Flexible Work Hours

[Anchor Lead]

A flexible work system in which workers choose the hours they work is emerging in corporate Korea. This choose-your-own-hours program is designed to benefit those workers who need time off or more flexible schedules for pregnancy and childcare.

[Pkg]

These employees at the Incheon International Airport's check-in desks are choosing their own work hours.

[Soundbite] (Employee Working Flexible Hours) : "I'm going to leave at 1PM today. I plan to pick up my child and take a class at the cultural center."

The company explained that since the introduction of the flexible working hours program, the employment rate of women with interrupted careers has risen, and overtime and turnover rates have declined. The number of companies that have instituted this program has increased from roughly 300 in 2013 to over 4,500 last year. The number of employees under the system has also grown from about 1,300 to more than 11,000.

[Soundbite] Tak Hyeon-jeong(Employee Working Flexible Hours) : "I thought if I chose this program, I would be able to take care of my child without quitting my job."

[Soundbite] Bae Jae-wook(Husband of a Worker on Flexible Hours Program) : "I'm relieved that my wife can take time off and return to work under the package program."

[Soundbite] Park Geun-hye(President) : "Women suspend their careers for childbirth and childcare and have difficulty returning to work. Our objective is to never let that happen in Korea."

President Park Geun-hye said that the government is looking into ways to raise the labor cost subsidies given to private companies in order to foster the flexible schedule program.