[News Terms] 'Crunch Mode' Highlighted in 69-Hour Workweek System

'Crunch Mode' refers to the practice of working extended hours by sacrificing sleep, meals, hygiene, and other personal activities as a deadline approaches.

The term originated from the game industry, where employees worked overnight shifts before a game release. The intense work schedule, including night and weekend shifts, can last from as short as 1-2 weeks to several months. The term implies "grinding" labor like crushing nuts.

Although the introduction of the '52-hour workweek' in 2018 led to a significant reduction of crunch mode in large game companies, it is still openly practiced in small and medium-sized game companies.

According to the '2022 Survey on Labor Conditions of Game Industry Workers' published by the Korea Creative Content Agency in January, 19.1% of respondents experienced crunch mode in their 'most recent project.'

Workers participating in the "Rally Urging the Abolition of Article 59 on Special Labor Hours."
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

For workplaces with over 300 employees, this rate was only 5.1%, lower than the average. However, for workplaces with 100-299 employees, it was 17.9%; for 50-99 employees, 20.6%; for 5-49 employees, 21.6%; and for fewer than 5 employees, 25%. The smaller the company size, the higher the rate of crunch experience. The average duration of crunch mode was 9.6 days, with the longest weekly working hours averaging 60 hours and daily working hours averaging 20.2 hours.

In the broadcasting industry, a similar term 'Dissolve' is used. Dissolve refers to a scene transition technique where one screen fades out while another slowly appears. It mocks the situation where someone works nearly 20 hours a day, briefly dozes off, quickly washes up, and immediately returns to filming.

On the 14th, President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed a supplementary review of the working hours system reform plan announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The game industry is concerned that the proposed reform could encourage the normalization of crunch mode.