It was found that there was a large gap in the use of work-family balance systems to overcome low birth rates, such as parental leave, between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises. The larger the company, the more advantageous it was in all aspects, including the possibility of using the parental leave system, the period of use, and treatment after returning.
According to the Korea Women’s Policy Institute’s ‘Survey on Work-Family Balance as of 2023’ on the 5th, 55.7% of respondents responded that they were ‘well aware’ of the parental leave system, and 23.2% responded that they had ‘heard of it.’ . About 80% are aware of the parental leave system. This survey was conducted on approximately 5,000 businesses with five or more full-time employees.
However, regarding the availability of the childcare leave system, only 61.4% of all respondents answered that ‘everyone who needs it can use it.’ 20.9% said that ‘some people who need it can use it’ and 17.7% said that ‘even those who need it cannot use it at all’. The response rate of ‘It can be used by everyone who needs it’ increased by 8.9 percentage points compared to the previous year, while the response rate of ‘It cannot be used at all’ decreased by 2.7 percentage points.
In particular, the mixed usage rates depending on business size were noticeable. While 55.4% of businesses with 5 to 9 employees responded that parental leave is available to everyone who needs it, 94.1% of businesses with 300 or more employees answered this. The proportion of respondents who said, ‘Even those who need it cannot use it at all’ was 22.6% for businesses with 5 to 9 employees, while it was only 2.3% for businesses with 300 or more employees. Businesses with 10 to 29 employees accounted for 14.3%, businesses with 30 to 99 employees 9.5%, and businesses with 100 to 299 employees 1.7%. The smaller the business, the higher the proportion of people who needed parental leave but were unable to use it.
The actual use of the parental leave system was 7.8% for those with 5 to 9 employees and 10.3% for those with 10 to 29 employees, while it was 35.2% for those with 100 to 299 employees and 55.1% for those with 300 or more employees. The average period of parental leave available was also longer in large companies, at 11.8 months for businesses with 5 to 9 employees and 12.6 months for businesses with 300 or more employees.
Regarding the form of return after childcare leave, the most common response was ‘Continue to work after returning’ at 71.8%, while the proportion of ‘Quit without returning’ was 13.2%. By business size, businesses with 5 to 9 employees had the lowest response of ‘continuing to work after returning’ at 67.4%, while those with 300 or more employees had the highest at 89.9%, again showing a large gap.
While there was unfavorable treatment across businesses in terms of promotions after returning, the severity was less severe depending on the size of the business. The ‘Act on Equal Employment Opportunity for Men and Women and Support for Work-Family Balance’ (Article 19) stipulates that the period of childcare leave is included in the period of employment and that there should not be dismissal or other unfavorable treatment.
However, 46.0% of businesses that can use the parental leave system responded that ‘the period of parental leave is not included in the period required for promotion.’ 23.7% said that ‘only part of the period of childcare leave is included in the period required for promotion.’ Only 30.2% stated that ‘the entire period of childcare leave is included in the period required for promotion.’
However, the proportion of ‘the entire period of childcare leave is included in the promotion period’ was 27.7% for those with 5 to 9 employees, 33.9% for those with 100 to 299 employees, and 33.9% for those with 300 or more employees, which was higher the larger the business.
The most common reason for not being able to use the parental leave system was ‘overload of colleagues and managers’ at 36.0%, followed by ‘due to unusable work atmosphere or culture’ at 33.0%, ‘because of difficulty in finding replacement workers’ at 26.0%, and ‘additional’ at 36.0%. This was followed by 4.9% due to the burden of labor costs due to hiring human resources.
Reporter Kim Ye-yoon yeah@donga.com