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By Lee Kyung-min
Employees of the country's top commercial lenders are coming under heavy criticism for what many consider as an unreasonable and selfish refusal to return to pre-pandemic working hours, according to industry watchers, Sunday.
Local banks have opened at 9:30 a.m. and closed at 3:30 p.m. since July 12 last year, as part of stricter COVID distancing measures. Previously, they had opened at 9 a.m. and closed at 4:00 p.m.
The unionized financial workers say the reduced hours should remain because the number of in-person visits by customers is low. This is a self-serving justification lacking any rationale, according to many, since the government is considering lifting the indoor mask mandate in the coming weeks.
Further fueling the criticism of the highest-paid white-collar workers is their demand for a four-day workweek and an expansion of employee benefits, something that many find unacceptable. Their record-high profits over the past few years were powered almost exclusively by emergency expansionary monetary policies and had nothing to do with their individual capabilities, according to critics.
The financial statements of the top four lenders ― Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori and Hana ― showed that their average employee salary exceeded 105 million won ($80,398), last year, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier.
'Greed beyond comprehension'
"It's greed beyond comprehension," an office worker in his 40s said. "They well know they have been coasting off of the COVID-19 pandemic for years, and everybody knows it. Their very stance of refusing to go back is a clear illustration of how a false and ill-conceived sense of entitlement can go wrong, so wrong."
Many salaried workers say customers go late to the banks at around 4 p.m. not because they choose to, but because that is the only timeframe that they can go.
"Almost all state-run organizations have resumed working normal hours ― the way they did before the pandemic," said a salaried worker based in Seoul. "Why do the bank workers think they can be the only exception? If working shorter hours and keeping all employee perks and benefits are the only concerns for them, the financial authorities should review whether they have been really that excellent in protecting consumers and bolstering their rights and experiences."
The shortened hours were put in place to prevent the spread of the infection and not to enhance the convenience of bank workers, according to an office worker in her 30s.
"They complied with measures ostensibly due to the public health concerns back then, but trying to cling to it even after all the reasons are gone is just shameful," she said.
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