[Gwanga in] Economic Deputy Prime Minister Meets Ministry of Economy and Finance Working Moms... "Let's Do Well Ourselves First"

Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok Meets with Ministry of Economy and Finance Working Moms
Discusses Activation of Flexible and Remote Work
"Will Propose System Improvements to the Ministry of Personnel Management"

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, held a meeting with working mom employees affiliated with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF). This came after Choi received a report on low birthrate countermeasures such as work-family balance and instructed to "find out if we are doing well." The MOSF plans to change its internal culture by collecting employees' grievances and proposing system improvements to the Ministry of Personnel Management.

According to the MOSF on the 20th, on the 11th, Deputy Prime Minister Choi held a 2-hour and 30-minute meeting with about 20 female employees who have children in elementary school or younger. The meeting was conducted in a way to listen to the difficulties faced by female employees working at the MOSF while raising children and to discuss solutions. The meeting was open to all employees who wished to participate regardless of rank.

This meeting was directly arranged by Deputy Prime Minister Choi. The government has been implementing work-family balance measures to overcome the low birthrate, and the MOSF wanted to check whether it was properly practicing these measures. In particular, there was a sense of responsibility that the MOSF could not only demand measures that it was not properly implementing from the private sector. In fact, it is known that Choi repeatedly said during discussions on low birthrate measures, "Let's do well ourselves first." In January, he also sent a message on the internal network telling executives to "turn off their computers and leave work."

Employees who attended the meeting suggested activating the flexible work system to Deputy Prime Minister Choi. Although the system is in place, frequent urgent issues and heavy workloads make it difficult to use the system. One employee who attended the meeting said, "To use flexible work, you have to get permission from the department head each time, which is difficult," and added, "There was a suggestion to create a manual so that employees can use it without feeling pressured and so that department heads are well aware of it."

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

There were also realistic voices asking for the establishment of a telecommuting infrastructure. Some employees requested that, since overtime work is inevitable, at least working moms be prioritized for receiving 'Onbook' devices so they can work from home after leaving the office. Onbook is a laptop used by public officials or public institution employees during business trips or telecommuting. Ministry employees have to come to the office to work due to security reasons, but using Onbook allows them to handle work outside the office. The MOSF has been distributing Onbooks since last year but prioritizes departments with frequent external business trips.

There were also employees who proposed system improvements. The 'childcare time' system is a representative example. Public officials can apply for childcare time if they wish to take care of their children. However, since childcare time is classified as 'leave,' overtime work is not possible on those days. As a result, employees who took care of their children could not record overtime work and ended up working unpaid, or they avoided using childcare time on days expected to have heavy workloads.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi agreed with most of the criticisms raised during the meeting and promised changes. However, since the MOSF cannot unilaterally change organizational regulations due to government characteristics, it decided to propose system improvements to the Ministry of Personnel Management. A MOSF official said, "Fortunately, the Ministry of Personnel Management is also aware of the issues and is gathering opinions," and added, "The MOSF will actively provide its opinions."