[Free Speech] Building a Horizontal Organizational Culture through Flexible Work Arrangements

“Work-life balance” has become an increasingly important standard for employees. From the corporate side as well, flexibly allocating and utilizing personnel has become an important issue in securing competitiveness. Accordingly, calls for flexible work arrangements that can ease the rigidity of the existing labor system are growing louder.

Above all, the enforcement of the 52-hour workweek has highlighted the need for flexible work arrangements. Under the 52-hour workweek system, people can work only 52 hours per week. As corporate dissatisfaction grows and workers also worry because reduced working hours mean reduced pay, concerns are mounting on all sides. As a response to the 52-hour workweek, it is worth examining the need for flexible work arrangements from the perspectives of both businesses and workers.

Flexible work arrangements are a system that can respond quickly to the social changes ahead. They help individuals, businesses, and the nation adapt to a new industrial environment and accelerating social development, while also fostering a more efficient work culture. Social change, as seen with COVID-19, is now difficult to predict. In a rapidly changing society, flexible work systems that ease constraints of time and space should be promoted.

Most workers want to maintain work-life balance through flexible work arrangements. With flexible scheduling, they can determine their working hours and workplace in ways that allow them to pursue both self-development and their jobs. This is especially true for the MZ generation, which tends to avoid jobs that undermine work-life balance and prefers workplaces where career development and work can go hand in hand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people responded that working from home was far more efficient because it allowed them to combine housework and self-development with their job responsibilities.

This system is also beneficial from the corporate perspective. By allocating working hours appropriately according to workload and job characteristics, or by leaving such choices to workers, companies can manage working hours more flexibly and efficiently.

Companies can also foster a more horizontal organizational culture through flexible work arrangements. By guaranteeing workers’ autonomy, employees are allowed to decide “voluntarily” how they work. By moving away from the existing vertical and rigid structure, employee satisfaction rises and this, in turn, leads to greater work efficiency.

Therefore, flexible work arrangements can improve business performance both efficiently and effectively. If both businesses and workers are given autonomy, they can respond more swiftly to social change. This also means that thoroughly regulating the work environment and working hours is no longer effective.

In fact, companies that have implemented flexible work arrangements include Naver, Google, Kakao, Samsung Electronics, and SK Telecom. These major companies, familiar to most people, have reportedly found that introducing flexible work arrangements improved employees’ concentration and productivity, thereby positively affecting corporate competitiveness. In addition, the adoption of various flexible work systems significantly reduced overtime hours and greatly helped improve the quality of life of executives and employees alike.

As social development continues to accelerate, businesses and workers can both prosper together through flexible work arrangements. To respond more flexibly to social trends, businesses and workers should gradually expand the use of flexible work arrangements.

Soomin Seo, Intern Researcher, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [자유발언대] 유연근무제로 수평적 조직문화 형성

Author: Su-min Seo

Date: 2023-02-03

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=free_opinion&pn=7&idx=25317