29% of Office Workers Experienced Workplace Bullying... 33% of Those Say It Was 'Severe'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Although workplace bullying has decreased since the implementation of the Workplace Bullying Prohibition Act, a survey found that about 3 out of 10 workers who experienced bullying felt that the level of bullying was severe.

According to Workplace Bullying 119 on the 16th, a survey conducted from December 3 to 10 last year targeting 1,000 workers revealed that 28.5% of respondents experienced workplace bullying in the past year. This is a 16 percentage point decrease compared to the survey results from October of the same year (44.5%), shortly after the Workplace Bullying Prohibition Act was enacted on July 16, 2019.

Among those who reported experiencing workplace bullying, 33.0% said the bullying was severe. In particular, the percentage of respondents who felt the bullying was severe was higher among those earning less than 1.5 million KRW per month (48.3%), non-regular workers (36.8%), and non-union members (33.9%) compared to those earning 5 million KRW or more (31.1%), regular workers (30.7%), and union members (28.8%).

The perpetrators of workplace bullying were ranked as follows: 'supervisors who are not executives' (41.8%), 'employers such as representatives, executives, and management' (24.9%), and 'colleagues of similar rank' (21.4%).

68.9% of respondents were aware of the existence of the Workplace Bullying Prohibition Act. The awareness rate was relatively low among non-regular workers (55.3%), workplaces with fewer than 5 employees (56.0%), and those earning less than 1.5 million KRW per month (51.6%).

However, only 8.1% of those who experienced workplace bullying reported it. The main reasons for not reporting were 'believing that the situation would not improve even if they responded' (68.4%) and 'fear of disadvantages in future personnel matters' (21.8%).

57.6% of respondents said bullying had decreased since the law was enacted. There was a significant gap between those earning less than 1.5 million KRW per month (46.0%), women (50.1%), and workplaces with fewer than 5 employees (51.6%) compared to those earning 5 million KRW or more (71.4%), men (63.2%), and public institutions (68.7%).

Only 27.8% of respondents were aware that since October last year, fines are imposed if the perpetrator of workplace bullying is the employer or a relative of the employer. Awareness was also low among non-regular workers (20.3%), workplaces with fewer than 5 employees (19.6%), and those earning less than 1.5 million KRW per month (14.5%).