Family Appeal on Gangneung City Hall Bulletin Board
"Mentally Stressed Due to Excessive Workload"
As the popularity of civil servants wanes, the family of a new civil servant at Gangneung City Hall in Gangwon Province has drawn attention by complaining about the excessive workload of their child.
Recently, a civil complaint post titled "The family of a new social welfare civil servant feels XX impulse" was uploaded on the Gangneung City Hall website bulletin board.
The anonymous author wrote in the post, "After successfully getting the job, the whole family was happy for a moment, but for several months now, the employee leaves work at 11 p.m. on weekdays and works without fail on weekends," adding, "Even if it’s not work-life balance, isn’t this level akin to salt field slavery?"
Examinees are climbing the hill in front of the academy signs in the Noryangjin academy district, Dongjak-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
They continued, "The family member is under mental pressure due to excessive work, so we can no longer ignore it and plan to take them to a hospital for psychiatric counseling," they appealed.
The author also pointed out, "If the workload is excessive, it should be reduced or more staff should be hired, and if there is no budget to hire, the workload must be cut," questioning, "Why are employees being overworked to solve the problem?"
Furthermore, they emphasized, "When a new employee works overtime every day and comes in on weekends, even if the work is a bit lacking, they should be encouraged energetically, but they are also suffering from work stress caused by their supervisors," and demanded "improvements to the employees’ environment and measures to address the difficulties caused by excessive work."
In response, Gangneung City said, "We had a time to listen to the various unspoken concerns and difficulties of the social welfare staff," and added, "Since the new civil servant still needs to adapt, we will guide the department to pay attention to and care for the employee." The post has since been deleted.
Civil Servant Popularity Is a Thing of the Past... 45% of Current Employees "Would Change Jobs If Given the Chance"
Meanwhile, the popularity of civil servants, which once boasted a competition rate as high as 100 to 1, continues to decline. This year, the average competition rate for the national civil service level 9 open competitive exam recorded the lowest in 31 years.
According to the Ministry of Personnel Management, from January 9 to 11, a total of 121,526 applicants applied for 5,326 positions in the national civil service level 9 open competitive exam, resulting in a competition rate of 22.8:1. This is the lowest rate in 31 years since 19.3:1 in 1992.
Also, many who pass the civil service exam dream of changing jobs. According to the "2022 Public Service Life Survey" released last month by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, among 6,000 civil servants surveyed, 45.2% of central government and metropolitan local government employees answered "yes" to the question "I am willing to change jobs if given the opportunity."
Compared to 33.5% who expressed an intention to change jobs in the 2021 survey, the rate of willingness to change jobs increased by 11.7 percentage points in just one year. Various factors such as low salaries, increasing number of complainants, and rigid organizational culture were cited as reasons for considering job changes.
Especially, the wave of young civil servants quitting is intensifying. The number of civil servants in their 20s who resigned was 3,179 in 2021, doubling from 1,618 in 2017.
In a seminar presentation, the Korea Institute of Public Administration pointed out, "The perception that the difficulty of public service has increased while social status has declined is spreading," and noted, "The reform of the civil servant pension system, which was the biggest merit, is identified as one factor lowering civil servant morale."
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