Learning from SEVENTEEN's Seungkwan: Human Exploitation in the Workplace

SEVENTEEN's Seungkwan has recently been in the public spotlight for speaking out about the recent HYBE issue. Reported via Instagram @pledis_boos, Seungkwan emphasized to never underestimate idols. He also said that even if they only promoted for a week, it was still tiring. 

Although being an idol is part of his choice and he loves his profession, it is not right to act carelessly. So even though he is happy to return the love from fans and it is part of his job to continue to show his best in various fields, sometimes people's attitude towards his hard work feels excessive.

Seeing this, it's not just idols. Most workers in various fields also often experience exploitation in the workplace. Such as unappreciated overtime, being called on duty outside of working hours, to salaries below the minimum wage or not commensurate with hard work. 

Things like this are indeed annoying but until now there has been no solution to this. Just like Seungkwan said, even though this is our job description and we enjoy doing it, sometimes the treatment of other people (such as superiors and high-ranking officials) feels excessive and even inhumane.

Besides idols, the professions that most often experience this are teachers and manual laborers. Of course, we are familiar with the stories of teachers who are paid 'as they please', do not get adequate facilities, and are often even 'sacrificed' to go to remote places.

Then there are the manual laborers who are exploited for their energy, are at risk of injury, have short lives, but their pay is also minimal. This phenomenon is certainly very sad. In fact, even though they are paid below the minimum wage, perhaps these workers would not be so miserable if they were treated more humanely. 

Human exploitation in many fields can indeed affect health and shake the mind. As Seungkwan said, there were times when he felt really tired, and his day felt cloudy. Even though he had tried to share positive energy, he still felt cloudy. This should remind many that these 'workers' are human beings after all. They can feel tired and sick. 

So rest time, workload, and type of work should also be re-evaluated so that victims of burnout and depression do not continue to increase over time. Finally, protection for these workers is also not something that can be underestimated. Because workers are 'assets' of the company so paying attention to them is a minimal action and a mandatory thing to do.