"I Earn 800 Million Won, My Wife 40 Million... Split the Housework 50-50?" Samsung Employee's Post Sparks Debate

"Even if I earn 20 times as much, should we still split the housework 50-50?"

As a performance bonus system tied to “N% of operating profit” becomes a social issue, a Samsung Electronics employee has sparked controversy by asking whether he should share the housework equally with his wife even though he earns 20 times her salary.

Image generated with artificial intelligence (AI) to help readers understand the article. Gemini

On Oct. 29, a post titled “Even if I earn 20 times as much, should we still split the housework 50-50?” appeared on Blind, an anonymous online community for office workers. The author, identified as a Samsung Electronics employee, said, “Including performance bonuses, I earn around 800 million won a year, while my wife earns 40 million won.” He added, “We finish work at around the same time, and we're both busy. In this situation, is it right for us to split the housework equally?” He went on to say, “I'm not being sarcastic. I'm curious what women think.”

Most commenters responded negatively to using the salary gap as a basis for dividing household chores. They wrote comments such as, “Why did you get married if that's how you feel?” “You’re going to calculate salaries when dividing up the housework?” “If my husband didn't help with the housework just because he earns a little more than I do, there'd be no reason to stay married,” and “Why should there be ‘your chores’ and ‘my chores’?”

Some commenters, however, defended A, saying, “If my spouse earned 800 million won, I'd take time off work to do more housework,” “With that kind of salary, I'd do a lot of the housework and make sure my spouse had a hearty breakfast,” and “Shouldn't you make sure she doesn't have to lift a finger at home?”

As comments continued, A offered further explanation, saying that his workload had recently increased and that it had become difficult to share the housework. “The company has been busy trying to maximize production lately. They say they'll rank us by overtime hours when evaluating our performance, and this is the time when I need to get a good evaluation and be promoted,” he said. “The performance bonus amount varies significantly depending on the evaluation.” He added, “I have to work a lot of overtime, but my wife wants me to either catch up on housework after working overtime or leave work on time and do the housework.”

Meanwhile, according to projected special management performance bonus payments by business division released by Samsung Electronics' supra-company labor union, the Memory Business Division is expected to receive 750 million won, while common organizations are projected to receive 530 million won. These figures are estimates of the pre-tax payment, including the Management Performance Incentive (OPI) for employees earning in the low 80 million won range, based on this year's consensus operating profit forecast for Samsung Electronics, or the average forecast by securities firms, of 370 trillion won.

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