Students at a university in Seongbuk District, northern Seoul, file into a Korail testing center for candidates on June 14, 2020. [NEWS1]
An online anecdote about a new hire's mother showing up at her child's workplace to review their salary contract has sparked debate in Korea over excessive parental interference in their grown children's lives.
The story surfaced recently on the workplace networking platform Remember, where a user posted it with the title, “Is this a company, a school or a real estate office?”
According to the author of the post, the mother of a newly hired employee visited the company and insisted on reviewing the employee’s salary contract together.
“A new hire’s mother came to the office saying she wanted to review the salary contract with them,” the author wrote. “This isn’t a
jeonse
or monthly rent agreement. Even if someone is just starting their career, does it make sense for their mother to review a salary contract with them?”
The author said the mother objected to the salary being offered, arguing that her child’s qualifications warranted better compensation.
“She said, ‘How can the salary be this low? Looking at my child’s credentials, they should be earning much more,’” the author continued. “I barely managed to persuade her by explaining that salary ranges are fixed and that it would increase every year.”
The new employee reportedly remained silent throughout the exchange.
The author further recalled hearing of a similar incident at an acquaintance’s company only months earlier, where a father allegedly visited the office and shouted, “Bring out the senior employee who bullied my child.”
“To think something even more extraordinary would happen at our company,” the author wrote. “I still laugh when I think about it.”
The post drew a flurry of reactions from commentators expressing disbelief over the incident and criticizing what they viewed as excessive parental involvement in the lives of their adult children.
“If it were me, I’d tell them, ‘You shouldn’t be here — go work for a major conglomerate instead,’” one commenter wrote.
Others questioned whether the hiring decision should be reconsidered, while some joked that the company deserved credit for managing to secure the new hire’s signature on the salary contract after the encounter.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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