By Yoon Ja-young
The introduction of smartphones and tablets is leading to unpaid extra work as employees are still connected with the office when they go home in the evening. They should be paid for the overtime or the working conditions will only worsen, a researcher pointed out at a forum.
Kim Ki-sun, an associate fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, said in a forum "Workers afraid of Kakao Talk" that smart devices such as smartphones and tablets have led to 1.44 hours of work after official working hours every day, or 11.3 hours a week. Kakao Talk is a mobile messenger service widely used in Korea.
Kim pointed out that most of the workers in the country are suffering from "overwork." According to a survey on 2,402 workers in the manufacturing and services sectors, only 13.9 percent said they are not using a smartphone for work after official working hours. The rest had to use smart devices even after leaving the office.
When asked how much extra work they do using smart devices, 27.1 percent said less than 30 minutes; 20 percent said more than two hours; 18.6 percent said between one hour and two hours; and 9.8 percent said between 30 minutes and one hour.
They were not free on weekends, either. The survey showed that they used smart devices for 1.6 hours a day on weekends for work.
"When the BlackBerry was first introduced, one of my bosses who was an early adopter bought the device and said how convenient it was to give us work anytime, anywhere. I had an uncomfortable feeling about the new era and I was so right," said a government official. He said he can't even sleep when he goes for a business trip overseas as he continues getting Kakao Talk messages from the Seoul office despite the time difference.
The survey also showed that 44 percent said they were deprived of sleep due to overwork with smart devices.
When asked what they were doing with their devices, 63.2 percent said they were sending and receiving emails, while 57.6 percent were preparing work related files. They were also giving and getting work orders through messenger services.
As smart devices are leading to extra work worldwide, some countries are restricting contacting employees or sending them email after official working hours.
Kim said that overwork should be fully compensated to stop the trend.
The introduction of smartphones and tablets is leading to unpaid extra work as employees are still connected with the office when they go home in the evening. They should be paid for the overtime or the working conditions will only worsen, a researcher pointed out at a forum.
Kim Ki-sun, an associate fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, said in a forum "Workers afraid of Kakao Talk" that smart devices such as smartphones and tablets have led to 1.44 hours of work after official working hours every day, or 11.3 hours a week. Kakao Talk is a mobile messenger service widely used in Korea.
Kim pointed out that most of the workers in the country are suffering from "overwork." According to a survey on 2,402 workers in the manufacturing and services sectors, only 13.9 percent said they are not using a smartphone for work after official working hours. The rest had to use smart devices even after leaving the office.
When asked how much extra work they do using smart devices, 27.1 percent said less than 30 minutes; 20 percent said more than two hours; 18.6 percent said between one hour and two hours; and 9.8 percent said between 30 minutes and one hour.
They were not free on weekends, either. The survey showed that they used smart devices for 1.6 hours a day on weekends for work.
"When the BlackBerry was first introduced, one of my bosses who was an early adopter bought the device and said how convenient it was to give us work anytime, anywhere. I had an uncomfortable feeling about the new era and I was so right," said a government official. He said he can't even sleep when he goes for a business trip overseas as he continues getting Kakao Talk messages from the Seoul office despite the time difference.
The survey also showed that 44 percent said they were deprived of sleep due to overwork with smart devices.
When asked what they were doing with their devices, 63.2 percent said they were sending and receiving emails, while 57.6 percent were preparing work related files. They were also giving and getting work orders through messenger services.
As smart devices are leading to extra work worldwide, some countries are restricting contacting employees or sending them email after official working hours.
Kim said that overwork should be fully compensated to stop the trend.
