Three-fourths of large companies in South Korea are resorting to flextime in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Monday.

According to the survey of 120 big businesses concerned, 75 percent of the respondents said they have newly adopted or expanded flextime due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Nearly 30 percent of them newly introduced flexible working, with the remainder supplementing or expanding existing flextime systems, showed the survey taken by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) under the Federation of Korean Industries, the nation's top business lobby.

Another 10 percent of the surveyed businesses are considering implementing flextime, while 15 percent said they have no plans to adopt the system.

Teleworking is the most favored type of flextime with 26.7 percent, followed by staggered hours with 18.3 percent and selective working hours with 15.4 percent.

The survey also showed 51 percent of the companies using flextime have plans to continue or expand the system even after the coronavirus pandemic ends.

KERI took the survey from June 8-July 6, which has a margin of error of 7.8 percentage points.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 13,700 South Koreans since the country reported its first case on Jan. 20, with the death toll reaching 295. (Yonhap)