Summary
Work-life balance signifies the condition in the labor market and in the lifeworld (lebenswelt) where individuals have secured sufficient time to consume on one’s will; it is determined not only by the individual and the organization, but also the time management norms and various systems and policies of the state and civil society.
Through a thorough examination of the current status of work-life balance in the labor market and lifeworld, this study proposes policy alternatives to overcome long-hours in the labor system, to resolve time-deficiencies in the labor market and lifeworld, and to secure discretionary time.
▸Key Words: work-life balance, time-deficiency [time-poor], labor hours, vocational competency training
Ⅰ . Research Background and Purpose
□ Definition of Work-life Balance and Determining Factors
◦ Concept and notion of work-life balance
- Determined by ‘absence of time-deficiency,’ ‘secure discretionary time’ at the individual level, human resource utilization strategy at the corporate/organizational level, time management norms, or various policies and systems in state and civil society
- Need to resolve ‘time-deficiency’ and secure ‘discretionary time’
◦ Factors that determine work-life balance
- Long-working hour based labor system in the labor market, and structure and inequality in time use [living hours] (including caretaking and raising children in the lifeworld
□ Time-poor structure analysis and policy alternative proposal
◦ Understanding the current status of work-life balance in the labor market and
Work-Life Balance Society and Vocational Competency Training
▸Research Manager: Kirak Ryu, Senior Research Fellow Tel: 044-415-5173 / e-mail: [email protected]
lifeworld, prepare policy alternatives to overcome the labor system based on extensive working hours and to address time deficiency and securing discretionary time in the labor market and lifeworld
- Analyze the preconditions and potential for work-life balance based on status and positioning in the labor market
- Derive key components of work-life balance friendly vocational competency training policies
- Explore vocational competency training countermeasures to reflect changing domestic labor environment
Ⅱ . Main Research Contents
1. Research Contents
□ Review existing research on work-life balance
◦ Restructure the existing debate around problems arising from time deficiency and time inequality, and securing discretionary time
- Derive key factors for work-life balance in the labor market and lifeworld - Examine systematic factors for labor system based on extensive working hours
◦ Analyze the potential and limitations of work-life balance in the labor market and lifeworld
- Structure of working hours: Analyzed the annex study for Census on Economically Active Population (’03-’18) and Survey Report on Labor Conditions by Employment Type (’03-’17)
- Structure of living hours: Analyzed Time Use Survey from Statistics Korea - Analyze the effects of time deficiency and discretionary time on human resource
development: Utilized Korean Labor and Income Panel Study’s individual-supplementary-household research (17th) and the household study (18th)
◦ Key requisites for work-life balance and tasks to improve vocational competency training
- Focus group interviews: conduct focus group interviews of laborers and human resource managers
- Survey the utilization and effectiveness of existing work-life balance policies such as flextime working hours, alternative work schedule, maternity leave
- Survey demands in vocational competency training and deficiencies and bottlenecks in current system
- Derive adoption of work-life balance programs such as flextime working hours and alternative work schedule, and perception and demand for vocational competency training from corporate human resource managers
2. Research Results
□ Trends in extensive labor hours and time deficiency
◦ Labor hour structure and time deficiency
- [Image 1] defines extensive working hours as more than 48 hours a week (extensive labor hours 1) and more than 52 hours a week (extensive labor hours 2). Time deficiency is defined as having working hours greater or equal to 1.5 times the median annual working hours. Income poverty is defined as less than or equal to 60% of the median annual hourly income. The percentage of population belonging to each category is plotted.
- Overall extensive working hours, time deficiency, and income poverty show a downward trend; however, differences from gender, age group, education level persists in a particular pattern
- In terms of gender, the male group had a high percentage of laborers working extensive hours but low in income poverty ratio. Separated by age groups, the 50s had the highest ratio of extensive working hours and income poverty. The 20s, 40s, and 30s, respectively, followed in high-income poverty ratios.
[Image 1] Trends in Extensive Working Hours, Time Deficiency, and Income Poverty Ratio among Wage Laborers
Source: researcher utilized data from Annex Study for Census on Economically Active Population (’03-’18).
□ Composition and Dynamics of Living Hours
◦ Living hours and work-life balance
- Utilizing data on time use, time amount and time slots were analyzed based on the breakdown of living hours by attributes in the labor market and household.
Living hours are categorized, and explanations are suggested based on the daily log of a married laborer, often in high demand for work-life balance.
- Workday labor hours among laborers were 9.2 hours for males and 7.7 hours for females; workday housework hours among males and females were 0.5 hours and 2.4 hours, respectively. In the case of laborers on non-working days and non-laborers, there was a clear separation of time usage by gender; the male group used the time for proactive leisure, the female group primarily used the time to do housework.
- Particularly for married laborers, the male group has the longest working hours during the family formation period while females work longest during the early marriage period, rapidly decrease during the family formation period, and begin increasing again in later settlement period (when children reach adolescence).
A significant mismatch in male and female labor time can be observed throughout the family life cycle.
- During the family formation period, male and female groups both have the shortest leisure time; leisure time deficiency is observed because of large time demand from both work and family.
□ Time deficiency and work-life balance
◦ Current conditions of time deficiency in main population groups
- Empirical analysis of the effects of free-time, working hour, discrete-time, and multiple deficiencies have on learning and participation times
- Population groups vulnerable to time deficiency: those who are female, 30s, high school educated or less, non-wage laborer, unpaid family workers and employer/self-employed, with children not yet in school, living in Seoul, not in poverty are more vulnerable to time deficiency.
- Time-income dual deficiency vulnerable group: those who are female, 50-60s high school educated or less, non-wage laborer, temporary day laborers, and employer/self-employed, living in Seoul are more vulnerable.
- Time deficiency and [time-income] dual deficiency’s effect on the time for education and self-development: time deficiency (free time, total labor hours, paid labor hours, utilizable time) causes weakening educational and
self-development.
- Assuming one is female, elderly, and non-working, time spent on education decreases as working status is in opened-contract, part-time day labor, employer/self-employed, unpaid homemaker, and as in high-income bracket, time spent on education decreases. One with a higher degree without children not yet in school and residing in the provincial region increases time spent on education and self-development.
□ Work-life balance demands and vocational competency training
◦ Improve current work-life balance policies
- There is a need to fully reflect characteristics unique to corporates’ industry group and form. Implementation form of policies should also be phased in from areas where sufficient examination has been conducted
- Manufacturing and SME work-life balance programs need to break from a policy-driven approach with emphasis in organizational culture, human resource policy; approach technological innovation, and industrial investment approach needs to be pursued in parallel
◦ Government education and training delivery system focused on corporate-level needs to be expanded and improved to the individual level
- Changes in training methods and contents are needed: other considerations are needed outside of administrative approach such as corporate-medium implementation and approval of educational training and training expense reimbursement process
Ⅲ. Policy Recommendation
1. Fine-Tuning Vocational Competency Training Policies
□ Fine-tuning current vocational competency training centered on employment insurance
◦ Between manufacturing and service industries, public and private sectors, conglomerates and SMEs, large divergence in demand and the current status of work-life balance practice implementations are found
- In manufacturing sectors, work-life balance practices are gradually being implemented; provide consulting to corporates during the implementation process. In service industries, prepare policies to support CEO’s perceptions, expand employment insurance refundable vocational competency training,
expand realistic support for SMEs, and vulnerable social groups.
- As intelligent information technology is implemented and automation (such as smart factories) expanding, the trend in demands for employee vocational competency enhancement training is changing: As corporates strategize to reduce labor-related expenses, there is the need to monitor contracting investments in employee training, increasing demand for bespoke online education, and changing employee training methodology and contents
- Simultaneously strengthen government support in areas such as statutory mandated and create high-quality training programs in trending areas, provide training facilities accessible to users
- The popularization of work-life balance policies is a prerequisite for vocational competency development in the service sector: comprehensive support measure for training programs from various ministries is needed, diversification of vocational competency education and procedures including assistance qualification and evaluation, cost support needs to become more streamlined and flexible.
- Attention is needed for structural and formational characteristics adolescent labor hours: Considering how adolescents utilize living hours, assigning adolescent tailored training timeslots, or providing training space and facilities are needed.
- The problem of determining designated labor hours: Accommodating various laborer groups’ demands, a careful review of discretionary working hours or flextime implementation and expansion is needed
□ Reform systems for work-life balance friendly vocational competency training
◦ Overcoming extended-hours labor structure and labor market dualization
- Non-voluntary additional labor is more visible in laborers outside of the labor market, such as non-wage laborers, non-paid home workers, and non-conventional arrangement laborers (who are working in non-standard labor contracts) than from those participating in the labor market (who already secured quality positions).
- Motivating productivity improvement and vocational competency training by overcoming labor market dualization is needed
◦ Providing increased discretionary time to vocational competency training program participants is needed
- Training period and timeslots, training subjects, and motivating factors need to be restructured
- Linking social service vouchers to training participants: experiment pilot schemes
such as providing women with career severance or job-seekers that need to provide caretaking with caretaking or childcare vouchers when they participate in vocational competency training (so they may utilize near-by facilities), and allowing the purchase of a caretaking service with training participation compensations
◦ Catalyze decommodification to provide additional training opportunities for groups with vocational competency training demand
- Introduce a work-hour-savings account system to secure flexibility in labor hours, while allowing laborers the right to accumulate working hours and claim vacation days based on individual laborer’s needs
- Consider recognizing the time participating in vocation competency training as deposit-able, allowing opportunities for laborers to utilize discretionary time and providing incentives to participate in training
- Formulating a general breadwinner-care taker model to allow expansion of discretionary time to both male and female
∙ Related Ministries: Ministry of Employment and Labor, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Ministry of Health and Welfare
