Why Cha Hyeon-il, Yeongdeungpo District Mayor, Leads the Spread of a Workplace Reading Culture?

Starting with a book gift from Hyunil, Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor, Active Workplace Reading Clubs... 373 Participants Last Year, Reading Discussions for Grade 6+ Leaders Compiled into 'Leaders' Reading Discussions' Book... This Year, Creating Employee Bookshelves and Hosting Reading Concerts to Foster Humanities Literacy

Leaders' Reading Discussion Held in February Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) is fostering a culture of reading within the district office to enhance employees' intellectual capacities, which in turn drives improvements in administrative service quality and the development of innovative policies.

Since the 7th local government term, Mayor Chae Hyun-il has personally gifted books to senior officials, initiating the spread of a reading culture within the organization.

Following this, a book-gifting relay continued across all departments, naturally forming reading clubs that involved 373 employees last year.

Last year, the district received the ‘Excellent Workplace for Reading Management’ certification and an award from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Not stopping there, this year the reading program has been expanded to deepen humanities knowledge.

Additionally, the district continues to operate a ‘one reading club per department’ system, where department employees share and read books together to build mutual understanding.

On the online employee bulletin board, thoughts from discussions are freely recorded, and books are introduced on the book recommendation board, contributing to the creation of a reading culture atmosphere.

Employees at the director, manager, and team leader levels participate in the ‘Leaders’ Reading Discussion,’ reading books at least once a month and sharing their impressions.

Last year, 14 participants joined in the first half and 29 in the second half; this year, the number of participants has steadily increased to 50.

In particular, the past year’s journey of the leaders’ reading discussions has been compiled into a book, which serves not only as a valuable record laying the foundation for spreading the reading culture but is also expected to act as a benchmark for future reading discussions.

An open lounge within the district office has been set up with bookshelves where employees can browse and borrow books, and various opportunities to cultivate employees’ humanities knowledge are provided, including a reading concert planned for the end of the year.

Mayor Chae Hyun-il of Yeongdeungpo-gu said, “Reading books together and sharing thoughts is a great way to understand others,” adding, “I hope the scent of books will permeate workplaces and lives through the spread of a reading culture.”