The Ministry of Personnel Management is initiating reforms to the civil servant on-call system. This is a follow-up measure to implement the 'five key tasks to revitalize the public service' announced by the presidential office last month.
According to the Ministry of Personnel Management on the 14th, officials from the Ministry and the National Public Officials Union visited the government's main on-call command center and the Daejeon unified on-call office the previous evening to investigate the current state of civil servant on-call duties. They also conducted a survey targeting all civil servants.
The current civil servant on-call system has been maintained for over 70 years since the establishment of the government. It was intended for purposes such as night and holiday security patrols and inspections, responding to telephone inquiries, and summoning civil servants in emergencies. For central civil servants, there are main on-calls representing all ministries and departmental on-calls representing their affiliated ministries, with the turn for on-call duties rotating every few months.
On-site workers met during the inspection stated, "Most of the time during on-call is spent simply waiting" and expressed the opinion that it is necessary to perform on-call duties more efficiently. A civil servant from a central ministry said, "I often spend the night receiving drunken calls of complaints like 'change the president' or 'change the prime minister.'"
The Ministry of Personnel Management noted, "We need to fundamentally improve the traditional operation of the on-call system to reflect the changed administrative environment, including the introduction of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and security equipment. Through this, we believe we should reduce the extra burdens on civil servants."