Korean companies now having long year-end holiday

9 out of 20 top companies having Christmas holiday season

Yuhan closes on 3rd week of December, Boryung having a long-term leave for the first time

Global companies using employee’s annual leave, Pfizer closed from Dec. 17

The Korean pharmaceutical industry is starting to adopt the long year-end holiday season to wrap up the year around Christmas and to start fresh from the New Year.

 

Boryung Pharmaceutical and other Korean companies are having a long holiday for the first time this year.

 

Multinational pharmaceutical companies are starting their long holiday season soon like they have been for years.

 

Apparently, AbbVie is to have is the longest 18-day holiday season.

 

Daily Pharm surveyed year-end holiday schedules of 40 pharmaceutical companies in Korea, including top 20 Korean companies, 18 global companies, and two pharmaceutical industry organizations—Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-pharma Manufacturers Association (KPBMA) and Korean Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Association (KRPIA).

 

Nine out of 20 companies are leaving for the holiday from Dec.

 

26 to 31.

 

Including public holiday on the Christmas day and the New Year’s day, they are closed for total eight days.

 

The list of companies include GC Pharma, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Dong-A ST, JW Pharmaceutical, Ildong Pharmaceutical, Boryung Pharmaceutical, Huons, Dongwha Pharmaceutical, and Samjin Pharm.

 

Boryung Pharmaceutical is having their first long-term year-end leave.

 

Five companies including Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Jeil Pharm, Celltrion and Handok’s year-end schedule is to use employee’s individual annual leave.

 

The companies are highly recommending the employees to use the rest of their annual leave.

 

Yuhan is the first to close the office from Dec.

 

16 to 20.

 

Including the weekends, the companies are on holiday for nine days.

 

But it opens again from Dec.

 

23 to prep for the next year’s start.

 

Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical and Daewon Pharmaceutical have set Dec.

 

30 and 31 as designated annual leave day.

 

Whereas Ilyang Pharmaceutical and Dongkook Pharmaceutical have designated Dec.

 

23 and 24 as annual leave day.

 

They took an advantage of weekends and holidays to take a longer holiday.

 

An industry insider commented, “A long year-end holiday season has been a typical system only for multinational companies even until recently, but nowadays Korean companies have implemented the similar system to have refreshing holiday season.

 

Most of them use employee’s annual leave days, but employees can fully enjoy a long holiday with an official corporate holiday season”.

 

Multinational pharmaceutical companies’ long year-end holiday season is not so different from previous years.

 

Among the surveyed multinational companies, AbbVie is having the longest year-end closing.

 

The 18-day leave is to stretch from Dec.

 

19 to Jan.

 

5 next year.

 

AbbVie has decided to grant special vacation day on Dec.

 

30 and 31, and use employee’s annual leaves on other days.

 

The office usually closes on Jan.

 

2 as it is AbbVie’s foundation day.

 

Pfizer is to close the office from Dec.

 

17 to the end-of-the-year.

 

Including the New Year’s day, they will be closed for 16 days.

 

AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingel Heim, Roche, Takeda, Daiichi Sankyo, Sanofi and Amgen are closing around Christmas.

 

Other companies are to use employee’s annual leave for the year-end holiday season.