70% of Koreans seek work-rest balance in life
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Seven out of 10 Koreans prefer work-life balance over money. / Courtesy of Nielson Korea
By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo
Seven out of 10 Koreans are willing to work less and be paid less if this helps improve their quality of life, a survey showed Monday.
This reflects people’s increasing pursuit of a balanced lifestyle in work and rest, even at the cost of reduced pay. South Korea is well known for its notoriously long working hours.
Research firm Nielsen Korea recently surveyed 1,000 people aged 19-70 about work-and-life balance from Nov. 13 to 20.
The results of the survey ― which was carried out from Nov. 13-20 ― were released on Monday.
They show that 75.5 percent of the respondents are willing to work for a company that offers a lower salary if it enables them to enjoy a balance between work and life, rather than a company that provides a high salary for a high workload.
A total of 73.3 percent of respondents said that flextime was necessary for work-life balance.
There were slight differences between male and female respondents ― 78.5 percent of females said flextime was necessary while 68.3 percent of males said so.
While 69.7 percent of males chose work-life balance over money, 81.6 percent of females supported the idea.
Asked about the efficiency of flextime, 62.7 percent selected positive options while 30.3 percent selected “not sure.”
“A lot more people than we predicted seemed to put value in work-life balance rather than money,” said Neilson Korea executive director Choi Won-seok.