As the arena races to stick forward within the deep tech revolution — from AI and semiconductors to quantum computing — innovation has grow to be the brand new foreign money of energy. For plenty of corporations, that power has translated into heavier workloads and extra intense paintings cultures. But they face an actual predicament: they may be able to’t merely ease up whilst competition around the globe push tougher to win.
After I got here throughout information in regards to the intense “996” paintings tradition — operating 9 am to 9 pm, six days every week, a 72-hour paintings week — spreading from China to Silicon Valley, it made me surprise how other international locations means paintings hours and place of job cultures within the tech trade. I used to be particularly interested in how issues evaluate right here in South Korea, the place I’m recently founded.
In South Korea, the usual workweek is 40 hours, with as much as 12 hours of additional time, normally paid at 1.5 instances the common price or extra. Employers who violate those laws chance fines, government imprisonment, and civil legal responsibility.
The 52-hour workweek, presented in 2018 for enormous corporations with over 300 workers and public establishments, was once progressively prolonged to all companies and totally took impact on January 1, 2025.
Previous this yr, South Korea rolled out a different prolonged paintings program that shall we workers paintings past the 52-hour weekly prohibit, with each employee consent and executive approval, as much as 64 hours. For deep tech sectors like semiconductors, approval classes had been quickly prolonged from 3 to 6 months, regardless that native media experiences counsel that just a few corporations in fact took good thing about it. Taking a look forward, the South Korean executive plans to reduce those particular exemptions and tighten working-hour laws, whilst some lawmakers argue that the present pointers are enough, according to the document.
TechCrunch spoke with a number of tech buyers and founders founded in South Korea about how the 52-hour workweek prohibit impacts their companies and their R&D tasks as they are attempting to compete with world corporations.
“The 52-hour workweek is certainly a difficult issue when making funding choices in deep tech sectors,” Yongkwan Lee, CEO of South Korea-based undertaking capital company Bluepoint Companions, informed TechCrunch. “That is specifically related when making an investment in globally aggressive sectors like semiconductors, synthetic intelligence, and quantum computing. Exertions demanding situations are specifically advanced in those sectors, the place founders and groups steadily face intense workloads and lengthy hours all over important enlargement levels.”
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At Bluepoint, early-stage investments are steadily made prior to the underlying applied sciences are totally evolved or merchandise are able for marketplace. On this context, Lee famous that strict limits on operating hours may just doubtlessly have an effect on the tempo at which key industry milestones are reached.
In South Korea, 70.4% of workers at startup corporations answered that they’d be keen to paintings an extra 52 hours every week if good enough reimbursement is equipped, according to native experiences.
Bohyung Kim, CTO of LeMong, a South Korean startup sponsored by way of LG Uplus that delivers agentic AI answers to greater than 13,000 small and medium-sized enterprises within the meals and beverage sector, stated the rustic’s 52-hour workweek gadget steadily feels extra like a restriction than a coverage.
“Engineers paintings to seek out sensible answers to advanced issues,” Kim stated. “Our paintings isn’t about finishing predefined duties inside of mounted hours. It’s about the use of creativity and deep focal point to resolve demanding situations and create new price. When an concept moves or a technical leap forward occurs, the concept that of time disappears. If a gadget forces you to forestall at that second, it breaks the drift and will in fact scale back potency.”
Kim added that whilst momentary, intense focal point is the most important as undertaking points in time means or when refining key algorithms, inflexible felony limits can every so often get in the way in which, together with relying on the type of engineering position any individual holds. “Even amongst engineers, manufacturing roles in production fluctuate from R&D positions,” Kim defined. “In production, productiveness is at once related to operating hours, so schedules wish to account for commercial protection. Extra time must even be reasonably compensated.”
When requested about place of job flexibility, Huiyong Lee, co-founder of LeMong, which makes remark control instrument, stated he thinks understanding a per 30 days moderate could be more effective than adhering strictly to the rustic’s 52-hour weekly prohibit. He famous that paintings depth steadily varies relying at the level of R&D and undertaking timelines in deep tech corporations.
“For firms like ours, in depth construction efforts are steadily required for roughly two weeks previous to a product release, and then the workload eases as soon as the product stabilizes,” Lee stated. “A gadget with per 30 days flexibility would let us paintings round 60 hours every week prior to a release and 40 hours every week later on, keeping up a median of 52 hours whilst making sure operational potency,” Lee persevered. “I additionally imagine it’s value making an allowance for differentiated requirements for deep tech and R&D-focused corporations. On the identical time, for startups with fewer than 10–20 workers, it is very important to ascertain extra versatile standards to house their distinctive operational wishes.”
Kim additionally famous that there’s a transparent hyperlink between efficiency and hours labored. Prime-performing crew contributors steadily have a tendency to position in longer hours, he stated. However slightly than searching for rewards for the additional time, those most sensible performers focal point on reaching effects and advancing briefly throughout the corporate.
“Engineers are way more motivated to dive in when their efforts are known, whether or not thru efficiency bonuses, inventory choices, or acknowledgment of technical contributions,” Kim stated. “In high-tech, R&D, and IT industries, in addition to in globally aggressive companies the place technical experience is essential, choices about versatile paintings hours must be pushed by way of marketplace good judgment.”
Any other Seoul-based undertaking capitalist, who invests in startups, downplayed the have an effect on of the 52-hour workweek prohibit on funding choices.
“At the present time, there don’t seem to be any main considerations. Whilst it’s all the time tricky to are expecting how exertions laws or tracking practices would possibly evolve, many undertaking corporations lately don’t strictly monitor workers’ operating hours. To my figuring out, there’s recently no requirement for corporations to publish formal proof proving that workers keep throughout the 52-hour weekly prohibit.”
If an worker had been to document a criticism, the VC famous, “the absence of detailed time information may just elevate compliance questions. That stated, maximum R&D or deeptech companies generally worker extremely self-motivated pros who arrange their very own schedules responsibly, so such circumstances appear fairly unusual.”
The larger problem most likely lies in additional labor-intensive industries, comparable to logistics, supply, or production, the place a big portion of employees earn with regards to the minimal salary. “In the ones sectors, the 52-hour workweek law can considerably build up exertions prices because of necessary additional time pay and paid go away. In consequence, keeping up productiveness and reaching economies of scale can grow to be harder for companies running beneath tight margins,” this investor stated.
How different international locations paintings
To know the place South Korea’s 52-hour prohibit suits within the world panorama — and why its deep tech corporations really feel squeezed between competing pressures — it’s value analyzing how different main tech hubs control operating hours.
In Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, usual workweeks generally vary from 33 to 48 hours. In Australia and Canada, the usual workweek is 38 and 40 hours, respectively, with necessary additional time pay, providing a stability between exertions rights and place of job flexibility.
Within the U.S., the Honest Exertions Requirements Act (FLSA) units a regular 40-hour workweek. Non-exempt workers earn time-and-a-half for any additional time, and there’s no prohibit on overall hours. (In California, the principles best require double-time pay for sure additional time.)
In China, the usual paintings time table may be 40 hours every week, or 8 hours an afternoon. Extra time is paid at upper charges: kind of 150% of normal pay on weekdays, 200% on weekends, and 300% on public vacations. In Japan, the usual workweek is 40 hours, with limits of 45 hours of additional time monthly and 370 hours according to yr beneath commonplace instances. Employers who exceed those limits can face fines and administrative consequences, as in different international locations.
Singapore’s workweek is quite longer at 44 hours, with a most of 72 additional time hours monthly. If unfold flippantly, that’s kind of 62 hours every week. Extra time pay charges are an identical: 1.5 instances for weekdays, 2 instances for relaxation days, and three times for public vacations.
South Korea’s 52-hour cap sits in the midst of this spectrum, stricter than the U.S. and Singapore however extra versatile than a lot of Europe. Both method, for deep tech founders competing globally, the query isn’t on the subject of the quantity — it’s about whether or not inflexible weekly limits can accommodate the serious, asymmetric workflows that symbolize early-stage R&D.
