Lotte Group has started a bold initiative to promote a family-friendly corporate culture.
Lotte will be the first conglomerate to mandate paternity leave for all male employees next year. It will also pay 100 percent of their salary for the first month of their leave. This was the highlight of Lotte’s plan to help new parents which were announced during the Way of Women forum Wednesday. Starting next year, a male worker must take one month or longer off work after the birth of his child. Lotte will also expand childcare leave for women, extending the current one-year leave to two years.
Paternity leave was adopted in Korea in 2007, but many new dads have refused to apply for it due to reduced pay. Also Korean men still feel uneasy about leaving work for an extended period for fear of what their boss may think and other possible career disadvantages. Last year, men accounted for only 7.4 percent of workers taking childcare leave, which is considerably lower compared to European countries.
Lotte’s paid paternity leave is a laudable family-first policy that all companies across Korea should duplicate, particularly the big conglomerates that can set an example for the rest of the business sector. It is also a practical way to get fathers more involved in childcare, which is no longer just the mother’s job as many of them also work to make ends meet.
One of the reasons for Korea’s severely low birthrate is the old-fashioned corporate culture that is not conducive to starting a family. Koreans work some of the longest hours among OECD countries and even women still face prejudice and discrimination for taking maternity leave.
Korean companies should actively implement measures to assist new moms and dads, such as adopting flexible work hours and work-at-home programs and expanding paid childcare leave. This will help corporate competitiveness in the long run and contribute to improving Korea’s waning birthrate.