"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Called Three Times but No Response... AirPods at Work, Boosting Productivity or Blocking Communication? [Manager Kim vs Lee Sawon]

[Financial News] It is Saturday morning. After last week’s heated debate in the office over calling in sick via KakaoTalk, was this week any calmer? This time, it is the story of "ear-blocking" junior employee Lee Sawon, who nearly pushed Manager Kim to raise his voice.◇ "Can you take your earphones out?" vs. "Just a second, the noise-cancelling is on..."Monday, 3 p.m., in the office. Manager Kim (48, team leader) stood up from his seat and called out to the youngest team member, Lee Sawon (27), over the partition. "Lee, could you take a quick look at this?"
There was no answer. Manager Kim raised his voice. "Lee!" Still, Lee kept staring only at the monitor. Looking more closely, he saw a pair of white wireless earphones in Lee’s ears.
In the end, Manager Kim walked over to Lee’s desk and tapped him on the shoulder.
Only then did Lee startle and take out one earbud. "Oh, were you calling me, sir? I’m sorry. I had the noise-cancelling feature on, so I didn’t hear you."
Manager Kim was dumbfounded. During work hours, Lee had his ears completely blocked, to the point that he did not hear his boss calling him three times. "Is this your private study room? You came here to work, so you need to communicate. How can you just lock yourself away in your own little world?" he scolded.
But Lee’s expression seemed to say, "Why am I getting in trouble for this?"◇ Manager Kim’s argument: "The office is a space for collaboration"To Manager Kim, wearing earphones while working is a sign of "cutting oneself off" and "refusal." An office is not just a study room where you quietly handle individual tasks. It is a space for collaboration, where you constantly talk with teammates, receive urgent instructions, and respond to ringing phones.
“When I call an employee and get no response, it feels like I’m talking to a wall,” he said, adding, “If you can’t communicate immediately when something urgent comes up, that in itself is a form of negligence and inefficiency.”
He went on, "At best, I could concede to someone wearing just one earbud. But blocking both ears and even turning on noise-cancelling—doesn’t that amount to a protest saying, ‘I don’t want to talk to you’?"
◇ Lee Sawon’s rebuttal: "You have to block noise for productivity to go up"For Lee, however, earphones are a "shield" for survival. The clacking of keyboards, idle chatter from the next team, and someone’s phone calls—an open-plan office is filled with noises that disrupt concentration.
“When I’m doing complex Excel work or writing articles that require intense focus, the surrounding noise is fatal,” Lee argued. “I’m not listening to fun music. I just turn on the function to block noise so I can immerse myself in my work.”
He added, "Does communication only count if you shout my name out loud? If it’s urgent, you can just send me a message on the company messenger saying, ‘Got a minute?’ and I’ll see it right away. In fact, isn’t it more efficient to communicate by messenger than to keep interrupting my workflow by calling out to me?"◇ A tool for ‘focus,’ or a symbol of ‘isolation’?The sight of a new hire wearing earphones at their desk—once unimaginable—has now become commonplace. In fact, a survey by a job portal found that more than half of office workers in their 20s and 30s said that wearing earphones at work helps them concentrate better.
However, the same survey showed that over 60% of those in managerial positions view this practice negatively.
On one side is Lee, who seeks "personal quiet" for work efficiency; on the other is Manager Kim, who values team cohesion and "instant communication." Should noise-cancelling during work hours be allowed, or should it be banned?
This weekend, where do you stand? Can you understand a junior colleague who blocks out noise in the name of efficiency, or does it make your blood boil that they only turn around when you tap them on the shoulder?
jsi@fnnews.com Sang-il Jeon Reporter