65% of Social Welfare Workers in Seoul Report Experiencing Workplace Bullying

Online Discussion on the 7th Based on Seoul Human Rights Officer Survey Results
Reflecting Countermeasure Discussions, Policy Improvement Recommendations to Seoul Mayor

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City announced on the 7th that a survey conducted last year on 1,140 welfare workers regarding workplace harassment revealed that 65.1% of respondents experienced workplace harassment within the past year.

By type of harassment experienced, deterioration of the work environment accounted for 51.7% (multiple responses allowed), emotional harassment 45.3%, mental harassment 31.8%, sexual harassment 10.9%, and physical harassment 3.9%.

Special types of workplace harassment occurring in social welfare facilities included lack of labor safety assurance at 32.6%, economic harassment such as forced donations at 25.9%, infringement of religious freedom at 19.6%, unethical work demands at 16.7%, work demands from special relations at 15.2%, and obstruction of abuse reporting (regarding users) at 6.8%.

Workers who experienced such workplace harassment reported decreased motivation to work (59%), consideration of job change (47.9%), feelings of anger or anxiety (41%), cases of hospital treatment and medication use (5.4%), and suicidal impulses (5.2%).

Seoul City, under the supervision of the Human Rights Officer, will hold an online public discussion titled "Social Welfare Facility Workplace Harassment Survey Results Online Discussion" via YouTube and Live Seoul starting at 2 p.m. on the 7th.

At this event, the causes and countermeasures for the fact that most respondents (79.8%) who experienced or witnessed workplace harassment in welfare facilities rarely take practical actions will be discussed to seek policy alternatives for protecting the human rights of welfare facility workers and ultimately improving welfare services for users.

The discussion will begin with opening remarks by Kim Hye-ryeon, Chair of the Health and Welfare Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, followed by a joint presentation on "Workplace Harassment in Seoul Social Welfare Facilities and Improvement Measures" by Professor Lee Yong-jae (Department of Social Welfare, Hoseo University), who led the survey research, and co-researcher Professor Kim Su-jeong (Cyber University of Korea). Then, representatives of workers, facility heads, research institutions, and experts on harassment case investigations will represent voices from the field and discuss measures to eradicate harassment behaviors.

The Seoul Human Rights Commission plans to recommend policy improvements to the Mayor of Seoul based on the results of this discussion to promote the human rights of social workers and prevent human rights violations in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.