Editor's note
Red tiles and green trees, blue sea and blue sky. It is a bright pearl embedded in China's coastline, a famous historical and cultural city with profound heritage, a harmonious and friendly civilized harbor, and a blessed land for living and working in peace and contentment. Qingdao, a hot land that everyone yearns for, also attracts retired soldiers. The transfer and resettlement of veterans is the most important task in the work of retired servicemen in Qingdao, a major garrison city. Qingdao regards retired soldiers as a new quality force, welcomes them with open arms, leads them with heart and affection, and allows them to add luster to this beautiful city.
Interlocutor: Sun Gang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of Qingdao Veterans Affairs Bureau
A square face, a polite image, a modest and subtle smile, and words full of confidence. "If we do a good job in handing over and resettlement, we will grasp the 'bull's nose' of the work of retired soldiers. From serving as the full-time deputy director of the Office of the Qingdao Municipal Leading Group for the Placement of Demobilized Military Cadres, to the deputy director of the Qingdao Municipal Veterans Affairs Bureau in charge of the transfer and resettlement work, to the secretary of the party group and director of the bureau who presides over the overall work, Sun Gang has consistently paid attention to this work. Those classic practices and blurted out figures are full of his deep affection for the work of retired soldiers.
Sun Gang participated in the 2023 Qingdao Municipal Government Department Debriefing Report Meeting.
Reporter's observation: Cheng Hailin, deputy commander of the Navy Test Flight Brigade and a first-class meritorious soldier who has served for 31 years, and his wife, who is also a soldier, are both from Nantong, Jiangsu. When they changed jobs in 2022, they could choose from many cities, and some cities had higher salaries than here, but the two unanimously decided to make Qingdao their second hometown in the new era of contribution. Qingdao accepted them with a broad mind and arranged Cheng Hailin as a substantive deputy director. There are many cases like this in Qingdao. As an important coastal defense city, a major garrison city, and a major resettlement city on the mainland, Qingdao has become the prefecture-level city with the largest number of retired servicemen, military dependents, and retired military cadres in the province, and the number of resettlement people even exceeds that of more than 10 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.
Director's vision: Making the "loveliest person" become the "happiest person" is the ultimate goal of Qingdao's retired soldiers. The quality of resettlement of retired servicemen and whether they are well resettled have a bearing on the morale of the military, on the great cause of strengthening the country and rejuvenating the army, and on the overall situation of reform, development, and stability. Although the conditions of demobilized officers like Cheng Hailin are very superior, they also have the disadvantages of being too old, holding too high a position, and being unpopular in their professions; as long as there are a few cases where the resettlement is not in place, the demobilized officers who want to come to Qingdao will have to think twice about acting, and the number of resettlement will naturally decrease. However, after the professionalization of officers, the retired servicemen who are planned to be placed continue to be younger, 97% of them have a bachelor's degree or above, and 12 doctors have returned in the past five years. At present, all walks of life in the country are pursuing high-quality development, and new quality productivity is the internal requirement and important focus of promoting high-quality development, and in this process, high-quality talents are the most critical. Veterans are an important force to open up new tracks and create new growth poles, and they are valuable new qualitative forces that we want to "grab". We have "grabbed" these talents, which has increased the vitality of the city and helped promote high-quality development.
Reporter's observation: From another point of view, judging from the demands of retired servicemen's petitions, the most common problem is the resettlement of retired servicemen, and if the retired servicemen are well resettled and let them happily devote themselves to economic and social construction, the number of letters and visits will naturally become smaller and smaller, and the work of retired servicemen will become easier and easier, and the role of retired servicemen will become more and more obvious. Therefore, the handover and resettlement is the work of laying the foundation, and when this work is consolidated, other work can also "rise to the top".
The director's vision: From the performance of retired servicemen in Qingdao in recent years, it can be seen that they are shining brightly on the new front and in new posts: Most of the retired servicemen of Qingdao Metro Group are fighting in special professional posts, and no matter how difficult the technical difficulties are, they cannot be overwhelmed; among the more than 100 retired servicemen who participate in public service and teaching and auxiliary personnel in the Party School of the Qingdao Municipal Party Committee, the proportion of retired servicemen has reached 36.7%; 28 retired servicemen have gone to Longnan, Gansu and Anshun, Guizhou, to help the local people win a decisive battle against poverty with modern means...... If there is a war, it will be recalled." Qingdao veterans have always been on the front line of urban construction, and their talents, qualities, and styles not only play an important role in the most difficult and dangerous moments, but also form a positive spiritual orientation in the whole society, and become an indispensable new qualitative force for promoting economic and social development.
Counselor system
Explanation of terms: In the transfer and resettlement work, there are sometimes problems such as the slow change of roles of demobilized officers and the fact that their personal skills do not meet local needs. By extending the "resettlement chain" and innovating the establishment of a system of counselors for demobilized officers, we can help demobilized officers buckle the "first button" after they are transferred to work. The system of serving as a counselor provides a strong institutional guarantee for the placement and use of demobilized officers, and achieves "tripartite satisfaction" among the troops, demobilized officers, and employers.
In the past five years, Qingdao has received and resettled nearly 2,300 demobilized officers, accounting for about one-third of the total number of people in the province. The proportion of demobilized officers placed in administrative (including public service) positions has steadily increased, from 80% in 2018 to 100% in 2022 and 2023. Qingdao has achieved a 100 percent satisfaction rate with the resettlement of demobilized officers by establishing a ledger for each of them and tracking the effectiveness of supervision and supervision. Among them, the counselors have played an important role in passing, helping, leading, and managing demobilized officers, so that demobilized officers can avoid detours.
The vision of the director of the bureau: When demobilized officers arrive in a new unit, problems such as "zero foundation in business", "unfamiliar with life", "overwhelmed by the work of the masses", and "confused about the future of development" are often more prominent, and there is an urgent need to receive systematic counseling in terms of ideology and politics, work and business, theoretical study, research ability, career planning, psychological adjustment, and care and care, so as to improve their quality and ability in an all-round way. The selection of counselors is based on the four aspects of political literacy, theoretical level, professional ability, and responsibility, and 98.5% are team members or department (section) heads, and 37.8% are demobilized officers. The counselor should also hold an appointment ceremony, issue a letter of appointment, and clarify the rights, responsibilities and obligations of both parties. During the one-year "mentor and apprenticeship", demobilized officers can rely on their work and life, and their ideal goals and career plans are more reasonable, so that they can quickly improve their development potential and work motivation. Through the analysis of five years of data, it is found that the majority of demobilized officers are 100% satisfied with the counselor system, 95% of the demobilized officers have grown into professional backbones, and many of them have been promoted and reused or transferred to core and important positions due to their outstanding achievements.
Bi-directional selection
Explanation of terms: Before the open selection, the receiving unit shall formulate a double selection work plan in combination with the actual employment, and put forward the job requirements with strong professionalism and urgent needs. Through certain procedures such as professional assessment and interviews, the receiving unit organizes the demobilized officers, the retired soldiers arranged by the government to make a "two-way choice" with the employing units, so as to take into account the professional expertise of the retired soldiers and meet the manpower needs of the receiving units.
Qingdao: In the past five years, Qingdao has received and resettled 3,700 retired soldiers arranged by the government, and more than 40 percent of them have been placed in public positions, and the rest have all been placed in state-owned enterprises. Among them, 113 were resettled through "two-way selection", and another 303 demobilized officers also adopted the "two-way selection" placement method, and the degree of matching between people and posts was greatly improved, and both employers and retired servicemen were very satisfied.
Director's vision: The "two-way choice" work method of government arrangement for retired soldiers adheres to the combination of personal wishes and the needs of the receiving and resettlement units. The receiving and resettlement units can put forward "two-way choice" requirements for highly specialized positions, and eligible retired soldiers can voluntarily sign up for participation based on their professional skills. At the same time, we should strictly grasp the "principle of total control," make overall plans to determine the proportion of "two-way selection" placement posts, and persist in taking the size of the service contribution of retired soldiers as the main basis for arranging work.
The "two-way choice" accurately matches the professional skills and job needs of retired soldiers arranged by the government, so that they can adapt to the working environment and content more quickly after determining the position, and complete the seamless conversion from the army to the locality, so as to promote the efficient integration and two-way pull of the new quality productivity and the new quality combat effectiveness, and lay the foundation for the rapid development of their careers. The "two-way choice" has always been under the policy framework of mandatory resettlement, providing employers with some highly specialized positions and selecting new talents urgently needed by employers, which has greatly aroused the enthusiasm of employers in accepting and placing retired soldiers. This innovative approach stands on both the positions of retired soldiers and receiving and resettlement units, adheres to the combination of supply and demand, and truly and effectively revitalizes the new qualitative strength of retired soldiers.
Whitelist
Explanation of terms: Actively connect with the household affairs department of the Public Security Bureau to optimize the settlement procedures, and adjust the settlement method from the household affairs department of the Municipal Public Security Bureau to the "white list" settlement method, that is, the household affairs department of the Municipal Public Security Bureau will no longer review the materials, and form a "white list" according to the list submitted by the Municipal Military Leave Service Center and send it to each police station, and the local police station will directly handle the settlement.
Qingdao in numbers: In the work of handing over and resettling retired military cadres, Qingdao City has always adhered to the principle of "as long as the troops can be handed over, the localities can take over them", innovated the "one-stop handover" work method, and achieved immediate review and immediate handover, with high quality, high efficiency, and 124.7 percent of the planned number of completed plans, and successively received 18 pennants and 6 letters of thanks from the troops.
Director's vision: From 2021, the Qingdao Veterans Affairs Department, together with more than 10 departments such as public security, social security, and medical insurance, will work in a centralized manner, integrating the handover work, which originally required the troops to run at least three places and take one or two months to complete, into only one place and a minimum of half an hour to complete. Unified by the special class for the transfer and resettlement of the work process, the adoption of a flat, one-stop service model centralized reception, the establishment of a database of newly received military retired cadres, the arrangement of special personnel to connect with the troops, strengthen communication, from the review of files to the completion of the settlement to achieve closed-loop management, one person, one case, strict control, the transfer efficiency has jumped significantly, the materials are complete, the conditions are ripe to complete the transfer can be completed on the same day.
The "one-stop handover" has also solved the "old and difficult" problem of a long period of settlement for retired military cadres. The "white list" settlement method came into being, from "first report and then review" to "pre-trial direct report", optimizing the process, simplifying procedures, and improving the quality of settlement efficiency by submitting the "settlement white list", and shortening the processing period from the past 15 days to the day of the three-party meeting.
Settle as you go
Explanation of terms: Handle targeted resettlement for the families of military personnel in the establishment of eligible administrative undertakings, in accordance with the principle of "territorial management, professional counterpart, consistent identity, and local proximity", so as to achieve "resettlement at any time", and realize the "zero" of the annual personnel to be resettled.
Over the past five years, Qingdao has provided targeted resettlement to more than 360 qualified family members of military personnel in administrative undertakings, solved the problem of separation between some servicemen and their families for more than 10 years, and provided a strong guarantee for better serving the troops in preparing for war and promoting the modernization of national defense and the armed forces. This work was included in the teaching and training case of the National University of Defense Technology.
Director's vision: As early as 2019, the Qingdao Veterans Affairs Bureau jointly issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Targeted Placement of Military Dependents in the Administrative Undertakings of the Garrison Army" with the organization, establishment, human resources and social security, garrison area and other departments, and established a joint meeting system, and the leaders of the municipal party committee and the municipal government regularly dispatched to get through the difficulties and blockages in the resettlement of military families. After the Spring Festival every year, we will investigate and find out the needs of the families of military personnel in the administrative establishment of the army stationed in Qingdao, reserve the establishment and posts in advance, and actively tap job resources in view of the fact that the number of placements has surged by more than 30% in the past two years, mainly concentrated in career education posts. Cooperate with the garrison area, the youth garrison, the organization, establishment, human resources and social security and other departments to complete the registration, qualification review, establishment guarantee, post development, and the receiving unit will implement the specific inspection and deployment according to the placement plan. All departments cooperate with each other to ensure that the information transmission in the whole process of placement is timely and accurate, the quality and quantity of the post plan are guaranteed, and the procedures are legal and compliant. At the same time, in accordance with the principle of "territorial management, professional counterpart, consistent identity, and local proximity," we will ensure that the families of military personnel who meet the requirements of the administrative establishment are transferred to their favorite posts as soon as possible, so as to encourage and motivate military personnel to better perform their duties and missions, and constantly enhance the combat effectiveness and cohesion of officers and men of the troops.
Article source: Chinese veterans (ID: zgtyjr). The reprint must be indicated from the WeChat public account of "Chinese veterans", otherwise it will be regarded as infringement.
Source: "Chinese Veterans" magazine Issue 4, 2024
Author: Chinese retired soldier and all-media reporter Lv Gaopai