By Lee Han-soo
Government officials in Youngcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, will start clocking out hours earlier than before on Friday at noon every month.
For the first time across city governments in Korea, the city will implement the early leave system for public servants on June 16.
"I plan to help my wife with house chores and spend quality time with my children," said a city official who will be leaving early on Friday.
The early leave will be shared by three to four teams in rotation, with each team enjoying the perk every month.
The remaining working hours on Fridays will be filled throughout the week by workers starting early or working late.
With the early leave plus weekend, workers can enjoy a mini-vacation every month.
"The system aims to encourage strongly the reconciliation of work and family, revitalize domestic demands and resolve low birthrates," said Youngcheon Mayor Kim Young-suk.
"We also ban officials from working overtime."
Youngcheon also designated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as "Family Love Day" and recommended employees to respect regular working hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m..
The new system is seen as a step towards President Moon Jae-in's new labor policy.
Moon pledged to make it mandatory for workers to use their 15 days of annual paid holidays and also to expand days-off to 20.
"With enough vacation use, Korea could experience a 20 trillion won ($18 billion) ripple effect and boost its national competitiveness," then-candidate Moon said on Facebook on May 4.
"I will also increase the number of annual holidays to 20 and improve the labor system to enable people to enjoy at least a two-week summer vacation."
South Korea has long been disgraced with the second-highest average working hours among the OECD's 34 member states.
Company employees and self-employed Koreans worked 2,124 hours on average last year, the second-most after Mexico with 2,228 hours.
Every year, Koreans work 354 hours more than the OECD average of 1,770. This translates to 6.8 more hours each week.
Government officials in Youngcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, will start clocking out hours earlier than before on Friday at noon every month.
For the first time across city governments in Korea, the city will implement the early leave system for public servants on June 16.
"I plan to help my wife with house chores and spend quality time with my children," said a city official who will be leaving early on Friday.
The early leave will be shared by three to four teams in rotation, with each team enjoying the perk every month.
The remaining working hours on Fridays will be filled throughout the week by workers starting early or working late.
With the early leave plus weekend, workers can enjoy a mini-vacation every month.
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"The system aims to encourage strongly the reconciliation of work and family, revitalize domestic demands and resolve low birthrates," said Youngcheon Mayor Kim Young-suk.
"We also ban officials from working overtime."
Youngcheon also designated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as "Family Love Day" and recommended employees to respect regular working hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m..
The new system is seen as a step towards President Moon Jae-in's new labor policy.
Moon pledged to make it mandatory for workers to use their 15 days of annual paid holidays and also to expand days-off to 20.
"With enough vacation use, Korea could experience a 20 trillion won ($18 billion) ripple effect and boost its national competitiveness," then-candidate Moon said on Facebook on May 4.
"I will also increase the number of annual holidays to 20 and improve the labor system to enable people to enjoy at least a two-week summer vacation."
South Korea has long been disgraced with the second-highest average working hours among the OECD's 34 member states.
Company employees and self-employed Koreans worked 2,124 hours on average last year, the second-most after Mexico with 2,228 hours.
Every year, Koreans work 354 hours more than the OECD average of 1,770. This translates to 6.8 more hours each week.
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