By Kim Bo-eun
Jung Eun-joo, 37, recalls years earlier when she put her first child in at her company's daycare center while working full time.
"Each morning I would take my child, who barely woke up from her sleep, to the center on my way to work," she said.
"It broke my heart when I went to pick her up after work at around 7 p.m., and she would be the only one left there."
Jung's company, Service Ace, which deals with customer calls for the mobile carrier SK Telecom, introduced its flexible work hour system in 2013. It also allowed employees to work from home.
After Jung gave birth to her second child, the struggles only became harder for her to take both children to the center, so in September she decided to cut down her daily working hours from eight to six.
"Now I am the first parent to arrive at the center to pick up my children, and they are really happy about that," Jung said.
"I am also able to cook proper meals for dinner and have time to actually play with them before they go to bed ― the flexible working system has allowed me more time to improve my relationship with my children."
Service Ace is a "family-friendly company" certified by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for its work-life balance. In 2012, the company opened a daycare center for its employees, of whom 71 percent are women and 44 percent are married.
As the company introduced more family-friendly elements, its turnover rate decreased significantly.
The retailer Shinsegae Group, which received the certification in 2014, allows female employees to take an extra year of childcare leave beyond the one year set by the government. Although the leave is unpaid, the company recognizes the period as part of employees' working career. A total of 146 workers used the system as of last year.
A total of 1,828 workplaces across the country have so far received the ministry's certification, which was introduced to tackle Korea's chronically low birthrate and improve the quality of employees' lives. The workplaces include government organizations, conglomerates and small- and medium-sized companies.
The certification is awarded based on the rate of employees taking childcare leave, flexible working hours for childcare, and the rate of employees who return after taking childcare leave, among numerous factors.
To encourage more workplaces to join, the government provides various incentives for certified companies such as advantages when bidding for government projects.
Jung Eun-joo, 37, recalls years earlier when she put her first child in at her company's daycare center while working full time.
"Each morning I would take my child, who barely woke up from her sleep, to the center on my way to work," she said.
"It broke my heart when I went to pick her up after work at around 7 p.m., and she would be the only one left there."
Jung's company, Service Ace, which deals with customer calls for the mobile carrier SK Telecom, introduced its flexible work hour system in 2013. It also allowed employees to work from home.
After Jung gave birth to her second child, the struggles only became harder for her to take both children to the center, so in September she decided to cut down her daily working hours from eight to six.
"Now I am the first parent to arrive at the center to pick up my children, and they are really happy about that," Jung said.
"I am also able to cook proper meals for dinner and have time to actually play with them before they go to bed ― the flexible working system has allowed me more time to improve my relationship with my children."
Service Ace is a "family-friendly company" certified by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for its work-life balance. In 2012, the company opened a daycare center for its employees, of whom 71 percent are women and 44 percent are married.
As the company introduced more family-friendly elements, its turnover rate decreased significantly.
The retailer Shinsegae Group, which received the certification in 2014, allows female employees to take an extra year of childcare leave beyond the one year set by the government. Although the leave is unpaid, the company recognizes the period as part of employees' working career. A total of 146 workers used the system as of last year.
A total of 1,828 workplaces across the country have so far received the ministry's certification, which was introduced to tackle Korea's chronically low birthrate and improve the quality of employees' lives. The workplaces include government organizations, conglomerates and small- and medium-sized companies.
The certification is awarded based on the rate of employees taking childcare leave, flexible working hours for childcare, and the rate of employees who return after taking childcare leave, among numerous factors.
To encourage more workplaces to join, the government provides various incentives for certified companies such as advantages when bidding for government projects.
