Employee Welfare is Resident Welfare!... Songpa-gu's 'Sweat Effort' to Prevent MZ Public Officials' Turnover

Last year ▲Nation's first interest support for Jeonse loans for public officials without housing received positive response
This year, fixed interest rate for employees reduced from 2% to 1%, support extended to up to 60 people
New projects include ▲Travel expense support for low-tenure public officials ▲Planning to hold literary contests

Seogangseok, Mayor of Songpa District Office

Songpa-gu (District Mayor Seo Gang-seok) announced that it will expand its employee welfare programs this year to prevent young public officials from leaving the public sector and to provide high-quality administrative services.

Amid a recent surge in the resignation rate of low-ranking MZ generation public officials, the district has been striving to improve employee job satisfaction and create a better working environment since last year.

Notable new programs unique to the district included the nation’s first housing loan interest support for public officials without homes, cooking classes in the district cafeteria for single-person households and dual-income couples, and a partnership discount system in collaboration with local merchants.

As a result, 76% of employees responded as ‘satisfied’ in the employee satisfaction survey, a 7% increase from the previous year, positively evaluating the expansion of tangible benefits. In November, the district was widely recognized for its efforts to improve employee welfare by receiving the top prize from the Ministry of Personnel Management in the ‘Public Officials Welfare Program Best Practice Contest’ nationwide.

Encouraged by this response, the district will continue to expand the housing stability support program for public officials without homes this year. In particular, the fixed interest rate burden on employees was lowered from 2% to 1%, significantly reducing household financial burdens.

This interest rate is notably lower compared to the market’s lowest interest rates for monthly rent loans, such as the 1.5% annual rate for newlywed couples’ exclusive jeonse loans and the 1.8% rate for youth-exclusive support jeonse loans.

A district official said, “As soon as the interest support program was implemented, we received many inquiries from various local governments nationwide wanting to benchmark it,” adding, “Last year, 39 employees benefited, and this year support will be provided to up to 60 employees. With the increased budget, we will operate the program on a larger scale and with greater substance.”

Additionally, as a new program this year, the district will provide a modest travel allowance to low-ranking public officials to help them take a break from their busy daily lives. The target beneficiaries are those who have been released from probation six months after their initial appointment and general public officials with five years of actual service.

Following last year’s ‘Mind Comfort Stationery Contest,’ a new literary contest themed on the firsthand experiences of public service life will be held starting in April. Winners will receive travel expenses, and the selected works will be displayed with beautiful illustrations at the district office to foster warm empathy among employees.

Seo Gang-seok, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “Since the launch of the 8th elected term, I have been committed to personally taking care of the welfare of my staff and have worked hard to improve welfare,” adding, “We will strive to boost employee morale so that young public officials can enthusiastically repay the residents, who are the sovereigns, with high-quality administrative services.”

Learning to Cook

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