One in five office workers reported having experienced surveillance through CCTV installed in the workplace or having witnessed a colleague being monitored.
According to a survey on 'Workplace Messengers and On-site CCTV' released by Workplace Gapjil 119 on the 29th, 65.7% of respondents said that CCTV was installed at their workplace. One in five (22.2%) answered that they had experienced being monitored by CCTV and receiving work-related criticism or had witnessed a colleague being criticized under CCTV surveillance.
When employees were asked whether they had been consulted before the installation of CCTV, 34.6% answered 'No,' and another 34.6% said 'Don't know.' Only 30.9% responded 'Yes.' Regarding the presence of CCTV installation notice signs, 37.4% answered 'No,' and 17.2% said 'Don't know.'
The responses of 'No notice sign' or 'Don't know' were relatively higher among non-regular workers and non-union members. When CCTV is installed in public areas, a notice sign containing the purpose of CCTV installation, filming location, scope, and contact information of the person responsible for management must be posted in the installation area. Failure to comply results in a fine of up to 10 million KRW.
A similar trend was observed with workplace messengers. Among office workers using workplace messengers, many had not been informed about how the information within the messenger is utilized. Of the 490 respondents who said they use workplace messengers, 37.3% answered that they had not received any guidance. Additionally, some workplace messengers include features that allow monitoring of employees' messages, but 59.9% of workers were unaware of this fact.
Workplace Gapjil 119 pointed out, "In cases of 'electronic surveillance gapjil' using CCTV or messengers, laws and systems to protect workers are severely lacking. Related regulations are set through the Personal Information Protection Act or the Communication Privacy Protection Act rather than labor-related laws, which fails to reflect the unequal relationship characteristics between employers and workers." They emphasized, "It is necessary to amend the law so that the Labor Standards Act can regulate surveillance gapjil using CCTV, messengers, and various programs."
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