[2021 New Kkondae Report] Chatting at Work and Heading to the National Institute of the Korean Language... The Birth of 'Konatkkon'

<strong>In the COVID Era, New Kkondae Culture<br><br>'Kkondae Born from COVID'<br>Obsessed with Messenger Message Content and Format<br>Criticized for Tone and Emojis<br>Bosses Monitoring with 'Work from Home = Slacking' Perception<br>Immediate Calls if Replies Are Late<br>Companies Still Insisting on Commuting</strong>

[Asia Economy Reporters Lee Gwan-ju, Kim Dae-hyun, Kim Su-hwan] "To control COVID-19, we must first deal with the Kkondae." "As long as there are Kkondae, COVID-19 will never end."

On the anonymous workplace application 'Blind,' posts frequently appear that contemplate the correlation between the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 'Kkondae.' The overwhelming majority of office workers agree with this radical claim that COVID-19 cannot be eradicated due to the presence of Kkondae in the workplace.

How did Kkondae come to be regarded on the same level as a virus? The spread of remote work is behind this. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, remote work has become the new standard. It reduces office workers' concerns about exposure to COVID-19 while generally maintaining similar work efficiency. According to a survey by the job matching platform Saramin targeting 355 companies on the 'current status of remote work productivity,' 55% of the 109 companies implementing remote work reported no difference in productivity.

Nevertheless, some still insist on "mandatory attendance." Just as the COVID-19 pandemic created a "new normal," a new type of "New Kkondae" has emerged. These forms of Kkondae are especially rampant in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are relatively smaller in scale compared to public institutions and large corporations. According to a survey by JobKorea of 839 office workers, 53.2% of employees in SMEs reported having no experience with remote work. This is in stark contrast to the responses from employees in public enterprises/public institutions (80.3%), large corporations (76.4%), and mid-sized companies (70.7%), where a significant number have experienced remote work. Kim Ki-jung (30, pseudonym), who works at an SME, said, "During the major outbreak last December, I worked remotely for two days, but suddenly the CEO ordered us to return to normal attendance, saying there was no problem." He added, "Employees were anxious, and the little company loyalty that remained completely disappeared."

It is not entirely free even in large corporations. Lee Dae-hyun (32, pseudonym), who works at a well-known large corporation affiliate, continues to go to work reluctantly. Lee said, "Last month, the company implemented voluntary remote work, but all the superiors and promotion candidates still came to the office." He complained, "If you work remotely, you are treated as if you are slacking off, which was hard to endure."

Even when managing to work remotely, New Kkondae lurk everywhere. A typical example is the "surveillance-type Kkondae" who immediately calls to check whereabouts if there is no messenger reply within 1-2 minutes. Along with this, since reporting and communication are conducted non-face-to-face (untact) via messengers like KakaoTalk, complaints about tone or the use of emoticons have increased. According to a survey by employment information platforms JobKorea and Albamon, 53% of those with remote work experience cited "communication difficulties due to mostly text-based conversations" as a disadvantage.

These conflicts were also anticipated when remote work was introduced. Unlike younger generations who have been trained from an early age to use text messages and social networking services (SNS), older generations are more accustomed to face-to-face communication. This difference fosters misunderstandings about "text communication" and cultivates new types of Kkondae. Office worker Eom Tae-hyun (26) said, "I feel an obsession that I must show not only content but also formal politeness in messages sent to superiors." He added, "Because I try to condense the content, superiors often don't understand and call back to ask again."

Ultimately, the unprecedented social change brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a decisive background for creating a new type of Kkondae. Professor Lee Dong-gwi of Yonsei University's Department of Psychology explained, "In the current digital age, changes occur more rapidly, but the older generation tends to have their subjectivity and identity fixed and rigid due to accumulated past experiences."