Stefania, an Italian who's worked in Korea for ten years, compares Korean and Italian workplaces. Korean companies demand hierarchy, overtime, and rapid responses; Italian ones are slower and more individual-focused. She manages live-stream creators across three time zones and speaks Korean daily at work.
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์ด๊ฒ ๋ณด๊ณ ์์ผ?
๋ค์นํด!
Hello everybody and welcome back to Lunch Hour English! We are at the office today and on our lunch break, as you can see. And I've got a very special guest with me today, so why don't you introduce yourself?
Hello everyone! My real name is Stefania, but in Korea I am doing YouTube and also TV things with the name Hanteree, which is the connection of Hangu and Italy. Oh, that's why!
Oh, that's cool! I like that!
Because I'm the person in the middle of these two countries, right?
Oh, that's clever!
I'm from Italy and I've been living in Korea for 10 years now.
Can you tell us about your work?
I'm working in the live operation team, so I'm taking care of everything that is connected to the live part. We take care of stream creators, so we are trying to find a good strategy to have more people interested and the people that are already using the app be more happy with the app.
Oh my gosh, that sounds a lot of work.
Yeah, especially because it's a global application, so we have so many people you work with.
You work with people from all over the world then? It's very global.
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Is that tricky with time differences?
Oh my God, we work also with people in the US. Someone is in Los Angeles, someone is in New York, and then we also have people in France. So trying to have one meeting with everyone is like impossible. And also our life is 24 hours. And if there is a problem with a creator or our app at like 11 PM, then sometimes you have to take care of that too.
What are your normal work hours?
The best part of this company is that you can choose when you want to start, you can choose when you want to stop. But for my team, since we have a lot of meetings thinking about what to do for this event, that event, so we usually start around at around 9 or 10 AM, and then like 11 PM or something? We should end at around 7 PM, but most of the time can be also 8, 9.
That's a long day.
We can also work from home.
Oh, anytime you want?
Yep.
Are they hiring? Sign me up!
By the way, Italian drinking Americano. It happens when you work for a Korean company. This is water.
So this is not, not your drink of choice then?
When I'm in the company, you need Americano to survive. Yeah, usually when I'm at home I have espresso.
Italy, you worked for a Korean company?
Yeah, I worked for a Korean travel agency and we were taking care of groups coming from Korea. I work every day like using Korean, having to write things in Korean, everything in Korean.
That's actually really interesting. You think the work culture was more similar to Korea?
It was Korea. We would do hwajik almost every day.
Really? In Italy?
In Italy. And I would work also on weekends. I would do a lot of extra hours.
And that was your first job?
Yes.
Oh my gosh, so you're used to it.
So I got trained so well that now everything is not shocking anymore. So actually, I started to study Korean when I was in high school because of Dongbang Shin Ki. I actually went yesterday to their concert. I finally fulfilled my dream. When I went to university in Venice, I got into the Korean department. So I actually studied Korean before starting to work.
That's a great accomplishment though. Like, how cool that you can say you're able to work in a different country in a way different environment and make it.
I'm really thankful actually because it's not easy to have that kind of chance.
For sure. What does your normal day-to-day life look like at the office?
We have a lot of meetings. So most of my day is meetings. We have an event that is starting, then we take care of all the event page, the banners, event page, feed images and take care of the, of the comments. And then I have to ask the translation team to translate everything in all the languages. And then if we are releasing a new product, then we are also working with the product team. It's just meetings and meetings. I don't have a specific schedule. Every single day is a bit of a big change. So in the morning I'm like, oh yeah, today I will probably do this and this, but most of the time I'm not able I don't do that. Most of the time something comes out every single time.
You have to be very flexible.
Yeah, exactly. But now I got used to it. Actually, I find that part really fun. It's not always the same boring tasks, and I also like to have so many meetings because it's a bit tiring, but on the other hand, you get to know different point of views. Especially for me, my background wasn't related to this job, so I'm lacking a lot of knowledge on that, and listening to other people's ideas, it's really inspiring.
That's a good attitude. I don't think many people would say like, oh, I'm so happy we have a lot of meetings. You're a very positive person.
As long as I learn, I'm really happy with that.
Your company is very lucky to have you.
I'm lucky to be in this team actually. Like, we support each other. Like, for example, if I make a mistake, my team leader is not like, ahaha.
Yeah, yeah.
She's like, oh, okay, let's try to find a solution as fast as possible. Just remember to not do it the next time. But I'm sure you had a really hard time about this and I don't think that's easy to find, right? Yeah, yeah. I feel I'm really, really lucky.
That's good. It's like a good environment.
Yeah.
I don't know too many people working in Korean companies, you know, foreigners working in Korea here, but I have heard some people complain that the culture difference is just too big for them to get used to. It's a huge adjustment and there can be some issues.
My first company was a Korean one. It was a tough one. So I already So everything. When I first got into this company, they were like asking me if I were okay. You care about me? I work extra hours and I get paid for extra hours? Really? I get a contract? Really? I have vacation days? I can use them?
The hierarchy?
Oh, we don't have that. We just have "nim, nim, nim," and we have just a team leader, and then we are all just "nim." But in the travel agency, that was "hajanim, hwojanim, shilchanim." That's a lot to remember. Yeah, it was. Our English is usually Usually it's at lunchtime we eat a buffet or like fancy things. That's sushi? And alcohol and alcohol. And listening to all the chants of Sajani. We have to do better, we can do this.
Yeah. Now you're living the good life.
Any culture from Italy, how they work? They don't work.
They don't work?
We are famous globally for not working. And the communication between the two countries is so difficult because Koreans, when they ask you for something, they want the answer as soon as possible. So for example, by today or in 3 hours. And the Italian company is like, yeah, by today, okay. But then you have to call again and they're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll send it to you. And then 3 days pass. Also, I was so shocked when we do a project here, we should add a new feature, for example. I'm like, okay, then that's gonna take a lot of time. No, You start today, the feature must be out in 1 month.
Wow. Bali, Bali, Bali.
That was Italy. That would take 1 year and a half, most likely. But I feel that in Italian companies, they're more open about their own thoughts and they really care about your own situation. Whereas in Korea, it's more the company has its own situation. You have to adapt to that. So if the company right now is in a crisis, If I were in Italy, I would be like, that's your problem, not mine, right? As long as you give me my wage, I'm fine. But in Korea, it's more the company has a problem. We all have to work together. We have to sacrifice for the company. I feel that's a big difference.
Do you have any goals for the future, like career-wise?
Actually, what I'm doing right now, I would have never thought I would be doing this. I didn't study anything connected to that. So it's really amazing how your life is not going the way you are planning. If I had a dream, maybe I would have worked hard for that dream, right? But since I don't have one, I just work hard on what I'm doing right now, and then if life is giving me another option, then I'm just gonna take it and see what I can learn from that. Yeah, I'm that kind of person.
I think that's a really good perspective though. Focus on what you're doing now, and I think it's totally fine not to have one dream. You can be happy doing what you do.
Exactly. Yeah, my husband is, uh, He wants to open his own restaurant one day, and if he does, most likely I'm going to work with him in the restaurant, and maybe we are going to open also a cafe, and then I will take care of the cafe. These are all the dream ideas we have. That could be in Korea, that could be in Italy. We still haven't decided on that.
You can do it! You bring some good Italian espresso to Seoul, then we won't drink the iced Americano. Will you serve iced Americano at your cafe? Well, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you for having me.
Come back anytime. Alright everyone, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. We will see you next time and goodbye everyone! Bye-bye! Bye!
