2-Hour Leave and 11 AM Start... "Planning for a Second Child Too!"

Asia Economy & Seoul City Joint Project [Work-Life Balance 2.0 Era]

Work-Life Balance Strong Small Business_Seongmin Comprehensive Social Welfare Center, Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Always Hiring Childcare Leave Replacements to Avoid Peer Pressure
Subsidies Remain When Team Leaders with 8-10 Years Experience Take Leave

Group photo after staff training (Provided by Seongmin General Social Welfare Center)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Welfare centers are often considered workplaces where achieving work-life balance is difficult, to the extent that there is a saying, "Parental leave is no different from resignation." According to the 2019 Seoul Social Workers' Working Conditions Survey, the perception of work-family balance scored 3.09 out of 5, which is relatively low. This represents a 0.4-point drop compared to the same survey in 2016. Additionally, social workers employed at welfare centers are known to have long working hours but receive relatively poor treatment. The average length of service is 85.6 months (7 years and 1 month), which is relatively short. The workforce is also predominantly female (72.4%) compared to male (27.6%).

To overcome this reality, Seongmin Comprehensive Social Welfare Center in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, has been continuously striving since 2015 to fulfill the work-life balance of its members. They have received consulting from the Seoul Work-Life Balance Support Center, which is very unusual for a social welfare center. Seongmin Comprehensive Social Welfare Center always hires substitutes for employees on parental leave. This is to ensure that those taking parental leave do not feel pressured and that work is not disrupted.

Even team leaders and above are no exception. If a team leader takes parental leave, a senior employee within the team acts as a proxy, and the substitute takes over that employee’s duties. Since personnel expenses can only be paid through city, county, or district subsidies, when employees with 8 to 10 years of service take leave, the substitute’s lower salary grade actually results in leftover subsidy funds.

Team leader Go Su-eun, who has been working at Seongmin Comprehensive Social Welfare Center for eight years, is currently on parental leave after the birth of her second child. Team leader Go said, "A flexible atmosphere for maternity and parental leave was naturally formed, which allowed me to plan for a second child," adding, "This was thanks to the institution’s consideration to reduce my work burden."

10 Minutes of Work-Life Balance Discussion During Meetings
Employee Clubs Established with One Half-Day Off Per Month
Break Room Also Provided

Nam Mi-ran, head of the Welfare Business Team with a child in the fourth grade of elementary school, is the biggest beneficiary of the '2-hour annual leave' system. Originally, the leave system only allowed half-day and full-day leaves, but now it can be used in 2-hour increments. Nam explained, "I have a total of 21 days of annual leave, and I used half of it in 2-hour increments," adding, "I used this during the COVID-19 pandemic due to issues with my child’s lunch."

Nam also used reduced working hours when her child entered elementary school. She worked from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. She said, "When I come to work in the morning, employees bring summaries of approvals or reports to me," adding, "Since it wasn’t a complete leave of absence, there was no major disruption to work."

Seongmin Comprehensive Social Welfare Center dedicates 10 minutes during meetings to discuss "what policies employees think should change to better support work-family balance." This time is used to talk about additional policies needed beyond legal ones like maternity or parental leave.

Through this, the '11 a.m. Day' was created, where employees start work at 11 a.m. once a month and leave on time, and a break room where employees can take short naps was established. Employees can also take a half-day off once a month for club activities. Pregnant female workers work reduced hours.

Pilates session of the employee club 'Inbody' (Provided by Seongmin General Social Welfare Center)

The wishes of employees, such as "Even if on-call pay is provided, they do not want to be on call," were also reflected. On-call duty is included in working hours. For example, if an employee works on call from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., they can delay their start time on another day by the 2 hours and 30 minutes of extra work. For instance, if they come in at 11:30 a.m. the day after on-call duty, they can leave at 6 p.m. Park Mi-sol, planning team leader of the Welfare Administration Team, said, "Most employees use this when there is no urgent work," adding, "In exceptional cases when it cannot be used, it is compensated with overtime pay."

Seongmin Comprehensive Social Welfare Center also operates a 'supervision time' where supervisors proactively approach employees to ask if they have any concerns. This time is more for candid discussions about personal difficulties such as childcare rather than work-related issues. This was established because Director Seok Ki-sung felt there were moments when he wished employees had spoken up earlier during his interactions with them.

Team Leader Go Su-eun, Working for 8 Years
"Flexible Atmosphere Allowed Me to Plan for a Second Child"

Director Seok said, "It is still not easy for busy supervisors to say, 'Please spare some time,'" adding, "The process of organizing one’s concerns with a supervisor and sharing them to resolve unresolved issues provides stability and helps the organization grow."

There are cases where employees who reduce their working hours due to pregnancy or childcare face disadvantages in organizational evaluations. The main reason is that they are perceived as having 'done less work' compared to other employees. Regarding this, Director Seok said it is problematic to evaluate employees in different life circumstances solely based on the amount of work. He added, "In the case of reduced working hours during childcare, there is a difference in salary, and during pregnancy, although there is no salary difference, the individual bears the hardship," emphasizing, "The driving force behind the welfare center is each and every colleague, including myself, so everyone is special."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.