"Work is piling up ahead of launch"... 76% of startup workers say, "The 52-hour workweek system needs to be reformed"

[Financial News] Three out of four startup workers were found to believe that the 52-hour workweek system should be reformed to allow greater flexibility. However, perceptions of the need for reform differed by more than 30 percentage points between CEOs and C-suite executives and rank-and-file employees.
 The Korea Startup Forum announced on the 28th the results of its "Survey on the Status of the 52-Hour Workweek System in Startups," in which 324 startup CEOs and employees participated. The survey was conducted online from the 13th to the 26th of last month. Participants included 173 CEOs and C-suite executives (53.4%) and 151 rank-and-file employees (46.6%).
 The survey found that 76% of all respondents said the 52-hour workweek system should be "reformed to allow greater flexibility." By position, 92.2% of CEOs and C-suite executives and 61.3% of rank-and-file employees agreed that reform was necessary. The proportions that opted to retain the current system were 38.7% among rank-and-file employees and 7.8% among CEOs and C-suite executives.
 In addition, 73.1% of respondents said they had worked 52-hour weeks during certain periods over the past year. The figure exceeded 65% across all company-size categories, with CEOs and C-suite executives reporting a higher rate at 86.1% than rank-and-file employees at 58.3%. The two leading reasons for concentrated workloads were product or service launch deadlines (56.4%) and intensive research and development (R&D) efforts (16.9%), which together accounted for 73.3% of responses.
 Three out of four startup CEOs said the 52-hour workweek system had a meaningful impact on their business operations. Among the 173 CEOs and C-suite executives surveyed, 75.1% said the system had materially affected management. Among specific examples, with multiple responses allowed, the most common was "CEOs or executives personally taking on additional work" (35.8%), followed by "delays in delivery or launch schedules" (17.9%) and "hiring additional personnel" (16.2%).
 The special extended-work authorization system, introduced for use in emergencies, was found to be underutilized in practice. Among CEO and C-suite respondents, who are responsible for applying for authorization, 72.3% said they were unaware of the system itself. Even among the 27.7% who knew about it (48 people), none said they had actually used it.
 Kim Jae-won, chair of the Korea Startup Forum, said, "The key is to expand autonomy so that working hours can be managed more flexibly in line with startups' work characteristics and employees' circumstances." He emphasized, "System improvements should not be aimed at making people work longer. Instead, they should enable workers to take the lead in choosing when and how they work while providing the necessary safeguards."
 The Korea Startup Forum plans to submit a report containing the survey findings to relevant ministries and the National Assembly and actively present opinions from the field during discussions on reforming the system.
[email protected] Lee Joo-mi Reporter