Companies should contribute to resolving demographic issues

Lee In-sil, president of KPPIF. [Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

South Korean companies should focus on environmental, population, and governance (EPG) management to create a family-friendly working culture and help resolve population issues, according to Lee In-sil, president of the Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future (KPPIF).

“Companies should pay attention to the factor of population as they strive to build family-centered workplaces and make more contributions to ongoing demographic issues,” Lee said, during Vision Korea, an academic conference hosted by Maeil Business Newspaper on Wednesday.

The KPPIF, a research organization on demographic issues and their impacts on the country, proposed a shift in corporate focus from environmental, social, and governance (ESG) to EPG.

The organization introduced K-ESG, an alternative model tailored to address domestic population issues. The model involves a range of metrics to evaluate domestic companies‘ strategies at once and their efforts in tackling population issues.

Lee noted that companies’ role in addressing the demographic crisis faced by the country as a whole is more crucial than ever.

Maeil Business Newspaper and KPPIF analyzed the country’s top 20 companies by market capitalization and found that the average score of their contributions made to demographic issues stood at 66 points.

The highest points earned by a chip manufacturer fell short of reaching 80. Even financial companies, renowned for their relatively favorable balance between work and life, earned less than 60 points.