Vacationers keep a distance from one another at Hyeopjae Beach of Jeju Island on its opening day, July 1, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The coronavirus is changing traditional vacation policies at major companies as employees are being asked to move beyond past practices of going on vacation primarily during the summer, and are instead being encouraged to take leave at any point during the year.
The new trend is mainly driven by the fact that most foreign travel has been shut down, and that a growing number of people are spending less time on vacation.
Major conglomerates are encouraging employees to go on longer vacations on separate schedules to prevent any risk of coronavirus infections.
Samsung Electronics Co., for instance, is allowing all employees to go on vacation anytime throughout the year.
Since there are no particular limits on the time and length of each vacation, employees can go on vacation anytime they want, the company explained.
LG Electronics Inc. and other LG Group affiliates selected the months from July to December as the ‘summer vacation’ period, during which employees will be able to combine their special summer leave with personal quotas for time off to go on longer vacations.
SK Innovation Co., South Korea’s biggest refiner by sales, recently asked all of its employees to take a two-week vacation to recover from the stress caused by the coronavirus.
Hyundai Motor Group has encouraged all regular staff to go on longer vacations between July and September, and all researchers between July and October, using personal quotas for time off.
“We’re not changing our vacation policy because of the coronavirus,” a company source said. “It’s only that we’ve come to further emphasize the importance of work-life balance during the pandemic.”
In the pre-coronavirus era, taking a leave of absence longer than one week, or going on vacation during non-summer or non-end-of-year months were practices that were commonly frowned upon.
Now, the coronavirus has altered the company landscape to encourage staff to go on longer vacations at any time.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
