76% of healthcare workers favor a four-day workweek

Seventy-six percent of hospital workers want a four-day workweek.

The Korean Health and Medical Workers Union (KHMU) released the results of the “2024 Healthcare Workers' Regular Survey” on Wednesday. The survey was conducted for a month from Jan. 29, and 40,760 out of 85,503 union members participated.

Of the respondents, 60.9 percent worked overtime for an average of 30 minutes or more daily. The other 39.1 percent reported working less than 30 minutes of overtime.

Overtime was poorly compensated, with 46.7 percent receiving less than half of what they were owed or no compensation. Nursing and research roles that tend to work a high percentage of overtime were the most under-compensated. Some 64.4 percent of nurses were not compensated or were compensated less than half of what they worked, compared to 52.7 percent of researchers.

Also, 14.2 percent said they received work instructions after leaving workplaces or called back to the hospital for an unplanned event. Among them, 39.2 percent said they received work instructions online after work or on vacation in the last three months.

Pregnant women were not spared overtime, either. Of the 4,717 female workers who had been pregnant or gave birth in the past three years, 39.0 percent reported working overtime during pregnancy.

In response, 75.6 percent of healthcare workers said a four-day workweek needs to be introduced. The corresponding share for nurses was even higher, as 80.4 percent said it was necessary. In contrast, the share of similar replies was lower among functional and operational support workers (52.2 percent) and nursing assistants (59.1 percent).

Healthcare workers said a four-day workweek would improve their health.

Asked why they thought the four-day workweek would be positive, 74.0 percent said it would reduce physical and mental strain and improve their health. Other responses included "to utilize time for hobbies and self-development," "because I need time to take care of my family," and "because it can help my work, such as work efficiency."

Besides, 69.4 percent said they would consider marriage and childbirth if working conditions improved through the introduction of parental leave and a four-day workweek.

Many would consider changing jobs due to poor working conditions. Two-thirds (66.6 percent) of healthcare workers have considered changing jobs. Poor working conditions and labor intensity were the top reasons for leaving, followed by low pay. Other reasons included poor health, workplace culture and relationships, and academic or personal development.

More than half of healthcare workers suffer from emotional exhaustion but only half of them have been provided with formal procedures to address it at the hospital level through guidance to dealing with emotional exhaustion and other measures.

Among those surveyed, 62.0 percent reported difficulties performing their jobs due to unreasonable or unreasonable demands, and 86.8 percent reported suppressing their emotions when faced with uncomfortable situations at work. Many (77.2 percent) reported that their difficult feelings lingered after work.

Asked how they deal with emotional labor, 73.9 percent said their supervisors help them if they encounter problems dealing with patient caregivers. However, less than half (43.5 percent) said they had "regulations for resolving emotional labor" under Article 41 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (Measures to Prevent Health Hazards Caused by Customer Verbal Abuse, etc.), also known as the Emotional Labor Protection Act. Only 37.8 percent said they have a guidebook for dealing with emotional labor.

Some workers reported experiencing verbal abuse, assault, and sexual violence (including sexual harassment and molestation) in the workplace. Among them, 60.9 percent reported experiencing verbal abuse, assault, or sexual violence in the workplace. Of these, 60.3 percent were the victims of verbal abuse, followed by 13.3 percent of assaults and 8.6 percent of sexual assaults.

Patients and their caregivers were the main perpetrators of verbal, physical, and sexual violence.

When health workers were asked about the type of perpetrator by behavior, 41.3 percent of verbal abuse was perpetrated by patients, followed by caregivers (27.8 percent), doctors (16.0 percent), and supervisors (9.0 percent). Patients were also the most common perpetrators of assault (84.7 percent), followed by guardians (10.4 percent) and coworkers (2.3 percent). Regarding sexual assault, 76.2 percent of perpetrators were patients, followed by caregivers (10.6 percent), physicians (5.5 percent), and coworkers (4.3 percent).