The Korea Herald

지나쌤

‘Average office worker enraged 3 times a day’

By 배지숙

Published : June 13, 2011 - 18:25

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Over 90 percent of office workers regularly want to vent frustration at work, a new survey has found.

According to the survey of 1,434 office workers by online recruiter SaramIn, 94.7 percent of those questioned felt the urge to express rage at their workplace. And they felt angry an average of 3.4 times a day.

The biggest cause of indignation was having to take full responsibility for something that wasn’t their fault, with 44.6 percent of respondents giving this reason. Other stressful situations included conflicts over work; being asked to do extra work just before going home; sexually discriminative or insulting remarks from colleagues; being rebuked for minor errors; taking over others’ work and underestimation of performance.

The majority, or 57.7 percent, said their boss was the source of frustration, followed by the CEO or executives, peers, juniors and then clients.

But not many acted on their urge to express anger. About 54 percent said they hide their feelings. Some replied they try to laugh at the situation. They said venting their feelings would not help the situation. They also said that they did not want to make matters worse or tarnish their image.

The remainder replied that they try to deliver their feelings to their bosses or others through their facial expression or tone of voice. About 19.9 percent said they say things or express their anger directly.

About 63.3 percent of respondents said they have considered quitting jobs because of stress and 21.7 percent said stress made them sick.

“People get mad from time to time. But what makes a big difference is how they deal with wrath at that very moment. One had better take time and deliver their message in a more effective way later,” Lim Min-wuk, spokesman of SaramIn, said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)