The funny thing is that this is an economic concept: there’s this thing called the Law of Diminishing Returns and it has an impact on the Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF). The concept is basically that up until a certain point, you can keep adding things that normally increase production of whatever good or service you’re making or providing, ex: you can increase the number of employees in a coffee shop so that as there are more of them, there will be more people to take orders, make coffee, and operate the cash register. Each time you add an employee, in theory, you get more productivity … Up until a point. Let’s say you get up to five workers in the coffee shop, but suddenly, things are actually less productive instead of more so. The workers don’t have enough space to do everything and there’s probably not enough work for each of them to be very efficient in that area with a shortage of space now. That’s the law of diminishing returns - up until this point, adding more workers pushed the production possibilities curve outward, in other words, for given constant amounts of other things, the amount of goods that coffee store could produce was increasing. Now it’s gone down. The same thing can be true when it comes to hours of work - there’s a growing body of research to suggest that many industries’ policies of adhering to a strict number of hours worked and culture that looks down on employees who would want to leave early or work fewer hours is actually not only not great for those workers (whose interests I believe should be considered more than they currently are), they’re actually probably hurting productivity for the firm. The reason that a supermajority of companies in the UK that recently participated in a trial of a 4-day work week want to keep it is likely not that they’re simply cuddly employers who feel strongly about their workers having more free time to do with as they please; they’re for-profit institutions that are seeing that obeying the law of diminishing returns offers a benefit to production, and therefore, profits. Strangely enough, in many areas, workers and companies could both see a win from treating workers better and allowing them more time to do with as they please. I don’t think it should be a surprise that treating people well can mean good results across the board, but clearly many bosses are stuck in a mindset that may actually be hindering their own progress while also unduly stressing workers at their firm *caveat; this is more true in some industries than others and there is a network cost to shifting to this. There are exceptions but once the shift starts to happen, I expect that it will pick up speed and become a new norm in the span of a few years. That does not mean that its inevitably is not helped or sped up by folks speaking up in favorite of it or protesting for it or organizing unions to ensure that workers have leverage to get a better shake though - these are all good things that will help make this happen quicker than it otherwise might
I live in Korea and I really don’t understand this mind. Overworking does not mean best work. I think Koreans need to focus efficiency rather than working hours.
Exactly. Mistakes and inefficiency from burnout just pile up. Ofc there are busy times, that makes sense, but stress accumulation causes major health issues. Which is why proper mandatory time off like in most of world (3 to 5 weeks) is needed. It would actually benefit north american and asian employers with higher productivity and quality and lower staff turnover.
@@SL-jn8cz I really don’t know about migrant workers. However, as in this video, some Koreans wait their manager to leave office even though the work is done. In my opinion, this is not an efficient work and not related to migrant workers.
I had a German intern under my wing and my coworkers were shocked why this guy never stayed late. However, my former intern got way more done than my coworkers. I askes my cowoekers the following questions 1) have you ever gone together with him for a smoke or/and coffee during work hours? 2) have you chitchat to him while during? The answers for both questions were "NO"
@@dozendeadrosez Exactly and my sister in law works as a pharmacist for Kaiser and says people there slack off like crazy. They are just there for hours and hours but don’t really do much.
This is not about the amount of working hours. If the company needs people to work overtime to finish production, they will do so. This is about corporations not wanting to pay for the overtime charges.
the interesting thing about this interview is that the people who are working 80+ hours don't even have time to be interviewed. They're probably going home late at night. So we only see the people who are working 8 hour work days.
I just don't understand why people think it's normal to work unpaid overtime. Moreover, if the company regularly makes everyone work overtime... it seems like they can do 2 things to make things not as bad - hire more people OR find ways to make the job easier/quicker via automation or programming.
korea seems like a truly depressing society. that old man doesnt even mind the younger generation working 69 hours a week. and yet he probably still expects young people to have babies and start families smh
yeah the old man went from saying he wants them to work 69 hours a week to further the korean economy, and then says he believes in work life balance 🤣
It is so ironic that he said “do you think all the smart people in the US and Germany are also leaving work early to take it easy?” when that’s exactly what they’re doing
I agree, the work hours in europe especially is much shorter but i think their productivity is higher (at least compared to my country in SEA), idk if it's compared to SK, but i think it is. He should have done some research before saying that stuff.
Ikr that's what I thought as well lol Germans hate to work overtime and now after Covid we value a good work-life-balance even more so most ppl are working less but we still can keep up with productivity and efficiency. There is nothing better for a company than a happy, healthy and well rested impoyee. I hope SK will learn that at some point as well.
The competitiveness in Korean culture is really so overboard that they’re striving to beat countries that realistically they aren’t even doing “worse” than.
This is crazy cause England is thinking about reducing the work week to 4 days a week for professional fields or office jobs. It actually increases productivity to have shorter work hours and a good work life balance
Tbf it was a junior dev role but I was working over last summer-ish and the amt of hours of actually need to do my work was like so much less than the work day and so let you be real lazy and slow abt it
Yeah in England the culture is very much about a work life balance. There is this principle you don’t live to work but work to live. If you put such long hours when do you take care of your family . I am so glad in the uk when it’s time to leave you just leave as far as you have met your deadlines and target. There are days or week you might do long hours but as a working parents your family come first.
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with the man facing his back to the camera. His reasoning for maintaining such long working hours is because he believes Korea is still a developing nation. As a Korean I fully understand where the root of that mindset began but it is an incredibly outdated way of thinking as Korea has not needed "catching up" for decades now, it is now such a highly developed country. People who still believe this are completely overlooking the detrimental consequences of such long working hours. Deteriorating mental health and well-being is causing far more problems than these people seem to see.
I agree with you. South Korea is the most advanced Asian country from a technical perspective, the comments about Germany are false. Working time and holidays are very generous, but still Germany leads western countries in technology due to an extensive manufacturing capability.
Don’t worry about it tho, The county needs people like him to keep doing what’s it doing. Just like Cops needs criminals to do their jobs. The more idiots in the world the more exploitation can be done which is good for those who profit 😂
@@-jfo- love your comment ~ as a foreigner working in korea, I am way more productive when i am well rested than when I had to do 3 hours extra the day before because urgent work was giving by a client over mail XD and I was very shocked when he said korea need to catch up ... like korea have the faster internet in the world, samsung, lg damn if it's not great technology ? also you can learn about your coworker during working hours and if you really need to eat together lunch is perfect ! no need to stay overtime ~ anyway thank you for your great comment !
Deteriorating mental health and wellbeing due to stress about pursuing materialism and pleasure over family and well being. Not having children. Over choosing pleasure and carrer will end up destroying korea. Thanks to you young koreans.
As a South Korean living in one of the G7 countries. I can confirm work culture in SK is extremely toxic and that's why I am living here even though I believe SK is one of the most advanced/developed countries in the world in many aspects (healthcare and other social systems) except for work culture and education. I love my country but it is just unbelievable how many hours people work in SK (most importantly, inefficiently!!!) and the worst part is people's attitude on the issue. Look at the guy in his 50s in the interview. It is a typical disgusting response from the older generation. I feel sorry but I can’t waste my time there as I think having a normal working culture in SK will take a while. It can't be changed instantly until the older generation has no power to rule society. For me, living here is of course challenging and tough sometimes, but much easier and happier than living in SK, I would say.
Don't forget because of the old generation South korea is developed and prosperous and is due to you! Young generation choosing mone and pleasures over family that is destroying the country. The birth rate is abysmal and is due to Young Koreans like you!
this is what i was trying to understand. thank you for posting this comment. in a lot of places in the world people work long hours inefficiently. this makes work unnecessarily stressful. furthermore, in some cases reduced work hours can result in greater productivity (doesn't apply to all types of work). but rest and recreation is paramount for mental health (a happy worker is much more likely to work better than one that is not).
Do they want airline pilots and truck drivers also to work 69h a week? I want to see the safety data if they do that. Doctors too - I do not want an over-worked sleep-deprived doctor to perform a surgery on me. I think that we are not getting the full story here.
Pilots are legally limited to 100 hours of flying time per month, due to previous accidents as a result of fatigue. 69 hours a week is a crazy amount to be working
The point isn't about the hours you put in but how effective you are. For those who are calling for higher hours, it only works to a degree because once you push it further, your efficiency drops significantly and you end up doing more rework later. This coming from a person who used to work 60 to 70 hours and realize at 11th hour working, your brain just doesn't work well..
Korean man here in my 30s, millennial generation, living overseas. I think Korea's main problems are: [1] Low productivity (GDP per hour is one of the lowest among OECD nations) [2] Low fertility (0.84 while replacement level is 2.1) [3] Excessive pressure in the educational system (monolithic definition of success, social pressure to 'save face'). Working longer hours is mathematically and economically against [1], obviously reduces chances to improve on [2] (tired workers who barely make it home lose sex drive and become apathetic) and doesn't help depressurizing the environment for a healthier educational system [3]. The older man has an antiquated mindset, made sense in the 90s, 00s or 10s at most but not anymore. For the things he emphasizes (which I agree are quite relevant though I don't agree in his argumentation) you can create camaraderie-teamwork, increase scientific output and innovation without necessarily increasing working hours. I do believe in sometimes working longer to meet deadlines or addressing emergencies (I've worked as country manager, been there, done that) but as an exception, and not a rule. However, the idea of leaving only after your boss leaves just for the sake of it (which I did when I was young-gullible in my early career in a Korean employer) is ludicrous to me these days. That's why, as a person in a leadership position these days, I always tell my people to leave when the day is finished unless we have some critical emergency (if it's a manageable crisis I leave it for the next day. The world won't die, you won't die, nobody dies). I hated working on ****ing PPTs at 1AM for my boss' Brazil business trip presentation (presentation being like 5 days later and while he basically was snoring in his chair). I wholeheartedly hated the inefficiency. I remember being sleepy and even dizzy with alcohol because yes, we had dinner and beers after 8PM and then went back to the office (10-11PM) to finish the ppt. Anyways, that is why I don't do that to my people. I do push them to perform during working hours, and I don't hire slackers, but I seldom ask for overtime. Again, only real emergencies.
Do Koreans work 7 days a week? Do they get time off for holidays? For college graduates, do you get paid by the hour with overtime, or a flat salary? My questions are from American practices. Idk if Korea is the same or much harsher. Ty
Productivity is a poor measure. Not just for what was mentioned by the older man (natural resources vary by country). It essentially takes current GDP and divides it by total hours. However, Korea's economy is not mature like the older man mentioned. It still has significantly higher GDP growth rates than most developed countries. Korea is projecting to grow at around 2.2% per year over the next 5 years, the EU is projected to grow at around 1.1%. Korea GDP per capita PPP just equaled the EU this year. However, at current rates, will need about 10-15 more years to catch the higher EU countries on that list like Germany, Finland, and Sweden. Korea's quality of life metrics are still vastly improving year by year. Certain indicators 10 years ago have improved drastically. I agree with the older man that Korea is still playing catch up in ways, if the aim is to achieve levels of the more developed EU countries. Although I think it is fast approaching those levels and in 10 years, many of the current quality of life metrics that are still poor (air quality, suicide rate) will most likely also be fixed by current projections (Japan was also dealing with high suicide rate for a few years and has since dropped below the US and many EU countries). At that point Korea's economic metrics and infrastructure will have also gone another 10 years of progress. Which is when Korea has officially "caught up" in the ways that the older man is referring too. I'll also add that Korea already does a lot of things better than the aforementioned countries. And when Korea catches up in these other regards, I believe the overall QOL in Korea will far surpass the countries mentioned in about 10 years.
When I was 19. I worked 50 to 55 hours week at a major Super store in Michigan. I was really trying to work hard and impress them but they exploited it. Once, I passed out because I was also going to school and a doctor told me I was sleep deprived. Now at 29. I will not accept that mess.
The guy in his 50s whose face is not on camera is shilling for corporations even though he is being exploited as an employee and does not get to reap the benefits of overtime. And his comment about not valuing a work-life balance speaks perfectly to the East Asian philosophy of prioritizing the collective over the individual. It's the same in Japan and China as well. You're expected to put career ahead of everything else which is why so many people are miserable and either end up dying at work or committing suicide due to the stress.
Yup, classic kkondae thinking right there. They will never understand why working long hours for a company that exploits you is so torturous for many people 😢
Lol but is because the old generation korea is advanced and prosperous. You young koreans only care about money alcohol and carreers and other pleasures over rising a family you guys will end up destroying what korea built for decades
While the US's rate of takin one's own life is now higher than Japan's. Korea's is by far the highest among OECD countries tho. Korean birth rate is also literally the world's lowest.
> his comment about not valuing a work-life balance speaks perfectly to the East Asian philosophy of prioritizing the collective over the individual How is the collective benefited by slaving away for capitalists?
@@bruceludlow1326 It’s itemised and depend on the “life group” we are speaking about. The “collective” in these examples would be the team and by extension the company. The company’s success then extends to the country, and it would mean a better society (i.e., reaping the benefits of a economic grouch, development, jobs, etc.) That’s the thought process. Is that actually the case? Clearly not - yet, it made sense at a point in time when many of the named nations weren’t as advanced as they are today.
Man, we're humans not machines... They have been working insanely hard for the benefit of their nation but it will disappear if they continue at this rate... Love you Asian Boss ❤
There's a lot of different perspectives across a lot of different age demographics in this video and for this diversity, really want to applaud asian boss. Hope the viewers can try and find the pros and cons of the points each person makes here, cause no one is 100% wrong or 100% right in their responses. Really good work bringing the different viewpoints out into the open for an international audience, and I encourage all of us viewers to listen with an open mind
Most humans can barely work 40 hours a week, & I felt the strain of it with 54 hours a week within the matter of 3 months... Nobody should be at work 8+ hours a day, but these low wage companies will have people believe otherwise
yeah gladly the 52hour is the max overtime ... normal week is 40h and 12h overtime max but it's still a lot ^^' also not paid for most of white collars (maybe a good company will) and sadly some company actually don't care of the 52h max ... I am glad my company actually push us to finish on time everytime we can XD
@@미연아름다운인연 Thank you got the information!! And I’m glad your company insists on finishing on time. Where I live too we have the same problem. A lot of companies force employees to stay overtime and they don’t always pay extra.
@@TrinhNguyen-sh4fj yes it is not 52 required but sadly a lot of worker actually do more because of pressure ^^' as a foreigner and in a good company I mostly finish on time XD but even me I do extra sometimes when too much work ... let's hope it's gonna get better once old folks in the government are out XD
Basically, my take is that it is definitely less about working hard to advance South Korea and more likely already wealthy Corporations pushing their Government connections for cheap labour exploitation.
I've done 65-hours + 12-hours travel a week. After sleep, hygiene, and eating, I only had 2 hour a day to do anything else on workdays. Which was pretty much just laying in bed awake because of body aches. It was ridiculous. Now I'm at a flat 40-hours + 5-hours travel. Sometimes it still feels like a lot. I would love 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. Saves me an hour of travel and the extra full day off does more than it seems. (Also, raw number of hours is only half of the equation. Your productivity matters a lot over those hours. And I'm grateful that my current boss tracks that and pays accordingly.)
I work in a Korean company and the amount of pressure Koreans have have from the bosses to work longer is insane. While they don't "legally" have to, there is this social concept called "noon-chi (눈치)" in Korea, which really makes people feel like everyone will judge them for not doing what is expected of them. It's kind of toxic. But the work ethic of those I work with is just incredible.
I watched a video about the same thing in japan where they will be shamed and looked down upon by their co workers for not going along with everyone and not working hard they even do morning exercises where they chant how much they love the company to be more productive it was sad I think this is problem in most asain countries as I've heard people in china and thailand complain about this too
Yea I worked in a korean company and noticed many people stay late and would say oh no i have so much work to do or oh no i cant leave early today (early being their scheduled time off!) but i always felt there was never any pressing work keeping them there and never understood and just left lol
From a danish pov, on paper we work on average 37 hours for 5 days a week. For some it could easily crop up to 40-42 hours or 50 or more, depending on what kind of job they have. There are discussion of working 4 days a week, but with the same 37 hours though. Working more, means sacrificing quality time with oneself and with loved ones, could lead to more stress😢
Nurses and doctors often work only 3 days a week for 12-14 hr shifts… I wonder if they would prefer to spread the hours out, or if it’s better quality of life in the long run.
@@SuperTink well I work in a Danish public hospital in the logistics department. The nurses here work long hours and at times work overtime. Their basic pay is considered, by some, high. Though it does fluctuate, on how they calculate it. Working overtime does have a big bonus , but they are like other people, they dont like to work overtime, but they must, because their job is vital. Their basic salary has risen but not by much since the late1960s. It fare better for them to work at a private hospital or in Norway, where the pay is higher and they have more time for themselves.
i feel for the people of south korea. although it's a huge advantage to be one of the most developed countries, the insane level of pressure for schoolwork as well as employment is definitely not good for the people's health, whether mentally or physically. that's like a timebomb that's going to explode for individuals first, then the nation itself :(
The man in his 50s is a living proof of his generation's mindset.. the 8 hours workday is an already outdated concept since nowadays there's so much less manual labor compared to mid 1800s when the 8 hours workday law was passed in the US. Machines and all kind of modern technologies would obviously shorten execution time and raise work efficiency considerably. So many European governments, Germany included, have been considering the 4 day work week as a practical work-life balance solution. Would they consider such a move if it hindered progress? In most advanced modern societies, overtime is a clear show of incompetence employee-wise; companies forcing (unpaid/poorly paid) overtime have no qualms in openly exploiting their workforce .. so loyalty towards the company, working late in deference to their higherups?! .. these are rather big words for poor excuses. Why don't we call it as it really is - Modern Slavery. That's everywhere actually isn't it. It's just that some governments are more realistic hence more decent than others in trying to provide some ROI to their hard working people. Apparently not the case of South Korea as one might get it from these interviews ... and it seems Koreans (Japanese and .. who else?!) haven't yet reached the collective awareness that people do not live to work but work to live. And besides, even if they were granted less working time would they accept their well deserved freedom and would they know what to do with their hard-won work- free time if they had it, I wonder ...
I'm from Germany and actually in Germany they've been considering increasing work hours as well because unemployed rates are getting higher and they need to make up for the pension of coming retiring generations. This however is seen very critically by germans since as you mentioned, modern societies are considering 4 day weeks to ensure work life balance. Germany has it's own bundle of issues when it comes to work but overall you can say german society values work time as much as rest time and there's plenty of laws protecting workers and their health. Rest in general is something that is very much valued for good work performance and health maintenance which directly influences work performance.
I’m a Korean speaking foreigner and I worked for a very traditional Korean company in Korea for 2 years. Overtime work, team lunches and company dinners - all in the same day. It was quite suffocating to have to be around the same group of people for 16 hours straight, daily. If you didn’t participate you’d be talked about and labeled negatively. I’m glad my work ethic improved in Korea but man, am I glad I didn’t stay longer or else I would have gotten very sick / miserable.
The last comment of the older guy was so funny, bcs in Germany the answer is "yes" - yeah we take it very seriously to NOT work overtime, we don't work when we are sick and are still paid, we have to take our vacation time bcs of law - which is at minimum 20 days but more often around 30 days a year, and we have paid maternity leave for up to 2 years I believe if only the mother takes it or smth. We are behind on a lot of things, but we still like to have a life to live. And the trials they did in GB shows that a 4 days week reduced stress, increased happiness, stayed consistent in productivity or even increased - and people fewer times called in sick than before. Which just makes sense, how many people in office jobs specifically waste away their time at work bcs their tasks are finished but the clock is still ticking. For other jobs, where it might be more difficult to implement that, we have to find other solutions still. If people work fewer days with same pay, they will have more time to invest that pay on their off days in business by buying stuff, going out to eat or for entertainment, invest in hobbies etc - therefore boosting the economy is what I imagine. People have to stop thinking that humans are machines. More time at work does not equal the same amount of constant productivity. We wear out, we burn out, we only have a limited amount of strength physically and mentally - so for the "perfect" system, these have to be considered.
I am a foreigner living in SK, speaking Korean too. In my previous firm basically, I had to do arrive 1hour early every morning or the manager in charge called us about why we didn't arrived yet. Then we waited for confirmation from the boss to continue work who wasn't at the firm during the day. He came back around 5~6pm and decided after like one month or two to change the full plan again. And do like added working hours because he wasn't at the firm during the day... I think the main pb in South Korea is truly the productivity. We were all exhausted and when some problems occured, people were fired like basically 1 person per week without the boss himself rethinking his position and hos wrongdoings. Then, the older people also didn't liked to go home to their wife's, so we needed to wait for them to get home before we could go too. At the end, the firm bankrupt from multiple issues (nearly illegal stuff, no tracking of the funds used), the surely lack from the boss, and lack of productivity.
Is Korea still considered a developing country? The older man kept mentioning they need a lot of workers because the country is still far behind developed countries, but I really don't think that's the case. But I feel like Korea really isn't that far behind, especially looking at transportation infrastructure and internet.
Korea is the 13th biggest economy in the world (based on GDP) and as you said in terms of infrastructure (digital and transportation) it is even better developed than some richer countries. Korea has not been considered a developing country for more than 20 years. I think it is pretty much impossible to argue that Korea is still a developing country nowadays.
For those who don't know Germans HATE working overtime and would easily choose less money and less work over more money and more work. We mostly do have 40hrs/week working contracts here but recently there were also discussions about implementing a 4-days working week with less hours. Idk why so many countries are still so eager to let their people work more when there is living proof of us Germans having a good work-life-balance with good pay and we can still keep up with other nations regarding our industry, etc. I also feel like older generations with their mostly old mindets are a possible cause for this and things will be hard to chance unless the older generations retire or eventually die. It also blows my mind to see older people kind of making fun of younger generations for wanting to work less aka having less stress and more time for themselves in their lives. It's such a toxic mindset to think you owe these companies anything above what's set in your contract. You work to make money, not to become their friends.
Ich würde jetzt nicht unbedingt sagen das wir bei einer 40-Stunden Woche eine gute Work-Life Balance haben oder besonders viel Geld bekommen.. Aber im Vergleich zu Korea und deren wöchentlichen Arbeitsstunden sieht das ganze schon besser aus.
I wish there was a conversation about productivity. After a certain number of hours, you're just not productive anymore and it's actually better to go home and rest so you can work better the next day, rather than continuing to stay and try to get things done. I've also heard that in countries like Korea and Japan that have a culture of not leaving before the boss that if a person finishes their work but the boss is still there, they just pretend to work on something until the boss leaves and they can then leave. The system doesn't help people be more productive if they're just sitting around for a couple of hours doing nothing.
They are also depriving the employee time with their family and friends, which makes for a more balanced life. If they're so worried about their population drop, they need to have more family-friendly workplaces for both men and women.
This is what I feel from many Koreans: "if we (the older generation) had to work 60-80 hours per week, then the younger generation should do the same. We want u to be as unhappy as us." This "I live to work" culture is so toxic... it's a huge reason why suicide rates in Korea are one of the highest (per capita) in the world. I've lived here 7 years, and although I love Korea, this is the one thing that makes living here long-term unforeseeable. Not only do ppl work here on average more, but they also don't get much vacation outside of national holidays (where they feel obligated to spend the entire time off with family).
If the younger generation is overworked they wouldn’t have time or energy to create families. When they don’t have families/kids the society will collapse in less than two generations... That would be so sad!!
@@anneny.7412 All this is caused by greed... it's beyond sad to crush their own future because of corporate profits. Beautiful country and great people, hopefully they will rise up and change this toxic way of working soon!!
5:26 I’m Korean and I work at a small private Korean-American company in America. 90% of the workers there are koreans. My mom is the operating manager. After working there for a year, I understood y everyone wants to quit. My mom is a very hardworking, diligent, competent worker.. so she expects everyone to match her level. Her standards are SO high. When she talks about our co-workers, I feel so bad. Basically, she keeps saying people lack work ethic and care for the well being of the company. “One of our workers quit so someone needs to take over his duties. The fact that they just leave sharp at 6pm is so irresponsible and rude!” In my head, I was just thinking: yes, I understand that the company needs someone to do over time to cover the work for the worker that quit, but this is NOT anyone’s obligated duty. They can’t always do overtime work until the company finds a new employee. That’s the HR’s job to recruit ppl in a timely manner. Also my mom gets mad at workers who are kind of slow. But I’m like.. is it their fault that they cant do work efficiently? They are trying their best. To my mom, ur “best” means nothing if it doesn’t fit her expectations. :( this is so Korean culture. They have high expectations for their employees.
Working 50-60 hr a week is back breaking. You literally stop thinking after a certain point so not sure how much extra revenue you are really adding to the company. Honestly though, I don't understand the concept of team dinners in South Korea. You are already spending 40+ hrs a week with your colleagues, they don't need more of your time to get to know you.
I did 15 hours a day 7 days a week in the past voluntarily for 2 years , very high intensity not only long hours . 8 hours working,7 hours studying to upgrade my skill . It was bad for mental health but i became an excellent programmer ,the best in the company. Will i want to do it again. No. It was really exhausting, that 2 years equal to 8 to 10 years (normal work/study)
I think the idea is that only when you're drunk you show your true self. If they don't see you puke on the street it means you're not chummy enough. It's probably because when NOT drunk they are extremely reserved.
I agree. I’ve been working 50h+ for the past 4 weeks and I started having “mini-blackouts” like I’d be in the middle of something and suddenly not remember what I was about to do. I then pause, gather my thoughts and usually remember what I was about to do, but it’s scary AF! It’s like my short term memory has a shutdown… it does make me worry, but I’m not sure what to do about it…
Employers are exploiting their hardworking employees, really sad. Most NZ work average 35-40 hrs a week, more hours you are paid overtime. We value life balance, weekends & family time. However we still lack in some sectors of the workforce for better pay conditions but I wouldn't exchange this to work in a Korea environment. I hope working conditions for koreans improve soon.
Here in the US we work a lot of overtime and depending on who you work for or what you do, you either get paid for it or you don't. If it's a salary, you don't. My son is a mechanic and works alot of overtime but doesn't get paid. He's only 25. He's exhausted all the time and doesn't make much. I feel bad for his generation. They get a lot of slander but those that work, work hard for mediocre pay in a world where it costs more and more just to get by.
That is so true! My brothers work for the government here in the US and get paid by salary not number of hours. I think they do get paid overtime separately but I am not sure. The good thing is they get a lot of benefits that others don’t get.
If your son is a mechanic then he should be paid hourly, which means he should be paid overtime. Check your state laws, overtime should usually be paid 1.5x hourly pay.
There is a pervasive misunderstanding in Korea about quantity vs. quality. It has been proven repeatedly that the human mind shuts down any higher-order thinking when it is overworked and life is not balanced. That is why the US is looking at a 4-day workweek because they get better quality of work out of the employees. Of course, you will have lazy people everywhere, which is for HR and management to weed out. The other aspect that Korea overlooks is you can have a robot-like workforce, but you must surrender the rest of society for it. If a person is working all the time, they will not do volunteer work at orphanages, they will not take their parents out for socializing, they will not date, they will not marry, they will not make babies, they will not have a relationship with their spouse, they will not hike, they will not bike, they will not go to restaurants to eat, they will not make friends, they will not go shopping, etc.... All of society functions in the collective. If that is the life I am looking forward to for my kids, I will not make any children. It's a life of suffering and toiling away, and then they die. What is the point?
When I first started working at a consulting firm, there was a time I worked 14 hours straight for 7 days just so i could become an associate. Now I feel so burned out and I get called out for the most minor mistakes because I set the standard to high for myself, and I moved to a management position but the pay isn't even significantly higher
Please do not confuse working long with working hard, no correlation. You can keep an employee on the job 14 hours a day with only six of those being productive hours. I live in SK and I mainly observe people working long, but not hard cause the individual will always be in control of how hard they work. Same applies to studying. Stop the madness SK. The problem here is lack of opportunities due to overpopulation, not competitiveness, which creates an atmosphere of employee exploitation IMO. Can’t push back on your employer because options are few and they know it.
@@TrinhNguyen-sh4fj I'm in Italy where we have a good work life balance and even here the regular 8 hour work day is really freaking long for an office employee. I see people having coffee 5 times a day and chatting with their colleagues.... Wtf is the point? I'd rather spend that time at home and my work is usually done in 5 hours, yet I have to do bs for another 3 hours just to make our boss happy 😂
@@divx1001 I did not know it was like that in Italy too. But yes, I wish they would let people leave after all work is done instead of keep people at work just to make the boss happier. What is the point of that?
This sounds absolutely ludicrous from my perspective, having only worked in Germany, where hours are capped harshly at sixty hours per week and ten per day, and any working hours before six am or after ten pm get extra compensation, with few exceptions. I can get overtime paid out, but only twice a year, after proving I haven't crossed those sixty hours on average in the last six months. My employer actively makes it hard to get that overtime paid out, to discourage people from working too much. It is much, much easier to just get it compensated for with extra time off work. In the last decade there was ONE day where I went over the 10-hour per day limit (a business trip with train delays that put me two hours over) and it took two days of paperwork to clear that up. My employer had to pay me higher wages for overtime, then higher again because it was after ten pm by the time I finished. They had to prove that I had worked more than the legal limit on paper, but I had not been physically or mentally exerted for the full twelve hours. Had I been actively working the entire time, they would have had to prove which business-saving crisis I had been fixing.
South Korea and Japan from a search gets about 6.25~6.50 average hours of sleep which are the amongst bottom. The importance of a good sleep doesn't seem to be popular topic in Asia.
Yeah Japan and South Korea have some of the highest life expectancies in the world could you imagine how much higher it could be without such a stressful work culture
omg the ajusshi with his back turned to the camera is a typical 꼰데! I really relate to the younger woman w bob haircut who talked about how Koreans are never given the space to find out what they actually enjoy. Educational system is a nightmare, students pulling overnighters, going to multiple hagwons after school etc Then it's all about getting a high paid/prestigious job. It's truly suffocating. No wonder that SK has one of the highest suicide rate in the world.
Good topic to talk about, thank you. In Brazil we work 44 hours a week and it's already quite exhausting. I wonder how Koreans can handle 52 hours a week 😢 PS: for you who are reading this: may God bless you, Jesus loves you so much and you're never alone! ❤
I am a mid-30s engineer who worked for Samsung in Korea and now for ASML in the Netherlands. In Korea, I experienced a backward culture and hierarchical order, working over 12 hours a day, including weekends, which was extremely tough for productivity and work-life balance. At ASML Netherlands, the workload feels much lighter, often just managing 40 hours a week, with a lot of time seemingly spent on coffee and small talk. However, we do work diligently and even on weekends when important milestones are due. The reason why Samsung Korea, despite such hard work, can't challenge ASML's technology might be due to Korea's authoritarian culture, numerous red tapes, and intense departmental politics, all eating away at productivity. Moreover, Korean industries haven't yet ventured into innovative or creative fields, focusing only on competitive areas. This results in a 'chicken game' industry, where the competition is about who can produce cheaper and faster, not about creativity or innovation.
Living in a G7 country as well, my feeling is with Korea having such a large population of well educated people, why don’t companies hire a wider range of employees, therefore giving jobs to more people and then putting less pressure on fewer people to get the job done. Surely there are thousands of qualified people there looking for work. And the dinner after work culture is nice but could be less frequent especially if you end up going home at 4 or 5am and then expected to show up for work at 9am? Or 10am without adequate rest…. As well, as someone mentioned, the 4 day work week is a great idea again, to employ more people. In my country, we have such a thing as « job sharing » as well. So more people benefit without putting their health or their family life in jeopardy. With expecting their employees to work such long extravagant hours, no matter what their age is, it seems like company owners and governments feel like human lives are a « disposable commodity ». It show little value or respect for your fellow human beings. What I’m saying may sound harsh and disrespectful but it’s not meant this way. I do feel very sad for people having to work overtime hours without being given a choice about it and then, not even getting paid for it!
Longer hours reduces productivity. It also causes fatigue which causes workers to go out less, which reduces spending and hurts the economy. The solution isn't longer work hours, its more workers.
It's interesting I've been hearing that commentary as well about the younger generation being weak-willed and not wanting to work. It could be a combination of things though, mental health becoming more important, more options in terms of veering from the traditional path towards success, their definition of success, ideologies around happiness, money, commitment, and what they're willing to sacrifice and put up with.
So in order for Korea to be a developed country, we must go out drinking with our coworkers until 5AM on a work night? This will improve our productivity?
Gosh I can't even keep up with the working hours in germany which is quite normal in comparison to south korea, but these people are doing so much hours 😮
Basically no family life. You can't get productive workers if they can't recharge "their batteries" and enjoy a balance life. No wonder the birth rate is so low. 🤦♀️ What will they do if there is no next generation?
The problem I find with this video, in spite the topic covered being relevant, is that your population for "Koreans" (your interviewees) are all Seoulites. How about people from other metropolitan cities such as Daegu, Daejeon or Busan? Is the work culture there similar to the ones in Seoul? This should be further clarified so that the population you choose to interview is statistically representative.
Interesting in many ways. That more hours is seen as better worker, some mention that they have to stay even if they are done with what they do so that just makes it odd to stay at that point. I would have to imagen productivity would be a better way to look at it then. For the Goverment to look into making the workweek cap higher seems like a super odd thing as they also, from what I understand, want people to start families as the birth rate is so very low in South Korea. So increasing workweek hours just seems quite counterproductive to any effort to try and increase birth rates.
I’m from Germany, I’m a third year student, doing a work experience as a dental nurse. And I can say, I hate my workplace. I hate it so much, most thing I hate are my coworkers and boss. I want to quit, I think about it everyday. But I can’t, because I need to pass my exams. If I’m not in my work experience, if I’d just work normally like an adult, then I would have already quit long ago. I gave my best, but it wasn’t enough for them. They screaming at me everyday, telling me I did everything wrong 😑. That’s the reason I love being at school, because the stress-level for me is to high. I’m scared, I’ll end up with depression because of them. Soon when the exams are done, I’ll just stay at home and being sick for like 1 whole month, cause I feel like I’m not mentally healthy. I’ll let them all do the work, it’s their fault for not teaching/showing me their task what to do. So there’s nothing much that I can help them with.
I feel you, same in Austria’s marketing agencies… I wonder how long we’ll have to wait until CEOs and managers realise that a good leader isn’t someone WHO NEEDS TO SCREAM!??? Ich hoffe, du bist bald mit der Ausbildung fertig und kannst wechseln… alles Liebe und versuch dir zu sagen, dass Menschen, die schreien, hilflos sind und eigentlich sehr unbeholfen. Denn jemand, der selbstsicher ist und professionell, muss nicht schreien, um sich Gehör zu verschaffen!
To be honest, personally, I'm absolutely inefficient and unproductive after 4 hours and a half - 5 hours of work, after that many hours I can't even force myself to focus...
I live and work in Norway where a full time job is 37,5-40 hours per week. Anything more than that is overtime and you get good overtime pay. During the hours I work I'm very productive and I feel rested due to enough free time. We also get around 5 weeks paid vacation every year. I love Korea and I go back every year, but the work culture is the reason why I haven't moved there yet. I'm not saying how it is in Korea is wrong, it's just I value the work-life balance I have here too much to give it up.
What is that man in his 50's on about? Korea is already a DEVELOPED nation. A highly developed one in fact. Is he still living in 1981? His ideals are why Korea has such a toxic working culture today, because people his age are still sitting at the helm of most companies and corporations in South Korea and they mostly have the same mindset (more hours = better for the company) without considering the life of their people outside of the office.
Thank you Asian Boss for this insightful video! Was really interesting to see the perspectives of all these individuals and was especially impressed with how you tried to cover a wide range of interviewees from the older generations, to the Milennials and the Gen Z. Keep up the good work! To add, I guess I can understand why the older generations has the type of mindset of working hard and grinding 24/7 is that during their time they had to go on survival mode just to LIVE and have a "life" as times were hard then plus their motivation was that they want their children and future generations to have a better life. But on the other hand, the younger generations are currently living that "better" life that the older generations have given us (which we are thankful for) and really want to make use of that given opportunity and live life to the fullest hence why work-life balance is much more important to us.
Omg… I personally feel that working over 8 hours in a day is already overtime… I look at it in terms of having an overall balanced life. Ugh… What a pity. I hope things improve not just in South Korea but in countries where this is considered “normal”.
I think the woman in her 40s has a pretty outdated POV too, though not as extreme as the man in his 50s. She also argued that for young people, it's more important to work hard to establish their value.
As an mixed Asian American who grew up in Asia, I can absolutely say that Korea and some other Asian countries are definitely advanced in tech, labor, services, etc. compared to the States. America i would say, besides the main cities, is pretty behind in technology. A lot of towns still use tech from the 80s and 90s. There’s no way Seoul isn’t ahead of us by a long shot. Not sure why the guy facing away from the camera thinks they’re still a developing country when they’re the one country millions of foreigners want to move to.
How can someone work 69 hours per week and at the same time is expected to build their own family? This kind of mindset is insane. No wonder there is significant declining birth rate in SK for past years.
This problem also happens in China too. It is a bad cycle, the working people work overtime and are so tired and exhausted while unemployability happens let those who don't work rely on their relatives or generally have no income. At the same time, the company tends to let each worker work longer to reduce costs while workers don't dare to refuse.
제 친구가 과도한 업무, 상사의 괴롭힘으로 스스로 목숨을 끊을 뻔 한걸 겨우 말렸습니다. 상사는 계속하여 완벽, 빠른 업무를 원하고 저의 친구는 업무 때문에 새벽까지 일하는 날이 많다고 저한테 실토한적 있습니다. 또한 상사에 완벽, 빠른 업무 속도 요구 때문에 상사는 제 친구에게 욕설, 인격적 모독인 말도 매일 했다고 합니다 그러던 중 제가 어느 날 그 친구 집에 말도 없이 놀러간 적이 있는데 그 친구는 문을 열어줬고 한 손에는 밧줄, 한 손으로는 망치를 들고 울고 있었습니다 만약 그 날 제가 그 친구 집에 놀러가지 않았다면 그 친구는 다음 날 시체가 되었습니다
There is no need to wonder why the birth rates continue to plummet here. I'm going to get along with my co-workers ( well I mean when I had to do so ) luckily I no longer have to be bothered. Working from home is the gem that keeps shining bright day and night. Still being forced to stay at work to eat with folks just to increase morale is nuts. Having to stay out all night drinking becoming a lush. Just so we can call it team building is delusional. We do NOT have to be friends to work well together. All this unpaid overtime is crazy as well. Of course they want to milk you for every second they can without paying you for your work. While the so called Goverment continues looking around like morons wondering why marriage and birth rates will never rise again.
the man facing his back probably stopped looking outside the window when he was 20, Korea has become one of the most developed countries in like 10 years and the new generation is intelligent and open to globalization
Seems like a hardworking culture. The break at the end of a basic day before doing ~overtime work (as I understood one respondent to be describing) seems very sensible.
@Aya you're wasting your energy caring about that now. It was too long ago and you can't do anything. Anyway at least they got free accomodation and food 😅
I am worked 14hours a day In Incheon Four days in a week 8:00AM to 10:00PM Remaining two days 8:00to 5:00PM Very long time work every day everyone everywhere in korea
Oh my God that's too much😱😱😱! Am dead tired after a 10-12 hour shift it's not healthy or productive longterm. I was so exhausted and completly unsociable during those days. I didn't even have time or energy to spend my hard earned money.
Humans were not made to be working machines, I hope things get better for you guys. I’m sure this is also contributing to Koreas low birth rate. There is no shame in enjoying life and taking time for oneself lol
Instead of companies innovating to get a competitive advantage, they want to abuse their employees and have them work nearly double for the same pay. Yes, that would definitely give them a competitive advantage, but the problem is, the advanced nations the old guy talks about is about innovation and reducing reliance on the worker, not increasing that reliance. Korea needs to change the way they think and operate, and that's going to be hard as culturally there is so much bad practice ingrained into work culture. The point about not leaving until the boss leaves is a great example. Do they not understand the boss could be making 10x their salary and so he SHOULD be staying and working more!!!
Last year, South Korea's population shrank by 123,800, the largest-ever decrease. The country reported more deaths than births for the first time in 2020. More serious is the speed of population decrease. Let's see who is going to pay the old guy pension.
they did not talk about the fact that people just waiting for their boss to leave dont even do any additional work. they just waste their time waiting. while they could rest at home and be healthier and more productive. this is definitely not about productivity. this is about hierarchy and some egos and nothing else.
I feel that Korean companies and work ethics are very focused on working long hours and showing your dedication to your company, giving your life to the company basically. But resting is very important to recharge for the next day at work and having a life outside of work. I could be wrong of course, but having finished all of your daily tasks and just sit and wait for your boss to leave seems very inefficient. It's a seems like a mindset of quantity over quality. Sitting long hours at work, leaving less time and energy for other things then how are people supposed to socialize, meet a partner, get married, get kids, recharge their minds and bodies? I mean S.Korea is a developed country and has incredible long working hours, a decreasing birth rate and a very high suicide rate. There is a connection and hopefully they will start to see it before it gets even worse.
nah those korean bosses are cheapskate, they just want their workers to work long ass hours so that they feel like they got their money well spent on hiring them.
Ive lived and worked in the US my whole life, middle class, lived in suburbs across the country... I know what a 1st world "developed" nation looks like. If South Korea is not a developed nation, I dont know what is. (this refers to the old dude at about 23:00 saying that South Korea isnt a developed nation, yeeesh) That sounds like some very disingenuous propaganda that hes using to justify the years of abuse he and others have suffered in this profoundly toxic work culture. BIG UPS for the younger people beginning to say no to this BS.
I live in Tahiti. I work 39 hours a week. After watching this video, I understand why my South Korean wife is happy living in Tahiti with me. Thank Asian Boss for this video.
longer hours only work for a short time, then workers burn out, and in their tiered state will make lots more mistakes and do dangerous things. and will fall asleep driving or such
It’s a little bit different in America. We’re more family oriented when it comes to stuff like that. So nobody cares if they leave before their boss does and no one looks down on them for it when it comes your time to clock out it’s your time to clock out and no one cares that you didn’t stay over, and if your questioned about it, you say no my time is to leave at such and such time and I’m going home to be with my kids and with my family and no one looks down on you for that.
This is when the birth rate will drop even more in Korea. These workdays make no sense, they affect the quality of life and family of Koreans. In Spain, working days are currently being reduced to 4 per week...sorry for Koreans
Welcome to Thailand!!! The land of smiles and easy-going life... Where is the place, People here treat the work-life balance as the most important. You can clock out exactly.. And the boss (even Japanese bosses) would see it but can't complain you (not to contribute/try hard for the company... ) hahaha
In the US prior to the prevalence of unions, workers put in many hours with not proper compensation. Unions established the 40 hr work week with time and a half for each hour above that. They also established paid sick leave, 3-5 days/yr., paid vacation and medical benefits. The result of all this was productivity actually increased. Workers felt valued and respected. Often times places where 59+ hours are common, morale is low and productivity down; thus management thinks working more hours will get more done. In reality people are just putting in time and not working at 100%.
@@SoulTravelHealthandWellness So what's your point? That is connected to keeping the Social Security system viable; nothing to do with companies requiring excessive work schedules. Also, as far as working until 70, there are as many reasons as there are people, for doing it. I worked to 70 bc I was still healthy enough to do it and bc I wanted to.
@@ronb.8920 I think depends on the job and the worker's health. Someone might be able to do a desk job to age 70, but a physical laborer would not be able to do at 70 what they found difficult even at 50.
@@barbarapaige of course it does. This has nothing to do with the topic of the vid which is excessive work schedules being required by companies. Let's stay on point.
@@UnstableYT-u7k samee i know this korean youtuber in mexico she is called “chinguamiga” and she said when she was working for a korean company in mexico, she sometimes slept at the company, and it was normal, so im really impress with this videos cause their working hours sounds normal to other stories i heard
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More hours does not equal better work.
The funny thing is that this is an economic concept: there’s this thing called the Law of Diminishing Returns and it has an impact on the Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF).
The concept is basically that up until a certain point, you can keep adding things that normally increase production of whatever good or service you’re making or providing, ex: you can increase the number of employees in a coffee shop so that as there are more of them, there will be more people to take orders, make coffee, and operate the cash register. Each time you add an employee, in theory, you get more productivity … Up until a point. Let’s say you get up to five workers in the coffee shop, but suddenly, things are actually less productive instead of more so. The workers don’t have enough space to do everything and there’s probably not enough work for each of them to be very efficient in that area with a shortage of space now. That’s the law of diminishing returns - up until this point, adding more workers pushed the production possibilities curve outward, in other words, for given constant amounts of other things, the amount of goods that coffee store could produce was increasing. Now it’s gone down.
The same thing can be true when it comes to hours of work - there’s a growing body of research to suggest that many industries’ policies of adhering to a strict number of hours worked and culture that looks down on employees who would want to leave early or work fewer hours is actually not only not great for those workers (whose interests I believe should be considered more than they currently are), they’re actually probably hurting productivity for the firm.
The reason that a supermajority of companies in the UK that recently participated in a trial of a 4-day work week want to keep it is likely not that they’re simply cuddly employers who feel strongly about their workers having more free time to do with as they please; they’re for-profit institutions that are seeing that obeying the law of diminishing returns offers a benefit to production, and therefore, profits.
Strangely enough, in many areas, workers and companies could both see a win from treating workers better and allowing them more time to do with as they please. I don’t think it should be a surprise that treating people well can mean good results across the board, but clearly many bosses are stuck in a mindset that may actually be hindering their own progress while also unduly stressing workers at their firm
*caveat; this is more true in some industries than others and there is a network cost to shifting to this. There are exceptions but once the shift starts to happen, I expect that it will pick up speed and become a new norm in the span of a few years. That does not mean that its inevitably is not helped or sped up by folks speaking up in favorite of it or protesting for it or organizing unions to ensure that workers have leverage to get a better shake though - these are all good things that will help make this happen quicker than it otherwise might
Very true as it is very tiring.
@@UnstableYT-u7k true
Why do your work in 8 when you know you will stay 12+?
@@cnordegren depends
I live in Korea and I really don’t understand this mind. Overworking does not mean best work. I think Koreans need to focus efficiency rather than working hours.
@@SL-jn8cz lmao same in the US
Exactly. Mistakes and inefficiency from burnout just pile up. Ofc there are busy times, that makes sense, but stress accumulation causes major health issues. Which is why proper mandatory time off like in most of world (3 to 5 weeks) is needed. It would actually benefit north american and asian employers with higher productivity and quality and lower staff turnover.
@@SL-jn8cz I really don’t know about migrant workers. However, as in this video, some Koreans wait their manager to leave office even though the work is done. In my opinion, this is not an efficient work and not related to migrant workers.
I had a German intern under my wing and my coworkers were shocked why this guy never stayed late. However, my former intern got way more done than my coworkers.
I askes my cowoekers the following questions
1) have you ever gone together with him for a smoke or/and coffee during work hours?
2) have you chitchat to him while during?
The answers for both questions were "NO"
@@dozendeadrosez Exactly and my sister in law works as a pharmacist for Kaiser and says people there slack off like crazy. They are just there for hours and hours but don’t really do much.
This is not about the amount of working hours. If the company needs people to work overtime to finish production, they will do so.
This is about corporations not wanting to pay for the overtime charges.
the interesting thing about this interview is that the people who are working 80+ hours don't even have time to be interviewed. They're probably going home late at night. So we only see the people who are working 8 hour work days.
Or hire more people, all this while so many get desperate looking for jobs
I just don't understand why people think it's normal to work unpaid overtime. Moreover, if the company regularly makes everyone work overtime... it seems like they can do 2 things to make things not as bad - hire more people OR find ways to make the job easier/quicker via automation or programming.
That's just capitalism.
Duh
korea seems like a truly depressing society. that old man doesnt even mind the younger generation working 69 hours a week. and yet he probably still expects young people to have babies and start families smh
S. Korea's rate of takin one's own life is by far the highest among OECD countries. Their birth rate is literally the world's lowest.
true
yeah the old man went from saying he wants them to work 69 hours a week to further the korean economy, and then says he believes in work life balance 🤣
It is so ironic that he said “do you think all the smart people in the US and Germany are also leaving work early to take it easy?” when that’s exactly what they’re doing
I agree, the work hours in europe especially is much shorter but i think their productivity is higher (at least compared to my country in SEA), idk if it's compared to SK, but i think it is.
He should have done some research before saying that stuff.
Yeah hes pretty close minded which i expected. I ignored him and moved on. Glad most people are not like him at all.
Ikr that's what I thought as well lol Germans hate to work overtime and now after Covid we value a good work-life-balance even more so most ppl are working less but we still can keep up with productivity and efficiency. There is nothing better for a company than a happy, healthy and well rested impoyee. I hope SK will learn that at some point as well.
In Germany people work 6 or 7 hours in this area, he don't even imagine what is happening in Germany hahaha
The competitiveness in Korean culture is really so overboard that they’re striving to beat countries that realistically they aren’t even doing “worse” than.
This is crazy cause England is thinking about reducing the work week to 4 days a week for professional fields or office jobs. It actually increases productivity to have shorter work hours and a good work life balance
Tbf it was a junior dev role but I was working over last summer-ish and the amt of hours of actually need to do my work was like so much less than the work day and so let you be real lazy and slow abt it
No it isn't
I need to move to England.
Yeah in England the culture is very much about a work life balance. There is this principle you don’t live to work but work to live. If you put such long hours when do you take care of your family . I am so glad in the uk when it’s time to leave you just leave as far as you have met your deadlines and target. There are days or week you might do long hours but as a working parents your family come first.
That is how it is in many European countries.
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with the man facing his back to the camera. His reasoning for maintaining such long working hours is because he believes Korea is still a developing nation. As a Korean I fully understand where the root of that mindset began but it is an incredibly outdated way of thinking as Korea has not needed "catching up" for decades now, it is now such a highly developed country. People who still believe this are completely overlooking the detrimental consequences of such long working hours. Deteriorating mental health and well-being is causing far more problems than these people seem to see.
As an American, South Korea is one of the top countries that come to mind when I think of a technologically advanced society.
I agree with you. South Korea is the most advanced Asian country from a technical perspective, the comments about Germany are false. Working time and holidays are very generous, but still Germany leads western countries in technology due to an extensive manufacturing capability.
Don’t worry about it tho, The county needs people like him to keep doing what’s it doing. Just like Cops needs criminals to do their jobs. The more idiots in the world the more exploitation can be done which is good for those who profit 😂
@@-jfo- love your comment ~ as a foreigner working in korea, I am way more productive when i am well rested than when I had to do 3 hours extra the day before because urgent work was giving by a client over mail XD and I was very shocked when he said korea need to catch up ... like korea have the faster internet in the world, samsung, lg damn if it's not great technology ? also you can learn about your coworker during working hours and if you really need to eat together lunch is perfect ! no need to stay overtime ~ anyway thank you for your great comment !
Deteriorating mental health and wellbeing due to stress about pursuing materialism and pleasure over family and well being. Not having children. Over choosing pleasure and carrer will end up destroying korea. Thanks to you young koreans.
As a South Korean living in one of the G7 countries. I can confirm work culture in SK is extremely toxic and that's why I am living here even though I believe SK is one of the most advanced/developed countries in the world in many aspects (healthcare and other social systems) except for work culture and education. I love my country but it is just unbelievable how many hours people work in SK (most importantly, inefficiently!!!) and the worst part is people's attitude on the issue. Look at the guy in his 50s in the interview. It is a typical disgusting response from the older generation. I feel sorry but I can’t waste my time there as I think having a normal working culture in SK will take a while. It can't be changed instantly until the older generation has no power to rule society. For me, living here is of course challenging and tough sometimes, but much easier and happier than living in SK, I would say.
Don't forget because of the old generation South korea is developed and prosperous and is due to you! Young generation choosing mone and pleasures over family that is destroying the country. The birth rate is abysmal and is due to Young Koreans like you!
this is what i was trying to understand. thank you for posting this comment. in a lot of places in the world people work long hours inefficiently. this makes work unnecessarily stressful. furthermore, in some cases reduced work hours can result in greater productivity (doesn't apply to all types of work). but rest and recreation is paramount for mental health (a happy worker is much more likely to work better than one that is not).
You are right Korea is developed country
But only for owner of korean companies
Just take a look about the labour life
Which is very hard
Tokyo is better than korea
@@EE-ie9gm they are the same💀 You probably white.
Do they want airline pilots and truck drivers also to work 69h a week? I want to see the safety data if they do that. Doctors too - I do not want an over-worked sleep-deprived doctor to perform a surgery on me. I think that we are not getting the full story here.
For doctors I know the working times are a 100 hours in the week. It was on the news a while back.
Pilots are legally limited to 100 hours of flying time per month, due to previous accidents as a result of fatigue. 69 hours a week is a crazy amount to be working
Most pilots are usually tired though🫠 when you have to get up at 03.00 for a flight. I’m a flight attendant
Yo doctor? Korean doctors work at least 80hours a week in residency. Many doctors overwork a lot
Korean airlines are notorious for their poor safety records
The point isn't about the hours you put in but how effective you are. For those who are calling for higher hours, it only works to a degree because once you push it further, your efficiency drops significantly and you end up doing more rework later. This coming from a person who used to work 60 to 70 hours and realize at 11th hour working, your brain just doesn't work well..
Korean man here in my 30s, millennial generation, living overseas. I think Korea's main problems are:
[1] Low productivity (GDP per hour is one of the lowest among OECD nations)
[2] Low fertility (0.84 while replacement level is 2.1)
[3] Excessive pressure in the educational system (monolithic definition of success, social pressure to 'save face').
Working longer hours is mathematically and economically against [1], obviously reduces chances to improve on [2] (tired workers who barely make it home lose sex drive and become apathetic) and doesn't help depressurizing the environment for a healthier educational system [3]. The older man has an antiquated mindset, made sense in the 90s, 00s or 10s at most but not anymore. For the things he emphasizes (which I agree are quite relevant though I don't agree in his argumentation) you can create camaraderie-teamwork, increase scientific output and innovation without necessarily increasing working hours. I do believe in sometimes working longer to meet deadlines or addressing emergencies (I've worked as country manager, been there, done that) but as an exception, and not a rule. However, the idea of leaving only after your boss leaves just for the sake of it (which I did when I was young-gullible in my early career in a Korean employer) is ludicrous to me these days.
That's why, as a person in a leadership position these days, I always tell my people to leave when the day is finished unless we have some critical emergency (if it's a manageable crisis I leave it for the next day. The world won't die, you won't die, nobody dies). I hated working on ****ing PPTs at 1AM for my boss' Brazil business trip presentation (presentation being like 5 days later and while he basically was snoring in his chair). I wholeheartedly hated the inefficiency. I remember being sleepy and even dizzy with alcohol because yes, we had dinner and beers after 8PM and then went back to the office (10-11PM) to finish the ppt. Anyways, that is why I don't do that to my people. I do push them to perform during working hours, and I don't hire slackers, but I seldom ask for overtime. Again, only real emergencies.
Main issue of Korea is that going generation wants pleasure and career over family which will destroy Korea in few decades.
Do Koreans work 7 days a week? Do they get time off for holidays? For college graduates, do you get paid by the hour with overtime, or a flat salary? My questions are from American practices. Idk if Korea is the same or much harsher. Ty
Productivity is a poor measure. Not just for what was mentioned by the older man (natural resources vary by country). It essentially takes current GDP and divides it by total hours. However, Korea's economy is not mature like the older man mentioned. It still has significantly higher GDP growth rates than most developed countries. Korea is projecting to grow at around 2.2% per year over the next 5 years, the EU is projected to grow at around 1.1%. Korea GDP per capita PPP just equaled the EU this year. However, at current rates, will need about 10-15 more years to catch the higher EU countries on that list like Germany, Finland, and Sweden. Korea's quality of life metrics are still vastly improving year by year. Certain indicators 10 years ago have improved drastically. I agree with the older man that Korea is still playing catch up in ways, if the aim is to achieve levels of the more developed EU countries. Although I think it is fast approaching those levels and in 10 years, many of the current quality of life metrics that are still poor (air quality, suicide rate) will most likely also be fixed by current projections (Japan was also dealing with high suicide rate for a few years and has since dropped below the US and many EU countries). At that point Korea's economic metrics and infrastructure will have also gone another 10 years of progress. Which is when Korea has officially "caught up" in the ways that the older man is referring too. I'll also add that Korea already does a lot of things better than the aforementioned countries. And when Korea catches up in these other regards, I believe the overall QOL in Korea will far surpass the countries mentioned in about 10 years.
When I was 19. I worked 50 to 55 hours week at a major Super store in Michigan. I was really trying to work hard and impress them but they exploited it. Once, I passed out because I was also going to school and a doctor told me I was sleep deprived. Now at 29. I will not accept that mess.
The guy in his 50s whose face is not on camera is shilling for corporations even though he is being exploited as an employee and does not get to reap the benefits of overtime. And his comment about not valuing a work-life balance speaks perfectly to the East Asian philosophy of prioritizing the collective over the individual. It's the same in Japan and China as well. You're expected to put career ahead of everything else which is why so many people are miserable and either end up dying at work or committing suicide due to the stress.
Yup, classic kkondae thinking right there. They will never understand why working long hours for a company that exploits you is so torturous for many people 😢
Lol but is because the old generation korea is advanced and prosperous. You young koreans only care about money alcohol and carreers and other pleasures over rising a family you guys will end up destroying what korea built for decades
While the US's rate of takin one's own life is now higher than Japan's.
Korea's is by far the highest among OECD countries tho. Korean birth rate is also literally the world's lowest.
> his comment about not valuing a work-life balance speaks perfectly to the East Asian philosophy of prioritizing the collective over the individual
How is the collective benefited by slaving away for capitalists?
@@bruceludlow1326 It’s itemised and depend on the “life group” we are speaking about.
The “collective” in these examples would be the team and by extension the company. The company’s success then extends to the country, and it would mean a better society (i.e., reaping the benefits of a economic grouch, development, jobs, etc.) That’s the thought process.
Is that actually the case? Clearly not - yet, it made sense at a point in time when many of the named nations weren’t as advanced as they are today.
Man, we're humans not machines... They have been working insanely hard for the benefit of their nation but it will disappear if they continue at this rate... Love you Asian Boss ❤
Asian countries will go on a massive suicide, that will happen, if they don't fight for their rights.
There's a lot of different perspectives across a lot of different age demographics in this video and for this diversity, really want to applaud asian boss. Hope the viewers can try and find the pros and cons of the points each person makes here, cause no one is 100% wrong or 100% right in their responses. Really good work bringing the different viewpoints out into the open for an international audience, and I encourage all of us viewers to listen with an open mind
52 hours a week is actually insane. I think this is the worst among developed countries.
Most humans can barely work 40 hours a week, & I felt the strain of it with 54 hours a week within the matter of 3 months... Nobody should be at work 8+ hours a day, but these low wage companies will have people believe otherwise
yeah gladly the 52hour is the max overtime ... normal week is 40h and 12h overtime max but it's still a lot ^^' also not paid for most of white collars (maybe a good company will) and sadly some company actually don't care of the 52h max ... I am glad my company actually push us to finish on time everytime we can XD
@@미연아름다운인연 Thank you got the information!! And I’m glad your company insists on finishing on time.
Where I live too we have the same problem. A lot of companies force employees to stay overtime and they don’t always pay extra.
@@미연아름다운인연 Great to know that 52 hours is not required as 40 is already a lot.
@@TrinhNguyen-sh4fj yes it is not 52 required but sadly a lot of worker actually do more because of pressure ^^' as a foreigner and in a good company I mostly finish on time XD but even me I do extra sometimes when too much work ...
let's hope it's gonna get better once old folks in the government are out XD
Basically, my take is that it is definitely less about working hard to advance South Korea and more likely already wealthy Corporations pushing their Government connections for cheap labour exploitation.
I think you nailed it! That’s the whole mentality…
yeah bingo, the government is controlled by corporations
I've done 65-hours + 12-hours travel a week. After sleep, hygiene, and eating, I only had 2 hour a day to do anything else on workdays. Which was pretty much just laying in bed awake because of body aches. It was ridiculous.
Now I'm at a flat 40-hours + 5-hours travel. Sometimes it still feels like a lot. I would love 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. Saves me an hour of travel and the extra full day off does more than it seems. (Also, raw number of hours is only half of the equation. Your productivity matters a lot over those hours. And I'm grateful that my current boss tracks that and pays accordingly.)
I work in a Korean company and the amount of pressure Koreans have have from the bosses to work longer is insane. While they don't "legally" have to, there is this social concept called "noon-chi (눈치)" in Korea, which really makes people feel like everyone will judge them for not doing what is expected of them. It's kind of toxic. But the work ethic of those I work with is just incredible.
Do you also follow this 눈치?
@@vldt5934 to a certain degree. But not to the extent it keeps me at work longer than I need to be
Rise above 눈치.
I watched a video about the same thing in japan where they will be shamed and looked down upon by their co workers for not going along with everyone and not working hard they even do morning exercises where they chant how much they love the company to be more productive it was sad I think this is problem in most asain countries as I've heard people in china and thailand complain about this too
Yea I worked in a korean company and noticed many people stay late and would say oh no i have so much work to do or oh no i cant leave early today (early being their scheduled time off!) but i always felt there was never any pressing work keeping them there and never understood and just left lol
From a danish pov, on paper we work on average 37 hours for 5 days a week. For some it could easily crop up to 40-42 hours or 50 or more, depending on what kind of job they have.
There are discussion of working 4 days a week, but with the same 37 hours though.
Working more, means sacrificing quality time with oneself and with loved ones, could lead to more stress😢
Nurses and doctors often work only 3 days a week for 12-14 hr shifts… I wonder if they would prefer to spread the hours out, or if it’s better quality of life in the long run.
@@SuperTink well I work in a Danish public hospital in the logistics department. The nurses here work long hours and at times work overtime. Their basic pay is considered, by some, high. Though it does fluctuate, on how they calculate it.
Working overtime does have a big bonus , but they are like other people, they dont like to work overtime, but they must, because their job is vital. Their basic salary has risen but not by much since the late1960s. It fare better for them to work at a private hospital or in Norway, where the pay is higher and they have more time for themselves.
i feel for the people of south korea. although it's a huge advantage to be one of the most developed countries, the insane level of pressure for schoolwork as well as employment is definitely not good for the people's health, whether mentally or physically. that's like a timebomb that's going to explode for individuals first, then the nation itself :(
The suicide level is too High too
The man in his 50s is a living proof of his generation's mindset.. the 8 hours workday is an already outdated concept since nowadays there's so much less manual labor compared to mid 1800s when the 8 hours workday law was passed in the US. Machines and all kind of modern technologies would obviously shorten execution time and raise work efficiency considerably. So many European governments, Germany included, have been considering the 4 day work week as a practical work-life balance solution. Would they consider such a move if it hindered progress? In most advanced modern societies, overtime is a clear show of incompetence employee-wise; companies forcing (unpaid/poorly paid) overtime have no qualms in openly exploiting their workforce .. so loyalty towards the company, working late in deference to their higherups?! .. these are rather big words for poor excuses. Why don't we call it as it really is - Modern Slavery. That's everywhere actually isn't it. It's just that some governments are more realistic hence more decent than others in trying to provide some ROI to their hard working people. Apparently not the case of South Korea as one might get it from these interviews ... and it seems Koreans (Japanese and .. who else?!) haven't yet reached the collective awareness that people do not live to work but work to live. And besides, even if they were granted less working time would they accept their well deserved freedom and would they know what to do with their hard-won work- free time if they had it, I wonder ...
I'm from Germany and actually in Germany they've been considering increasing work hours as well because unemployed rates are getting higher and they need to make up for the pension of coming retiring generations. This however is seen very critically by germans since as you mentioned, modern societies are considering 4 day weeks to ensure work life balance. Germany has it's own bundle of issues when it comes to work but overall you can say german society values work time as much as rest time and there's plenty of laws protecting workers and their health. Rest in general is something that is very much valued for good work performance and health maintenance which directly influences work performance.
日本が長時間労働していたのは十数年前の話で,今ではOECD 加盟国中15～19位(資料によって違う)で,最近はアメリカの方が日本よりも労働時間が多いというデータが出ています。
I’m a Korean speaking foreigner and I worked for a very traditional Korean company in Korea for 2 years. Overtime work, team lunches and company dinners - all in the same day. It was quite suffocating to have to be around the same group of people for 16 hours straight, daily. If you didn’t participate you’d be talked about and labeled negatively. I’m glad my work ethic improved in Korea but man, am I glad I didn’t stay longer or else I would have gotten very sick / miserable.
@Aya I invite you to try to find work in Korea and experience the “lie” yourself
@Aya lmao
@Aya what he says is the reality
@aya-lq9on bro can't accept reality
The last comment of the older guy was so funny, bcs in Germany the answer is "yes" - yeah we take it very seriously to NOT work overtime, we don't work when we are sick and are still paid, we have to take our vacation time bcs of law - which is at minimum 20 days but more often around 30 days a year, and we have paid maternity leave for up to 2 years I believe if only the mother takes it or smth. We are behind on a lot of things, but we still like to have a life to live.
And the trials they did in GB shows that a 4 days week reduced stress, increased happiness, stayed consistent in productivity or even increased - and people fewer times called in sick than before. Which just makes sense, how many people in office jobs specifically waste away their time at work bcs their tasks are finished but the clock is still ticking. For other jobs, where it might be more difficult to implement that, we have to find other solutions still.
If people work fewer days with same pay, they will have more time to invest that pay on their off days in business by buying stuff, going out to eat or for entertainment, invest in hobbies etc - therefore boosting the economy is what I imagine.
People have to stop thinking that humans are machines. More time at work does not equal the same amount of constant productivity. We wear out, we burn out, we only have a limited amount of strength physically and mentally - so for the "perfect" system, these have to be considered.
That old man is BITTER. He is now working 40hrs a week but he wanted to youth to suffer because he suffered in his younger days. What an A-HOLE.
I am a foreigner living in SK, speaking Korean too. In my previous firm basically, I had to do arrive 1hour early every morning or the manager in charge called us about why we didn't arrived yet. Then we waited for confirmation from the boss to continue work who wasn't at the firm during the day. He came back around 5~6pm and decided after like one month or two to change the full plan again. And do like added working hours because he wasn't at the firm during the day...
I think the main pb in South Korea is truly the productivity.
We were all exhausted and when some problems occured, people were fired like basically 1 person per week without the boss himself rethinking his position and hos wrongdoings.
Then, the older people also didn't liked to go home to their wife's, so we needed to wait for them to get home before we could go too. At the end, the firm bankrupt from multiple issues (nearly illegal stuff, no tracking of the funds used), the surely lack from the boss, and lack of productivity.
Is Korea still considered a developing country? The older man kept mentioning they need a lot of workers because the country is still far behind developed countries, but I really don't think that's the case. But I feel like Korea really isn't that far behind, especially looking at transportation infrastructure and internet.
Korea is the 13th biggest economy in the world (based on GDP) and as you said in terms of infrastructure (digital and transportation) it is even better developed than some richer countries. Korea has not been considered a developing country for more than 20 years. I think it is pretty much impossible to argue that Korea is still a developing country nowadays.
Malaysia also recently became developed
For those who don't know Germans HATE working overtime and would easily choose less money and less work over more money and more work. We mostly do have 40hrs/week working contracts here but recently there were also discussions about implementing a 4-days working week with less hours. Idk why so many countries are still so eager to let their people work more when there is living proof of us Germans having a good work-life-balance with good pay and we can still keep up with other nations regarding our industry, etc. I also feel like older generations with their mostly old mindets are a possible cause for this and things will be hard to chance unless the older generations retire or eventually die. It also blows my mind to see older people kind of making fun of younger generations for wanting to work less aka having less stress and more time for themselves in their lives. It's such a toxic mindset to think you owe these companies anything above what's set in your contract. You work to make money, not to become their friends.
Ich würde jetzt nicht unbedingt sagen das wir bei einer 40-Stunden Woche eine gute Work-Life Balance haben oder besonders viel Geld bekommen.. Aber im Vergleich zu Korea und deren wöchentlichen Arbeitsstunden sieht das ganze schon besser aus.
I wish there was a conversation about productivity. After a certain number of hours, you're just not productive anymore and it's actually better to go home and rest so you can work better the next day, rather than continuing to stay and try to get things done. I've also heard that in countries like Korea and Japan that have a culture of not leaving before the boss that if a person finishes their work but the boss is still there, they just pretend to work on something until the boss leaves and they can then leave. The system doesn't help people be more productive if they're just sitting around for a couple of hours doing nothing.
They are also depriving the employee time with their family and friends, which makes for a more balanced life. If they're so worried about their population drop, they need to have more family-friendly workplaces for both men and women.
This is what I feel from many Koreans: "if we (the older generation) had to work 60-80 hours per week, then the younger generation should do the same. We want u to be as unhappy as us."
This "I live to work" culture is so toxic... it's a huge reason why suicide rates in Korea are one of the highest (per capita) in the world. I've lived here 7 years, and although I love Korea, this is the one thing that makes living here long-term unforeseeable.
Not only do ppl work here on average more, but they also don't get much vacation outside of national holidays (where they feel obligated to spend the entire time off with family).
If the younger generation is overworked they wouldn’t have time or energy to create families. When they don’t have families/kids the society will collapse in less than two generations... That would be so sad!!
@@anneny.7412 All this is caused by greed... it's beyond sad to crush their own future because of corporate profits. Beautiful country and great people, hopefully they will rise up and change this toxic way of working soon!!
Sadly if they don’t do something about it, then it will be too late.
5:26 I’m Korean and I work at a small private Korean-American company in America. 90% of the workers there are koreans.
My mom is the operating manager. After working there for a year, I understood y everyone wants to quit. My mom is a very hardworking, diligent, competent worker.. so she expects everyone to match her level. Her standards are SO high. When she talks about our co-workers, I feel so bad.
Basically, she keeps saying people lack work ethic and care for the well being of the company. “One of our workers quit so someone needs to take over his duties. The fact that they just leave sharp at 6pm is so irresponsible and rude!”
In my head, I was just thinking: yes, I understand that the company needs someone to do over time to cover the work for the worker that quit, but this is NOT anyone’s obligated duty. They can’t always do overtime work until the company finds a new employee. That’s the HR’s job to recruit ppl in a timely manner.
Also my mom gets mad at workers who are kind of slow. But I’m like.. is it their fault that they cant do work efficiently? They are trying their best. To my mom, ur “best” means nothing if it doesn’t fit her expectations. :( this is so Korean culture. They have high expectations for their employees.
damn that's sad...
Working 50-60 hr a week is back breaking. You literally stop thinking after a certain point so not sure how much extra revenue you are really adding to the company. Honestly though, I don't understand the concept of team dinners in South Korea. You are already spending 40+ hrs a week with your colleagues, they don't need more of your time to get to know you.
I did 15 hours a day 7 days a week in the past voluntarily for 2 years , very high intensity not only long hours . 8 hours working,7 hours studying to upgrade my skill . It was bad for mental health but i became an excellent programmer ,the best in the company. Will i want to do it again. No. It was really exhausting, that 2 years equal to 8 to 10 years (normal work/study)
I think the idea is that only when you're drunk you show your true self. If they don't see you puke on the street it means you're not chummy enough. It's probably because when NOT drunk they are extremely reserved.
I agree. I’ve been working 50h+ for the past 4 weeks and I started having “mini-blackouts” like I’d be in the middle of something and suddenly not remember what I was about to do. I then pause, gather my thoughts and usually remember what I was about to do, but it’s scary AF! It’s like my short term memory has a shutdown… it does make me worry, but I’m not sure what to do about it…
Probably more sleep..
Maybe eat plugs at night
Employers are exploiting their hardworking employees, really sad. Most NZ work average 35-40 hrs a week, more hours you are paid overtime. We value life balance, weekends & family time. However we still lack in some sectors of the workforce for better pay conditions but I wouldn't exchange this to work in a Korea environment. I hope working conditions for koreans improve soon.
Here in the US we work a lot of overtime and depending on who you work for or what you do, you either get paid for it or you don't. If it's a salary, you don't. My son is a mechanic and works alot of overtime but doesn't get paid. He's only 25. He's exhausted all the time and doesn't make much. I feel bad for his generation. They get a lot of slander but those that work, work hard for mediocre pay in a world where it costs more and more just to get by.
That is so true! My brothers work for the government here in the US and get paid by salary not number of hours. I think they do get paid overtime separately but I am not sure. The good thing is they get a lot of benefits that others don’t get.
I used to work for the State and didn't get overtime but got comp time instead.
If your son is a mechanic then he should be paid hourly, which means he should be paid overtime. Check your state laws, overtime should usually be paid 1.5x hourly pay.
There is a pervasive misunderstanding in Korea about quantity vs. quality. It has been proven repeatedly that the human mind shuts down any higher-order thinking when it is overworked and life is not balanced. That is why the US is looking at a 4-day workweek because they get better quality of work out of the employees. Of course, you will have lazy people everywhere, which is for HR and management to weed out. The other aspect that Korea overlooks is you can have a robot-like workforce, but you must surrender the rest of society for it. If a person is working all the time, they will not do volunteer work at orphanages, they will not take their parents out for socializing, they will not date, they will not marry, they will not make babies, they will not have a relationship with their spouse, they will not hike, they will not bike, they will not go to restaurants to eat, they will not make friends, they will not go shopping, etc.... All of society functions in the collective. If that is the life I am looking forward to for my kids, I will not make any children. It's a life of suffering and toiling away, and then they die. What is the point?
When I first started working at a consulting firm, there was a time I worked 14 hours straight for 7 days just so i could become an associate. Now I feel so burned out and I get called out for the most minor mistakes because I set the standard to high for myself, and I moved to a management position but the pay isn't even significantly higher
Please do not confuse working long with working hard, no correlation. You can keep an employee on the job 14 hours a day with only six of those being productive hours. I live in SK and I mainly observe people working long, but not hard cause the individual will always be in control of how hard they work. Same applies to studying. Stop the madness SK. The problem here is lack of opportunities due to overpopulation, not competitiveness, which creates an atmosphere of employee exploitation IMO. Can’t push back on your employer because options are few and they know it.
Very true and you can stay at work for hours and not do much. I see that here in the US too. You are at work but not really working the whole time.
@@TrinhNguyen-sh4fj I'm in Italy where we have a good work life balance and even here the regular 8 hour work day is really freaking long for an office employee. I see people having coffee 5 times a day and chatting with their colleagues.... Wtf is the point? I'd rather spend that time at home and my work is usually done in 5 hours, yet I have to do bs for another 3 hours just to make our boss happy 😂
@@divx1001 I did not know it was like that in Italy too. But yes, I wish they would let people leave after all work is done instead of keep people at work just to make the boss happier. What is the point of that?
This sounds absolutely ludicrous from my perspective, having only worked in Germany, where hours are capped harshly at sixty hours per week and ten per day, and any working hours before six am or after ten pm get extra compensation, with few exceptions.
I can get overtime paid out, but only twice a year, after proving I haven't crossed those sixty hours on average in the last six months. My employer actively makes it hard to get that overtime paid out, to discourage people from working too much. It is much, much easier to just get it compensated for with extra time off work.
In the last decade there was ONE day where I went over the 10-hour per day limit (a business trip with train delays that put me two hours over) and it took two days of paperwork to clear that up. My employer had to pay me higher wages for overtime, then higher again because it was after ten pm by the time I finished. They had to prove that I had worked more than the legal limit on paper, but I had not been physically or mentally exerted for the full twelve hours. Had I been actively working the entire time, they would have had to prove which business-saving crisis I had been fixing.
South Korea and Japan from a search gets about 6.25~6.50 average hours of sleep which are the amongst bottom.
The importance of a good sleep doesn't seem to be popular topic in Asia.
Diet as well. Japan has the 2nd highest life expectancy tho.
Yeah Japan and South Korea have some of the highest life expectancies in the world could you imagine how much higher it could be without such a stressful work culture
@@thomasgrabkowski8283 Ironically you could use the statistics to provide causal data of heavy work loads provide a longer life.
@@thomasgrabkowski8283 maybe its the stress that keeps them growing, once they retire and relax they die lol...
@@lyhthegreat I think the healthy diet helps a lot.
omg the ajusshi with his back turned to the camera is a typical 꼰데!
I really relate to the younger woman w bob haircut who talked about how Koreans are never given the space to find out what they actually enjoy. Educational system is a nightmare, students pulling overnighters, going to multiple hagwons after school etc Then it's all about getting a high paid/prestigious job. It's truly suffocating. No wonder that SK has one of the highest suicide rate in the world.
Good topic to talk about, thank you. In Brazil we work 44 hours a week and it's already quite exhausting. I wonder how Koreans can handle 52 hours a week 😢
PS: for you who are reading this: may God bless you, Jesus loves you so much and you're never alone! ❤
Chile has just passed the law of 40h-week, perhaps with Lula you get a chance too. 🙏🙏
That's a bit creepy...your'e never alone as Jesus is always there...maybe a threesome lol.
May i know 44 hours a week doesn't included break time isn't?
@@soml4596 Correct. The break time isn't included.
In China, it's really normal to work 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week for an office job. We just love working ourselves to death here in East Asia /s
I am a mid-30s engineer who worked for Samsung in Korea and now for ASML in the Netherlands. In Korea, I experienced a backward culture and hierarchical order, working over 12 hours a day, including weekends, which was extremely tough for productivity and work-life balance. At ASML Netherlands, the workload feels much lighter, often just managing 40 hours a week, with a lot of time seemingly spent on coffee and small talk. However, we do work diligently and even on weekends when important milestones are due. The reason why Samsung Korea, despite such hard work, can't challenge ASML's technology might be due to Korea's authoritarian culture, numerous red tapes, and intense departmental politics, all eating away at productivity. Moreover, Korean industries haven't yet ventured into innovative or creative fields, focusing only on competitive areas. This results in a 'chicken game' industry, where the competition is about who can produce cheaper and faster, not about creativity or innovation.
it's so interesting to see how deeply thoughtful and passionate their responses were
Living in a G7 country as well, my feeling is with Korea having such a large population of well educated people, why don’t companies hire a wider range of employees, therefore giving jobs to more people and then putting less pressure on fewer people to get the job done. Surely there are thousands of qualified people there looking for work. And the dinner after work culture is nice but could be less frequent especially if you end up going home at 4 or 5am and then expected to show up for work at 9am? Or 10am without adequate rest…. As well, as someone mentioned, the 4 day work week is a great idea again, to employ more people. In my country, we have such a thing as « job sharing » as well. So more people benefit without putting their health or their family life in jeopardy. With expecting their employees to work such long extravagant hours, no matter what their age is, it seems like company owners and governments feel like human lives are a « disposable commodity ». It show little value or respect for your fellow human beings. What I’m saying may sound harsh and disrespectful but it’s not meant this way. I do feel very sad for people having to work overtime hours without being given a choice about it and then, not even getting paid for it!
South Korea is not in G7
SK is working their way into extinction.
Most people don't realize hardworking will not make them rich.
Longer hours reduces productivity. It also causes fatigue which causes workers to go out less, which reduces spending and hurts the economy. The solution isn't longer work hours, its more workers.
It's interesting I've been hearing that commentary as well about the younger generation being weak-willed and not wanting to work. It could be a combination of things though, mental health becoming more important, more options in terms of veering from the traditional path towards success, their definition of success, ideologies around happiness, money, commitment, and what they're willing to sacrifice and put up with.
So in order for Korea to be a developed country, we must go out drinking with our coworkers until 5AM on a work night? This will improve our productivity?
Gosh I can't even keep up with the working hours in germany which is quite normal in comparison to south korea, but these people are doing so much hours 😮
Basically no family life.
You can't get productive workers if they can't recharge "their batteries" and enjoy a balance life.
No wonder the birth rate is so low. 🤦♀️
What will they do if there is no next generation?
The problem I find with this video, in spite the topic covered being relevant, is that your population for "Koreans" (your interviewees) are all Seoulites. How about people from other metropolitan cities such as Daegu, Daejeon or Busan? Is the work culture there similar to the ones in Seoul? This should be further clarified so that the population you choose to interview is statistically representative.
Interesting in many ways. That more hours is seen as better worker, some mention that they have to stay even if they are done with what they do so that just makes it odd to stay at that point. I would have to imagen productivity would be a better way to look at it then.
For the Goverment to look into making the workweek cap higher seems like a super odd thing as they also, from what I understand, want people to start families as the birth rate is so very low in South Korea. So increasing workweek hours just seems quite counterproductive to any effort to try and increase birth rates.
the labors are too busy to reproduce, the unemployability group don't have income to start a family.
I’m from Germany, I’m a third year student, doing a work experience as a dental nurse.
And I can say, I hate my workplace. I hate it so much, most thing I hate are my coworkers and boss. I want to quit, I think about it everyday. But I can’t, because I need to pass my exams. If I’m not in my work experience, if I’d just work normally like an adult, then I would have already quit long ago. I gave my best, but it wasn’t enough for them. They screaming at me everyday, telling me I did everything wrong 😑. That’s the reason I love being at school, because the stress-level for me is to high. I’m scared, I’ll end up with depression because of them. Soon when the exams are done, I’ll just stay at home and being sick for like 1 whole month, cause I feel like I’m not mentally healthy. I’ll let them all do the work, it’s their fault for not teaching/showing me their task what to do. So there’s nothing much that I can help them with.
Sorry to hear that and I thought things were better in Germany but I guess not.
I feel you, same in Austria’s marketing agencies… I wonder how long we’ll have to wait until CEOs and managers realise that a good leader isn’t someone WHO NEEDS TO SCREAM!??? Ich hoffe, du bist bald mit der Ausbildung fertig und kannst wechseln… alles Liebe und versuch dir zu sagen, dass Menschen, die schreien, hilflos sind und eigentlich sehr unbeholfen. Denn jemand, der selbstsicher ist und professionell, muss nicht schreien, um sich Gehör zu verschaffen!
To be honest, personally, I'm absolutely inefficient and unproductive after 4 hours and a half - 5 hours of work, after that many hours I can't even force myself to focus...
In China, we work overtime and don't get paid for it. The good news is that now there is no overtime because most people are unemployed.
I heard that millions of 2023 grads can't get a job
@@Brandon-cs8gw It's true.
@@UnstableYT-u7k live with their parents...or do some part time jobs
I live and work in Norway where a full time job is 37,5-40 hours per week. Anything more than that is overtime and you get good overtime pay. During the hours I work I'm very productive and I feel rested due to enough free time. We also get around 5 weeks paid vacation every year. I love Korea and I go back every year, but the work culture is the reason why I haven't moved there yet. I'm not saying how it is in Korea is wrong, it's just I value the work-life balance I have here too much to give it up.
What is that man in his 50's on about? Korea is already a DEVELOPED nation. A highly developed one in fact. Is he still living in 1981? His ideals are why Korea has such a toxic working culture today, because people his age are still sitting at the helm of most companies and corporations in South Korea and they mostly have the same mindset (more hours = better for the company) without considering the life of their people outside of the office.
Thank you for this! It was very insightful, and I also appreciated those good questions posed by the interviewer!
Thank you Asian Boss for this insightful video! Was really interesting to see the perspectives of all these individuals and was especially impressed with how you tried to cover a wide range of interviewees from the older generations, to the Milennials and the Gen Z. Keep up the good work!
To add, I guess I can understand why the older generations has the type of mindset of working hard and grinding 24/7 is that during their time they had to go on survival mode just to LIVE and have a "life" as times were hard then plus their motivation was that they want their children and future generations to have a better life. But on the other hand, the younger generations are currently living that "better" life that the older generations have given us (which we are thankful for) and really want to make use of that given opportunity and live life to the fullest hence why work-life balance is much more important to us.
Fascinating. Love the content from AB!
Omg… I personally feel that working over 8 hours in a day is already overtime… I look at it in terms of having an overall balanced life. Ugh… What a pity. I hope things improve not just in South Korea but in countries where this is considered “normal”.
The girl with the blue hoodie has the best pov
The man in his 50’s has the worst.
I think the woman in her 40s has a pretty outdated POV too, though not as extreme as the man in his 50s. She also argued that for young people, it's more important to work hard to establish their value.
As an mixed Asian American who grew up in Asia, I can absolutely say that Korea and some other Asian countries are definitely advanced in tech, labor, services, etc. compared to the States. America i would say, besides the main cities, is pretty behind in technology. A lot of towns still use tech from the 80s and 90s. There’s no way Seoul isn’t ahead of us by a long shot. Not sure why the guy facing away from the camera thinks they’re still a developing country when they’re the one country millions of foreigners want to move to.
Because the Korean industrial Revolution was in the 70-80’s. We were getting invaded before unfortunately
How can someone work 69 hours per week and at the same time is expected to build their own family? This kind of mindset is insane. No wonder there is significant declining birth rate in SK for past years.
This problem also happens in China too. It is a bad cycle, the working people work overtime and are so tired and exhausted while unemployability happens let those who don't work rely on their relatives or generally have no income. At the same time, the company tends to let each worker work longer to reduce costs while workers don't dare to refuse.
I think the hole social, education, labour, and companies should work together to revert this trend.
confucianism culture lol
@@lyhthegreat be not Confucianism actually now. But those countries' cultures evolution as the same
With the decrease of 한국 population, korean workers will be able to choose their workplace, and companies will adapt their work offers
제 친구가 과도한 업무, 상사의 괴롭힘으로 스스로 목숨을 끊을 뻔 한걸 겨우 말렸습니다. 상사는 계속하여 완벽, 빠른 업무를 원하고 저의 친구는 업무 때문에 새벽까지 일하는 날이 많다고 저한테 실토한적 있습니다. 또한 상사에 완벽, 빠른 업무 속도 요구 때문에 상사는 제 친구에게 욕설, 인격적 모독인 말도 매일 했다고 합니다
그러던 중 제가 어느 날 그 친구 집에 말도 없이 놀러간 적이 있는데 그 친구는 문을 열어줬고 한 손에는 밧줄, 한 손으로는 망치를 들고 울고 있었습니다 만약 그 날 제가 그 친구 집에 놀러가지 않았다면 그 친구는 다음 날 시체가 되었습니다
There is no need to wonder why the birth rates continue to plummet here. I'm going to get along with my co-workers ( well I mean when I had to do so ) luckily I no longer have to be bothered. Working from home is the gem that keeps shining bright day and night. Still being forced to stay at work to eat with folks just to increase morale is nuts. Having to stay out all night drinking becoming a lush. Just so we can call it team building is delusional. We do NOT have to be friends to work well together. All this unpaid overtime is crazy as well. Of course they want to milk you for every second they can without paying you for your work. While the so called Goverment continues looking around like morons wondering why marriage and birth rates will never rise again.
the man facing his back probably stopped looking outside the window when he was 20, Korea has become one of the most developed countries in like 10 years and the new generation is intelligent and open to globalization
Seems like a hardworking culture. The break at the end of a basic day before doing ~overtime work (as I understood one respondent to be describing) seems very sensible.
@aya-lq9on didn't you blacks got to become president?
@Aya you're wasting your energy caring about that now. It was too long ago and you can't do anything. Anyway at least they got free accomodation and food 😅
Ah, our favourite Asia Boss Host / Interviewer, Marieee
I am worked 14hours a day
In Incheon
Four days in a week 8:00AM to 10:00PM
Remaining two days 8:00to 5:00PM
Very long time work every day everyone everywhere in korea
Oh my God that's too much😱😱😱! Am dead tired after a 10-12 hour shift it's not healthy or productive longterm. I was so exhausted and completly unsociable during those days. I didn't even have time or energy to spend my hard earned money.
@@Bellz972 you are right but we did that long time work in past
Very hard life of korean labour worker
Humans were not made to be working machines, I hope things get better for you guys. I’m sure this is also contributing to Koreas low birth rate. There is no shame in enjoying life and taking time for oneself lol
More hours don't necessarily mean more productive
Instead of companies innovating to get a competitive advantage, they want to abuse their employees and have them work nearly double for the same pay. Yes, that would definitely give them a competitive advantage, but the problem is, the advanced nations the old guy talks about is about innovation and reducing reliance on the worker, not increasing that reliance. Korea needs to change the way they think and operate, and that's going to be hard as culturally there is so much bad practice ingrained into work culture. The point about not leaving until the boss leaves is a great example. Do they not understand the boss could be making 10x their salary and so he SHOULD be staying and working more!!!
Last year, South Korea's population shrank by 123,800, the largest-ever decrease. The country reported more deaths than births for the first time in 2020. More serious is the speed of population decrease. Let's see who is going to pay the old guy pension.
In Denmark the average work hours per week is 33 hours. We focus on having a work balance life. I can't imagine working 52 hours a week.
The old man was annoying. He's the perfect example why they have this culture.
52 hrs is already crazy.
they did not talk about the fact that people just waiting for their boss to leave dont even do any additional work. they just waste their time waiting. while they could rest at home and be healthier and more productive. this is definitely not about productivity. this is about hierarchy and some egos and nothing else.
I feel that Korean companies and work ethics are very focused on working long hours and showing your dedication to your company, giving your life to the company basically. But resting is very important to recharge for the next day at work and having a life outside of work. I could be wrong of course, but having finished all of your daily tasks and just sit and wait for your boss to leave seems very inefficient. It's a seems like a mindset of quantity over quality. Sitting long hours at work, leaving less time and energy for other things then how are people supposed to socialize, meet a partner, get married, get kids, recharge their minds and bodies? I mean S.Korea is a developed country and has incredible long working hours, a decreasing birth rate and a very high suicide rate. There is a connection and hopefully they will start to see it before it gets even worse.
If you do constant overtime in Germany, you'd be considered a slow worker. Long workdays don't make you more productive, they just wear you down.
As a French, who's the opposite, this is blowing my mind. To me it sound like modern slavery at work. (Don't know if it's the right word to use) 😱
I believe it is more about efficiency than long hours. What can they improve to maximize the output?
nah those korean bosses are cheapskate, they just want their workers to work long ass hours so that they feel like they got their money well spent on hiring them.
Ive lived and worked in the US my whole life, middle class, lived in suburbs across the country... I know what a 1st world "developed" nation looks like. If South Korea is not a developed nation, I dont know what is. (this refers to the old dude at about 23:00 saying that South Korea isnt a developed nation, yeeesh) That sounds like some very disingenuous propaganda that hes using to justify the years of abuse he and others have suffered in this profoundly toxic work culture. BIG UPS for the younger people beginning to say no to this BS.
I live in Tahiti. I work 39 hours a week. After watching this video, I understand why my South Korean wife is happy living in Tahiti with me. Thank Asian Boss for this video.
I work more than 12 hours a day of physical labor and I still get underpaid
And here we are in Europe, thinking 35h/week is too much and we should reduce it and work 4 days a week
In my country, we are considering working 4 days in the week as a new regulation
longer hours only work for a short time, then workers burn out, and in their tiered state will make lots more mistakes and do dangerous things. and will fall asleep driving or such
It’s a little bit different in America. We’re more family oriented when it comes to stuff like that. So nobody cares if they leave before their boss does and no one looks down on them for it when it comes your time to clock out it’s your time to clock out and no one cares that you didn’t stay over, and if your questioned about it, you say no my time is to leave at such and such time and I’m going home to be with my kids and with my family and no one looks down on you for that.
It’s the same thing in the USA and the worst part is that some even have to work two jobs!!
This is when the birth rate will drop even more in Korea. These workdays make no sense, they affect the quality of life and family of Koreans. In Spain, working days are currently being reduced to 4 per week...sorry for Koreans
Efficiency is key
Welcome to Thailand!!! The land of smiles and easy-going life... Where is the place, People here treat the work-life balance as the most important. You can clock out exactly.. And the boss (even Japanese bosses) would see it but can't complain you (not to contribute/try hard for the company... ) hahaha
In the US prior to the prevalence of unions, workers put in many hours with not proper compensation. Unions established the 40 hr work week with time and a half for each hour above that. They also established paid sick leave, 3-5 days/yr., paid vacation and medical benefits. The result of all this was productivity actually increased. Workers felt valued and respected. Often times places where 59+ hours are common, morale is low and productivity down; thus management thinks working more hours will get more done. In reality people are just putting in time and not working at 100%.
Meanwhile this year the U.S government moved up the retirement age to 67 but some are even working to 70.
@@SoulTravelHealthandWellness So what's your point? That is connected to keeping the Social Security system viable; nothing to do with companies requiring excessive work schedules. Also, as far as working until 70, there are as many reasons as there are people, for doing it. I worked to 70 bc I was still healthy enough to do it and bc I wanted to.
@@ronb.8920 I think depends on the job and the worker's health. Someone might be able to do a desk job to age 70, but a physical laborer would not be able to do at 70 what they found difficult even at 50.
@@barbarapaige of course it does. This has nothing to do with the topic of the vid which is excessive work schedules being required by companies. Let's stay on point.
The old man with back to the camera is the kind of toxic supervisor you would have
Im mexican those hours are the same here, i work 8-9 and has been the job with least amount, previous jobs i worked afterwork and on weekends
@@UnstableYT-u7k me too i heard other working hours but by this video im impress they have the same i was expecting working 10-12 hours everyday
@@UnstableYT-u7k samee i know this korean youtuber in mexico she is called “chinguamiga” and she said when she was working for a korean company in mexico, she sometimes slept at the company, and it was normal, so im really impress with this videos cause their working hours sounds normal to other stories i heard