Hanil Hyundai Cement announced on the 15th that it will introduce a biweekly four-day workweek starting in August.
Following Hanil Cement’s introduction of a biweekly four-day workweek in April last year, its affiliate Hanil Hyundai Cement has also joined this initiative.
The biweekly four-day workweek will apply to the cement manufacturing plants of Hanil Hyundai Cement, specifically at the Yeongwol and Samgok plants. Employees will work 10 days over two weeks, with 8 of those days requiring an additional hour of work each day, taking Fridays off every other week. However, production workers will maintain their current shift work system.
Since the beginning of this year, Hanil Hyundai Cement has collected opinions from its employees during a trial operation period. According to a representative from Hanil Hyundai Cement, employee satisfaction was high, and positive evaluations regarding work efficiency led to the official adoption of the system.
Hanil Cement, which previously adopted the biweekly four-day workweek, has experienced improved employee welfare. The child-rearing environment for employees with young children has improved, and job satisfaction among new employees, who place importance on accessibility to major cities, has also increased.
According to the recent '2024 Sustainability Management Report' published by Hanil Holdings, employee preference for the biweekly four-day workweek was reported as 88% positive and 12% negative. The most frequently mentioned positive effects of the system included 'improved work-life balance' (63 responses), 'increased personal time' (48 responses), 'enhanced work focus' (29 responses), and 'improved job capability' (19 responses).
A representative from the Hanil Cement Human Resources team said, 'The impact of the biweekly four-day workweek has also improved the application rate for job seekers,' adding, 'More than twice as many applicants applied for this year’s new employee recruitment compared to last year.'
He continued, 'This is unusual in the manufacturing industry, and inquiries from government department officials have followed.'