"Tip Culture" Avoided by Part-Time Workers Amid Concerns of "Power Abuse Intensification and Wage Decline"

Survey on 'Tip Culture' Among Part-time Workers
Tight Opinion Divisions... 55% Positive
Negative Trend Increases with Younger Age Groups

Opinions among part-time workers regarding tipping culture were also found to be divided.

On the 20th, 'Alba Heaven,' a job and part-time job portal, conducted a survey on tipping culture targeting 1,116 part-time workers currently employed and 1,152 general adult men and women.

55% Positive... 'Feeling a Sense of Achievement While Working' vs. 'Not Suitable for Our Sentiments and Culture' Conflict

First, the survey of part-time workers showed a close split between pros and cons. From the perspective of part-time workers, 55.4% responded positively to tipping culture, slightly higher, but there were also many opposing opinions.

Part-time workers who viewed tipping culture positively cited 'feeling greater reward and achievement while working (51.1%, multiple responses)' as the main reason. This was followed by ▲additional income beyond the set wage (46.9%) ▲the possibility of providing friendlier service (33.8%) ▲customers who want to give tips (17.8%), among other answers.

A photo of a glass bottle requesting a 'tip' was posted at a cafe in Korea.
[Photo source= SNS capture]

Regarding an appropriate level of tipping, the majority pointed to '10% or less of the product/service price.' The '5% level' and '10% level' of the product or service price accounted for 43.0% and 40.8% of responses, ranking first and second respectively.

Four out of ten part-time workers (39.3%) have experienced receiving tips while working, and the most common reason for receiving tips was 'providing especially friendly service (48.5%).'

On the other hand, part-time workers who viewed tipping culture negatively raised their voices saying, 'Tipping culture is still not suitable for our sentiments and culture (65.3%).' Additionally, they pointed out 'an increase in customers’ abusive behavior due to resentment (43.6%)' and 'a decrease in minimum wage due to the introduction of tipping culture (42.0%),' and some also expressed the opinion that 'it is difficult to provide service good enough to receive tips (12.4%).'

Younger People Are More Negative About Tipping Culture... "Feels Like Being Forced, Burdensome"

[Image source=Pixabay]

In the survey of general adult men and women who do not work part-time, 68.8% held negative opinions about tipping culture, with the breakdown by age group showing ▲20s at 75.2%, ▲30s at 65.1%, ▲40s at 60.5%, and ▲50s and older at 43.3%, indicating that younger age groups tend to have more negative views.

The main reason for negativity toward tipping culture was 'feeling pressured as if being forced rather than voluntary tipping (66.8%).'

Along with this, other reasons included ▲feeling unreasonable because service charges are already included in product prices (60.4%) ▲concern that it will become a custom leading to overall price increases (45.3%) ▲difficulty in receiving good enough service to warrant tipping (36.4%) ▲difficulty in receiving face-to-face service due to the introduction of kiosks and serving robots in many stores (25.0%).

Conversely, those who answered positively cited 'being able to express gratitude (66.1%)' as the biggest reason, along with ▲expecting higher quality of received service (38.1%) ▲being able to provide feedback by giving no tip or a small amount when dissatisfied with service (14.4%).

About half considered an appropriate tipping level to be 'around 5% of the product/service price (48.9%).'

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