Kwangju Bank Launches 'Low Birthrate Overcoming Challenge' to Promote Work-Family Balance Culture

Goh Byungil, President of Gwangju Bank, participated in the 'Financial Sector Relay Challenge to Overcome the Low Birthrate Crisis.' Photo by Gwangju Bank

Gwangju Bank (President Ko Byungil) announced on the 13th that it has participated in the ‘Financial Sector Relay Challenge to Overcome the Low Birth Rate Crisis’ to address the low birth rate crisis and promote a culture of work-life balance.

This campaign aims to establish a balanced work and family culture and to spread a family-friendly organizational culture.

Ko Byungil, President of Gwangju Bank, and employees with multiple children took certification photos holding placards containing birth encouragement policies, which will be posted on Gwangju Bank’s social networking services (SNS) to further spread the significance of the campaign.

Gwangju Bank is not limiting its efforts to temporary campaign participation but is also operating practical birth encouragement policies.

These include encouraging parental leave, providing childbirth celebration support, supporting infertility treatment costs, providing child care and education subsidies, and operating an in-house daycare center. Furthermore, in addition to the legally mandated parental leave, the bank supports an additional 18 months of leave per child and actively encourages male employees to take parental leave.

In addition, the bank operates a multi-child birth support fund, providing up to 15 million KRW depending on the number of children. Infertility treatment costs are supported up to 5 million KRW per year, and various financial supports such as kindergarten subsidies, congratulatory payments for high school and university admissions, and college tuition for children are also provided.

Beyond these supports, since 2018, the bank has implemented a policy to delay the start of the workday to 10 a.m. from March to May at the beginning of each school year to ease the morning burden for parents of first-grade elementary school students.

Recognized for these efforts, Gwangju Bank received the Grand Prize for ‘Excellent Work-Life Balance Company in Gwangju’ in 2021 and the ‘Child Welfare Merit Organization’ commendation from the Mayor of Gwangju in 2023, becoming a model for local companies.

Ko Byungil, President of Gwangju Bank, stated, “Gwangju Bank will continue to pursue various policies to achieve work-life balance,” and added, “We will do our best to establish ourselves as a company that draws social attention to the issue of population decline in the local community.”