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Financial union’s push for Friday afternoons off moves too fast

Published: 26 Sep. 2025, 00:04

Kim Won-bae

The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.

Last year, Dutch workers averaged 1,445 hours on the job, ranking seventh lowest among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states. In 2010, the figure was even lower at 1,437 hours. This shows that the country’s relatively short working hours have long been stable. Yet the Netherlands does not mandate a four-day or four-and-a-half-day workweek by law. Under its Flexible Working Act, employees may request to increase or reduce their hours. As a result, part-time work is widespread.

The Netherlands works more than 400 hours less per year than Korea, where the average is 1,865 hours. But what about public services? The Dutch tax authority’s call center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 5 p.m. on Friday — longer than Korea’s National Tax Service helpline, which operates from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Amsterdam’s city hall counters are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. most weekdays, extending to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Seoul’s civil service desks close at 6 p.m.

Kim Hyeong-seon, head of the Korean Financial Industry Union, speaks during a press conference on the planned Sept. 26 strike at the union’s situation room in Jung District, Seoul, on Sept. 8, calling for the introduction of a four-and-a-half-day workweek. [YONHAP]

Bank hours in the Netherlands are longer still. Many ING Bank branches in Amsterdam open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with some open on Saturdays. Dutch employees are not overworked. Rather, institutions maintain public service hours by combining staff schedules and part-time arrangements that fit diverse lifestyles.

Korea’s financial union has now declared it intended to strike on Friday, demanding both higher pay and the adoption of a four-and-a-half-day workweek achieved by closing banks on Friday afternoons. The union argues it is leading labor reform as it once did by pushing for a five-day week. This time, however, it proposes to reduce hours by shuttering on Friday afternoons. Such a move would alter not just working hours but the entire employment system in Korea. It is not a decision for one sector alone but a matter requiring broad social consensus.

When banks adopted a five-day workweek in 2002, they were following a global trend already embraced in most advanced economies. But what OECD country now allows banks, government offices and private firms all to close on Friday afternoons? The only comparable case is the United Arab Emirates, which in 2022 shifted from a Friday-Saturday weekend to Saturday-Sunday, retaining a half-day on Friday for religious reasons.

Some advanced economies have experimented with four-day workweeks, and certain firms or public agencies have introduced them. But citing these scattered examples to claim a new global standard is premature. It is necessary to study how national work systems actually function. In manufacturing and service industries that require face-to-face contact, shortening the week to four days is often judged impractical.

Germany last year recorded just 1,331 working hours, the lowest in the OECD. Labor groups still push for shorter schedules, but some voices warn that the country already works too little. Critics say the German auto industry’s decline in competitiveness stems partly from reduced hours while wages remain high. In May, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a Christian Democratic Union meeting, “We must, in this country, work more again and, above all, more efficiently,” he said in May. “It is not with the four-day work week and ‘work-life balance’ that we will be able to maintain our prosperity!” In Korea, broadcaster Park Myung-soo struck a similar note of caution, saying, “I am here today because I worked hard. With a shrinking population, how can we also reduce working hours?” Such concerns should not be dismissed.

In Korea, only pilot programs are underway. Some companies have tried a four-day week every other week or capped hours at 32. Reducing work time need not mean adopting a four-and-a-half-day week in which all banks close Friday afternoons. Hours could be cut while keeping service windows open, using flexible scheduling to spread shifts. That is how many advanced economies began. For the financial union to insist on Friday closures looks like a sudden acceleration without considering consequences.

Even if Korea eventually moves toward a four-and-a-half-day workweek, banks and public services should be among the last sectors to adopt it. These are critical elements of national infrastructure, and their accessibility must remain wide so ordinary workers can pursue a better work-life balance while maintaining productivity. For banks to push themselves to the front of the line, claiming benefits before others, is a dereliction of duty to society. The debate is not about whether working hours should fall — most agree they should — but how to balance shorter hours with the need to keep core services available.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.