Samsung has ordered its executives to come to work six days a week after the company posted its worst earnings in more than a decade.
The South Korean tech giant, which makes memory chips, smartphones and televisions, has extended the weekly working hours of its executives to “instill a sense of crisis” in its employees. According to the Korean Economic Newspaperfirst reported this story.
“Given that the performance of major divisions, including Samsung Electronics, fell short of expectations in 2023, we will introduce a six-day week to give executives a sense of crisis and to make collective efforts to overcome this crisis. ” a Samsung Group executive told Korean media.
The company is reportedly in “emergency mode” as it faces declining revenues due in part to conflicts in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East, with executives deciding whether to start their sixth day on a Saturday or Sunday. It is said that you can choose.
These geopolitical tensions have put stress on economic factors such as borrowing costs and oil prices, contributing to Samsung’s weak performance in its most recent quarter, with net profit falling 73% in the three months ended December 31. did.
For the full year, Samsung’s operating profit plunged 85% last year to $4.7 billion, its lowest year since 2009, and its net profit fell an equally staggering 72% to $11.24 billion, its lowest year since 2011. reached a low level. wall street journal Previously reported.
Samsung’s semiconductor business, which accounts for about 80% of its revenue, posted a loss of nearly $11 billion last year.
Many Samsung executives were already working six days a week as of January, and many other South Korean conglomerates are expected to follow suit in the coming months, according to the Korea Economic Newspaper.
Employees below executive level are not expected to increase their weekly hours any further, the outlet said.
Samsung is scheduled to announce its next quarterly results on April 30th.
The company appears to have already begun a turnaround, overtaking Apple as the top mobile phone maker in the first three months of this year, according to the latest data from research firm IDC.
Apple, which overtook Samsung last quarter, shipped 50.1 million iPhones in the first three months of 2024, down 9.6% from a year earlier, IDC reported earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Samsung, which makes the Android-based Galaxy, shipped 60.1 million smartphones in the first quarter, down 0.7% from a year earlier.
Despite this, the company currently has a 20.8% market share of total smartphone sales, ahead of Apple’s 17.3% share.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vermont) has been advocating for members of Congress to reduce their working hours while still receiving the same pay.
AP
The self-described “democratic socialist” passionately advocated for a 32-hour work week as a national standard while chairing a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing last month.
“American workers are more than 400 percent more productive today than they were in the 1940s,” Sanders, 82, said before making the announcement. “32-hour work week law” And he insisted that it was “not a radical idea.”
“Almost all of the economic gains from that innovation have remained intact, while workers’ wages have remained stagnant or even worsened,” he added.
The bill would shorten the length of the standard work week over four years. lower the threshold Overtime pay is paid for any workday that exceeds 8 hours, and double pay is paid for shifts that exceed 12 hours.
