Samsung switches to a six-day work week

Due to disappointing results, managers of technology manufacturer Samsung are forced to work six days a week. This action appears to be a strategic choice for the company.

In the news: Samsung offers a six-day work week for executives.

• The company is doing this in response to ongoing business uncertainties and disappointing financial results last year, with increasing borrowing costs and rising oil prices as key economic concerns.
• A Samsung executive told reporters that the aim of the measure was to “convey a sense of crisis to management and make every effort to overcome the current crisis.” Korea Economic Daily.
• Executives from some Samsung divisions have been voluntarily working six days a week since the beginning of the year, and now executives from other divisions will also take an extra work day. Regular employees do not have to follow this rule.

Will this help Samsung?

Zoom: Samsung is in trouble because it is lagging behind the competition.

• Increasing market competition for high-bandwidth memory chips, which are essential for AI applications, is now putting Samsung in tough waters. For example, South Korean SK Hynix performs particularly well. Last year, Samsung was forced to record a loss estimated at 10 billion euros.
  • But the company recently reported a profit, its first in five quarters, thanks to a rebound in chip demand.
• The only question is whether an extra day of work would make much of a difference. Korea Economic Daily He points out that the economic situation in the country is still difficult. Chemical manufacturers, who produce the raw materials for chips, are also tightening their belts.
• Moreover, the support measures announced by President Yoon Suk-yeol appear to have become more difficult to implement following the opposition's victory in the April 10 elections.