Samsung will give its employees Friday off once a month as the South Korean chipmaker joins other companies in embracing the four-day work week, according to reports.
Beginning next week, full-time staffers in the company’s corporate offices in South Korea will be able to take the Friday off on the week they receive paychecks, Bloomberg News reported.
Samsung’s move comes in the wake of local rival SK Hynix Inc’s new policy of allowing workers who log more than 40 hours per week to take one Friday off each month.
Samsung employs 268,000 workers worldwide — half of whom are based in South Korea.
South Korean employees are some of the most overworked in the world, according to statistics.
Local companies such as Kakao Corp. have given employees more flexibility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote work allowed for greater balance between career and personal lives.
The concept of working four days a week is gaining popularity, particularly in the wake of international studies showing greater employee satisfaction and productivity.
In 2022, dozens of UK-based companies adopted a four-day schedule as part of a half-year-long pilot program.
Revenue at the participating firms jumped by 35% during the six-month trials compared to the same period one year earlier, data from the study showed.
The companies also noted upticks in hiring and decreases in employee absences and turnover.
Employees at participating firms also reported major improvements to their well-being — with 71% noting a decrease in feelings of burnout, 39% saying they felt less stressed than before the trial and 40% indicating a decrease in difficulty sleeping.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
