Office Workers' Tearful 'Geoji Battle'
Tightening Corporate Belts Amid Inflation
"People Carry Toilet Paper on US Twitter"
"You have to write your name when drinking coffee mix."
"We don't even have money to buy programs."
As an economic slowdown is anticipated, companies are cutting costs, and some office workers are drawing attention by engaging in so-called 'beggar battles.' It is a bittersweet complaint that even the use of pantry supplies and office equipment has been restricted.
A complaint from an office worker about having to write their name when using coffee mix has attracted the attention of netizens. The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Recently, a post titled "Let's have a beggar battle among office workers" was uploaded on an online community mainly for office workers. The netizen who posted it stated, "We have to write our names every time we make Maxim (mix coffee)."
Other office workers who saw the post began sharing their own frugal workplace 'saving stories.'
"When the correction tape runs out, you have to show that you used it to get a refill."
"There are three desks but four employees, so we remove the middle partitions and just add chairs."
"We write our names on paper cups and use only those all day."
There are claims that employees are charged 10,000 won per month for using the office water and water purifier, and complaints continue such as "We installed pirated versions of essential programs like Windows and Photoshop," and "The license for essential office programs has expired, but we keep using them as is."
Inflation and Economic Recession Concerns... Companies Tightening Their Belts
With various economic slowdown risk factors such as soaring inflation, rising base interest rates, and the bankruptcy risk of overseas financial institutions, companies are responding by tightening their belts.
Reducing operating costs through measures like cutting back on remote work and corporate card budgets is typical, but some small and medium-sized enterprises in much worse situations have no choice but to adopt drastic measures to save even pantry supplies and office equipment.
On Twitter, Employees Carrying Toilet Paper
Meanwhile, the tough life of office workers is not happening only in Korea.
According to the US 'New York Times' (NYT) at the end of last year, Twitter, the social networking service platform acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, experienced a situation where toilet paper disappeared from restrooms after the cleaning service contract was terminated.
All of this was part of corporate cost-cutting plans. In addition, big tech companies like Facebook and Google are also reducing employee welfare benefits.
However, office workers seem to prefer welfare cuts over enduring layoffs.
A survey conducted by the job application 'Byeolguk Market' targeting 1,200 domestic office workers found that 38.2% of workers responded, "If given financial compensation, (layoffs) would be acceptable," while 20.8% said, "We should prevent layoffs even if it means reducing welfare benefits such as salary cuts."
This means many prefer to maintain their jobs by sacrificing some working conditions rather than receiving a generous severance package.
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