Companies reviewing work from home policy

Conglomerates hesitant to ease COVID-19 measures

Conglomerates are contemplating whether to ease their work-fromhome policies as the government plans to scale down its social distancing measures starting next month.

The Korean government has unveiled new social distancing rules that allow for larger gatherings of people and lift regulations for businesses’ operating hours. Additionally, it will no longer be mandatory for people who have already been vaccinated to wear masks outdoors.

The government says it will continue to keep a close watch on the virus situation, as the easing of social distancing measures could cause another spike in virus cases.

The number of new infections has remained in the hundreds, coming between 300 and 600 every day for the past week. The rise in infections due to variants of the virus is also a major cause for concern.

“Even though the government is easing social distancing measures, it is difficult for companies to follow suit, as there are still hundreds of new cases each day,” a major conglomerate official said. “Even with work-from-home policies, there is no big difference in how businesses maintain their daily operations.”

According to the industry, major conglomerates including Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK and POSCO are starting to review whether to make changes to their own independent quarantine measures.

They started to implement in-house quarantine measures in late February of last year, when the number of cases started to rise rapidly. Since November, most conglomerates have maintained rotational work-from-home measures, as well as flexible work hours, for most employees.

The manufacturing sector in particular applied stricter COVID-19 preventive measures, as one confirmed case of the virus could shut down an entire factory for a couple of days, causing major losses. Companies in the capital region have been encouraging employees to work from home, with minimal contact with other departments and branches.

Since the government implemented the Level 2 and Level 2.5 social distancing measures last December, Samsung Electronics has been initiating a three-shift system in order to spread out the number of workers in its offices or factories at one time, while allowing most employees to work from home.

Since November, Hyundai Motor has allowed 30 percent to 50 percent of its employees to work from home at one time, while also implementing flexible work hours. SK, LG, POSCO, Hanwha and Hyundai Heavy Industries also implemented the threeshift work-from-home system.

However, most conglomerates are hesitant to ease the current preventive measures immediately.

“There are no changes to our COVID-19 policies, so we will maintain the social distancing measures for the time being,” a major conglomerate official said. “Many firms went through hell after easing preventive measures last year, leading to the shutdown of their plants. It is better to stay cautious for the time being.”

Industry watchers believe more companies will start to ease their work-from-home policies as more people receive vaccinations. As of Sunday, a total of 15 million people, or 29.2 percent of the population, have received at least their first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the central disaster headquarters, starting July 1, the government will allow gatherings of up to six people in the greater Seoul area. This easing of group size restrictions is scheduled to be raised to eight after a two-week transition period.

Since Dec. 23, the government has maintained a ban on gatherings of five or more people in the greater Seoul area. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has said that the country will change the current five-tier social distancing scheme to a four-tier one next month.

Restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, bars and adult entertainment facilities will have to abide by Level 2 social distancing guidelines, which allow them to stay open until midnight, from the current 10 p.m.

Except for Jeju Province, which will raise its social distancing level to 2, regions outside of the capital area will have to follow Level 1 social distancing guidelines, which no longer limit the number of participants at a gathering.

Concerts will be allowed to have up to 5,000 attendees in Levels 2, while demonstrations with up to 99 participants will be permitted under the Level 2 guidelines.