Expected Expansion of 'Appa' Parenting Participation
Maternity Leave System Implemented Before Childbirth
SK On has expanded the parental leave period to actively participate in addressing low birth rates. The statutory parental leave period of one year has been extended by an additional year, allowing up to two years of parental leave. The aim is to minimize the possibility of career interruption due to childbirth or childcare and to contribute to the spread of a work-family balance culture.
On the 22nd, SK On announced that it will implement a parental leave system extending the leave period to a maximum of two years. Any member who is pregnant or needs to care for a child aged 8 or younger (up to 2nd grade in elementary school) can use this leave.
According to the Act on Equal Employment and Support for Work-Family Balance, employees with children aged 8 or younger can choose either "one year of parental leave followed by one year of reduced working hours" or "two years of reduced working hours." With this change, SK On members can now additionally choose "two years of parental leave."
SK On expects participation in parental leave within the company to expand further. The average age of SK On members is 34.5 years, close to the average age for marriage and childbirth. Last year, the average age of childbirth for Korean women was 33.6 years, and this trend is increasing annually.
In particular, since parental leave is not limited by gender, it is expected that fathers’ participation in childcare will become more active. As of April, the number of male employees on parental leave at SK On accounts for half of all employees on leave.
SK On also operates a "pre-birth leave system" that allows pregnant employees to take up to three months of leave separately from the statutory 90-day maternity leave. Pregnant employees can use the company parking lot and are excluded from regular health checkups or security screenings to completely block exposure to harmful substances such as X-rays.
Along with this, SK On runs family-friendly policies to support work-family balance, including family care leave, flexible working hours, infertility leave, and wedding anniversary leave. Additionally, it provides entrance congratulatory money and tuition support when children advance to kindergarten, elementary, or middle school, offering support throughout life stages.
At SK On, a member couple made headlines last year as the first in Korea to naturally give birth to quadruplets. At that time, PM Song Liwon and his spouse stated that SK On’s welfare policies, such as medical expense support and flexible working hours, were a great help during the pregnancy and birth of the quadruplets.
In 2020, SK Group redefined its unique management philosophy, SKMS (SK Management System), emphasizing the happiness of members and stakeholders. Through this, it highlighted the role and practice of members as agents of happiness management and conceptualized the happiness of stakeholders such as customers, shareholders, and business partners as "social value."
An SK On official said, "While family forms are becoming diverse, the value of family never changes. We will strive to contribute to resolving the national issue of low birth rates and create social value through detailed welfare policies that can be used flexibly according to each member’s situation, so that every SK On member can happily balance work and family life."
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