Bank of Korea's 'Work Diet'..."Organizational Culture is Changing" [Gwanga in]

Emphasized Organizational Culture After President Lee's Inauguration
Goal is to Maximize Work Efficiency

"Unnecessary tasks have definitely been greatly reduced. Since the practitioners themselves propose the inconveniences they feel, the organizational culture seems to have changed more horizontally."

As the 'Work Diet' trend blows through the Bank of Korea, evaluations say that the organizational culture has improved. What started as an effort to streamline work is transforming the organizational culture. The Bank of Korea has often been criticized for its conservative organizational culture in the past.

Work Diet refers to reducing unnecessary tasks at work, just like cutting excess fat for health. For example, reducing the requirements for producing promotional brochures from two or three items to just one.

This is a work innovation measure emphasized since Governor Lee's inauguration. Since taking office, Governor Lee has consistently stressed the necessity of the Work Diet to change the organizational culture. In his New Year's address last January, he said, "This year, organizational innovation is expected to be on a full track with many changes," and emphasized, "By focusing on the Work Diet, we hope to enhance the quality of work by concentrating core competencies on high-priority tasks." Also, in the Bank of Korea's 73rd anniversary speech last July, he acknowledged, "It is true that we have not yet felt the tangible results related to the Work Diet," expressing his determination to continue improvement efforts.

The Bank of Korea has been promoting the Work Diet in each department since November 2022. Last year, a separate task force centered on the Planning and Cooperation Bureau implemented the Work Diet. From this year, it is being operated continuously with the Management Department as the core.

The IT Strategy Bureau used to conduct maintenance and repairs with individual companies until February last year, but from March last year, it simplified existing tasks by contracting with a single company. The Human Resources Management Bureau abolished the Grade 4 promotion exam, which was held annually around May, in January last year. Also, the Digital Innovation Office of the Planning and Cooperation Bureau automated graph creation and data acquisition needed during monetary policy direction meetings or research processes, reducing workload. As part of the Work Diet, the Bank of Korea Communications Bureau changed the monthly publication of the Bank of Korea newsletter to a bimonthly publication starting this month.

There is an evaluation that the implementation of the Work Diet has created more capacity to focus on new tasks. Recently, the Bank of Korea has been conducting new tasks such as research on issuing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and establishing a Sustainability Growth Office related to climate change. A Bank of Korea official said, "It seems that the implementation of the Work Diet has increased the capacity to focus on truly important tasks themselves."

There are also reports that the Bank of Korea's organizational culture has improved. A Bank of Korea official said, "Many tasks that practitioners actually felt unnecessary have disappeared," and "It seems to have contributed to the horizontalization of the organizational culture."

On the other hand, some say it is difficult to feel the change due to the lack of visible results. A Bank of Korea official said, "We have been steadily working on the Work Diet, but there are many small achievements and no big results," and "Employees do not feel it significantly."

The Bank of Korea unveiled the exterior of its newly constructed integrated annex, completed after six years, in Jung-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 27th. Photo by Joint Press Corps

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