Korea's Four-Day Workweek Pilots Give Your Adult Class a Debate They're Already Living
A handful of Korean companies, including Woowa Brothers and Kakao Games, have trialed four-day or 4.5-day workweeks since around 2019, and adult students bring real workplace stakes to the debate over whether it should spread nationwide.
Park English2026-09-112 min read
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The story
Woowa Brothers, the company behind the delivery app Baemin, moved to a 4.5-day week back in 2019, giving staff a half-day off every other Friday. Kakao Games followed with its own 4.5-day system in 2022. SK hynix has run pilot programs letting some teams take an extra day off during slower production periods. None of this is law yet. It's company by company, and mostly limited to tech, gaming, and a few large conglomerates. Manufacturing lines and service jobs mostly haven't touched it.
Political parties have floated a national four-day week as an election promise more than once, most recently tied to conversations about Korea's long-hours culture and its record-low birth rate. Nothing has passed the National Assembly as of this writing. So this is still a live argument, not a settled fact, which is exactly what makes it a good discussion topic rather than a dead one.
Why adult students actually argue about this
Ask a Korean office worker about overtime and you'll get an opinion inside ten seconds. Many of your adult students work at companies where 야근 (yageun, unpaid or barely-paid late nights) is still normal, especially outside the handful of firms running these pilots. Some will have coworkers on the 4.5-day system and resent that their own team doesn't get it. Others will tell you the four-day idea is a joke unless someone also fixes Korea's promotion culture, where face time still counts for more than output.
| Argument for | Argument against |
|---|---|
| Lower burnout, higher focus during working hours | Same workload gets squeezed into fewer days |
| Companies report easier recruiting, especially of younger staff | Only white-collar, desk-based jobs can realistically do it |
| Matches falling birth rate goals — more time for family | Pay is sometimes cut to match reduced hours |
| Other countries' trials (UK, Iceland) showed few productivity losses | Korea's hierarchy-driven office culture may block real change |
Running the lesson (45 minutes)
- Warm-up (5 min). Ask: "How many hours did you work last week? How many did you want to work?" Two or three quick answers, no debate yet.
- Input (5 min). Read the story summary above aloud, or hand out the student sheet. Check they understand "pilot program" and "burnout."
- Pair discussion (10 min). Students discuss questions 1–4 from the handout in pairs.
- Table debate (15 min). Split the class into "for" and "against." Each side has two minutes to make their strongest case using one row from the table. Rebuttal round after.
- Wrap (10 min). Vote by show of hands. Ask the losing side what would change their mind.
One thing worth admitting: we don't know if this becomes national policy, and neither will your students. That uncertainty is fine. It's what keeps the debate honest instead of turning into a rehearsed position.