Birth Rate 2.05... The Miracle Born from Family-Friendly Companies [K Population Strategy]

(1)"Overcoming Low Birthrate, Found the Answer at the Workplace"
8,000 Men Taking Parental Leave, Birthrate 2.05... Lotte's Achievement
Japan Itochu Corporation Birthrate 1.97... Labor Productivity Also 5.2 Times Higher

'Overcoming low birth rates, the answer lies in the workplace.' This is the message conveyed by domestic and international corporate cases contributing to overcoming low birth rates.

Lotte Group was the first large corporation to introduce an automatic maternity leave system for women in 2012 and started a mandatory one-month paternity leave system for men in 2017. It is a model company for work-family balance. Lotte Group's birth rate has remained in the 2.0 range for 10 years (2.05 in 2022), which is 2.6 times higher than Korea's total fertility rate (0.78 in 2022). Lotte Shopping ranked 18th in the comprehensive domestic representative company gender equality index compiled by Asia Economy this year.

Jin Gwang-il (38), who works at Motion, a small and medium-sized enterprise recognized for its family-friendly policies, is dropping off his child at a daycare center in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. Jin utilizes Motion's flexible working hours system to take charge of his child's daycare drop-off twice a week. As Jin participated in childcare, his wife, who had experienced a career break, successfully re-entered the workforce. Jin emphasized that the previous mindset of "work is for dad, childcare is for mom" has completely changed. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Japan's Itochu Corporation, which actively introduced flexible working hours to improve productivity, also saw its in-house birth rate jump more than threefold from 0.60 in 2012 to 1.97 in 2021. Labor productivity increased 5.2 times over 12 years since changing its working style in 2010.

Germany's Deutsche Telekom, which introduced flexible work, telecommuting, and care services, is also a noteworthy case. Sandra Wintgetter, Vice President of Deutsche Telekom, who visited Korea last September for an event, emphasized, "To become a family-friendly company, the company must first change its attitude of viewing employees working from home as lazy or not working," adding, "Successful German companies have a family-friendly culture."

Korea's population crisis was foreshadowed when the total fertility rate fell below 2.0 in 1984 and has rapidly worsened since the late 1990s. During this time, a wide range of measures were implemented. Despite pouring over 380 trillion won in budget since 2006, there was no effect.

Cases like Lotte Group, Itochu Corporation, and Deutsche Telekom suggest that companies must take the lead in addressing population issues. Especially in Korea, except for a very few companies such as Lotte Group and HanmiGlobal, even companies that exemplify work-family balance policies are reluctant to disclose their birth rates. A major shift in corporate awareness is urgently needed.

Now, Asia Economy moves beyond the passive catchphrase of low birth rate measures and presents a future-oriented population strategy to companies and the nation under the slogan 'K Population Strategy - Gender Equality is the Answer.' It has the capability and assets to calculate and award the gender equality index of Korea's top 100 companies for eight consecutive years.

Based on this, it plans to actively cover each company's birth rate and gender equality policies such as work-family balance, track and disclose the correlation between birth rates and gender equality policies, and urge companies to take the lead in overcoming low birth rates.

Through year-round projects, companies performing well like Lotte Group will be widely publicized as exemplary cases regardless of company size, and practical alternatives such as urging government support will be proposed for companies that cannot meet realistic conditions.

Special Reporting Team 'K Population Strategy - Gender Equality is the Answer'

Kim Pil-su, Economic and Financial Editor
Reporters Kim Yuri, Lee Hyun-joo, Jung Hyun-jin, Boo Ae-ri, Gong Byung-seon, Park Joon-i, Song Seung-seop