[With Corona Era] 'End of Remote Work' Commute Hell Begins... Company Dinners Also Revived

<中> Office Workers' Time Runs Backwards

De Facto Forced Commute Stress
Infection Concerns Amid Rising Confirmed Cases
Heated Debate Over Company Dinners
Experts Call for "Gradual Changes"

On the first day of the phased daily recovery (With Corona) implementation, the Mugyo-dong area near Seoul City Hall is bustling with citizens during lunchtime on the 1st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] "It feels like COVID-19 has come to an end."

Jeon Woo-seok (34, pseudonym), an employee at a trading company located in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, said, "The company says it will maintain the rotating work-from-home system only until this month," adding, "Although they say it's only until this month, all the supervisors are coming to the office, and the subordinate employees are practically forced to come to work." Jeon expressed concern, saying, "With the surge in confirmed cases, I worry that a cluster infection might occur."

With COVID-19 is drawing complaints from office workers. Many companies are returning to pre-pandemic work styles, such as ending work-from-home and resuming company dinners. While some welcome the return to normal life, those accustomed to non-face-to-face routines continue to voice their grievances. According to a survey by the recruitment platform JobKorea of 400 employees working from home, more than half of the respondents, 60%, answered that 'work-from-home has ended.'

The main reason for ending work-from-home (multiple responses allowed) was 'transition to With COVID-19' (45.8%). About half (45.2%) of the employees whose work-from-home ended gave negative evaluations, most citing commuting stress as the reason. Seo Ji-won (35, pseudonym), a legal team employee at a large corporation, said, "There was no significant disruption to work while working from home, but as soon as With COVID-19 started, it seemed like they had been waiting for this moment and encouraged all employees to come to the office," adding, "Confirmed cases are still high, and I am already worried about the stress of commuting on public transportation."

On the 1st, when the phased daily recovery (With Corona) was officially implemented, a restaurant in Seoul displayed a sign indicating 24-hour operation. From this day, up to 10 people can gather in the metropolitan area, and up to 12 people in non-metropolitan areas, with most facilities such as restaurants and cafes allowed to operate 24 hours./Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Debates are also ongoing about company dinners, which had disappeared for a while. Im Dong-won (37, pseudonym), an employee at a small-to-medium enterprise in Namdong-gu, Incheon, said, "Not only team dinners and department dinners but also client appointments have been scheduled every evening until next week," adding, "Restrictions on the number of people and time have been eased, and the bad habit of drinking late into the night is repeating, which is distressing."

There are also voices longing for the social distancing measures that once constrained daily life. According to a survey by the recruitment platform Saramin, nearly half (48.1%) of the 1,449 respondents said they were 'satisfied' with social distancing. The most common reason was 'elimination of unnecessary company dinners' (60.8%).

Experts point out that although With COVID-19 has been introduced, gradual changes, as the term implies, are necessary. Professor Eom Jung-sik, an infectious disease specialist at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, emphasized, "If quarantine measures are relaxed, damage is inevitable and will lead to social and economic losses," adding, "Even under the With COVID-19 system, work-from-home should be implemented if necessary, and gatherings such as company dinners should be somewhat restrained."

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