When the whole team does the work, why does only one person get the reward? [Sejong Backbriefing]

"Even when team members divide up the work, everything moves together — you can't run multiple tasks at once without the whole team. If only one person gets the reward, doesn't that imply some tasks matter more than others?"

That is how one working-level official at a central government ministry in Sejong put it. The government's stated aim is to inject a performance culture into a civil service long associated with risk-averse inertia, rewarding high achievers with bonuses or promotions. But on the ground, some officials say whether a person lands a so-called "good" assignment — one that draws attention from above and generates public buzz — can determine how their performance is rated, regardless of effort.

At least when recognition goes to the whole team, there is some consolation.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety held its second special performance bonus ceremony at the Government Complex Sejong on Friday, honoring staff who contributed to the enactment of the Basic Act on Life Safety and the Act on the Organization and Operation of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.

The special performance bonus was introduced this year for the first time to strengthen rewards for civil servants who deliver outstanding results. The ministry held its first round of payments in March; this second round awarded 20 million won (about $13,100) to each of the two teams behind the two pieces of legislation.

In a less formal gesture, President Lee recently sent pizzas to the police investigation team probing the spread of false rumors about a supposed government forced-sale of dollar reserves.

Since taking office last year, President Lee has sent pizzas to various agencies as a way of encouraging the civil service. The practice began late last year with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Presidential Security Service. This year, recipients have included the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries after it relocated to Busan; the Financial Services Commission in January, when the Kospi broke the 4,500 mark for the first time in history; the Ministry of Interior and Safety's Local Finance and Economy Bureau, credited with smoothly distributing livelihood-recovery consumption vouchers to the entire population; and the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Public Health Policy Bureau, which is advancing regional, essential and public healthcare policy.

It is only natural that morale rises when a team's collective achievement earns recognition from the top. But when that reward system concentrates benefits on a single individual, it can backfire — breeding a sense of alienation across the wider organization.

As trade tensions with the United States moved to the forefront, a director-level official at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy who conceived and drove the MASGA Project was promoted directly from senior secretary to director general — a senior civil servant rank — bypassing the deputy director general grade entirely. The leap drew admiring attention across Sejong's government district, but critics noted it could deepen feelings of relative deprivation among colleagues in an organization that depends on close coordination.

Conditions for civil servants have been improving, but compensation remains well below private-sector levels. If the sense of mission that comes with shaping and implementing public policy continues to erode, the exodus to the private sector will not slow.

One can only hope that the performance bonus system the government introduced to energize the civil service does not end up doing the opposite — undermining the internal cohesion it was meant to strengthen.