Gwangju City Prepares and Implements Personnel Innovation Measures for the Second Half of the 7th Elected Term

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 3rd that it has prepared the ‘Personnel Innovation Plan for the Second Half of the 7th Elected Term’ and implemented it by reflecting it in this year’s basic personnel operation plan after approval by the Personnel Committee on the 2nd.

The ‘Personnel Innovation Plan for the Second Half of the 7th Elected Term’ was promoted last year after Mayor Lee Yong-seop ordered a diagnosis of personnel operations during the first two years of the 7th elected term and requested the preparation of a personnel innovation plan that could bring organizational vitality and performance-oriented city administration.

To this end, through six meetings with representatives of all ranks and job series, senior officials, and labor unions, ten major personnel innovation agendas were prepared. To gather opinions on these, various procedures such as a survey of all employees, three discussion meetings with senior officials including heads of departments and bureaus, and employee public hearings were conducted to finalize the personnel innovation plan.

This personnel innovation plan centers on three areas and ten key tasks: ▲ improving the workforce structure for future city administration and current issues ▲ strengthening fair and performance-oriented personnel principles ▲ enhancing expertise through innovation of personnel systems.

The main content first includes a ‘proactive recruitment policy’ through collaboration between personnel and organizational departments. This year, 795 new public officials (383 for Gwangju City, 412 for autonomous districts) will be recruited to improve the workforce structure as a long-term measure to resolve vacancies.

Additionally, a ‘practical training system’ will be introduced and operated to help newly appointed candidates adapt to the organization and develop job competencies.

Furthermore, to ensure fair and transparent personnel operations, starting from the first half of 2021’s work performance evaluations, the ‘publication of department work performance rankings’ will be implemented. Promotion of senior officials will be strengthened based on job and competency evaluations and integrity. Long-term service will be encouraged to enhance job expertise and continuity, while ‘balanced personnel placement by department’ will be emphasized considering individual preferences, career and competencies, and gender ratio.

Along with this, reflecting the trend of increasing employees in their 20s and 30s by directly appointing new personnel to Gwangju City under the 2018 ‘City-Autonomous District Personnel Exchange Agreement,’ communication innovation education and operation of an ‘in-house university’ to strengthen communication between new and old generations will be activated. A ‘mentoring program’ for new and transferred employees will also be implemented to strengthen organizational and job adaptation.

Kim Jong-hwa, the city’s Personnel Policy Officer, said, “The Personnel Innovation Plan for the Second Half of the 7th Elected Term focused on deriving innovative agendas that many employees can sympathize with through various opinion-gathering procedures.” He added, “Based on this, we will strive for organizational vitality and performance-oriented personnel operations.”

He continued, “We will continue to gather diverse opinions from employees by regularizing the ‘Personnel Operation Status Survey’ every year for continuous innovation of personnel systems.”