"Showing Your Bed During Video Calls?"... Everyday Remote Work, Studio Apartment Workers 'Anxious'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Office worker Kim Seo-hyun (30, pseudonym) recently finds working from home three days a week troublesome. There is no desk in her studio apartment, which is about 4 pyeong (13.2㎡). Due to limited space, she gave up on having a desk or dining table. Instead, she spreads a low table on the floor just big enough for one person to sit and works seated on the floor for about eight hours a day. Kim said, "Sitting hunched over all day makes my back hurt a lot and my eyes get tired quickly," adding, "Even the nearby cafes prohibit seating, so working from home is very difficult."

As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) resurges and working from home becomes a new work style, the poor living conditions of young people have come to light. Many young adults have been living in studio apartments, and now that they have to work from such cramped spaces, the housing situation of the youth has been exposed.

According to a survey conducted by mobile survey company Open Survey on the 26th of last month targeting 1,200 adults aged 20 to 50, among 90 respondents in their 20s who experienced working from home, 58.9% (multiple answers allowed) said they worked in their bedrooms. The proportion of respondents working in bedrooms decreases with age among those who have worked from home. In their 30s and 40s, 31.6% and 27.6% respectively said they worked in their bedrooms.

"It was great not having to worry about my boss watching and being able to take breaks during work," said office workers who initially welcomed 'bedroom work' during the early days of working from home but now complain about various difficulties. Lee (28), a second-year employee, recalled, "I was worried about my bed being visible during video meetings," adding, "To have a separate workspace, I would need to move to a two-room or three-room apartment, but I can't even think about it due to the pressure of monthly rent."

Choi (29), who is in the second week of working from home, works at a desk that is just big enough to hold his laptop. The bed is only two steps away. He said, "Seeing the bed makes me want to lie down all the time, and although I have work to do, I can't focus, and being confined to a small room all day is frustrating."

According to the data analysis center of real estate platform Dabang, last month the monthly rent for two- and three-room apartments (exclusive area under 60㎡, deposit uniformly adjusted to 10 million KRW) rose 10% from the previous month to 790,000 KRW. This is about 330,000 KRW higher than the monthly rent for studio apartments (exclusive area under 33㎡, deposit uniformly adjusted to 10 million KRW). This is why young people continue to move between small studio apartments.

Experts suggest that government efforts are needed to improve the housing environment for young people. Professor Lim Jae-man of the Department of Real Estate at Sejong University said, "As working from home increases in the COVID-19 era, the studio apartments where young people mainly live have poor conditions," adding, "Although it is not a problem that can be solved immediately, the government should make efforts to improve the housing environment by raising the minimum housing standards."

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