In an unexpected turn, Samsung has activated an “emergency mode” in different divisions in South Korea, forcing all executives in its units to work six days a week, as reported the south korean media The Korea Economic Daily.
“Considering that the performance of our main units, including Samsung Electronics, did not meet expectations in 2023“We are introducing the six-day work week so that executives can inject a sense of crisis and make every effort to overcome it,” said a company executive.
This radical decision by the company arises in immediate response to the sharp depreciation of the South Korean won, the increase in oil prices and rising borrowing costs, which stand out as the main factors that have triggered the commercial uncertainties of the South Korean brand.
It is urgent to change course, so only managers will work harder
The new measure that Samsung has adopted will affect the senior management of some divisions of the company, focused on the manufacturing of screens, semiconductors and cloud services, which will begin with the new six-day workweek model immediately. It is expected that senior managers from other divisions with an economic profile of the group, such as those dedicated to insurance and financial services, will soon join this initiative.
Although in Europe this change in model may seem strange, in South Korea it is common practice to deal with “emergency” situations when companies have not obtained good results. In fact, although the measure has now been made official and mandatory, the technology giant's managers had already been working voluntarily six days a week since the beginning of the year.
This “emergency” measure is limited only to the directors and managers of the aforementioned divisions. Samsung employees who do not hold these positions of responsibility and management will continue to work their regular five-day week and 40 hours per week as normal.
Limiting this measure to senior managementthe brand seeks its executives to review and modify their business strategies to adapt to a changing environment, marked by geopolitical risks such as the prolonged war between Russia and Ukraine and the new scenario of tensions in the Middle East.
Samsung's electronics division posted an operating loss of 15 trillion won ($11 billion) on its core semiconductor business in 2023, accounting for about 80% of Samsung's total profits.
Despite those bad economic resultsthe brand signaled the end of the recession in the chip market with a more than tenfold increase in operating profit in the first quarter of this year, in which it has had to face high competitiveness with its direct rival SK Hynix.
Likewise, the South Korean firm has recovered part of its market share, growing 7.8% in smartphone sales and is finalizing agreements with NVIDIA to integrate Samsung memory chips into its products.
In Xataka | South Korea also debates the work week. But to increase it: from 52 hours to 69
Image | Samsung
