• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.17.1-17.6
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• 2023

The current 52-hour workweek in South Korea consists of 40 hours of regular work and 12 hours of overtime. Although the average working hours in South Korea is declining, it is still 199 hours longer than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 1,716 hours per year. In view to this, the South Korean government has now proposed to reform the workweek, mainly intending to increase the workweek to 69 hours when the workload is heavy. This reform, by increasing the labor intensity due to long working hours, goes against the global trend of reducing work hours for a safe and healthy working environment. Long working hours can lead to increased cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, industrial accidents, mental health problems, and safety accidents due to lack of concentration. In conclusion, the Korean government's working hour reform plan can have a negative impact on workers' health, and therefore it should be thoroughly reviewed and modified.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.805-816
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• 2010

This study examined the affect of work environment and work-related stress on the mental health of employees. It further sought to provide insights into how employees' work environment and mental health might be improved. Results showed that the relationship between parents of work environment is related to the obsession, depression, working burden is related to the obsession, depression, concern. The lower parts of the relationship with parents and working burden effects every factors. Furthermore, levels of financial compensation and working stability also seemed to have adverse affects on mental health. Secondly, excessive working hours and duty trouble have lots of mutual relationship with the mental health. The lower parts of working stress: excess working hours, duty trouble, and imprecise responsibilities affects the mental health. Especially, the excessive working hours affected all nine parts of mental health level which were examined.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.149-168
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model from which to test the influence of family background and work experience on the level of rural high school students' (N=381) occupational aspirations. In the basic model, mother's occupation directly influenced occupational aspirations. Father's education influenced occupational aspirations directly and also indirectly through students' academic achievement. The number of working hours per week had a direct and negative influence on academic achievement. In a different path, working hours had an indirect positive influence on academic achievement through parents' different treatment which especially focused on the fact that parents gave students more freedom compared to the relationship they shared before the students began to work. Enjoying school, studying homework, and extra reading were influenced by students' number of working hours. Two variables, extra reading and job characteristics, predict the social acceptance work attitudes which are a direct predictor of occupational aspirations. Academic achievement had a greater total effect on the level of occupational aspirations than any other variables.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.603-609
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• 2018

It has been widely-reported that the quality of life in Korea is lower than that of the economic growth. In particular, construction managers are reported to have a lower quality of life compared to people in other job types due to the specific nature of the tasks they have to carry out. These include early work attendance time and fewer holidays. In this respect, the aim of this study is to analyse construction managers' requirements on work-life balance. The results showed that the working hours of construction managers were long and their leisure hours were shorter. The requirements for work-life balance were in the order of non-working time, working time, salary, and job security. The requirements by group showed a statistically significant difference in work hours. The requirements on the shortening of work hours were highest in the group of "section chiefs and deputy heads" and lowest in the group of "department heads" and up. It is hoped that the results of this study will be used as basic data for future government-level policy making and construction companies' business directions in relation to the improvement of workers' work-life balance.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.831-862
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• 2023

The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets among employees has recently forced organizations to proactively embrace bring your own device (BYOD). The situation of COVID-19 makes the concept of BYOD even paramount. Allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices to the workplace has helped companies realize productivity gains and cost benefits. However, BYOD has also blurred the boundaries between work and personal life, thereby creating a stressful environment for employees (Doargajudbur and Hosanoo, 2023). This study explores the relationships between several BYOD attributes and investigates the effects of these attributes on work-to-life conflict. It contributes by introducing workplace connectivity after hours as a new dimension of BYOD attribute to influence work-to-life conflict. Based on boundary theory, a theoretical model is developed and tested with an online survey. The results reveal that flexibility and workplace connectivity after hours positively influence productivity, and flexibility helps to relieve instead of increase work overload. Meanwhile, a higher level of flexibility and productivity can help reduce work-to-life conflict, and a higher level of work overload induces a higher level of work-to-life conflict.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.127-136
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• 2002

According to the Labor Standard Law in Japan which was enacted after World War II in 1947, all work hours for adult men, women, and youth were set at a maximum of eight hours per day and forty-eight hours per week. In other words, a six-day work week, with only one-day off, was set. Now we are in the full five-day and two-day off school system. The five-day school week influences on our home life. Students are highly enthused by the new system, in looking forward to their personal time they now have to play with friends, to relax, or just watch TV. To implement this new five-day school system positively and effectively, we should see the point at issue related to the two-day off system from a different angle, which suggests that we should see far ahead into the future.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.93-107
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• 2000

The excessive exposure to powered hand tools can cause damage to nerves, impair blood circulation, and musculoskeletal damage. The symptoms associated with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) include numbness, tingling, pain and subsequent reduced dexterity of the hands. This study was performed to report the prevalence of the HAVS and evaluate its related factors among the workers using powered hand tools. Total 282 workers in 11 plants of Kyungki and Inchon areas were examined. A standard symptom questionnaire was developed and administered to collect information on personal characteristics, work history, operating conditions, tool characteristics, and subjective symptoms of HAVS. Mean values (standard deviations) of the age, the duration of powered hand tools used, and the daily hours using powered hand tools were 38.3(8.9) years, 79.3(62.2) months and 6.0(2.6) hours, respectively. 132 workers(46.8%) showed vibration-induced white finger symptoms according to the Taylor-Pelmear classification, and 30 workers(10.6%) were interfered with the work. The results of a multiple logistic regression analysis controlling for age and daily working hours showed that smoking, work duration, weight of tools, and continuous work over 2 hours were significantly associated with the symptom of HAVS.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.61-75
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• 2007

This paper examines the intergenerational time transfers between married women and their co-residing elderly parents, and how they affect married women's labor force participation and work hour. The sample was drawn from the "2004 Time Use Survey" conducted by Korea National Statistical Office and the Heckman's 2-step model was estimated to examine these relationships. We find that women's caregiving time for their elderly parents reduces their likelihood of participating in the labor force. On the contrary, parental time transfers for married women increases the probability of their labor force participation. We find no evidence that the actual hours of paid work is related to the time transfers between married women and their elderly parents. In other words, after married women decide to participate in the labor force, their work hours are not affected by the time spent for parents and time gained from parents to them. Parental income is positively associated with the married women's labor force participation whereas husband's income is negatively related. The married women working in service occupation and earn salaries work longer hours than those employed as laborer and wage workers. Having older parents and owning the second home reduce working hours of married women.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.209-214
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• 2013

This study examined the work time, work posture, and work intensity for the actual measurement step in forest road the design work that was being carried out. The measurement of the forest road was being carried by a team of three workers and a team of four workers. The examination of work time found that the measurement of 1km took about 8 hours for the four-worker team and 12 hours for the three-worker team. The examination of work intensity found that the energy metabolic rates of the three-worker team were lower than four-worker team. Because their energy consumption per minute decreased as their work time and rest time increased. Furthermore, when appropriate rest time was applied according to work time, the energy metabolic rate decreased and the work intensity became lower. The four-worker team was more advantageous from the time and cost aspects of the forest road measurement work. Furthermore, as the rest time was very low compared to the work time, more efficient forest road measurement work would be possible if the work intensity was lowered by considering the rest time when calculating the standard work time.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.129-164
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• 2017

This article is an exploratory study on the recent growth of short-hours part-time work in Korea. The short-hours part-time work has been rapidly growing among low-educated women over sixty, particularly among bereaved or divorced women, contrary to the expectation of the government that encouraged the part-time work by means of work-family balance for working mothers or middle-aged women who experienced career interruption. The short-hours part-time jobs are concentrated in social service industry, mostly elderly care service jobs, and their working conditions are extremely poor, mostly low-wage jobs with no social insurances except for health insurance. In this study, we discuss why the short-hours part-time work has grown so fast in Korea since the mid 2000s. Using various governmental statistics, we examine the effects of the labor demand and supply situations during the time period, the legal context that is related with the exempt clause of the labor law, and the institutional context related with the government's public job creation projects for the elderly. We suggest some public policies needed to slow down the growth of the short-hours part-time jobs and to elevate their working conditions.