Sensitivity to Workplace Bullying Weakens Each Year... "D Grade for Three Consecutive Years"

Workplace Gapjil 119 Survey by Civic Group

High Sensitivity to Verbal Abuse, Wage Arrears, and Insults

A civic group survey has revealed that office workers' awareness of workplace bullying—such as verbal abuse, using informal language, and insults—has been weakening each year.

On August 23, the civic group Workplace Gapjil 119 announced that, according to a survey commissioned from professional polling agency Global Research, and conducted from June 1 to June 9 among 1,000 office workers nationwide aged 19 or older, this year's "Workplace Gapjil Sensitivity Index" was calculated at 63.5 points.

The Workplace Gapjil Sensitivity Index is composed of 30 questions covering situations that may arise at work: 12 pertaining to laws and 18 relating to workplace culture. A higher score indicates greater awareness of the problematic nature of such acts.

After posting 72.5 points in 2023, the Workplace Gapjil Sensitivity Index dropped to 67.8 in 2024 and 64.7 in 2025, falling again this year to 63.5. This marks a D grade for the third consecutive year. For 20 out of the 30 questions, scores have declined every year from 2023 through this year—a streak of four consecutive years.

This year, the highest sensitivity was recorded regarding verbal abuse (73.5 points), followed by wage arrears (72.7 points), insults (72.4 points), employment contracts (70.4 points), and instructions unrelated to work (70.1 points). In contrast, sensitivity was lowest regarding recommended resignation (47.4 points), holding former employees responsible (48.7 points), commuting (53.4 points), and workplace culture (53.5 points). The findings reflect the belief that "recommended resignation is necessary for employees who cannot perform their work" and that "employees who suddenly quit should be held accountable."

Additionally, for the question "A manager can ask a subordinate to do a personal favor unrelated to work," which measures sensitivity to instructions outside of work, the score dropped 14.3 points over three years—from 84.4 in 2023 to 70.1 this year—which was the largest decrease. Sensitivity for "verbal abuse," the highest-ranked item, also fell significantly by 14.2 points, from 87.7 in 2023 to 73.5 this year. Other large declines were recorded for writing reflective statements (-14 points), superiors or seniors using informal language (-13.2 points), and insults (-12.2 points).

Differing opinions regarding company dinners were also revealed by job level. For the statement "Team-building events such as company dinners or karaoke are necessary for organizational culture," rank-and-file employees scored 67.4 points, whereas mid-level managers scored 56.8—a difference of more than 10 points.

Sensitivity to workplace bullying also differed by job level. Regular employees scored highest with 66.2 points, followed by senior managers at 61.6, and mid-level managers at 59.8. Among genders, women scored 66.3 points, 4.9 points higher than men, who scored 61.4.

Workplace Gapjil 119 stated, "Even acts such as verbal abuse and insults, which were once regarded as clearly unacceptable, are now seeing awareness erode rapidly," emphasizing the need to strengthen training for managers and to improve and strictly enforce management and supervision measures to ensure that the minimum standards under labor law are upheld without exception.

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