-day workweek program, Go was able to spend more time with her twin daughters and improve her work-life balance. “I work in the pancreatobiliary ward, where many patients face critical situations.

This makes the workload heavier. With a four-day workweek, I feel I can take more time to listen to patients and care for them with greater responsibility,” Go said.

The four-day workweek program, introduced by Severance Hospital in 2023, allows employees to take three days off per week in exchange for a 10 percent reduction in salary.

The program has shown promising results, with turnover among participating nurses with less than three years’ experience falling from 19.5 percent to 7 percent. Average sick leave per employee also decreased by one day during the trial.

South Korea’s major conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics, SK Group, and Kakao, have also started experimenting with more flexible work arrangements.

Lee Jae-ho, a 42-year-old father of two who works at sports and health technology company Kakao VX, benefits from a program that allows him to get one Friday off each month and work 1.5 hours less on the remaining Fridays.

“When I have a Friday off or shorter hours, I adjust my schedule in advance, so the reduced workdays have little impact on productivity,” Lee said. “I have more time to have dinner with my family, recharge, and pursue my hobbies and growth.”

The push to reform South Korea’s work culture has gained momentum since the election of left-leaning President Lee Jae-myung in June.

During his campaign, Lee pledged to cut working hours below the OECD average by 2030 and introduce a four-and-a-half-day workweek. “We have competed more on quantity than on quality,” Lee said at a July news conference.

While the shift towards a better work-life balance is promising, some experts and business leaders have expressed concerns about the potential impact on productivity and disparities in the labor market.

Kwon Young-sik, director of human resources at Yonsei University Health System, noted that permanently shifting to a four-day workweek would cost about 100 million won ($720) per ward in labor costs alone.

Park Nam-gyoo, a business professor at Seoul National University, said he would be concerned about productivity and global competitiveness if a four-and-a-half-day workweek became the norm.

Despite these concerns, workers like Go and Lee hope that more people can experience the benefits they have enjoyed.

“Just as the five-day workweek was initially met with concern but eventually settled in, a four-day workweek is expected to gradually bring positive changes to society,” Lee said.

As South Korea continues to experiment with new work arrangements, it remains to be seen whether this shift will become a permanent fixture in the country’s work culture.