SNS forces some to work round the clock

By Choi Sung-jin

A counselor at a plastic surgery in Seoul has not been able to get a break from work except for sleeping, since her hospital introduced a counseling service through Kakao Talk, a mobile messenger app, in 2013.

Whenever the hospital places an ad, the counselor, surnamed Park, receives up to 80 messages a day, more than double the normal 30-40. The content of the correspondence varies widely, ranging from simple protests to sexually embarrassing messages.

“Some, having watched my profile, even make fun of me, suggesting I should have a surgery first,” Park said.

Park is not alone. As more and more Koreans work through SNS, such as Kakao Talk and other messenger services, their workplaces have expanded hardly a limit. “I have to work through my mobile phones and laptops wherever I am and any time of the day except when I am asleep,” she said.

Park’s troubles do not stop at dealing with her “jerk friends” at Kakao Talk.

The hospital’s manager always watches the SNS window to check whether she deals with clients kindly. “I feel I am under surveillance all the time,” Park said.

Still, Park has never thought she was doing extra work. In a National Human Rights Commission survey of 700 workers in 2013, 63 percent of respondents said SNS infringed on their human and labor rights.

Employees at mobile phone makers have to work at home every time a new model is released, checking the performances of sales agents as well as their incentives and discounts, and report them to managers. “Even on holidays, I have to poke my nose into smartphones or tablets, wondering whether I am resting or working,” said an employee at a large smartphone maker. “I dream of escaping from the company’s SNS group room.”

Teachers are also victims, because some parents even go so far as taking issue with teachers’ looks and conversations.

According to the February issue of the monthly “Labor” published by the Korea Labor Institute, a survey of 2,402 workers working in manufacturing and service jobs, showed that 1,688, or 70.3 percent, were working through messenger, email and SNS using smartphones and tablets. They were using IT equipment for 11 hours or more a week on average for work, or 677 hours a year.

The number of respondents who said their working hours increased because of “smart equipment” was more than double those who said that their working hours decreased, the magazine said.

Employers usually pay 1.5 times the ordinary wage for overtime and work on holidays, but few studies had been made on “Kakao Talk labor” yet, and few experts had studied industrial accidents such as mental stress, caused by the new conditions, it said.

Experts suggest workers approach Kakao Talk labor from the aspect of human rights before thinking about financial compensation. “It is necessary for the society to start discussing whether work instructions after leaving office is appropriate or how society should reduce it,” an expert said.