Encouraging Use of Parental Leave and Childcare Time, Considering Department Placement for Returning Parental Leave Employees
Creating a Workplace Culture Balancing Work and Life with On-Time Departure Days
“Let’s create many jobs to increase the employment rate, raise monthly salaries to help send children off to marriage, and thereby boost the birth rate.”
On January 2, Yuseonghun, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, presented an acrostic poem using 'Ilchwiwoljang' during the first field-oriented work report of the new year. It conveys the meaning of creating a city abundant with jobs to improve the quality of life for young people and respond to the population crisis.
To solve the low birthrate issue, various problems must be overcome. Among them, parental leave plays a very important role.
In Geumcheon-gu, employees are actively encouraged to freely use parental leave. As of February 2024, 6.9% of all employees are on parental leave, and among them, the rate of male employees taking parental leave has nearly doubled from last year to 14.3%.
This is analyzed to be because Geumcheon-gu actively encourages male employees to take parental leave, making it easier to use the leave freely.
Yuseonghun, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “Along with parental leave, a family-friendly and open organizational culture must be established so that employees returning from parental leave can balance work and life.”
The mayor added, “In our organization, employees returning from parental leave are immediately assigned to key positions such as the head of the HR team, so there is no personnel discrimination or organizational atmosphere concerns among those on leave.”
According to local government employee service regulations, public officials with children under the age of five can use two hours of childcare time per day within a 24-month period. The district actively encourages employees to use available childcare time so that cases where employees refrain from using it out of consideration for colleagues do not occur.
Especially this year, the district plans to encourage the use of childcare time and provide additional welfare points to employees who cover for those using childcare time.
The mayor said, “The biggest issue for employees returning from parental leave is maintaining a balance between work and family life. Considering this, our district pays close attention to department assignments so that returnees can comfortably use childcare time and, if necessary, switch to a flexible working hour system working 15 to 35 hours.”
The district has produced and distributed a ‘Staff Welfare at a Glance’ handbook to inform employees about various welfare benefits such as family care leave, childcare time, maternity protection time, prenatal checkup leave, maternity leave, and flexible work systems.
Additionally, to establish a work-life balance and a culture of leaving work on time, the district operates a ‘Leave Work on Time Day’ every Friday. On this day, except in unavoidable cases, work instructions and meetings that cause overtime are refrained from.
Along with this, Geumcheon-gu is implementing various policies for residents. Starting this year, to foster a birth-friendly atmosphere, parents or guardians residing in Geumcheon-gu will be supported with childcare supplies worth 50,000 won. This plan will be implemented in the first half of the year after consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s social security system.
Separately from the government-supported First Meeting Voucher, the district provides birth congratulatory money to families with a third child or more (700,000 won for the third child, 1,000,000 won for the fourth child and beyond).
In addition, customized rental housing is being supplied for newlyweds and young people.
Yuseonghun, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “Overcoming the low birthrate requires broad national policy support across various sectors of society, but creating a family-friendly workplace culture is most important. We will continue to actively support our employees so that they can lead a balanced life between work and personal life.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
