8 Reasons Why Korea has some of the longest working hours but low productivity in the OECD

Why do Koreans work so late?

It is probably the question that most foreigners working or studying in Korea love to discuss and outsiders frequently ask or have heard rumours of. It’s true; Koreans have some of the worst working hours in the OECD. In fact, according to 2012 statistics they were ranked 2nd in the OECD for Average annual hours actually worked per worker. In reality there are some interesting and unique cultural forces in play which are causing Koreans to stay later at the office than others.

The culture of working long hours in Korean companies are a result of a variety of influences: the epic rise from poverty to middle class power; top – bottom hierarchy structures; constant reporting; micro management; perception; loyalty; face; and Noonchi.

  1. Rigid Structures and Hierarchy
Korean corporate structures are notorious for their top-bottom approach and rigidness. Some experts even compare corporate Korea to an army division such is the influence of military service and leadership history on the corporate landscape. What these structures have led too is constant and unnecessary reporting to senior directors (Like soldiers to a general). Teams will brief department heads weekly and sometimes even the board on a regular basis. If a director wants to know about something (even if it does not concern their direct business) then a team leader will be forced to present said topic in a structured meeting in a very short time frame. The team leader will then drop whatever work they were doing (usually their real work) and have their team spend the next few days researching and preparing an over the top presentation so said director can be informed about the topic of curiosity and the team leader does not get blasted for not being an expert on a unrelated topic - It's all about perception!. This constant vicious circle ensures that their is no strategic work and movement within a company but rather a fire department type scenario where teams are on call for a fire and need respond to it immediately- never moving forward or GROWING. My previous company was a never ending merry go round of audits and presentations which meant my boss was often occupied with trivial things like making PPT presentations look pretty for the CEO, hardly the scenario you imagine you would be in after 20 years of work experience.

2. Communication Issues
Despite the regular drinking and socializing, Korean companies suffer from a lack of direct, honest and effective communication. Teams within themselves and departments will often function fairly well together but the constant socializing, eating of lunch together and drinking sessions actually create the side effect of factions. As a result, teams across departments become somewhat enemies. Inter departmental links are almost non existent and often teams from other departments become suspicious and competitive. Poor communication always results in poor performance and when there is poor interdepartmental relationships performance suffers even more.

I will also mention here the obvious issues with English language. Many Koreans frustrated with the emphasis on English often question why they need English when they never use it in the workplace. Most Koreans are wrong in thinking that English study is only useful for practical communication with a foreigner or for use in business emails which they may type rarely. Most Korean office workers look over the obvious fact that world of resources and knowledge (Think case studies, annual reports, professional tips) that is now available to the world via the internet is predominately in English and only a fraction of what is out there has been translated thus far into Korean and made available on the internet. Foreign workers will always have the advantage of a simple Google search which will provide hundreds to thousands of alternative information sources to what is available to a Korean limited to searching in Korean on Naver. 

3. Mobile Phones and Office Communicators
I am sure some were frothing at the mouth for me to mention the above reason. Korea is a truly connected society with a fantastic broadband network providing the fastest internet and LTE coverage in the world to it's businesses. However the ease and preference for communicating via online or through a messaging app on a phone is becoming a real issue. Levels upon levels of an office building will appear as if they were a library such is the silence. Everyone is tapping away furiously and you presume 'Wow everyone is a hard worker', But check again and you'll see most workers are engaging on some form of office communicator whether it be Kakaotalk PC version, Microsoft LYNC or Nateon - workers will normally be chatting away to office buddies (occasionally about work) but more often then not just wasting time. What's more ridiculous is that Korean noonchi (As discussed in a previous post) determines that talking in the office gives off the appearance of not working - So lets send messages via the intranet to the person sitting right next to me instead of turning our heads to have a real discussion! 

If it's not the office communicators then it's the mobile phones - checking them every ten minutes or blatantly getting up to go out to receive a personal phone call. Now I am all for being able to make personal calls and check your phone at work but the frequency in which it is done is the issue. Workers will go off to hide in bathrooms where you can hear mobile message tones going off like a fire cracker; the sounds of mobile games...sometimes even the sound of a youtube video they are enjoying while doing the "other" business.

4. Stressed / Hungover Workers = Lazy Workers
So yes Korean companies encourage and pay for workers to enjoy dinner and drinks together on a regular basis believing it improves loyalty and the relationship between workers. The only requirement being that they are at work the next day (preferably on time). It's amazing after all these years that they still believe that being hungover doesn't affect work. Staff may as well not be at work the next day because a heaving, headache ridden corpse of what used to be a fully functional worker is going to be useless for the entire next day without the proper rest and recovery from the night before.

Smoking too is also a major issue affecting productivity. That said I believe it does provide workers with the benefit of getting out of their seat to stretch and refresh once an hour but the time taken to smoke is so large that non smokers are the losers because they will effectively be spending on average 1 hour a day longer at their desk if we assume most smokers will take around a 10 minute smoking break 6 to 7 times a day - which is most likely. Eventually the non smokers have caught on and hijacked the coffee break which they will take 3 to 4 times a day to also enjoy in their extra hour of rest a day.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

5. Perception is King
My previous work colleague would spend two days on a powerpoint presentation adding in an array of fancy looking shapes, images, flow charts and graphs for a report which contained roughly half a day of research. That is the power of perception in the Korean office and it forces workers to spend ridiculous amounts of time "beautifying" simple reports which would take 10 minutes to present in an informal meeting or chat.

6. Poorly Equipped Graduates
This is one of the more controversial issues I've listed but it might resonate with a few professionals who find Korean graduates to be grossly under-prepared for the workplace and stuck with poor researching and reporting skills from their university days. Many young graduates come into the workforce with next to zero work experience. That's right - it's their first job...EVER which is astounding considering most Korean men are 27 - 28 when they get their first job (A result of 2 years army service, Gap years and 4 year degree courses). But what that has created is a workforce of young adults with unrealistic expectations of work and money. Poor research skills based around the use of Naver (probably the worst search engine in terms of finding real information) coupled with poor reporting and presentation skills which are all a result of developing skills based to fit a certain professors style and curriculum to ensure the best grade but not the most practical approach.

7. The Art of Looking Busy
In business or social situations Koreans have a penchant for giving off the impression of being busy. Rarely will you meet a Korean that will they say they have spent their time recently doing nothing because work isn't busy at the moment. I believe this style of thinking is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome the unproductive culture in Korea.  Being honest with themselves in the fact that they are not really "that busy" and by association that does not make them a lazy worker! Finishing your work on time and going home on time is in fact the reverse of a lazy worker - it's an efficient one!

8. Parkinson's Law of Time
Parkinson's law is the adage which states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". The Korean workforce all know that they will be expected to work overtime hours whether they have work or not - it's again another test of perception and loyalty so what naturally occurs is Parkinson's law. Why finish your work by 5 o'clock when you know you will be at the office until 10 anyways? Good point! 

I hope I was able to provide a little bit more insight into what issues some Korean companies are dealing with and some reasons as to why Korea has low productivity but I will just add that these are a generalized view with my own opinions and definitely do not cover every single Korean company or worker that ever existed! So take everything with a grain of salt.

Edit: This article is getting a lot more attention than I ever imagined! I just thought that I would point out that these issues are not unique to just South Korea nor do I mention that they don't exist in foreign companies. These are just my experiences from working at a major Korean company and should not be interpreted as fact - just opinion! It has also been brought to my attention by an article by Ask a Korean that the productivity statistics in the original Business Korea article are output/hours which is different to the official OECD statistics of labour productivity. I have since adjusted the article as a response to the two source articles I originally quoted which show Korea ranked as 23rd in labour productivity and 2nd (out of 34) for longest hours worked.