A survey found that 2 out of 10 public officials said they bought meals for their superiors out of pocket over the past year. The practice of lower-ranking officials in grades 7 to 9 contributing personally to buy meals for their higher-ups, such as Directors, continues. This practice, referred to as "day to host executives," is considered one of the malpractices in the public service.
On the 16th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Human Resource Development Service announced a survey on the reality of the "day to host executives."
This survey targeted a total of 154,317 central and local government officials in November last year. Of these, 91% said the day to host executives was unnecessary.
However, 18.1% still said they had experienced the day to host executives in the past year. For central government officials, the rate was 10.1%, while it was 23.9% for local government officials. The most common frequency of experience was 1 to 2 times a month.
Among the targeted officials, 57% indicated that the rank of the officials being hosted was the department heads (Director level), which was the highest.
37.8% of the surveyed officials said the reason for the continuation of this practice was that it had been done traditionally. Additionally, 37.4% noted that improving the awareness of executive public officials is necessary to eliminate it.
Based on this survey, the government will hold a meeting to discuss measures to eradicate the day to host executives for the departments responsible for the organizational culture of central and local governments.
Hwang Myung-seok, director of the Government Innovation Bureau at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "This survey revealed that the day to host executives is still retained as a practice in some organizations, and we will actively improve these outdated practices in line with the current situation in collaboration with relevant agencies."