Civil servants boost their competitiveness

The Seoul Metropolitan Government continues with efforts to improve the competitiveness of its civil servants by a implementing personnel management system that promotes better service and efficiency.

Earlier this month, the City reported on the implementation of the personnel management system introduced last year which requires civil servants ranking at the bottom 3 percent to receive retraining. The City also relieved of their posts ten workers who remained in a retraining program after 12 months while reposting three workers who also underwent a year of retraining.
The City's "revolutionary" personnel system was introduced a year ago, giving promotion opportunities to deserving civil servants while placing poor performing ones to work outside the office at such tasks as picking up trash and monitoring traffic. The underperforming civil servants were given retraining and two rounds of evaluations to prove themselves.
In its first year of implementation, the new personnel system saw 58 civil servants return to work after retraining. Forty-four people, including the 10 who were relieved of their posts, were taken away from their work. Among these, 18 have already been fired, 12 resigned and four are on leave of absence.
To become one of the world's top 10 competitive public sector organizations, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to continue with the new personnel system. The "three strikes and out" system, which will give poor performers who improve themselves during the retraining program a chance to return to work, puts more focus on retraining of City workers.
The new personnel management system was selected by Seoulites as one of the City's top 10 news, reflecting the public's interest and approval of the system.
This year, the City Hall will introduce headhunting and draft systems to further enhance the competitiveness of the organization. About 50 percent of all City civil servants, or 4,200 personnel, are eligible to participate in the program, heralding a big change in the way City workers are managed. The new system is expected to encourage civil servants to become more productive and to improve themselves, according to the City.