Adjusting Working Hours According to Conditions of Pregnant Women and Caregivers
Introducing Various Policies for Child Rearing
Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam is officially launching the “Changwon City Parenting Together: Changwon City Stroller Project.”
To foster a child-friendly work environment and support various national policies for work-life balance, the city has incorporated a range of initiatives, such as actively promoting parental leave and flexible work arrangements for employees who are pregnant or raising children under the age of eight.
The main features include: ▲ operation of parental (maternity) friendly work systems ▲ incentives to establish these systems ▲ and other institutional support, totaling three key areas.
The most notable aspect is the introduction of a parenting-support (maternity protection) flexible work system. This allows employees to choose their working hours according to their personal circumstances by utilizing existing work-life balance policies such as parental leave (reduced working hours during child-rearing) and flexible work arrangements.
For example, in the case of supporting school drop-off times, employees can adjust their start time to 8 a.m. with flexible work arrangements, work two fewer hours in the morning, and thus work only six hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In this way, employees can adjust their hours according to their situations, and for those unfamiliar with the system and unsure how to use it, working hours consulting is also provided.
Additionally, a new “Dodam Dodam Leave” has been introduced, offering a special day off each quarter for employees raising children under the age of ten so they can spend quality time with their children. There is also detailed support for employees experiencing infertility.
For the first time in the country, a new “Infertility Support Leave” has been established, providing additional recovery time after infertility treatment procedures.
Although there is already infertility treatment leave granted under the “Local Public Officials Service Regulations,” the treatment day must be included in the leave days, which means employees cannot use the leave if the procedure falls on a weekend. To address this and to ensure sufficient rest for higher success rates, two additional recovery days will be provided to female public officials after infertility procedures.
For male public officials, one day of leave is granted on the day of or the day after accompanying their spouse for infertility treatment, to support psychological stability.
As more employees facing infertility are switching to sick leave due to the difficulty of balancing work, the city aims to present practical measures to ease the burden of career interruption.
Support measures have also been prepared so that parents or eligible employees can use these policies without concern.
A new “Together Leave” has been established, granting special leave proportional to the time spent covering for colleagues. Since flexible work arrangements and parental leave are not eligible for monetary incentives under current law, this special leave was designed as an alternative incentive.
In addition, up to 200,000 KRW per month will be paid as a work delegation allowance to those covering for employees on maternity or parental leave, ensuring that such leave can be taken at any time.
Furthermore, training required for promotion will be operated as family-friendly education, allowing employees to participate with their families during their children’s school vacations.
Welfare points to celebrate childbirth, previously only given for the third child, will now be expanded in response to declining birth rates, with 400,000 KRW for the first child, 1,000,000 KRW for the second, and 2,000,000 KRW for the third or more, providing more practical support for parents.
Hong Nam-pyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City, stated, “If these measures take root in the public sector, it will be possible to minimize career interruptions and allow employees to balance work and parenting. We will also be able to maximize the effects of various family-friendly policies in line with government direction. Parenting is no longer just a personal issue, so I hope this project will serve as a necessary ‘stroller’ for child-rearing and that everyone will join together to make Changwon a city where parenting is shared.”
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