A person uses KakaoTalk messenger, South Korea’s No. 1 messaging app, on March 18, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Younger office workers find it stressful that KakaoTalk, South Korea’s top mobile messenger, is being used for work, complaining that it undermines their work-life balance and privacy, a recent survey showed.
Market analysis company Open Survey conducted a study of 1,000 office workers in their 20s to 50s, in which 54.2 percent of respondents from Generation Z, born between the 1990s and early 2000s, and 55.4 percent of millennials, born between the 1980s and the 2000s, found it stressful that KakaoTalk is being used for work.
In contrast, only 40.6 percent of Gen Xers, born between the 1960s and 1970s, and 25.7 percent of baby boomers said likewise.
Among those who dislike using KakaoTalk for work, 58 percent said it undermines their work-life balance, while 18 percent were concerned about their privacy.
At 53.3 percent, more than half of the respondents said they currently use KakaoTalk for work. Among smaller businesses with fewer than nine employees, this rate shot up to 65.3 percent.
In response to rising demand, Kakao Corp. released Kakao Work, a messenger reserved for work use, which was being used by only 1.6 percent of respondents.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
