‘Getting Closer to the MZ Generation’ The Public Sector Has Also Started to Move...

Supporting Interest for Homeless Public Officials
Expanding Communication through Reverse Mentoring
Improving Organizational Culture with Innovation Junior Board

Cooking class at the district cafeteria prepared by Songpa-gu for single-person households and dual-income civil servant couples. (Photo by Songpa-gu Office)

Songpa-gu, Seoul, announced plans to expand employee welfare projects this year. The aim is to prevent young public officials from leaving the public sector and to provide high-quality administrative services.

This comes as a serious response to the nationwide surge in resignation rates among low-ranking MZ generation public officials (born early 1980s to early 2000s). Last year, Songpa-gu introduced new projects for the first time nationwide, including housing loan interest support for public officials without homes, cooking classes in the workplace cafeteria for single-person households and dual-income couples, and partnership discount programs in collaboration with local merchants.

This year, the housing stability support project for public officials without homes has been expanded, lowering the fixed interest burden on employees from 2% to 1%. Last year, 39 employees in Songpa-gu benefited from this program. This year, the target has been expanded to up to 60 people. A district official said, “After the interest support project was implemented, we received numerous inquiries from various local governments nationwide wanting to benchmark it.”

In addition, starting this year, the district will provide a modest travel allowance to low-ranking public officials. The beneficiaries are those who have passed the probation period six months after their new appointment and general public officials with five years of actual service.

Also, this year, a literary contest on public service life, based on firsthand experiences, will be held. Winners will receive travel expenses, and selected works will be displayed at the district office along with illustrations.

Seogang-seok, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “We will strive to boost morale so that young public officials can work enthusiastically and repay residents with high-quality administrative services.”

Geumcheon-gu MZ generation employees are teaching senior executive officials how to use tablets for meetings. (Photo by Geumcheon-gu Office)

Geumcheon-gu has strengthened communication between MZ generation public officials and executives through ‘reverse mentoring’ activities. Reverse mentoring is a communication method where the younger generation becomes the mentor and teaches executives, sharing youthful sensibilities and values.

The district introduced this to foster a culture that respects generational diversity and create a horizontal work environment to improve work efficiency and performance.

As one of this year’s administrative innovation tasks, Geumcheon-gu introduced ‘paperless meetings’ to reduce carbon emissions. Accordingly, in major meetings attended by executives at the level of department head or higher, meeting materials have been replaced from paper to electronic documents.

To help executives unfamiliar with ‘paperless meetings’ adapt, reverse mentoring will be used. Directors and department heads (grade 4.5) will receive valuable information about using tablets from junior public officials. The district plans to reflect the trends of the younger generation and change work methods through an administrative innovation club involving MZ generation public officials.

Yoo Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “The era when older people knew more is long gone. For administration to innovate, a culture must be established where executive public officials communicate with MZ generation employees and learn from their juniors.”

Gangseo-gu recently held the inauguration ceremony for the Innovation Junior Board, composed of MZ employees at grade 8 and below. (Photo by Gangseo-gu Office)

On the 11th, Gangseo-gu launched the ‘3rd Innovation Junior Board.’ Composed of about 40 MZ generation public officials, the Innovation Junior Board will promote organizational culture innovation campaigns, benchmark excellent policies from other institutions, and conduct reverse mentoring activities to bridge generational gaps.

Jin Gyo-hoon, Mayor of Gangseo-gu, said, “I hope that MZ employees with flexible mindsets will improve unreasonable practices within the organization and create a new public service culture.”