Digital kiosks in South Korea reduce restaurant staff by 11.5%

Those affected are mostly temporary workers.

Restaurants in South Korea that utilise digital kiosks and tablet ordering systems saw a reduction of around 10% in employment, a report by Yonhap citing government data reveals.

Citing data from The Korea Employment Information Service, 605 establishments that introduced kiosks saw their number of sales and serving workers decrease by about 0.21, representing approximately 11.5%.

However, most of the affected were temporary or daily workers, with full-time employment positions increasing by 0.09 positions against a decline of 0.159 positions for those working temporarily.

In the case of the 110 establishments that introduced tablet ordering systems, the employment of cooks increased, but the number of sales and serving workers decreased by 0.14 or about 7.5%.

The report also revealed that the introduction of kiosks also led to an increase in working hours for the remaining staff. The increase was about 2.06 hours per week. On the other hand, the decrease in employment and working hours was less pronounced with the introduction of tablet ordering systems compared to kiosks.

The impact of serving robots on employment levels or working hours was not significant.

Respondents in the survey said their main reason for introducing digital devices was to "reduce labour costs," with responses ranging from 55% to 76% for kiosks, tablets, and robots. Other reasons included reducing customer wait times, sales verification, and preventing cash sales discrepancies.

The survey was conducted between August and September last year with around 2,000 restaurants and pubs participating.