Seoul to send problem employees to work on the land: officials
SEOUL (AFP) — Scores of unsatisfactory Seoul city employees will be ordered to meditate and to work in farms or factories to improve their attitude, officials said Thursday.
The South Korean capital has this year singled out 88 employees, 0.9 percent of its 9,844 employees, who are allegedly incompetent or lazy or truculent towards residents.
Their three-week "soul-searching" reindoctrination programme will include a trek across the country and meditation aimed at "changing their attitude and enhancing patience," the city said.
Lessons in information technology, foreign languages and 50 hours of volunteer work at farms and plants will also be included, it said.
Mayor Oh Se-Hoon launched the campaign last year, purportedly to improve efficiency.
The first-year programme ordered 102 employees to do menial jobs such as sweeping streets or picking up litter. Some 44 of these workers were eventually sacked or resigned.
But a new programme was launched after critics said menial work humiliated employees without improving their attitude.
The JoongAng Daily said this year's programme includes six senior officials.
The city government's labour union reacted angrily, accusing Mayor Oh of penalising workers to impress voters and advance his political ambitions. He is seen as a future presidential contender.
Psychology professor Whang Sang-Min of Yonsei University said many South Korean companies and government agencies resort to a boot-camp style of retraining.
"There is no scientific evidence that this kind of military-style retraining has any effect, aside from scaring trainees to pretend to follow their directions," he told AFP.
"This country must graduate from this anachronistic phenomenon."
