Why Are Controversies Ongoing Every Time Gangnam-gu Office Makes Personnel Changes?...Criticism Over Monopolization by General Affairs Department Alumni

Integrated Public Officials Union Gangnam Branch Chief and Seoul Headquarters Chief Im Seong-cheol Posts "Is This the Fair and Equitable Personnel Evaluation the Commissioner Wants?" on Union Board Regarding Work Assessment on the 9th, Drawing Employee Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Personnel matters at Gangnam District Office are once again causing controversy and drawing attention.

The Integrated Public Officials Union (Gangnam District Branch Chief and Seoul Headquarters Chief Im Seong-cheol, Welfare Team Leader of Nonhyeon 2-dong, Gangnam-gu) posted a message titled "Is this the fair and equitable personnel management that the chief wants?" on the union bulletin board on the 9th, openly expressing dissatisfaction with the work evaluations.

Branch Chief Im began his lament by saying, "Even though I worked silently, no department sought me out, and after experiencing several setbacks in promotion, I looked around and became a true 'gwan-no' (government servant loyal to powerful figures), pledging loyalty to those in power," adding, "The problem is that when these 'gwan-no' form a cartel and take control of the organization, there is no way to overcome it, and this does not change even when the administration changes."

He criticized the monopolization centered on the General Affairs Division of Gangnam District Office, stating, "Most of those involved are from the General Affairs Division of each district office. They were briefly taken away by the Urban Advancement Officer but have returned. Whether they were competent or not, most of those holding the Grade 5 administrative officer positions are from the General Affairs Division or have work experience there."

Branch Chief Im said, "Looking at the recent promotion review list, most are from the General Affairs Division, and they play in their own league. Fairness and equity? That's really laughable."

As an example of how much the General Affairs Division dominates, he noted that the General Affairs Team Leader, who was promoted to Grade 6 in July 2016 and is in their first assignment, is firmly placed on the Grade 5 promotion list this time, yet no one dares to say anything is wrong.

Regarding contributions to the organization, he pointed out that aside from accompanying the district chief and deputy district chief, there seems to be no notable achievements. Even when 241 team leaders received a '1' rating in the last evaluation, no one among over 200 seniors stepped forward.

He also mentioned that the Welfare Team Leader of Nonhyeon 2-dong, currently ranked 125th, is a promotion peer.

Branch Chief Im sarcastically remarked, "It seems only the General Affairs Team of the support department worked desperately during the COVID-19 crisis."

Moreover, he highlighted a more shocking issue: among the Grade 6 promotion list, there is an employee who joined in 1996 and has worked silently for 25 years but has not yet reached Grade 6, while a junior employee who has worked less than two years due to a long childcare leave ranks higher and has a better chance of promotion.

He said the same applies to the Health Administration Division of the former district health center. Even if the health center chief is unaware of the promotion system, if a long-term childcare leave returnee who came back last year snatches the top evaluation from other candidates in different departments by prioritizing their own department, how can that person get promoted? he mocked.

On the other hand, he mentioned that some departments properly calculate the working period of 'long-term childcare leave' employees whose leave period exceeds their working period.

He criticized that there is a 2016 Grade 8 administrative employee who, despite having no advantages over childcare leave employees in terms of year of joining or promotion year and even working in the same civil affairs department, consistently maintained a top evaluation rating, surpassing three seniors, ranking among the top five, and is expected to be promoted if there are no surprises.

He also said that a Grade 8 administrative employee in the district office civil affairs department received an evaluation despite being 2 to 4 years younger than three seniors and having a 4 to 7-year gap in joining dates simply because they continued working during the childcare leave period.

Branch Chief Im stated, "An audit by the district audit officer is necessary," adding, "Such despicable behavior will bring despair and a sense of loss to departments working hard during the COVID-19 crisis, tarnishing the promotion process that should be met with applause and congratulations."

In response, the Integrated Public Officials Union Gangnam Branch announced that they will actively block the promotion of such employees at the 'Promotion Review Committee' to correct the wrong practice of using the difficulty of changing evaluations once given to secure promotion and then leaving.

They also said, "Since the same issues can continue to recur in each department, although late, we aim to create a Gangnam District Office that rectifies unfair work evaluations even belatedly."

Finally, they concluded, "We ask for the active cooperation and wise judgment of the district chief and executives to prevent Gangnam District Office from being manipulated by the personnel manipulation of immature young employees."

Such criticism from the union regarding work evaluations and personnel matters each time seems likely to lower employee morale.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.