More Play, Less Toil Is a Stressful Shift For Some Koreans
Move to a Five-Day Workweek Affects Families, Finances;
Job for 'Leisure Counselor' [WSJ]
By LINA YOON
August 10, 2006; Page A1
SEOUL, South Korea -- Jun In Kyung is one unhappy housewife.
Her husband's employer just started giving him two Saturdays off a month. The 36-year-old wrestling teacher's new schedule, though, means Ms. Jun has to spend more of her time cooking and doing extra housework. Plus, she grumbles, after staying out late with his buddies on Friday nights, her husband sleeps a lot on Saturdays -- cramping their two children's indoor playtime.
"Home is supposed to be women's space and I don't like it when he spends more time in my space," says Ms. Jun, also 36. "It's like an invasion."
[Kim Jeong Hyun]
Ms. Jun isn't the only one here with weekend woes. South Korea began phasing in the five-day workweek two years ago. And even though they are paid the same wages to work fewer hours, many Koreans are still unsettled by the prospect of having more free time.
Son Jae Ho, a director at an English language children's magazine, spends two to three hours each week on the Internet researching museums hours, restaurants, sports lessons -- and frets about how to pay for all this new Saturday fun.
The whole thing "gives me stress" sighs Mr. Son, a 42-year-old who is married with two young sons.
Even two full years after having his hours cut, Kim Jeong Hyun, a 45-year-old marketing executive at Samsung Everland Inc., operator of the country's biggest amusement park, is still struggling to amuse himself on Saturdays.
A longer weekend is "something I could have never imagined," says Mr. Kim. He says he is learning how to use his extra leisure time and now feels "less uncomfortable" when he goes cycling or heads to the countryside with his family. But, he confesses, "I still come to the office a couple of Saturdays a month."
To help ease the free-time burden, the Korea Culture & Tourism Policy Institute is making available yeoga kwallisa, or leisure counselors, "to teach people to seize their time," says Yoon So Young, a chief researcher at the institute. "It is something that needs to be learned."
The five-day workweek is spreading across Asia as many countries grow more prosperous, allowing them to pay more attention to social development. The trend is especially catching on in the civil service, where governments can more easily regulate work hours. Like their counterparts elsewhere in Asia, Korean officials say they are concerned about staff morale and quality of life -- as well as productivity levels damped by tired workers.
Asian authorities are also eager to promote pro-family policies. Last month, for instance, Hong Kong started giving its civil servants Saturdays off, citing the need for quality family time as one reason. Some private businesses are following suit.
In Singapore, a move to a five-day week for civil servants -- something long resisted -- was one of several family-friendly measures unveiled in 2004 to address the city-state's relatively low birth rate. "I think we need a better work-life balance," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the time. Otherwise, he asked, "How to have children?"
[Families in South Korea are learning to adjust to a five-day workweek. Pictured from left are Jun In Kyung, her son Jang Jung Hyuk, daughter Jang Eun Sol, and husband Jang Duk Jae.]
Families in South Korea are learning to adjust to a five-day workweek. Pictured from left are Jun In Kyung, her son Jang Jung Hyuk, daughter Jang Eun Sol, and husband Jang Duk Jae.
Large companies in Korea introduced the five-day week in 2004. Smaller companies like Mr. Son's are preparing to phase in a shorter workweek by giving employees two Saturdays off per month. Mr. Son's company started in March last year. By mid-2011, companies of all sizes must have implemented a five-day week.
In a survey by the Korea Culture & Tourism Policy Institute published in late June, 63% of respondents said they worry about "the economic burden" all the leisure time is imposing on them.
Meanwhile, sales have gone up for things such as theater tickets and TV sets. Business at local sauna complexes known as jimjilbangs has jumped. Travel agents report an increase in domestic trips, and outbound tourism has spiked to destinations such as the Philippines and Thailand.
Some businesses have set up "leisure clubs" that offer activities like cultural excursions and weekend gardening sessions to help workers make the most of their time off.
Discount retailer Shinsegae Co., with 15,000 employees, is ahead of the curve. After internal surveys showed employees wanted to commune with nature and their families, but didn't know how, Shinsegae created a special program. Today, employees can apply to participate with their families in a company farm program. Together, they cultivate such things as eggplant and Chinese cabbage for kimchi, the national dish, which is donated to the needy, says Lim Sang Hoon, an executive in charge of the program. From an initial 42 families, the program has swelled to 104.
The shorter week has come as a particular shock to older members of Korea's predominantly male work force. Mr. Kim, for instance, grew up listening to official nation-building propaganda songs with lyrics like "Let's wake up early in the morning, work hard and make a good town." School books of the day hammered home such lessons as: "I was born for reviving and rehabilitating our nation."
For Koreans in their mid-forties and older, "feeling guilty, staying long hours, and not knowing how to rest is part of the legacy of Gen. Park Chung Hee," says Park Tae Gyun, a Korean-studies professor at Seoul National University. The dictator ran South Korea during nearly two decades of rapid industrialization until his assassination in 1979.
Not everyone is having trouble adjusting. Mr. Kim's 39-year-old colleague, Lee Sang Cheon, has embraced the extra days off. Now, Mr. Lee says, he has time to take Japanese lessons, practice golf and go on weekend outings with his wife and two young daughters. "I love this: being with my family and friends near the beach and being able to relax," he says, laughing while his little daughter crawls over him at a seaside restaurant on a weekend jaunt.
Mr. Lee estimates the family's leisure spending has climbed 50% to about $3,100 a year -- but he doesn't mind. His wife, Lim Geum Sook, 37, usually picks their activities and says she is happy with the five-day week.
Some fear that less motivated types may turn the country into a nation of couch potatoes. "The culture of leisure is young in Korea and we are in a very early stage of its development," says Ms. Yoon of the Culture & Tourism Policy Institute. "So there are still a lot of people who just walk around their neighborhoods, just rest or watch TV at home." |
