A new study by Professor Robert Rudolf at Korea University in Seoul delves into the impact of a shortened work week (40 hours or less) on urban couples with children, and what was discovered may surprise you, the Telegraph reports.
South Korea implemented a policy in 2004 that limited the number of hours people were required to work a week, known as the Five Day Working policy, which made Saturday an official non-working day and lowered working hours from 44 to 40 a week. The policy was meant to boost the South Korean leisure industry and enhance the national standard of living, reducing negative effects associated with long work hours, "including low productivity and high rates of industrial injury," according to the Telegraph.
However, Rudolf's findings, published in Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies, based on a study of urban South Korean households surveyed between 1998 and 2008, reveal that while people appreciate working fewer hours, they did not rate their lives with less work as more satisfying. How could this be?
"It would be naive to believe that work time reductions alone can increase worker well-being," Rudolf said to the Telegraph.
Though not working overtime is always a plus, Rudolf found that the positives gained from a shorter work week were offset by rising workplace demands from employers, with some companies giving less holiday time to combat the lowered work weeks. In a nutshell, employees were expected to complete much more work in a shorter amount of time.
"Women face higher work-family role conflicts within the traditional Korean society, and thus suffer more from long overtime hours," Rudolf said, explaining why women were more likely to enjoy the lowered number of work week hours than their male counterparts. However, urban couples with children expressed gratitude overall about the shortened weeks.
