Gwangju Nam-gu 'MZ Generation Public Officials' Initiate Organizational Innovation

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Kim Byeong-nae) is forming a ‘Junior Board’ composed of MZ generation public officials to innovate the public service organization.

The Millennial (M) generation born in the early 1980s and the Z generation born in the mid-1990s now make up more than half of the organization’s members. With the promotion of M and Z generations to grades 6 and 7, they are growing into core competencies within the organization, causing a rapid wave in the public service sector.

According to Nam-gu, as of now, the proportion of the MZ generation among the 893 staff members at Nam-gu Office is identified as 56.8%. There are 253 Millennials and 255 Z generation employees.

The increase in the MZ generation ratio is due to the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation and large-scale recruitment following many transfers of district employees to Gwangju City for hosting the Summer Universiade and the World Swimming Championships.

The Nam-gu style Junior Board composition is meaningful as a starting point for bottom-up innovation.

In particular, as the number of young public officials entering the service increases, it can be used as a communication channel to resolve conflicts with existing generations regarding work methods, and it serves as a think tank to break down the head of the organization’s innovation leadership and unreasonable practices.

The Nam-gu style Junior Board, the vanguard of organizational innovation, consists of 12 young public officials.

The average age is 26.7 years, and the average work experience is about 21 months. These employees work in all administrative fields including administration, taxation, social welfare, civil engineering, architecture, electricity, green space, environment, and health.

They will carry out various activities such as suggesting improvements to unreasonable organizational culture and work methods, and providing opinions on current projects through online and offline meetings at least once a month.

They will also attend meetings with the district mayor and executive meetings to openly propose the Junior Board’s opinions on organizational innovation. Creative and excellent proposals will be specially managed as directives from the district mayor.

District Mayor Kim Byeong-nae said, “We will fully support integrating the young and fresh ideas of the 2030 generation into the organizational culture and actively reflecting their voices in district administration.”

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