Banks bolster benefits for single workers

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By Lee Kyung-min

Banks are introducing various employment benefits for single workers, a growing number of whom are demanding equal treatment as their married peers, industry sources said Wednesday.

Citibank Korea is considering changing its health benefit policy under which workers and only their spouses are eligible to take a yearly physical paid by the firm.

Workers there demand that they choose one person that is not their spouse, claiming it could be one of their parents for whom the regular physical would be a substantial out-of-pocket payment without the firm's coverage ― around 600,000 won ($515).

The workers' demand was forwarded to the management after an increasing number of workers said the current employment benefits are designed to discriminate against single workers.

“Many workers are single and they may not have plans to get married any time soon, so they may find the current system discriminatory given most of the benefits are designed to support married workers,” a Citibank Korea official said.

The demand from Citibank has already been accepted at Shinhan Bank which pays for a yearly physical for a worker and a person chosen by him or her.

“Previously, only spouses of bank workers were eligible, but now workers can choose their parents. This acknowledges single workers' demands,” a Shinhan official said.

Shinhan will also pay 100,000 won to single workers on their birthday, the same amount given to married workers on their wedding anniversary.

Already in 2018, Woori Bank began paying for a physical for either of the parents of single workers aged over 35 every other year.

“The revision was made to give equal benefits to workers regardless of whether they are married or not. Many single workers welcomed the revision and their morale was boosted.”

State lender Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) increased pay in May 2019 for single workers who are relocated to remote regions as a result of the yearly reshuffle.

This is an improvement from previous policy whereby only married workers were eligible to seek financial compensation for having to move out of their current residence ― usually Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi area.

“The revision was made following acknowledgement that living in a new, remote area has no major relevance to whether one is married or not. Alone or with someone, you have to live there just the same,” an IBK official said.

Woori Bank workers attend a makeup lesson organized for only single workers at Hyundai Department Store in central Seoul March 27. Courtesy of Woori Bank

The collective move to strengthen single worker rights is in line with growing voices within firms seeking equal benefit regardless of marital status.

“The beneficiaries of the current system are mostly for married workers with children with benefits concerning tuition, child allowances and birthdays of spouses' parents. Single workers cannot claim a thing, and they are rightfully asking revisions,” said an industry official who asked not to be named

Statistics Korea 2018 data showed 2.22 million people were classified as living in a single-person household in 2000, accounting for only 15 percent of the total. In 2018, however, the number rose to 5.84 million people, accounting for 29.2 percent of the population.