SK on doubles parental leave to address low birthrate

[Coutesy of SK on]

South Korea’s SK on announced on Monday that it will double its employees’ parental leave to 2 years, a proactive move to help tackle the country’s declining birth rate. The current statutory parental leave period is one year.

SK on said any employee requiring childcare for children under the age of 8 could use the benefit. They will be able to choose between taking a year of parental leave followed by one year of reduced work or two years of reduced work followed by two years of parental leave.

The number of employees taking parental leave is expected to increase significantly moving forward as the average age of employees is 34.5 years old, which is close to the average marriage and childbearing ages in the country.

SK on also offers a pre-natal leave program for pregnant women, allowing expecting mothers to take leave for up to 3 months before giving birth on top of the statutory maternity leave of 90 days.