The “workplace elevator” is more than just a means of transportation. Depending on who you’re riding with, it can be a social space where conversations flourish or a place of dread where you freeze in silence. You should not let your guard down until reaching your destinations because, on any floor, an unexpected person can join you by pushing open a door that was about to close.
This happened to A (29), who works for a small business in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. On his usual afternoon commute to work, he encountered his direct supervisors in the elevator as they returned from lunch. With reddened faces and stinking of alcohol, they berated him all the way up to the office. “The elevator was like ‘hell,’” he recalled. Now, when he reaches the first floor of his workplace, he looks around before getting on the elevator. If he sees his bosses, he waits for the next one and only rushes in when the space seems totally “safe and convenient”.
B (27), a Japanese man who moved to Seoul last year, also finds elevators stressful at work. His new boss is “curious” and asks him personal questions without consideration because he is fluent in Korean. “Sometimes the elevator ride feels like 10 minutes,” he said.
To uncover the hidden concerns of office workers, The Chosunilbo surveyed employees in their 20s to 50s, asking, “What does the workplace’s elevator mean to you?” through SM C&C’s survey platform “Tillian Pro” in May. 11-12. The majority of office workers said they have avoided taking elevators.
In the survey, 1022 of the 1895 respondents (54%) said they had avoided elevators at work. This indicates that more than half of office workers avoid elevators for specific reasons. When asked, “Why did you avoid riding the elevator?” the most common answer was “It was crowded” (70%), but some also answered “I don’t want to ride with someone I don’t like” (30%).
Responses to “People I don’t feel comfortable with in the elevator” (multiple responses) were grouped into two main categories across all age groups. While 65% of the total respondents chose “executives and executives” as their first choice, many also selected “supervisors in the same team or department” (35%). Essentially, they were uncomfortable with “people in the higher rank”. C (28), a new employee in Jung-gu, Seoul, encountered a so-called “noble” managing director in the elevator to his office last month. He said, “I felt like the back of my head was melting because the director seemed to keep looking at me from behind.” He added, “Nowadays, my heart pounds whenever the elevator door opens.”
As an elevator is a public space, there are certain “etiquette” rules to follow. The 74-page “Workplace Etiquette for Public Officials” booklet released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in 2012 explains in detail that when entering an elevator, the senior person should go first and that the “good spot” in the elevator is the inside left side from the direction of entry. However, the booklet also states, “As the use of elevators has increased and the world has become busier, manners have changed to suit the situation. It seems that it is becoming common for young and old people to follow the same tips when getting on and off the elevator, starting with the person standing closest to the door.”
“Many office workers need to reflect on their ‘elevator etiquette’ as elevators are more frequently used than public transportation such as buses and subways,” said Baek Jae-young, a senior researcher at the Institute of Global Management (IGM) specializing in organizational culture.
