Korean Job Discussion Forums

[legrande]

8 out of 10 employees work late: survey
2011-04-27 10:59

Eight out of ten employees work overtime, half of them without any reward, a study showed Tuesday.

In a survey conducted by Saramin, an online recruitment website in Korea, about 75.9 percent of respondents worked overtime, with 45.8 percent of them doing so without proper compensation.

More than 54 percent of respondents who worked overtime said they were considering quitting their jobs. Most of them had negative thoughts about working late. Some respondents said their work efficiency dropped while working late and the longer hours made them feel less attached to the work.

Many said they stayed in the office late at night because of excessive workloads. However, other respondents said unspoken pressure from their boss or heated competition among colleagues had also led them to work late.

The study showed that an employee worked late three to four times on average, for an average of 11 more hours in total. More than 18 percent worked between 12 and 15 hours, while 9.4 percent of respondents said they even worked 18 hours extra.

Some 1,487 workers participated in the survey and respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.

By Kang Yoon-seung
Intern reporter
([email protected])



<한글 요약>

한국 직장인 10명 중 8명은 야근을 하고, 이 중 절반은 이에 상응하는 보상을 받지 못하는 것으로 나타났다.

취업 포탈 사람인(http://saramin.co.kr)의 조사 결과에 따르면, 약 75.9%의 직장인들이 야근을 하며, 그 중 45.8%는 수당이나 식대를 받지 못하는 것으로 나타났다. 설문에는 약 1,487명이 참여하였다.

야근 때문에 54.2%는 퇴사를 고려한다고 응답했다. 업무 능률이 떨어진다, 애사심이 낮아진다 등 다양한 부정적인 견해가 뒤를 따랐다.

또한 업무량이 많아서 야근하는 경우가 많았지만, 또한 상사나 동료의 눈치를 보아 일하는 경우도 빈번한 것으로 나타났다. 경쟁에서 이기기 위해, 인사고과에서 좋은 점수를 받으려고 등 다양한 이유도 나타났다.

직장인은 평균적으로 일주일에 서너 번 정도 야근을 하고, 총 시간은 11시간 되는 것으로 전해졌다. 그러나 18시간 이상 근무하는 경우도 9.4%를 기록했다.

야근이 빈번한 날은 화요일(28.9%)로 집계되고, 월요일이 그 뒤를 이었다.

(연합뉴스)

[myenglishisno]

I have many students that tell me they work between 3-6 hours unpaid overtime everyday. They can't leave until their boss does. I have other students who tell me that they have to go to mandatory hweishik outings as well, on top of working for free.

I really don't envy that.

[IlIlNine]

Because, you know .. there aren't any benefits at all to working at a company vs. being an English teacher.

Also: the overtime culture is changing slowly. Companies are moving to paid overtime - which, when implemented, will both reduce the number of overtime hours and compensate those that really do need to work late fairly.

[legrande]

04-26-2011 19:17

Pension fund urged to rein in chaebol

By Cho Jin-seo

A senior presidential aide said Tuesday that the national pension fund should raise its voice in corporate boardrooms against the unchecked power of chaebol, the controlling families of Korea�s big business groups such as Samsung and Hyundai.

In virtually the first public conference hosted by a government agency on corporate governance, Kwak Seung-jun, chairman of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, said that the 350 trillion won National Pension Service (NPS) should get involved in the appointment of CEOs of firms it invests in, as do public and pension funds in the West. He urged the National Assembly to institutionalize such a decision-making process at the NPS.

The remark from Kwak, known as one of the most trusted aides to President Lee Myung-bak, means that Korean society is slowly waking up to the problems of the murky corporate governance structure at many firms.

Kwak�s remarks, as well as the occurrence of the conference itself, immediately unnerved some chaebol. An official from the Federation of Korean Industries, a powerful chaebol lobby group, raised objections during a question-and-answer session that the NPS should not and cannot interfere with the management of its member firms.

�Does the NPS really know that much about business management? I know that there are only two people working on corporate governance at the NPS. They are simply not capable of doing so, and we also suspect that the NPS can be influenced by politics.�

Korea�s chaebol are notorious for being a �Korea discount� among global investors. Most of the big business groups such as Samsung, Hyundai and SK have seen their leaders caught more than once for corporate crimes such as embezzlement, cooking the books and tax evasion. But in most cases the leaders were released with suspended sentences for the �sake� of national economic growth.

[ThingsComeAround]

[crescent]

[Captain Corea]

How much of that overtime work is work?

[Koreadays]

there have always been people at the top and people at the bottom
and there always will be...

hey could be worse, could have been born 200 years ago and been a slave!

[IlIlNine]

[IlIlNine]

[Illysook]

If the culture discourages anyone to go home before his or her boss, then the boss has a responsibility to go home on time. Unfortunately, the boss is usually the one with the heaviest work load. He or she is supposed to delegate appropriately. However, if the management skills of the average school manager are any indication of Korea's management style, it will take a long time before anything changes.

[Lazio]

[Mr. Peabody]

[Zackback]

I'm so glad I am not Korean and have to live like this.

[Triban]

My girlfriend is working at a company (her first job) and getting paid around 1.4 million. She comes in at 9 and constantly has to stay past 8 pm; luckily she usually gets by without having to work on Saturdays. She said she will only be able to take 3-4 days vacation (wtf?).

Her boss comes in anywhere from 12 PM -6.30 PM if he comes in at all (because he is hungover)

If she tries to leave before her manager (who told her to go) her boss gets pissed because she's the "youngest".

She is seriously thinking about her career choice, but I don't know if it will get any better.