Seoul City Announces Plan to Improve Working Conditions for Social Welfare Facility Workers

1.7% Increase Compared to Previous Year... 108.2% of Ministry of Health and Welfare's Recommendation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 4th that it will continue to improve the treatment of social welfare facility workers by unveiling the "2023 Plan for Improving the Treatment of Social Welfare Facility Workers."

In response to the increasing demand for welfare services and the resulting rise in the workload intensity of social welfare facility workers, the city establishes and implements an annual plan to improve workers' treatment in order to enhance the quality of welfare services.

This year, the workers' wages were decided to increase by 1.7% compared to the previous year. This rate matches the civil servant salary increase rate and additionally reflects the Seoul-type living wage. As a result, workers' wages maintain about 95% or more of the level of social welfare dedicated public officials, and according to the 2022 Ministry of Health and Welfare's recommended wage standards for social welfare facilities, Seoul pays the highest wages nationwide at 108.2%.

To help workers balance work and family life, the condition for receiving an additional one day of family care leave was relaxed from having three or more children to two or more children. Furthermore, the support for substitute personnel to prevent work gaps was expanded from existing sick leave and long-term service leave to include spouses' paternity leave.

For the mental health of workers, the psychological treatment support project established last year, originally called the "Maeumi-eum Project," was renamed the "Mental Health Project" to make the nature of the project easier to understand. The support conditions were also expanded from "violence, death, and workplace harassment by users" to "all work- and workplace-related stress," thereby providing broader mental health support for workers.

In addition, the city plans to establish a "Treatment Improvement Committee" composed of up to 15 welfare field experts recommended by social welfare-related organizations to discuss additional treatment improvement measures and continue efforts to improve the treatment of social welfare facility workers.

Kim Sanghan, Director of Welfare Policy, stated, "Facility workers are at the forefront of welfare. Good welfare services are possible only when these workers can balance work and rest. We will continue to prepare various support measures so that workers can work in a comfortable environment."