Work–life balance in South Korea

South Korea has been a society that could not guarantee work–life balance historically and legally. But work–life balance in South Korea advanced when emerged as a neologism, changing the perception of people's work and their basic rights. There are two major movements: improving law and improving people's perceptions.

Work life-balance in Korea

(워라밸), or work–life balance, is a newly coined Korean term that has emerged as the tendency to value quality of life rather than annual salary increases. Rather than getting a high salary from a good company, he feels happy to enjoy his life with proper working hours and salaries. Recently, the so-called "life with evening", which is described as "work and life balance", has become a basic human value. Warabel, which is favored by young people these days, has as much to gain as to lose. While you can get a communal life, such as family conversations, child care issues and family happiness, you have to give up much of your personal needs, such as salary and promotion at work. For an ideal world called Warabal to be realized, both welfare and basic income, the basic condition of human life, must be resolved.[1]

Labor history of South Korea and the recognition process of Warabal

Through economic development in the 1960s, Korean society shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one. In the 1970s, export-oriented heavy and chemical industrialization achieved considerable growth. But this was a low-paying, long-time system, centered on labor-intensive industries.[2] In other words, Warabal was not only not made in South Korean society, but it was also not recognized.

After Jeon Tae-il died in Cheonggye Plaza on November 13, 1970, shouting, "We are not machines" and "Follow the Labor Standards Act," the peace market was ordered to abide by the Labor Standards Act and the dream of forming a labor union was realized. The words 'we are not machines' prompted Jeon to reconsider who we are and think about the human rights of workers who are not protected by the law as well as workers.[3] This incident was the beginning of South Korea's Warabal.

In today's Korean society, Warabal is a satisfactory state of life that properly distributes energy and time to work and daily life, drawing a lot of attention from office workers. But still, in Korean society, Warabal is incomplete. This is a natural response that Korean society, which has been struggling with growth, has come up with after suffering low growth and job insecurity.[4]

South Korean laws and policies regarding labor

These changes can also be confirmed in the 2017 social survey results. The number of respondents who said families took precedence over work increased from 11.9 percent in 2015 to 13.9 percent in 2017, while those who said work was a priority dropped from 53.7 percent in 2015 to 43.1 percent in 2017.[9]

It is expected that the shorter working hours will improve the quality of life for workers with the aim of not only creating new jobs but also realizing Warabal, which means work-life balance. However, not everyone is welcoming the reduction of working hours, which values Warabal. Many companies are concerned about labor shortages, rising labor costs, worsening profitability and falling competitiveness due to shorter working hours.[10]

But recently, companies have been conducting in-house campaigns to implement warabels. LS Mirae Institute each conducted "Family Happiness Camp – Camp with Dad," a two-day warbal program involving employees and primary and secondary school children. The Family Happiness Camp is a program where all family members, including fathers, mothers and children, participate in, coaching each other on childcare and education, writing letters to each other, making crafts, enhancing family intimacy and building harmony.[11]

See also

• Work–life balance in Germany
• Work–life balance in the United States