Half of Workers in Their 20s Can't Use Even 6 Days of Annual Leave
Despite the rapid changes in workplace culture, such as the introduction of 'workation (Work+Vacation)' that combines work and vacation, and the spread of paternity leave for men, concerns related to taking leave among office workers continue unabated. Some employees were found to hesitate to take legally guaranteed paid leave due to concerns about their supervisors' reactions. In particular, it was found that many young workers in their 20s, who are new to the workforce, end up not using all their annual leave due to staff shortages and pressure from their supervisors.
New employee quits after being unable to take leave... Supervisor asks, "Is this an understandable situation?"
Recently, an online community post about a conflict between a new employee and a supervisor over absence issues, which eventually led to the new employee quitting, has become a hot topic.
On the 28th, various online communities featured a post titled "New employee who joined 3 weeks ago quits because they were not allowed to attend a friend's funeral." The author, A, who is the workplace supervisor, said, "The new employee B, who joined 3 weeks ago, said they could not come to work the next day because a friend had died and they needed to attend the funeral."
According to the post, A asked, "Can't you just go after work?" and B replied, "The company is in Seoul, and the funeral is in Busan, so that's impossible."
In response, A said, "Since you have only been here for 3 weeks and have no annual leave, you cannot take a day off," and B reportedly said, "Then I will just quit the company," and resigned. A asked, "Is this an understandable situation?" regarding the new employee's behavior.
Those who read the story somewhat sympathized with B's resignation. Netizens commented, "Losing a friend at a young age must be even more heartbreaking. In such cases, they should definitely be allowed to go," "They should have been allowed to use annual leave in advance," and "The world has become so harsh. How can anyone focus on work while at the company?"
However, some also understood A's response. One netizen said, "The company is not a school," and added, "Quitting a job because of a friend, not a parent or family member, is not understandable."
Half of workers in their 20s use fewer than 6 days of annual leave in a year
In this regard, it was found that most office workers do not properly use even the annual leave granted to them due to pressure from their superiors. According to the '2022 National Work-Life Balance Survey' report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, workers were granted an average of 17 days of annual leave per year but actually used only 11.6 days. This means more than 5 days of leave went unused.
Even the 2030 generation, which is considered relatively free-spirited, found it difficult to take annual leave. According to a survey conducted by the nonprofit organization Workplace Gapjil 119, which commissioned the polling firm Embrain Public to survey 1,000 office workers, 62.5% of respondents in their 20s (176 people) said they "cannot freely take annual leave," a higher rate than other age groups. The main reasons cited were colleagues' workload (21.6%) and pressure from superiors (18.8%).
Additionally, 55.1% of respondents in their 20s said they used "fewer than 6 days" of annual leave in the past year. Only 13.6% said they used 6 to 8 days. Those who reported using all 15 days of legally mandated annual leave (for workers with more than 2 years of service) accounted for only 9.7%.
Meanwhile, according to the Labor Standards Act, unless there is a "significant disruption to business operations," workers are allowed to take annual leave at their desired time. Violations can result in imprisonment of up to 2 years or a fine of up to 20 million won.
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