Small business owners suffer from part-timers' unanticipated absences

An employee serves a customer at a convenience store in Seoul, Jan. 8. Courtesy of BGF Retail

Park Jin-yeon, a 34-year-old restaurat owner who runs a pork barbecue grill house in Seoul, is an all-round player, serving dishes and grilling meat for diners during business hours. In off-hours, he prepares the meat, checks food stocks and cleans the place up before opening.

As a chief manager of a small restaurant that sees customers waiting outside almost every day, he must stay vigiliant to keep the business rolling while remaining popular.

Among the various tasks that constantly demand Park's attention is managing the restaurant crew. Given that most of the workforce consists of part-timers, he anticipates that at least two to three people will quit each month.

The problem is that his crew, mostly teenagers and people in their 20s, don't have the courtesy to give prior notice before they quit. They simply don't show up. He then has to call off-duty employees and find whoever can fill in fast.

The last-minute hassle isn't confined to unexpected resignations. Some prospective jobseekers who schedule in-person interviews fail to show up. Furthermore, there are cases where individuals are hired but then fail to appear on their first day of work.

"It's really frustrating whenever I have to find a new crew member out of the blue," Park said. "I always ask job interviewees, 'Please, just let me know in advance if you will ever decide not to come.'"

Three out of every four small business owners in the country suffer from no-shows by their employees or those who had agreed to join their establishments, according to a major online part-time job market platform in the country, Tuesday.

Mediawill Networks, which surveyed 256 small business owners in the country, said 77.3 percent have experienced no-shows by hired part-timers or those in the process of employment. Among the respondents, the highest proportion of 79.3 percent said the no-shows were mostly by those who were to have an in-person interview.

Of those who didn't show up without explanation, 63.6 percent failed to appear on their first day of work, and 52 percent were individuals who were already employed.

Among 222 small business owners with part-timers on their payrolls, 82 percent said their biggest concern was whether they will suddenly not show up for work.

With the majority of entrepreneurs expressing concerns about potential no-shows by part-timers, there's a growing demand for jobseekers who can make themselves available either instantly or on short notice. Among the 256 respondents, 76.2 percent said they have experienced workers not showing up and were in an immediate need for more staff at least once.