Audience / Academic or Non-academic:
People who plan to get a job after graduation or who currently
have a job.
Non academic
Purpose: To explain that
overtime work decrease productivity and quality of life.
In Korea, people traditionally regarded night overtime
as a criterion of diligence. Workers tried to attract their boss’s attention through night time
work. There was usually no ‘Dinner or weekend with family’
It has been found that the work-life balance
of the Korean people is the lowest level in the OECD In 2012, each waged Korean employee worked for 2,092
hours, which was 420 hours more than the OECD average. The numbers were 1,765
for Japanese workers, and 1,334 for the Dutch. Meanwhile, the labor
productivity per working hour was US$30.4 as of the end of 2012, whereas the
OCED average was US$ 47.00
Labor productivity of OECD counturies
(measured in Korea)
There were some good points of long time work. It used to hold the company members together and make them feel a sense of belonging. Apart from the matter of productivity, the work culture of Korea contributed to deeper unity of organization, which played a big part in the fast development in 1970-80s.
As this graph shows,
as long work time continues
for many weeks,
the productivity is declining.
This video is telling that working more hours doesn't always mean producing more
Third, Relation with family is worsening because they
have less time to spend with them. The lack of conversation and unconcern for
family because of work can cause family discord.
Fourth, it becomes hard to maintain work life balance.
Everyone needs to keep the balance because that is closely related to the
quality of life and happiness. Valuable things such as spending time with
family and friends, doing self development or having meaningful conversation
are need as human being. As Korean workers cannot keep the balance, they have
one of the lowest degrees of happiness in OECD countries.
Second, What I want to emphasize is that the purpose of people’s working is not working itself. Workers and young applicants need to reconsider the ultimate objective of life.
In this video I prepared, a man says “If I start sacrificing my family, I start being
less human. I start being less of the person God called me to be. And I believe
I bring less of my real self to my role.(~)
That responsibility of holding onto my family has the place where I’m really
known for being who I am and being myself there ”
Koreans were proud of their diligence which lead to
the high speed growth but now they are agonize over the way to happiness. Many
1970, 80 generation people who had less conversation with their child, are now
confused of about their identity and role.
So I think we had better do reconsider our way of working and living.
This link is a writing about how overtime Hours Threaten Work-Life Balance
http://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/1274/overtime-hours-threaten-work-life-balance-
I obviously agree that fixed closing hour can raise the degree of concentration during work time.
답글삭제I think korean companies really need to change.
Your writhing shows one of biggest problems in South Korea. I also think that Korean companies's overwork is too inefficient. Korean must lower their job and find the real happiness!
답글삭제Your material says that even though the Koreans work 420 hours more than the average of OECD, the labor productivity is lower than that of OECD. This result is very uncomfortable because it means that work & life balance of Koreans are very low. I hope this problem to be solved as soon as possible. It was a good writing.
답글삭제Lately, many job seekers put working environment above annual salary. I agree that working more hour doesn't always mean producing more. Especially Korean companies should think about this issue seriously.
답글삭제I hope Korea decreases the working time and also increases the productivity. It is very important to spend more time with their families. I think every workers and students would agree to your opinion.
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