With regular bank operating hours being abruptly changed for the first time in 18 years, attention is turning to the background behind the decision. It is analyzed that this was influenced by a combination of factors, including the Korea Federation of Financial Service Workers' Unions (Financial Services Union)'s sustained demands for the introduction of a 4.5-day workweek and the expansion of non-face-to-face financial services.
According to the financial industry on the 29th, the union and management sides provisionally concluded this year's central collective bargaining negotiations the previous day, with the main content being a 30-minute reduction in bank branch operating hours. Starting from April, the opening time will be delayed from the current 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The closing time will remain at 4:00 p.m.
Excluding temporary reductions due to the spread of the coronavirus, this is the first change in regular operating hours for the banking sector in 18 years. In April 2009, the banking sector moved its operating hours forward by 30 minutes each, changing from the previous 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Shortening the 7th-hour operating period of bank branches is an unprecedented event in history. With the opening time delayed by 30 minutes, the daily customer service time at branches will be reduced by 30 minutes compared to before. Yoon Seok-gu, chairman of the Financial Services Union, emphasized the significance to local unions by stating, "We have shortened bank operating hours by 30 minutes for the first time since the founding of the nation."
Previously, last year, in response to the Financial Services Union's demand for a 4.5-day workweek, management agreed to shorten Friday working hours by one hour, but operating hours were not changed. The reason was that shortening operating hours would inevitably lead to customer inconvenience. A financial industry official at the time stated, "I understand that management agreed on the condition that operating hours would not be changed."
Analysis suggests that the expansion of non-face-to-face financial services influenced the background behind the change in operating hours after one year. It is speculated that management moved toward a compromise because delaying morning operating hours by 30 minutes each would face less backlash compared to the 4.5-day workweek system (working only in the morning and leaving early) that the Financial Services Union had previously demanded, which involved early departure on Fridays. A commercial bank official stated, "There are not many people who come to the bank at 9 a.m. Since branches are relatively quiet in the morning, we do not expect this change to cause significant customer inconvenience."
The Financial Services Union side has been demanding shorter operating hours from the outset and maintains that they have merely achieved the "normalization of abnormal conditions." This is because bank employees had to arrive about 30 minutes early to open branches at 9:00 a.m. With this reduction in branch operating hours, bank employees' arrival time is expected to be delayed from the previous 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and working hours will decrease accordingly. However, wages are not expected to decrease by the same amount.
A Financial Services Union official said, "General office workers work from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., but bank employees have been arriving by 8:30 a.m. to prepare for opening at 9:00 a.m." and added, "It is not that they leave when branches close at 4:00 p.m.; they work until 6:00 p.m. It is merely normalizing the 'abnormal' state where additional labor was being performed." The official continued, "Since the contractual working hours are originally from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., there will be no impact on wages or other compensation."
In this agreement, the union and management also decided to introduce a "customer closing system (last call)," which stops accepting new customers starting 30 minutes before the end of operating hours, similar to the "last order" at restaurants, in order to establish a one-hour early departure system on Fridays. Consequently, it was analyzed that bank operating hours on Fridays would be reduced by one hour compared to before, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
In this regard, the Financial Industry Employers' Association issued a press release on the same day stating, "Even if the last call is implemented, Friday closing time will remain at 4:00 p.m., and the provisional agreement does not stipulate uniformly stopping new customer business acceptance from 3:30 p.m." The association clarified that "the last call is operated to prepare for closing procedures before the end of business and to ensure smooth completion of work within the designated operating hours."
in FINANCE
