Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Young workers not entirely happy with 'return to normalcy'
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By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Expectations are high that people will be soon able to enjoy “normal lives” like before the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government is preparing for a scheme to return to normalcy gradually starting next month since meeting its targeted vaccination rate.
This forecast change, however, is not entirely welcomed by some people, as they will have to face an “unwanted” normalcy. For young workers, after-work dinners that often involve binge-drinking, or “hoesik” in Korean, are one such undesired past practice.
Work dinners have virtually ceased since last year in compliance with social distancing rules limiting group sizes at restaurants and bars. During that time, they have instead had increased personal time in the evenings with family or for their hobbies.
However, with the nation's scheduled entry into the “Living with COVID-19” scheme next month, more and more workers are making plans for year-end meetings and dinners, which is making many workers, especially younger employees, uncomfortable.
Jang Ui-jin, 29, who has been working for a company for three years, said she doesn't think it's necessary to completely resume the working culture and lifestyle from before the pandemic, as she has not experienced any problems carrying out tasks without in-person meetings or after-work dinners.
“After work on weekdays, I usually have plans for myself, such as studying French, taking cooking classes, going to yoga and having a regular appointment with my dermatologist,” Jang said. “If my boss plans an after-work dinner, I'm going to make an excuse not to join.”
Young workers' reactions are different from older ones, like Lee Je-hyung, 43, an office worker in Seoul.
“My schedule for dinners in November is already almost full, and I'm arranging meetings for December,” Lee said. "I'm going to meet not only my co-workers but also my friends and alumni with whom I haven't met in the past year,” Lee said.
A survey in June of 1,412 workers by recruitment platforms JobKorea and Albamon showed similar responses. Nearly 45 percent of workers in their 20s and 30s said they want their companies and colleagues to refrain from having company dinners even after the pandemic is over. When multiple answers were allowed, 44.1 percent also said they do not want after-work drinking sessions that run late into the night.
But for workers in their 40s and 50s, only 31.7 percent did not want to see the company after-work gatherings return, indicating the possibility of future conflicts between younger and older workers over such gatherings.
What many office workers are also concerned about is the end of telecommuting. Many people say they are already tired of even thinking of repeating the daily commute during rush hours.
“Although it's two or three times a week, once I experienced the convenience of working from home, I don't really feel like going back to the daily routine before the pandemic,” said Kim Bo-ra, 33, who lives in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and works for a company in downtown Seoul.
“Executives and department heads have a lot of meetings and it may be convenient for them to work in-person, but workers in their 20s and 30s like me couldn't agree more that telecommuting is a much more efficient way to work,” Kim said.