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| Lee Won-hyuk, 35, a civil servant at the environmental policy division of Seoul Metropolitan Government, stands inside the City Hall building, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon |
Debate rises over relaxed dress code at local government offices
By Lee Suh-yoon
Lee Su-ho, a 30-year-old civil servant at Seoul Metropolitan Government, likes wearing his shorts to work.
"Because I'm in the youth support division, my colleagues and the people I meet up with outside on the job are quite young," Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times. "Lots of people in my office dress casually, and everyone, including the division head, has been accepting of my dress code."
Shorts for men ― the Seoul Metropolitan Government first introduced this relaxed dress code in the summer of 2012, after a new energy conservation policy banned government offices from cooling down indoor temperatures to less than 28 degrees Celsius. As summer heat waves get longer and more intense here, other regional governments are following suit. Suwon City adopted the relaxed dress code last summer, while Gyeonggi Province, Busan and Changwon City also started offering employees the option of shorts and sandals this month to better support energy saving measures and a freer work environment.
"Dressing coolly in shorts and sandals can lower sensed body temperature by 2 degrees, lowering the need for as much air conditioning," according to Lee Sang-hoon, a director at Seoul City's environmental policy division which is spearheading the cool attire campaign. "We hope it is adopted as part of the daily work culture."
Other local governments have yet to adopt such measures, fearing it might make civil servants look unprofessional or "impolite" when communicating with citizens.
Lee Won-hyuk, 35, an employee at the environmental policy division, says dressing in shorts helps his performance at work.
"I'm bad with coping with hot temperatures. Dressing in shorts helped me cool down and improve my work efficiency."
Still, the majority of employees have yet to catch on to the new dress code at City Hall. Female employees wearing medium-length dresses and sandals are commonly spotted but it's a rare sight to see a male employee in shorts.
Moon Hyo-gyu, 36, Lee Su-ho's colleague at the youth support division, says he does not wear shorts to work for personal reasons.
"It's difficult to put together a professional look with shorts," Moon said. "Also I and other male employees at the office find it embarrassing to reveal our legs to bosses or work colleagues, especially when we don't like to wax them."
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| Huh Sung-moo, center, mayor of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, walks to work in shorts with city government employees, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
Some are simply uneasy about breaking the unspoken dress code before the majority does ― the reason mayors are stepping up to set an example. Huh Sung-moo, the Changwon City mayor in South Gyeongsang Province, walked to work in shorts and sneakers Wednesday with other employees to encourage the adoption of the new dress code for summer.
"It looked a bit awkward because we're used to seeing civil servants in long pants at work. I'm not sure how much it would catch on with the rest of the employees," Lee Ji-ho, a 23-year-old university student from Changwon, said after seeing Huh's photo. "But I still think it's a positive step considering the hot weather, as its a way to ease up a tense work environment."
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