Samsung mandates that senior executives work six days a week to “navigate through the crisis”

Work more to counter commercial uncertainty: this is the credo of electronics manufacturer Samsung, which has established a six-day work week for all its senior executives. “Considering that the performance of our major units, including Samsung Electronics Co., did not meet expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day workweek for managers, to inject a sense of crisis and deploy every effort to overcome it”said one of the managers of the Samsung group.

Either Saturday or Sunday

In detail, senior executives at Samsung Electronics Co., particularly those in manufacturing-related and commercial divisions, will therefore work either on Saturday or Sunday, after the traditional five-day week. Executives of subsidiaries dedicated to the production of screens (Samsung Display), electronic components (Samsung Electro-Mechanics) and IT (Samsung SDS), are subject to the six-day week starting this week, revealed the April 18 Korea Economic Daily. Building construction and shipbuilding subsidiary managers are already working “voluntarily” six days a week since the beginning of the year.

This increase in working hours comes at a time when the firm is going through a difficult financial period. During the publication of the financial results of the 4^e quarter 2023, Samsung reported annual revenue down 14% compared to 2022. Worse still: during the first quarter of 2024, its operating profit fell 96% compared to the first quarter of 2023.

52 regulatory working hours in South Korea

The South Korean manufacturer, however, overtook Apple in the smartphone market in the first quarter. However, it shows a drop in the number of devices sold, with 400,000 fewer than last year. For now, sales of the new Galaxy S23 and S24 have apparently failed to compensate for the global drop in demand for semiconductors. The sharp depreciation of the Korean currency, the won, rising oil prices and rising borrowing costs are heightening economic uncertainty for the Seoul firm.

In South Korea, working time legislation is 40 hours per week, plus 12 potential hours of overtime. Last year, the South Korean government intended to increase the working week to 69 hours, after complaints from some companies about the difficulty in respecting the 52 hours. The project ultimately fell through, following numerous protests from young South Koreans regarding health and the balance between personal and professional life.

A profitable strategy?

During the debates on the increase in working hours, the Washington Post reported that in reality, many South Koreans worked more than 52 hours, especially in tech. “Working until 9 or 10 p.m. is normal for me, declared an employee of an LG subsidiary. So when I see headlines mentioning the 69-hour work week, I don't understand. I work long hours anyway.” In 2022, South Koreans worked on average 1,915 hours per year: a figure well above the OECD average, and 22% higher than working hours in France.

It remains to be seen whether the strategy proposed by Samsung will be beneficial to it, at a time when several European countries and companies have taken the opposite approach to the four-day week. Earlier this year, SK Group, which owns Samsung's semiconductor rival SK Hynix, announced it would reintroduce regular Saturday meetings for its chief executives.