"Reporting Only Makes Things Worse for Me... 3 Out of 10 Employees Endure 'Hellish Workplaces' Every Day"

Workplace Gapjil 119 Survey of 1,000 Employees
Half of Victims "Endure or Pretend Not to Notice"

Although it has been nearly seven years since the implementation of the ‘Workplace Bullying Prohibition Act’, it was found that 3 out of 10 employees still experience bullying at work.

On July 12, Workplace Gapjil 119 announced the results of a survey it commissioned to Global Research, a professional polling agency, which was conducted from June 1 to June 9, targeting 1,000 people nationwide aged 19 or older who are employed. According to the results, 32.1% of respondents said they had experienced workplace bullying in the past year. This is similar to the figure from the first quarter of last year (34.5%). Among those who experienced bullying, 55.1% said they either endured it or pretended not to notice.

The most common reason for not reporting was 'because I don't think the situation will improve even if I report it' at 49%, followed by 'because I am worried about personnel disadvantages' at 30.1%.

The most common type of bullying was insult or defamation (17.8%), followed by unfair orders (16.4%), assault or verbal abuse (16.0%), coercion to do tasks outside of work duties (15.4%), and ostracism or discrimination (14.0%). The most frequent perpetrators were superiors who were not executives, at 40.2%. They were followed by colleagues of similar rank (22.1%), employers (18.1%), relatives of employers (6.5%), and customers, civil petitioners, or employees of partner companies (5.3%). In workplaces with fewer than five employees, bullying by employers (30.4%) was more common than bullying by superiors (21.7%).

A majority of respondents, 74.1%, said that reporting workplace bullying is ‘not easy’. The main reasons cited were 'because I don't think victims will be properly protected' (38.3%) and 'concerns about personnel disadvantages after reporting' (35.0%).

Workplace Gapjil 119 pointed out that although the number of reports has increased since the enforcement of Article 7-2 of the Labor Standards Act, the Workplace Bullying Prohibition Act, on July 16, 2019, actual sanctions such as punishments remain insufficient.

The number of workplace bullying reports filed with the Labor Office increased approximately threefold, from 5,823 cases in 2020 to 16,373 cases in 2025. However, only 1.4% (231 cases) resulted in fines, and only 0.6% (101 cases) were referred to the prosecution with a recommendation for indictment. Among the referred cases where results were available, 26.7% were suspended indictments. A suspended indictment means that the charges are acknowledged, but the case is not brought to trial in consideration of various circumstances.

Workplace Gapjil 119 emphasized, “One of the main reasons bullying has not improved for years is the authorities' passive law enforcement,” and added, “The legal scope of secondary harm occurring after a report should be clearly defined, and strict sanctions should be imposed on any disadvantageous measures taken for reporting.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.