A survey revealed that one in four office workers has experienced being forced to drink at a company dinner.

Gapjil at Work 119 The Online Labor Union Promotion Committee announced on the 28th the results of a survey of 1,000 office workers commissioned by Global Research, a public opinion polling agency, from the 2nd to the 10th of last month.

When asked about the frequency of company or department company dinners over the past year, the most common answer at 43.7% was ‘1 to 10 times a year.’ This was followed by ‘none’ (24.4%), ‘1 to 3 times a month’ (19.4%), and ‘1 to 2 times a week’ (10.8%). The timing of the company dinner was ‘after business hours’ (71.4%), which was more than three times more than ‘within business hours’ (23.1%).

Among office workers who had company dinners, 23.4% responded that they had been forced to drink. The response to coercion was ‘I drank alcohol’ (72.9%), which was higher than ‘I refused’ (27.1%). By age, those in their 20s had the highest response of ‘rejected’ at 36.7%, while those in their 40s had the lowest response at 18.9%.

The number of office workers who had experienced being forced to attend karaoke after a company dinner was 20.4%. When forced to sing karaoke, 72.7% responded that they attended.

The Workplace Gapjil 119 Online Labor Union Promotion Committee said, “Forcing company dinners, drinking, and karaoke are representative acts of harassment in the workplace,” adding, “Despite this, forced drinking and drinking continue in Korean workplaces, and 7 out of 10 office workers are forced to drink and sing karaoke. “Myeong has no choice but to follow his superior’s instructions,” he said.