Leaving chat rooms other than 'Work Talk Room'
"Being in chat rooms with colleagues is a burden itself"
The 'Quietly Leave Group Chat' feature in KakaoTalk (KakaoTalk) has been gaining popularity since its release. Among office workers, there have been reactions that they have left group chats (chat rooms) other than company work-related chat rooms. While they cannot leave work-related chat rooms, some say they have left other rooms and feel "relieved." Some opinions suggest that just being in a chat room with a boss was a burden, and there is also a perspective that this action is an attempt to overcome trauma from workplace bullying.
According to Kakao, about 2 million users activated the experiment lab from the 10th to the 31st of last month when the 'Quietly Leave Group Chat' feature was applied to the KakaoTalk Lab. The KakaoTalk 'Quietly Leave Group Chat' feature allows users to leave a group chat without the message '○○○ has left' being displayed to other participants. It is available by updating KakaoTalk to the latest version.
Kakao explained the purpose of the service as "to reduce the stress of users who were inconvenienced by unnecessary messages and notifications in group chats." However, Kakao also noted that since the lab features are fluid and frequently changing, specific numbers cannot be pinpointed.
Kakao expects that after the release of this feature, users who experienced stress from unnecessary messages and notifications in group chats where conversations had become sparse or who missed the timing to leave the so-called chat rooms will have reduced stress.
KakaoTalk's 'Quiet Exit' feature is gaining popularity. Among some office workers, there are reactions saying they have left all chat rooms except for work-related ones. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Among office workers, there are reactions that while they cannot leave company work chat rooms, they have left other unnecessary rooms. Kim, a company employee in his 30s, said, "Except for work-related chat rooms, I left all the rooms," adding, "The reason I left the rooms is because work stress is high, and I don't want to be with company people in non-work rooms." Another company employee in his late 20s, Park, also said, "I only want to talk about work with my colleagues," and added, "I was invited to other chat rooms on a one-time basis and was subjected to unnecessary one-sided talk, so I quietly left."
Meanwhile, Cha, a manager in his 40s, said that after the 'Quietly Leave' feature was introduced, some team members left rooms other than work-related chat rooms. Cha said, "Out of curiosity, I browsed some other rooms," adding, "Some employees left the rooms, but since these are not rooms for work discussions, it doesn't matter. This feature seems to be very popular."
While the KakaoTalk 'Quietly Leave Group Chat' feature is gaining popularity among office workers, some believe that workplace stress will not be completely resolved. A representative from a labor rights protection organization said, "Unless you leave the so-called 'work instruction rooms,' just leaving rooms where jokes are shared won't eliminate work stress." They added, "Ultimately, there should be no work instructions after work hours, and this feature cannot solve that problem."
Nevertheless, there is also a view that many office workers want to leave group chats with their bosses as a way to seek psychological relief. Lee, a company employee in his 30s, said, "The reason office workers use the 'Quietly Leave' feature in company-related chat rooms is simply because they don't want to be involved with company members." He added, "When I was criticized by my boss, I also heard personal attacks, and if I stay in the same room, I keep thinking about it. It's trauma."
In fact, there are survey results showing that many office workers are still being bullied. A survey conducted by the civic group Workplace Bullying 119 and the 'Office Finance Ubuntu Foundation,' commissioned to the public opinion research firm Embrain Public, surveyed 1,000 office workers from March 3 to 10 and found that 30.1% of respondents said they had experienced workplace bullying.
Although this is a 14.4 percentage point decrease from 44.5% in June 2019 before the Workplace Bullying Prohibition Act was enforced, it remains a high figure, and the severity and level of bullying perceived by victims have actually worsened.
Among respondents who experienced workplace bullying, the proportion who said the level was 'severe' increased by 10.3 percentage points from 38.2% before the law's enforcement to 48.5%. The survey found that 34.8% of victims experienced bullying severe enough to require hospital treatment or counseling. In reality, 6.6% of workers received treatment or counseling, while 28.2% needed it but did not receive it. Additionally, 10.6% of office workers considered extreme measures.
More than half of the victims (59.1%) said they endured or pretended not to know when bullied. Those who quit their jobs accounted for 32.2%. Cases where victims protested to the perpetrator (28.2%), reported to the company or union (4.3%), or reported to related agencies such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor (4.0%) were relatively few.
The main reasons for not reporting were "I don't think the situation will improve even if I respond" (71.0%) and "I am afraid of disadvantages in future personnel matters" (17.0%). In fact, 33.3% of workers who reported said they were treated unfavorably because of the report. Only 36.1% said that objective investigations and separation of perpetrators and victims were properly conducted.
Attorney Kwon Doo-seop, head of Workplace Bullying 119, emphasized, "Above all, corporate organizational culture must change," adding, "Currently, bullying prevention education conducted by public institutions or some companies is very formalistic. First, surveys should be conducted to understand the actual situation, and based on the results, practical prevention education such as discussions divided by rank should be implemented."
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