Firms in South Korea are required to adjust to a 52-hour worker workweek that is enshrined in nationwide legislation. Whereas different chip firms primarily based there appear to thrive with the identical restrictions, it seems they’re proving to be a little bit of an issue for Samsung Electronics.
A brand new report highlights have Samsung’s system LSI division is discovering it tough to fulfill venture deadlines since staff cannot work past the 52-hour restrict. This has compelled staff to go house even when meaning leaving duties unfinished.
Some staff are working “off-the-record” to fulfill deadlines
A senior engineer on the cellular AP crew, it is the crew that makes Exynos chipsets, reportedly stated “There have been many instances in recent times once I needed to depart work unfinished and go house due to the 52-hour restrict, despite the fact that a venture deadline was approaching,” including that due to this restrict, some staff typically work off the clock despite the fact that these hours aren’t recorded by Samsung.
There’s further stress on the crew to finish tasks on crew because it operates with a workforce that is stated to be 10 to twenty instances smaller than the likes of Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Apple. But, tight product ship schedules and the necessity to meet efficiency requirements has made some staff resort to “off-the-record.”
Certainly the repair right here can be to develop the crew and never have present staff work past a restrict that is meant to offer them with a wholesome work-life steadiness?
Considered one of each six South Korea staff places in additional than 55 hours every week at work, greater than double the common for OECD nations. The 52-hour workweek was established in 2018. It mandated that staff is not going to work greater than 40 hours every week and eight hours a day, with 12 hours of additional time allowed per week, making 52 the utmost working hours per week.
Samsung reportedly sees the present labor legislation as a drag on its productiveness, stopping it from absolutely competing towards international chipmakers. Different firms have been vocal of their opposition to the 52-hour workweek and it has confronted authorized challenges as just lately as final yr, however South Korea’s Supreme Court docket upheld the legislation in March this yr.
Samsung would possibly really feel that being unable to extract the complete aggressive potential from its workforce prevents it from realizing billions in misplaced income from the extremely profitable and really aggressive semiconductor trade, however the report additionally mentions that some staff at Samsung consider that merely making folks work for extra hours is not going to repair the problems that the corporate faces.
