"Extension of Work" vs "Human Tasks Are Hard to Be Sharp Like a Knife"... What Do You Think About KakaoTalk After Work?

Proposed Bill to Ban Work Instructions via Communication Tools Outside Working Hours
Over Half of Office Workers Use KakaoTalk for Work Messenger
83.5% Have Received Messages Outside Work Hours

A bill partially amending the Labor Standards Act, which prohibits work instructions via communication methods such as KakaoTalk outside working hours, has been introduced by a representative, sparking divided opinions. [Image source=Pixabay]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jung-wan] KakaoTalk (KakaoTalk), known as the national messenger, is being used for work tasks, leading to blurred boundaries between work and personal life and increased fatigue. There are calls to ban work-related KakaoTalk messages after work hours, while some argue that legal sanctions would be excessive.

On the 8th, Roh Woong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, introduced a partial amendment bill to the Labor Standards Act that prohibits work instructions via communication tools such as KakaoTalk outside working hours. The amendment limits regulation to repeated work instructions outside working hours and establishes penalties of up to 5 million won for violations.

Roh’s office pointed out that due to COVID-19, non-face-to-face work methods have become more common, increasing work reports and instructions through social networking services (SNS) like KakaoTalk. While some large companies have made cultural improvements such as banning work-related KakaoTalk messages after 10 p.m. for work-life balance, the majority of workers still report stress from receiving work instructions via KakaoTalk after leaving work.

KakaoTalk, with 50 million monthly active users, is called the "national messenger" and is often used instead of other work messengers. According to a survey conducted by market research firm Open Survey in May last year targeting 1,000 office workers aged 20 to 50 in Korea, over half (53.3%) reported using KakaoTalk as their work messenger.

As KakaoTalk has become a work messenger, many workers reported receiving work-related messages after work hours. A survey by job portal Incruit in May of 1,056 workers found that 83.5% had received messages outside work hours. Furthermore, the rate of receiving work instructions or collaboration requests was higher on personal messengers (86.8%) than on work messengers (68.7%).

There are opinions that fatigue has increased due to work-related KakaoTalk messages continuing even after leaving work, while some respond that legal regulations are excessive.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Given this situation, some users say that as the number of work-related group chats ("dantok") increases, fatigue from chat apps rises, reducing private use. In the same survey, more than half (57.2%) responded that the distinction between work and personal use of messengers is unclear.

Song, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul, said, "I have a dozen or so work-related group chats since joining the company. Even when I log in to contact friends after work, seeing messages from colleagues still working makes me tired." He added, "I now mostly use text messages or SNS direct messages (DMs) for private contact with friends."

On the other hand, some in management positions argue that work after hours can be unavoidable and that legal sanctions would be excessive. Lee, in his 40s working in advertising, said, "Since people do the work, sometimes tasks are not finished exactly at quitting time. While it shouldn’t be excessive, strictly banning work messages after a certain time is too much."

Perceptions of work or attendance instructions outside working hours vary by age and rank. In July, Workplace Gapjil 119 released results of a survey conducted from June 10 to 16 with 1,000 workers on workplace harassment and abuse. The results showed that younger workers in their 20s and regular employees were more likely to consider work instructions via SNS outside working hours, holiday or festival attendance orders, and holiday team-building or sports events as abuse, while those in their 50s or higher management tended to see them as acceptable.

Kakao has introduced features like "Multi-profile" on KakaoTalk and launched the work messenger "Kakao Work" to protect privacy, but these measures are seen as insufficient to resolve the work-personal boundary issue. Kakao launched the work platform "Kakao Work" in September 2020 targeting demands for work-life separation and privacy protection, but according to Open Survey, only 1.6% reported using it.

Meanwhile, a similar amendment to the Labor Standards Act (the law banning work KakaoTalk messages after work) was proposed in 2016 but was discarded at the end of the 20th National Assembly due to criticism that regulating work tasks autonomously handled by each company through law was excessive regulation.

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