New employees are leaving in rapid succession at the public agency responsible for counseling and rehabilitating drug addicts. Of 22 people hired on the same day, 14 resigned before completing eight months. One left the day after starting work.
Six in 10 New Hires Fall Short of Eight Months
Of 22 employees hired on July 7 last year, 14, or about 64%, submitted resignations before reaching eight months of service, according to hiring and departure data that Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, obtained from the Korean Association Against Drug Abuse on the 12th.
Of those new hires, 17 were assigned to units handling rehabilitation and counseling work, including the Together Step Centers, regional addiction rehabilitation centers, and the 1342 Courage Step Center.
Some left almost immediately after joining. One employee at the 24-hour drug counseling hotline center, reached at 1342, resigned a day after reporting to work, and an employee at the Together Step Center in South Gyeongsang Province left four days after joining.
Early departures among new employees also stood out in the agency's overall staffing figures for last year. Of 49 employees who left last year, including contract workers, 35, or 71%, had served less than one year.
Rehabilitation Staff Keep Leaving, Making Expertise Hard to Build
A large share of those who left were concentrated in rehabilitation-related units that directly support drug addicts from counseling through reintegration into society. Of the 49 people who left last year, 29, or 59%, belonged to rehabilitation-related units such as the Together Step Centers and the addiction rehabilitation team. From January through August this year, 15 of 27 departures, or 56%, were employees who had worked in rehabilitation units.
The pattern was not limited to last year. Among eight employees hired on Sept. 23, 2024, seven were permanent new hires assigned to rehabilitation units, and six of them eventually resigned.
Drug addiction rehabilitation involves building trust with addicts over long periods while providing counseling, case management and support for returning to society. Frequent turnover among staff makes it harder to accumulate work experience and expertise, and addicts undergoing rehabilitation are left having to rebuild trust with a new counselor.
86% Cited 'Personal Reasons,' Pointing to Need for a Review
Even as departures have repeated, the association has not determined the specific reasons behind them.
Of the 49 people who left last year, 42, or 86%, had their reason for leaving recorded only as "personal reasons."
Heo's office said that because it has not been established whether emotional labor, pay levels or the burden of shift work contributed to the departures, it is difficult to craft measures matched to the causes.
"As the drug addiction problem grows more serious, the government is expanding rehabilitation infrastructure, but a structure in which half the employees hired on the same day leave without lasting even a year cannot produce a proper rehabilitation system," Heo said.
"The association and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety should conduct a full review of why people are leaving and, based on the findings, prepare effective improvements to pay, work systems and psychological support," he said.
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