Local Government Personnel Reform

Recently, many local governments have been engaged in the personnel system reform drive. The central government has promoted personnel reform by introducing both a team system and a performance-based personnel evaluation system. However, local governments lack these methods. Since regional civil workers work for a long time in one place, the continuation of a seniority-oriented personnel system is often more attractive.

However, local governments have recently begun implementing team systems and new personnel evaluation systems that exclude incompetent employees from appointment.

The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs is pursuing a method of expanding the central government’s senior executive service to local governments.

If this method, which the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration (KRILA) is researching, is introduced, local senior executives will lose their seniority and their space. With the expansion of public subscriptions, they will have to compete with other local governments or central government workers for a position.

Researcher Geum Chang-ho of KRILA said, “As the regional self-governing system has reached its fourth period, leaders are realizing that, to produce results, they have to start with personnel reform. Even in developed countries, local governments seek new personnel systems more actively than central ones.”