[Interview] Lee I-jae, Chairman of 120 Dasan Call Foundation, "Successful Hosting of Emotional Laborer Protection Conference Will Signal Improved Awareness of Emotional Laborers"

Successful Conclusion of November 20 Emotional Laborer Protection Conference... Launch of 'Metropolitan Local Government Call Center Council' with 10 Local Governments Attending... 120 Dasan Call Foundation Leads Emotional Laborer Protection with Comprehensive Project for Handling Malicious and Aggressive Complaints

“The Emotional Laborer Protection Conference held on November 20th at the multipurpose room on the 8th floor of Seoul City Hall was a meaningful event where not only the 120 Dasan Call Foundation but also various public and private stakeholders gathered in one place to raise their voices for the protection of emotional laborers.”

Lee I-jae, Chairman of the 120 Dasan Call Foundation (photo), said, “Through this conference, the foundation shared the realities faced by emotional laborers and cases of damage caused by malicious complaints, and announced a comprehensive plan to protect emotional laborers. We presented the foundation’s project achievements for protecting emotional laborers, shared manuals and policies that can be practically applied in the field, and felt proud that the foundation can play a leading role.”

The following is an interview with Chairman Lee.

- Please introduce the Seoul Metropolitan 120 Dasan Call Foundation, which hosted and organized the Emotional Laborer Protection Conference.

▲ The Seoul Metropolitan 120 Dasan Call Foundation was launched in September 2007 during Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s term with the slogan “Solving Seoul city complaints with one phone call” under the 120 Dasan Call Center. It is Korea’s first comprehensive and professional civil complaint administrative service, which has revolutionized citizen satisfaction and communication convenience by resolving issues with just one phone call. It provides specialized counseling for vulnerable groups such as the hearing impaired, foreigners, and multicultural families, as well as handling civil complaints from 25 autonomous districts all at once, solving all citizens’ questions and inconveniences.

- You successfully completed the Emotional Laborer Protection Conference. How do you feel about it?

▲ The Emotional Laborer Protection Conference held on November 20th at the multipurpose room on the 8th floor of Seoul City Hall was a meaningful event where not only the 120 Dasan Call Foundation but also various public and private stakeholders gathered in one place to raise their voices for the protection of emotional laborers.

More than 500 people attended the event on-site, allowing it to conclude successfully. Especially, the program book containing the emotional laborer protection measures distributed at the venue was completely out of stock, and even after the conference ended, there were continuous requests for additional distribution. Therefore, it is being distributed on the foundation’s website for direct download. I would like to express my gratitude once again to those who showed interest in protecting emotional laborers and attended the conference.

Through this conference, our foundation shared the realities faced by emotional laborers and cases of damage caused by malicious complaints, and announced a comprehensive plan to protect emotional laborers. In particular, it was very rewarding that citizens, public and private institutions, and experts from various fields discussed problems together, exchanged experiences, and created an opportunity to foster a culture of mutual respect in civil complaints.

Also, by presenting the foundation’s project achievements for protecting emotional laborers and sharing manuals and policies that can be practically applied in the field, we felt proud that our foundation can play a leading role.

- What topics were mainly covered at the conference?

▲ The conference presented and discussed various measures for protecting emotional laborers. It was composed of two main sessions. The first session shared cases and current status of emotional laborer damage and emphasized the seriousness of the problem. It analyzed malicious complaint cases in public and private call centers, highlighting the emotional and mental harm caused to counselors by repetitive and unfair complaints. It also covered unique complaint cases in public institutions and response measures to resolve them, emphasizing the need for social awareness improvement and legal protection.

The second session proposed specific measures and improvement directions for protecting emotional laborers from legal, medical, and social perspectives. Legal experts explained the limitations of current laws related to emotional laborer protection and suggested the need for new regulations. In the medical field, the impact of emotional labor on individuals and organizations was analyzed, and preventive measures for health promotion were discussed. From a social perspective, the roles of citizens and workplaces were emphasized, proposing awareness improvement and the creation of a culture of mutual respect for emotional laborers.

In the final discussion, practical and feasible protection measures based on real cases were explored through a dialogue between emotional laborers and experts, concluding the conference.

- How was the inauguration ceremony of the ‘Metropolitan Local Government Call Center Council’ held on the morning of the conference day?

▲ On the morning of November 20th, the Seoul Metropolitan 120 Dasan Call Foundation hosted the inauguration of the ‘Metropolitan Local Government Call Center Council.’ Ten metropolitan local governments including Busan, Incheon, Daegu, and Daejeon attended the ceremony. The ‘National Metropolitan Local Government Call Center Council,’ proposed by Mayor Oh Se-hoon at last year’s nationwide governors’ meeting, was finally established, creating a foundation for cooperation and mutual exchange among metropolitan local government call centers nationwide. The council plans to build an organic cooperation system to respond to unpredictable disasters, incidents, accidents, infectious diseases, and other emergency counseling cases, mutually exchange to strengthen counseling capabilities in line with new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, and closely cooperate to establish standards for counseling statistics including statistical calculation methods and terminology related to call center operation indicators.

- The need for protecting emotional laborers is increasing. What specific efforts is the foundation making in this regard?

▲ Emotional labor is a reality that call center counselors face daily. The stress and emotional damage experienced during customer service worsen the working environment and, in severe cases, affect mental health. The incident in April where a public official suffered mental distress due to malicious complaints and ultimately died reminded society once again of the dangers of emotional labor.

To reduce damage caused by malicious complaints and excessive demands, not only legal protection but also active organizational responses and social awareness improvement are essential. To create a healthy working environment for emotional laborers, the foundation operates various programs to respond to malicious complaints and protect emotional laborers.

For serious malicious complaints such as sexual harassment and verbal abuse, the foundation hires specialized lawyers to respond strongly. More than 130 legal actions have been taken so far, and continuous monitoring is conducted to prevent recurrence. Additionally, to reduce the emotional labor burden on counselors, dedicated personnel with expertise are assigned to respond to malicious and aggressive complaints.

To address counselors’ job stress and psychological difficulties, the foundation has introduced the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), providing integrated support from psychological counseling to health management. Various programs for psychological stability and physical recovery, such as visits to the Seoul Grand Park Healing Forest and digital health management support, are also offered.

Thanks to these efforts, the Seoul Metropolitan 120 Dasan Call Foundation has been selected as the best institution for two consecutive years in the emotional labor protection compliance evaluation of Seoul city investment-funded institutions, and has established itself as an excellent emotional labor protection institution, receiving benchmarking requests from domestic and international call centers every year.

- What are your future plans?

▲ To innovate civil complaint administration through a smart counseling center, the Dasan Call 2.0 Season 2 project, a campaign pledge by Mayor Oh Se-hoon since 2023, completed the establishment of ‘Visible ARS’ and the introduction of ‘STT’ in 2023, and plans to complete the introduction of real-time chat counseling and counseling assistants by the end of 2024.

By adopting ‘Visible ARS’ and ‘STT’ technologies, the efficiency of complaint handling will be improved to achieve a 99% response rate, ensuring the completeness of the mayor’s campaign pledge. In 2025, the foundation plans to introduce a civil complaint big data analysis system.

In 2024, the foundation will introduce the Safe Care 120 service, and in 2025, the Loneliness Goodbye 120 counseling service to alleviate social isolation, aiming to become a representative exemplary case of a public call center evolving as an all-purpose problem solver in citizens’ daily lives.

Born with the goal of ‘Ask Anything,’ 120 Dasan Call has grown into a reliable all-purpose key for citizens that says ‘We Help With Anything.’ Going forward, the center aims to take the initiative in reaching out to citizens in need and become a call center that embraces citizens’ hearts.

To prevent digital vulnerable groups from being excluded in a super-aged society, the goal is to maintain more than 50% of analog services through phone calls based on humanism, where ‘people’ rather than AI provide counseling, serving as a support system for seniors and temporarily information-vulnerable groups.

The 120 Dasan Call Foundation will develop beyond simple civil complaint counseling to become a reliable safety guardian for Seoul citizens, providing customized all-purpose services for citizens in need such as care, loneliness, safety, and youth, and become Korea’s best public call center in name and reality.

- Please give a closing remark.

▲ The Emotional Laborer Protection Conference will be an important starting point for protecting the labor rights and interests of Korea’s emotional laborers, who account for four out of ten workers, as well as for improving awareness of emotional labor. We hope that legal and institutional improvements for protecting emotional laborers will be established and that social consensus will be formed.