“Instead of Unusable Holidays, Practical Compensation”... Lee Ik-sung of Bupyeong District Council Critiques ‘Token Welfare’

Incheon Bupyeong District Council warned that various holiday systems introduced to boost the morale of civil servants should not degenerate into a means to avoid ‘annual leave compensation payments’.

Lee Ik-sung, a member of the Bupyeong District Council (People Power Party·Bupyeong 2, 5, 6-dong, Bugae 1-dong, Ilshin-dong), during the major business report of the Administrative Welfare Committee at the 274th extraordinary session held on the 30th, pointed out the structural problems of the current annual leave compensation and welfare systems being implemented by the district, urging a shift towards ‘practical benefits’ in administration.

In his inquiry, he conveyed the voices from the field, stating, “Recently, the number of holiday types such as reward leave and long service leave has increased, but there are countless employees who cannot use their annual leave due to their workload.”

He particularly questioned, “Even though employees who have not taken much time off should receive corresponding compensation, providing a blanket compensation of only five days regardless of the number of annual leave days used is inequitable.”

He continued, “Although systems like annual leave savings are in place, it is a reality that employees in overburdened departments find it difficult to even use their saved leave,” emphasizing that “instead of merely increasing the holiday system for show, implementing fair monetary compensation for unused annual leave would provide practical help to public officials.”

Sharp criticism was also directed at the outdated operation of welfare facilities. He inquired about the renewal of specific resort memberships whose contracts have expired and suggested considering the introduction of a ‘lodging subsidy’ system that meets the needs of residents and employees rather than maintaining resort memberships that are being neglected due to facility aging.

In response, the head of the Bupyeong District General Affairs Department stated, “Currently, due to financial conditions, it is difficult to immediately introduce a lodging cost support system implemented by other autonomous districts, but we will actively consider it if our financial situation improves in the future.”

Lee urged, “If public officials are happy, quality administrative services can be delivered to residents,” and requested, “Please boldly reorganize conventional welfare items and create a rational organisational culture where rewards are given in accordance with the effort put in.”