Four-day workweeks might be a big buzz, but one major tech company is going in the opposite direction.
Samsung is implementing a six-day work week for all executives after some of the company’s core businesses produced lower-than-expected financial results last year.
A Samsung group executive told a Korean news outlet that “considering that the performance of our core units, including Samsung Electronics Co., fell short of expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day work week for executives to instill a sense of crisis and make all-out efforts to overcome this crisis.”
Lower performance combined with other economic uncertainties such as high financing costs have pushed the South Korean company into “emergency mode,” according to the Korea Economic Daily.
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According to the report, executives from all divisions of the Samsung Group will be affected, including those in sales and manufacturing.
In 2023, Samsung reported its worst financial year in more than a decade, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that net profit fell 73% in the fourth quarter. It also lost the top spot in the global smartphone market to Apple in the same quarter, although it regained it this year.
While employees below the executive level are not yet required to clock in on weekends, some may follow their bosses’ unwritten lead. After all, the Korea Economic Daily reports that executives at some Samsung divisions have been voluntarily working six-day weeks since January, before the company decided to implement the six-day workweek policy.
Entrepreneur reached out to Samsung’s US editorial team to ask if this news includes executives located globally, including the United States, or if it only affects employees in Korea. Samsung did not immediately respond.
Research on the relationship between hours worked and performance shows that working more does not necessarily increase productivity.
A Stanford project, for example, found that overwork leads to a decrease in total output. Average productivity declines due to stress, sleep deprivation and other factors” to the extent that additional hours [worked] they provide no benefit (and, in fact, are harmful),” the study states.
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Longer hours can also mean long-term health effects. The World Health Organization found that working more than 55 hours a week decreases life expectancy and increases the risk of stroke by 35%.
According to the same study, the same 55-hour work week carries a 17% greater risk of heart disease.