Korean Institute of Labor Safety and Health

2022

 

I. Introduction

This research was conducted for the following reasons:

– Understand the effects of night work on health and work-life balance in the distribution and logistics service industry.

– Reveal how the harmful effects of night work, once widely prevalent in manufacturing, are spreading to service industries such as distribution and logistics.

– Lay the groundwork for a discourse on ending nighttime work in the hospitality industry.

– Present data for the recent struggle to shorten supermarket working hours so that they close at 10 pm.

– To use data to improve laws so they effectively regulate late-night work in the Retail Industry Development Act, Occupational Safety and Health Act, and Labor Standard Act.

 

Q1. Why and how has the night work of workers in the distribution and logistics service industry intensified?

Q2. What are the nighttime work conditions and health effects on supermarket and distribution service workers?

Q3. What are the legal and social measures to stop night work in the distribution and logistics service industry?

 

II. Why should big supermarkets be open late at night?

The fight to shorten working hours at E-mart.

Supermarket workers have frequently worked on weekends. Compared to Seoul which has mandatory public holiday closures, the proportion of workers in Gyeonggi Province (the most populous province in South Korea and part of the Seoul metropolitan area) who work on Sundays three or more times per month was as high as 48%. Because of this weekend work, there were many negative answers on the question of work-life balance. The average Borg score was 13.4 and work intensity was as high as the level of walking fast or running 100 meters. The high work intensity was indicated by the fact that 48% of the workers agreed with the statement that, “I work with strict deadlines most or all the time.” High work intensity and fast-paced work are associated with occupational accidents, with many workers having experienced an occupational accident in the last year. The most common types of accidents were being bumping into, being hit by objects, being cut, or getting pricked. In addition, many workers reported that diseases such as musculoskeletal disorders occurred “because of work.” However, 74% of workers reported that they did not seek medical treatment for these conditions or they paid out of pocket to treat them. Action needs tobe taken to secure the right to medical treatment.

Issues related to sleep health and depression were also identified. Many workers were sleeping less and experiencing frequent sleep-related problems. There was also a high percentage of workers who showed symptoms of depression according to the PHQ-2.¹ It is urgent to discuss and develop intervention measures for depression.

Workers who received notification of their work schedule a couple of days in advance were more likely than those who received them weeks or a month or more in advance:

① to have a higher percentage of negative responses to the statement, “Working hours are adequate for social life besides life and work.”

② to have a higher percentage of positive responses to the statement, “Not being able to spend enough time for family because of work.”

③ to have a higher percentage of a score of 3 or higher on the depression scale.

④ to have a score on the Borg scale that is significantly higher.

The impact of not being able to predict their working hours seems to be significant and measures to provide more choice in working hours are necessary.

Interview participants consistently had strong positive memories of limiting working hours during the COVID 19 pandemic. They valued the increase in free time more than the direct reduction in fatigue. Personal hobbies, relaxation, and time with family were among the benefits of closing one hour earlier. The reason workers could support shortening working hours was because prescribed working time was maintained even when the business hours were reduced, so there was not a big loss in pay and the work intensity was reduced. In this sense, it is a good condition to organize the struggle based on union members’ support.

Experiencing shortened working hours made workers start to think about night work and safety in a different light. This includes safety and the right to choose or refuse to do night work. This experience will help strengthen the capacity of union members and the union to recognize and address this and other issues in the future.

In addition, the experience of refusing night time work from 10pm to 11pm by sending a text message to managers made workers realize a change in their position. They used to be notified by managers but this later changed to workers asserting their rights and notifying managers of their position.

The most mentioned improvements by workers were wage increases, more staff, and an end to night work. This was also reflected in biomarker measurements. For supermarket workers, the afternoon work shift from 3 pm to 11 pm included night work, and workers during this shift showed increased heart rates. This could be due to an increase in workload increase or a reflection of the level of physical strain.

 

III. Expanding night work: Grocery stores’ online business

When customers make orders online, store workers collect and pack the ordered products in the supermarket. These workers have different challenges than workers in a typical warehouse. However, they also have similar difficulties experienced by warehouse workers such as walking a lot to find products, and working fast to meet the delivery time.

This was reflected in the survey results which showed that workers were working at a fast pace to meet strict deadlines. Answers such as, “I work to meet strict deadlines during most of the working time or all of the working time” were very common. Over half of the workers answered yes to “I work at a fast pace most of working time or all of the working time.” The average score on the Borg scale was 14.1, which is very high.

Biomarker measurements also showed high levels of workload and work intensity per unit time. Three out of five workers worked more than the maximum working hours per day.

Such high work intensity and time pressure even interrupted workers from using the restroom. Over half of the workers answered yes to the statement, “I have wanted to go to the restroom during my workday but I could not go because I was too busy” (i.e., they could not leave the work area).

Since store workers selecting and packing for delivery shop for a lot of items in the same place as customers, they even need to be concerned about customer safety. They are not welcomed by other coworkers who display products for customers. Conflicts can also arise with delivery drivers due to the delays and difficulties that arise because the supermarket was not designed for pickup and delivery in the first place. This work is caught between offline and online operation.

At the same time, the retail industry has been changing rapidly, and workers suffer from problems due to the rapid expansion of store-based online sales. Workers are experiencing various difficulties due to changes in stores and work methods without consultation with workers. These include extending business hours and business expansion without sufficient preparation. Since 2022, after COVID-19, workers are worried that the deregulation of supermarket business hours, will extend to evening or even night work. Behind the glamour of the supermarket industry’s online business expansion, there are store workers fulfilling online orders who are suffering from changes they were not prepared for.

When asked if any of the diseases they experienced in the past year were related to their work, workers responded “yes” at a very high rate to all questions (for example, problems with the upper body, lower body, lower back, etc.). In the long-term, it should be possible to reduce work intensity by increasing workforce staffing or improving time pressure systems.

Issues of sleeping health and depression were also identified. Many workers reported short sleep duration and frequent sleep-related problems. Approximately 30% of workers reported symptoms of depression as measured by the PHQ-2. It is urgent to discuss and implement intervention measures for depression.

Many workers answered that they chose the work of fulfilling online orders in the store because they could start and finish their work in a fixed time. This is consistent with the fact that they answered negatively when asked about expanding this kind of work to night time. Respondents objected to night time work expansion for various reasons. These include health problems and increased work intensity, interrupting regular commuting and lifestyles, poor working conditions, and labor shortages. When it came to improvements, respondents mostly talked about increasing staffing, raising salaries, and improving working conditions followed by issues related to lounges.

 

Ⅳ. Where are the risks of overnight shipping and late-night delivery?

Online delivery drivers

Out of all respondents, 22% were exposed to night work because of night or early morning deliveries, and 15% reported working both night and day shifts. Most respondents (78%) who work at night said they do so for “economic reasons.” When asked about income satisfaction, 63% of respondents said it was “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult” for their household to live on their total monthly income compared to 8.6% in the 2020 National Working Environment Survey in South Korea.

Online delivery workers in supermarkets were found to work long hours and the situation was even more serious in the case of night deliveries. Among the respondents, 51% of daytime delivery workers and 68% of nighttime delivery workers showed exposure to long working hours, exceeding 60 hours per week. In addition to the overall length of working hours, weekend work and irregular hours were also common.

Work intensity was also at a high level. These overall poor working conditions coupled with the long hours and intensity of work for nighttime deliveries, are linked to health impacts. During weekdays, online delivery workers sleep less and they sleep much longer on weekends to compensate. A lot of these workers had sleep disorders compared to the general population, and this was significantly worse in night time delivery workers. For health problems other than sleeping problems, there was no meaningful difference between nighttime delivery workers and day time delivery workers, which may be due to an age effect as nighttime delivery workers tend to be younger.

In conclusion, due to low wages, long hours of work are becoming more severe as workers choose side jobs and nighttime delivery, which are associated with various health impacts such as poor sleep, accidents, and overall health. Night delivery has more serious consequences in terms of working hours, work intensity, and sleep health.

The causes and mechanism of long working hours and night work of supermarket delivery drivers are as follows.

First, most delivery drivers are specialty workers who are not protected by the Labor Standard Act. Second, to be a delivery driver, you need have your own car. So, drivers need to spend approximately USD$30,000~$50,000 to start. Third, the 24-hour nature of the logistics industry is linked to the long nighttime work of delivery drivers. Fourth, the multi-level subcontracting structure up to the third level of subcontracting, undermines the discretionary rights of delivery workers. The rights to adjust their working process, working time, and take vacations are not properly guaranteed. This makes workers take responsibility and bear the consequences for all working processes. Fifth, the low wage structure is hidden.

 

V. Conclusions and recommendations

The conclusions and recommendations of this research are shown below.

1) Regulate business hours and working hours.
– Introduce regulations on night work in the Labor Standard Act.
– Tighten restrictions on work time at big supermarkets.
– Restrict the business hours of non-store retailing.

2) Restrict the work intensity of night work.
– Limit the work intensity of nighttime delivery.
– Enhance the joint responsibility of the original contractor and logistics contractors.
– Introduce a standard contract system.
– Lower the work intensity of night work

3) Challenges for labor unions.
– Intensify power to deal with changing working conditions.
– Fight for autonomy in working hours.
– Engage in citizen activism on night work.