Infertility Leave and Treatment Costs... Naver Establishes Infertility Support Program

Up to 6 Months Infertility Leave
Medical Procedure Support up to 2 Million KRW
New Shortened Work Hours for Elementary School Childcare

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Naver, the largest IT company in South Korea, has introduced an infertility support system that provides leave and financial assistance for infertility treatments. Although some game companies have previously implemented infertility support programs, the adoption by the industry-leading company is expected to accelerate the spread of such initiatives. Naver has also enhanced its childbirth and childcare support by introducing reduced working hours for employees caring for elementary school children.

According to the IT industry on the 28th, Naver established the infertility support system this month. The company offers up to six months of infertility leave to allow employees to focus on treatment and provides up to 2 million KRW in financial support for infertility procedures. Previously, Naver supported pregnant employees with a 500,000 KRW pregnancy registration incentive and allowed up to 14 days of leave annually for fetal checkups, but this new system is separate from those benefits.

The infertility support system was agreed upon by labor and management in a collective agreement reached in June. Both parties consented to introduce the system to create a non-discriminatory work environment and address the low birthrate issue.

Accordingly, Naver expanded the reduced working hours period for pregnant employees. Previously, reduced working hours were allowed only within the first 12 weeks or after the 36th week of pregnancy, as per legal standards, but from this month, employees can reduce their working hours throughout the entire pregnancy period. They can shorten their workday by up to two hours without any salary reduction.

A new reduced working hours system was introduced for employees caring for elementary school children. Employees with children aged 9 to 12 can use reduced working hours for up to one year, shortening their workday by up to two hours. While reduced working hours for childcare are often provided during the school entry age of 6 to 7 years, Naver’s system allows this benefit until the child reaches the 6th grade of elementary school.

Parental leave welfare benefits have been expanded. To alleviate financial burdens during leave, Naver supports loan interest payments and facilitates networking activities through ‘Club Greeny,’ a company club. Club Greeny receives activity funding from the company, and support continues even during employees’ leave periods. After returning to work, the company helps employees adjust by organizing networking meetings for those who have returned from parental leave of six months or longer, allowing them to connect with colleagues who returned around the same time.

Naver’s childbirth and childcare support system is regarded as comprehensive even within the IT industry. The support covers three major stages of the pregnancy lifecycle?from pregnancy, childbirth, to post-return?and provides necessary assistance at each stage, now made more thorough with the newly introduced programs. For comparison, Kakao offers three days of paid leave annually for infertility treatment and operates a reduced working hours system for employees with children in the first grade of elementary school, allowing up to one hour of reduced work per day for up to one year.