What Awaits Dads Returning from Parental Leave... Not Exclusion from Work but 'Promotion' [K Population Strategy]

(13) Lotte: Over 8,000 Men Used Parental Leave
Mandatory Use of at Least 1 Month After Childbirth
100% Regular Pay for First Month of Leave
Driving Family-Friendly Policies for Over 10 Years
35 Affiliates Maintain 'Family-Friendly Certification'
'Naver' Allows Managers to Freely Use Parental Leave

Editor's NoteThe key to solving South Korea's population problem lies within companies. A workplace culture that evaluates employees based on their work regardless of gender and a family-friendly environment are crucial to addressing the K-population issue. While low birth rates result from complex factors, it is important to ensure that workplace burdens do not become obstacles that make people hesitate to have children. Asia Economy is visiting companies leading family-friendly policies to identify the factors that helped these systems settle firmly, and will explore various approaches with companies that face practical challenges. Through this, we aim to encourage change starting from companies and analyze the government's role in enabling this. We listen closely to voices emphasizing that company culture and atmosphere, which reduce psychological burdens more than financial support, are key, and present alternatives from diverse perspectives.

Kim Byung-kwan, leader of the Naver Smart Place Service Development Team 1, is enjoying a joyful moment with his 8-month-old son, Siyoon. Kim said, "The most memorable moment was when my child smiled for the first time. I thought, 'Now our new family member is truly communicating with us,' and it made me look forward to the future even more," smiling. Photo by Kim Byung-kwan

The life of Jeon Min-seok (44, male), head of finance at Lotte e-commerce, completely changed starting in 2019. Taking six months of parental leave and living with his family in Jeju while fully caring for his children marked the beginning of this transformation. "The expressions, gestures, and words of my children happily playing by the sea still linger in my mind. They are the driving force of my life. Even now, my children love flipping through the album filled with 'warm memories of their childhood with dad' the most." After returning to work, he was promoted to team leader without losing seniority, being evaluated in line with the promotion timeline. Although he works even harder at the company, he no longer uses work as an excuse to exclude family. "In 2017, after having our second child, my wife and I decided to create 'quality time with our children.' At that time, there was widespread concern about career setbacks after taking leave. I decided to join Lotte because I heard about their well-established family-friendly policies like the 'mandatory one-month paternity leave for men.' Thanks to my parental leave experience, I am able to live without missing important moments as my child grows."

From "Are you going?" to "When are you going?"... Male Parental Leave Changing Corporate Culture

In 2022, the birth rate among employees was 2.05 children. This is a result created by employees across all Lotte Group affiliates in an era when South Korea's adjusted birth rate is 0.81 and total fertility rate is 0.78. Behind this is a family-friendly policy that has been driven for over 10 years. Lotte introduced groundbreaking policies at the time, from automatic maternity leave for women in 2012 to mandatory one-month paternity leave for men in 2017, attaching terms like 'automatic' and 'mandatory' to ensure early adoption. For male parental leave, employees are encouraged to take it within two years after childbirth, with a minimum of one month mandatory, allowing male employees to fully focus on family care. Considering many employees hesitate to take leave due to financial reasons, the company compensates 100% of the regular wage for the first month of leave (covering the difference between regular wage and government support).

Initially, there was skepticism, but it did not take long for the atmosphere to change. As of 2024, the question about male parental leave at Lotte has shifted from "Are you going?" to "When are you going?" It has become as natural as coordinating summer vacation schedules among team members. The usage rate of male parental leave exceeds 90%, with over 8,000 male employees having taken parental leave by 2022. Jeon explained, "Since one month is mandatory anyway, some add an extra month or two, and after experiencing it, they often take it again when needed." Employees who have experienced promotions like Jeon’s have significantly reduced their fear of career damage after parental leave. He said, "The mandatory one-month male parental leave has greater significance not just by itself but because it has changed the overall company culture and atmosphere."

As of the end of last year, all 35 Lotte Group affiliates maintain the 'Family-Friendly Certification' administered by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Jeong Seung-yong, senior manager of talent strategy at Lotte Holdings, said, "Lotte recognizes childcare as a social responsibility rather than an individual issue and proactively develops measures to reduce employees' economic and emotional burdens. Lotte's family-friendly policies have now become a representative corporate culture of the group."

Jeon Min-seok, head of finance at Lotte e-commerce (left in the photo), and his family are taking a photo together at the beach in Jeju. Jeon said that the album made from photos taken with his family during his six-month paternity leave in 2019 is still a great story to share with his children these days.
[Photo by Jeon Min-seok]

"When pregnant, a party; upon return, a sincere welcome... It makes you want to do better."

Kim Min-young, head manager at Lotte Hotel, returned to work in December 2021 after taking parental leave. She had taken a total of two and a half years off, including three months of prenatal leave, three months of maternity leave, and two years of parental leave starting from June 2019. Before her leave, she worked in the marketing department, and upon return, she volunteered to move to the strategic planning team when the company asked about her preferences. Kim emphasized that the company atmosphere was the biggest help in adapting after returning. "Although I moved voluntarily, I was very worried. I hadn’t even properly sat in front of a computer for two years, and it was a new job. At this time, the in-house atmosphere welcoming employees returning from parental leave was a huge support. Using two years of parental leave had already become established and was not an unusual case, which reduced my burden. When I got pregnant, the company threw a party to celebrate, and I received many calls around my return. The genuine welcome made me determined to do better. If the attitude had been like 'You took two whole years of parental leave,' it would have been really tough."

Kim stressed that she gained a lot from the two years after childbirth. "Thanks to this, I was able to personally care for my child until after their second birthday before sending them to daycare. This helped form a strong attachment, so even now, when I leave for work, parting with my child is not difficult at all. I also felt I had done my best, which helped me focus on work after returning."

She shares childcare duties with her husband, Hwang Seon-tae (41), who also works at the same company, by coordinating commuting times. Her husband leaves for work between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., and Kim greets their child when they wake around 8:00 a.m. before leaving home at 8:15 a.m. Kim’s mother helps with kindergarten drop-off and pick-up at 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. After work, her husband, who finishes at 6:00 p.m., takes care of the child first, and Kim joins later to care for the child together. Kim said, "My husband also plans to take parental leave. We are coordinating the timing to use it when it is most needed." "Many people say that the best thing about the company is these (family-friendly) policies. This also leads to loyalty to the company. Ah, because I want to work hard and stay long, I try to do my job better."

The positive impact of Lotte’s family-friendly policies on birth rates can also be seen in data by group companies. Lotte annually analyzes the variance in family-friendly policy implementation across 26 group companies and discusses improvements. They discover policies that leverage each company’s strengths and review overall policy enhancement plans through group-level consulting, including benchmarking family-friendly exemplary companies. The evaluation includes 16 criteria reflecting all stages of child-rearing, such as infertility support, childbirth congratulatory money, and workplace daycare centers. Senior manager Jeong said, "Comparing the change in birth rates among Lotte employees from 2017 to 2022, despite the sharp decline in population, the birth rate in the top 30% of companies with high family-friendly policy scores actually increased by an average of 0.07 children." This proves that better family-friendly policies reduce the burden of balancing work and family, bringing employees closer to deciding to have children.

Naver, Where Even Managers Take 'Male Parental Leave'

Naver, ranked first in Asia Economy’s comprehensive gender equality score, has a culture where even managers do not hesitate to take male parental leave. The option to work remotely also increases the participation rate of men in childcare. Kim Byung-kwan (36), leader of Naver Smart Place Service Development Team 1, took about three months off last year, including 1.5 months of parental leave, paternity leave, and refresh leave, to care for his newborn child.

Kim and his wife, both employees at the company, took paternity and parental leave around the same time and returned to work simultaneously. Kim said, "Because both parents focused on childcare at the same time, we were able to quickly learn all the necessary childcare processes." This choice was possible because Naver fosters an atmosphere where men can freely take parental leave. As of 2022, 27 male employees took parental leave, an increase of six from 21 in the previous year. Kim said, "Naver has a strong culture of respecting individual choices, so men taking parental leave is not difficult at all."

Having personally experienced childcare realities through parental leave, Kim continues to share childcare duties after returning to work by dividing their time. "When it’s my time to care for the child, I try to do it entirely alone," he explained, "to ensure both my wife and I can focus on work and maintain our own time as much as possible."

Through parental leave, Kim was also able to reduce conflicts with his working mom wife caused by childcare. He said, "Our child is eight months old, and because both of us fully experienced childcare from the start, we can entrust the child to one another and have time for outings or doing things we enjoy for more than one night." Helping employees manage family responsibilities so they can focus on work also benefits the company’s productivity.

Naver operates various systems to support employees’ family care. Parental leave is provided equally to male and female employees, offering an additional year beyond the legally mandated one year, for a maximum of two years, which can be split into two periods. Naver also runs six daycare centers in Seoul and Gyeonggi regions, accommodating a total of 951 children, which employees can use even during parental leave.

Based on these policies, Naver has also enhanced its global standing. Last year, Naver was named one of Forbes’ ‘World’s Best Employers,’ evaluated on criteria including talent development, economic performance, corporate image, gender equality culture within the organization, and corporate social responsibility.

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

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