1. Flexible Working Hour System

(1) Purpose
The flexible working hour system is designed to increase efficiency in a workforce by adjusting the length of working time according to seasonal, monthly, or daily fluctuations in workload.
Under the flexible working hour system, the employee works for a specific period such as two weeks, one month or three months in addition to the legal standard working hours on the condition that the average working hours for a certain period of a day or week shall not exceed the standard working hours. In this case, the employer is not violating the working hour rules of the LSA, nor is he/she obliged to pay an additional allowance for extended hours. This system is designed to benefit the employer by allowing him/her to adjust working hours according to seasonal changes in the production volume.

(2) Revision contents in the flexible working hour system¹⁵⁴⁾
An employer may adopt “flexitime” on a 2-week basis by modifying the Rules of Employment and may adopt flexitime on a 3-month basis by reaching agreement with the employee representative. In a flexitime scheme on a 2-week basis, the hours of work in a particular week may not exceed 48 hours; and in a flexitime scheme on a 3-month basis, the hours of work in a particular week and on a particular day may not exceed, respectively, 52 hours and 12 hours (Article 51 of the LSA).

(3) Types of flexible working hour system

2. Selective Working Hour System¹⁵⁵⁾

(1) Purpose
Under a selective working hour system, the employer does not fix working hours according to units of day, week, or month but commissions the employees to control their time of arrival or leaving and arrange their own working hours at their discretion.
The selective working hour system introduced in Korea is a system in which employees can autonomously decide the time of their arrival and departure from the office, or choose the daily working hours within the range of the total working hours described by a specific period unit within one month. This system is useful in helping professionals or business managers improve efficiency in their tasks and providing housewives with work opportunities. Under this system, employees have the convenience of commuting and a right to a more relaxing social life, while the employer benefits from higher productivity and a reduction in inefficient working hours.

(2) Types of selective working hour systems
1) Fully selective working hour system
Under a fully selective working hour system, the employee decides on the commuting hours during the period of flexible working hours and the employer does not interfere with the allocation of the employee's working hours. That is, there is no mandatory range of working hours other than the selective working hours.
2) Partly selective working hour system
Under a partly selective working hour system, the employee is entrusted with the decision to begin and finish tasks, while receiving hourly supervision and concrete job directions from the employer during specified hours. However, during a different range of working hours, the employee decides when to begin and finish work and arranges the amount of working hours.
The mandatory range of working hours is called the “core time,” while the selective range is called the “flexible time.” Usually, the core time and flexible time are settled automatically through a written agreement between the employer and employee. The employer makes the most of the core time, during which he/she can give necessary orders and maintain control for meetings, directions, etc.


(3) Requirements for the selective working hour system
1) Must be specified in the Rules of Employment
The employer shall specify in the Rules of Employment the selective working hour system that entrusts the employee with the decision to begin and finish his/her work.
2)The employer and employee representative shall draft a written agreement on the following items:
①All workers to whom it applies(excluding those workers between the ages of 15 to 18);
② Adjustment period of balances(a specified period in a given month);
③Total working hours during the adjustment period of balances;
④Start and finish times of work hours, during which work must be provided;
⑤Scope of work hours determined by the workers; and
⑥Standard working hours(working hours per day agreed upon by the employer and the employee representative as the standard hours for calculating the amount of paid leave).

(4) Effect
If the above conditions are satisfied, the employer may extend weekly working hours to more than 40 hoursand daily working hours beyond eight hours to the extent that the average working hours per week during the period of flexible working hours within the given month do not exceed 40 hours. In this case, additional allowance for extended work is not provided.


3. Acknowledged(Deemed) Working Hour System

(1) Purpose
Recognition of the working hour system translates contractual working hours as the time required to fulfill work performance ordinarily or within the time specified in a mutual written agreement, as working hours in such cases where the actual working hours cannot be measured for calculation. This system does not induce any changes in the working hour structure, as in the flexible or selective working hour system, but serves to facilitate the method of working hours in the current working hour structure.
There are two types of acknowledged working hour systems: one is the outside working hour system in which hours are recognized by work done outside company offices, and the other is the discretion working hour system in which hours are recognized by job characteristics.

(2) Outside working hour system

If the working hours are difficult to calculate because the employee performs duty outside the workplace, disputes are likely to arise between the employee and the employer concerning working hours and the calculation of wages. As a solution, the acknowledged working hour system has been introduced to recognize those outside working hours as fixed working hours.
1) Necessary conditions
No special procedures are required. Contractual working hours are generally accepted as hours necessary to perform a duty. If the opinions of the employee and the employer differ, then a written agreement is required.
2) Related jobs
Taxi drivers, sales people, etc. usually work outside of a workplace.

(3) Discretionary work system
For a job whose nature makes it necessary for the employer to authorize the job holder to determine how the work is performed, as the employee works outside company offices or his/her work requires specific expertise or professional skills, the range of working time or the hours of work that the employee chooses are deemed the hours worked, so long as the employer and the employee representative have reached a written agreement on the following:
※ Related jobs
①Research and development of new commodities or new technology and research in the areas of social sciences and natural sciences;
②Designs and analysis for data processing systems;
③Data gathering, compilation and editing of articles for newspapers, broadcasting, or publication;
④Designs or devices of clothing, interior decoration, industrial goods, advertisement, etc.; and
⑤Duties as producer or director in broadcasting programs, motion pictures, etc.

※ Contents to be included in the written agreement
－Job description;
－That the employer will not give the employee any detailed instructions on how the employee performs his/her work or arranges his/her working time; and
－That calculation of the hours worked is b