The imposition of work-from-home policies varied based on the size of the company and the industry. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, March 13 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study has revealed that proportion of employees permitted to work from home and the manner in which these policies are managed differs significantly among South Korean companies.
Incruit, an online job search portal, conducted a survey of 891 office workers, 29.8 percent of whom said they are currently working from home. The remaining 70.2 percent were not sent home.
The major difference lay in the way work-from-home policies were imposed at each company. In the majority of cases, companies only allowed certain employees to work from home (59.3 percent), rather than all staff (32.1 percent).
Most of them included those who had requested to work from home (31.8 percent) and those placed under self-quarantine (30 percent).
Others included those showing symptoms including fever and coughs (15.2 percent), followed by pregnant women (6.7 percent) and members of dual-income households (4.5 percent).
In less voluntary cases, 8.6 percent were sent home after the company building had to shut down as part of an emergency measure.
The imposition of work-from-home policies varied based on the size of the company and the industry.
While 48.7 percent of large conglomerates decided to allow employees to work from home, only 34.2 percent of medium-sized companies, 30.4 percent of public institutions, and 24.3 percent of small businesses implemented a work-from-home policy.
Businesses in the education sector had the highest level of implementing work-from-home policies at 43.8 percent, followed by those in IT (39.4 percent), finance and media (37.9 percent), food and beverages (34.4 percent), and electronics and real estate (33.3 percent).
Companies in the machinery, shipbuilding, heavy industry sector as well as businesses in tourism and accommodation sector had the lowest level of implementing work-from-home policies at 13.3 percent.
Roughly 30 percent of respondents excluded from work-from-home policies said the nature of their work makes it difficult for them to work from home.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
