Seoul District Personnel Team Leader Positions Powerful...Need for Careful Placement of Couples Raised

As the number of married public officials in Seoul's autonomous districts increases, opinions are growing that when the HR team leader handling personnel is the husband or wife, the spouse must be assigned seats very carefully... Some districts have seen both brother-in-law and sister-in-law promoted to grade 5, sparking criticism... Seoul Metropolitan Council also draws attention as employees raise concerns about couple spouses issues.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] "These days, many married couples work as public officials in each autonomous district of Seoul, but if the husband is the head of the personnel team, wouldn't it be proper for the wife to avoid departments where performance evaluations are conducted?"

This was a recent comment made to the reporter by Mr. A from one of Seoul's autonomous districts.

The concern is that if the husband is the head of the personnel team, he might make efforts to influence his wife's performance evaluation.

In one such case in a Seoul autonomous district, the husband is the head of the personnel team, while the wife works as a team leader in another major position.

In Seoul's autonomous districts, the head of the personnel team holds a Grade 6 position, which is a lower rank. However, the actual duties are so significant that the position is called the "1.5 District Mayor," ranking just below the district mayor.

This is because personnel matters are handled almost exclusively between the district mayor and the head of the personnel team, with little involvement from the deputy district mayor.

When the husband holds such a position as head of the personnel team, it seems inevitable, as the saying goes, that "the arm bends inward," meaning he would naturally look out for his wife.

Because they are human.

Since the district mayor cannot personally know all 1,300 to 1,500 district office employees, there appears to be room for discretion by the head of the personnel team.

Therefore, when appointing someone as the head of the personnel team in an autonomous district, there are voices suggesting that the personnel head should disclose the situation to the district mayor and assign his wife to relatively free departments such as local community centers, where performance evaluations are less stringent.

Additionally, in one Seoul autonomous district, there was much talk after the July personnel appointments when a brother-in-law and sister-in-law were both promoted to Grade 5 simultaneously.

An official from this district commented, "No matter how much it was due to performance evaluations that they were promoted to the same rank at the same time, what problem is there if one person is promoted at the end of the year?"

There is much criticism because even such small considerations are not made in personnel decisions.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Council also has two couples working as public officials, and there has been talk since last year when a team leader reportedly transferred his wife to the Seoul Metropolitan Council and assigned her to a comfortable position.

This is especially notable because before the council's personnel authority became independent, the council was known as a preferred workplace for Seoul city administrative officials.

A council official said, "Employees envy the couple, the team leader and his wife, who only choose comfortable and key departments."

In organizations, "personnel is everything." Especially in the public sector, personnel matters are the highest concern and a very sensitive process.

A fairer and more transparent personnel system must be established for organizational stability.

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