POSCO to adopt 4-day workweek to boost productivity

POSCO will become the world’s first steelmaker to adopt a four-day workweek in an industry where operating blast furnaces throughout the day is a widespread practice.

The company will begin a bi-weekly four-day working week for all full-time employees next week, involving an extra hour of work on eight out of 10 days, with Fridays off every other week. Shift workers at the Pohang and Gwangyang factories will maintain their existing schedules.

POSCO employees work an average of 40 hours a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The steelmaker has offered flexible work hours since 2018, allowing employees to select their working hours based on departmental requirements autonomously.

The latest program is expected to give employees greater flexibility in designing their workdays.

“What matters in the four-day workweek is efficiency rather than just time,” POSCO Research Institute senior researcher Cho Sung-il said in a report released in December 2023, adding that addressing inefficiencies that are prevalent in the workplace, instead of soley focusing on boosting productivity, could be more efficient.