Relieving Employee Anxiety and Boosting Morale
Expecting Qualitative Improvement in Civil Service
"We will do our best to alleviate employees' anxiety, boost morale, improve the quality of civil complaint services, and create a trustworthy public service atmosphere."
On the 16th, Jeong Hyun-seop, Director of the Autonomous Administration Bureau of Changwon Special City, Gyeongnam, held a briefing and stated that they will actively respond to illegal acts such as verbal abuse and assault by malicious complainants and strengthen measures to protect affiliated public officials.
Jung Hyun-seop, Director of the Autonomous Administration Bureau, is giving a briefing related to malicious civil complaints.
In 2023, a total of 287 illegal acts by complainants occurred in Changwon City, of which 178 cases (62%) were verbal abuse over the phone and 91 cases (32%) were verbal abuse in person, accounting for the majority. Other types of illegal acts such as threats, sexual harassment, and assault also occurred.
To eradicate malicious complaints, the city plans to separate responses to general complaints and malicious complaints. Illegal acts by complainants cause anxiety to other complainants and delay complaint processing, resulting in inconvenience to citizens, so strict responses are necessary from a public interest perspective.
◆ Malicious Complaint Prevention Measures
To prevent malicious complaints in advance, the city will promote ▲expansion of portable protective equipment distribution ▲deployment of safety personnel at Eup, Myeon, and Dong administrative welfare centers ▲strengthening of public officials' personal information protection.
The city purchased and distributed 175 portable protective devices such as badge case-type recorders and wearable cameras to create a safe working environment for complaint-handling staff and to use as evidence in case of malicious complaints. Additionally, 117 wearable cameras will be further distributed to complaint-handling staff within this month.
To prevent the increasing indiscriminate expression of anger crimes and protect frontline public officials from verbal abuse and assault by malicious complainants, the city plans to deploy professional safety personnel at Eup, Myeon, and Dong administrative welfare centers. After securing the necessary budget, one Eup, Myeon, or Dong in each of the five districts will be designated for pilot operation, and based on the results, the program will be expanded.
Furthermore, due to concerns that public officials could become targets of malicious complainants because their real names and personal information are disclosed on the city’s website, the city plans to protect affiliated staff by making employee names on the website private.
◆ Malicious Complaint Victim Support Measures
To provide prompt and systematic support to public officials who suffer from malicious complaints, the city plans to promote ▲formation and operation of the Malicious Complaint Victim Public Official Protection Committee ▲establishment of an institutional response system to illegal acts ▲psychological counseling and healing therapy programs.
First, when assault damage caused by malicious complainants occurs, the "Malicious Complaint Victim Public Official Protection Committee" will be operated. The operation procedure involves a working-level council composed of team leaders from victim support departments conducting a swift fact-finding investigation, and a review committee composed of heads of victim support departments providing systematic support to the victimized public officials.
When illegal acts such as verbal abuse and assault by complainants occur, the city, not the victimized public official, will take the lead in filing complaints and lawsuits as a priority measure. For public officials who respond properly to complaints, acts that impose disadvantages such as unconditional demands for apologies from complainants and audit actions due to reports of unkind officials are prohibited.
Additionally, the city operates the "Employee Happiness Care Mental Health Management Program" on a regular basis for employees suffering mental distress due to verbal abuse and assault by complainants. It also plans to promote healing psychological counseling in connection with temple stays, hospital religious groups, and others.
Director Jeong said, "Recently, a public official at Gimpo City Hall who suffered from malicious complaints took their own life, highlighting the urgent need for institutional measures to protect public officials from malicious complaints."
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