Employers are coming up with a plethora of ideas to help boost Korea¡¯s worryingly low birthrate, with incentives ranging from the sensible to the bizarre. Maternity leave events and maternity lounges, birth bonuses and child rearing support are all on the list, as are ¡°sterility sabbaticals.¡±
Cho, 30, had been trying to have children for four years, and applied for a sterility sabbatical earlier from her employer, Shinhan Bank. Adopted last November, the sabbatical gives women a year off so they can try to conceive. And indeed, within a month of taking her break, Cho was pregnant with twins. Three of her colleagues are also on leave trying to get pregnant.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been holding maternity events since last year for employees returning from their three-month maternity leave. Just before they come back to work, their section chief gives them a call and their teammates present them with diapers and a large card with congratulatory messages. The section chief also gives them a duty briefing to bring them up to speed.
LG Life Sciences Research Institute meanwhile set up a feeding room last month that has been getting good reviews from employees.
Kim, who is in her third month of pregnancy, said, ¡°Since the company thinks its important for women to get pregnant, the sense of being a burden has disappeared.¡± The new programs all have one thing in common: they represent a marked shift from the days when male employers used to wonder whether women can do their job properly if they become pregnant.
(Lee Seong-hun, inout@chosun.com )
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