"Extra Points for Companies with High Parental Leave Usage Among Employees"... 50 'Seoul-type Small Giants' Preferred by Youth Selected

① 2.36 Million KRW Monthly Wage Support for Youth Interns Replacing Parental Leave Workers, Up to 23 Months
② Up to 15 Million KRW Support per Youth Hire, Up to 3 People
③ Consulting to Promote Child-Friendly and Work-Life Balance Corporate Culture... Loan Interest Rate Discount of 0.5% Up to 3 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 14th, Seoul City announced that it will select and support 50 Seoul-type Small Giant Companies to simultaneously address the worsening management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and youth unemployment, and to spread child-friendly and work-life balance corporate cultures preferred by young people.

The Seoul-type Small Giant Company support project, which has been promoted since 2016, has selected and supported a total of 551 companies to date. This year, applications will be accepted from the 14th, followed by document screening, on-site inspection, and interview evaluation, with the final selection results announced at the end of September. In particular, this year, the selection evaluation criteria have been improved by newly adding the ‘rate of parental leave usage by current employees’ item to focus on selecting and supporting companies with child-friendly organizational cultures preferred by young people.

First, to alleviate the difficulties of SMEs in Seoul where parental leave was difficult due to manpower shortages, the monthly labor cost of 2.36 million KRW for ‘young interns replacing employees on parental leave’ will be supported for up to 23 months, covering the period from three months before the employee’s leave, during the leave, and three months after returning.

In particular, through joint work after returning, the program helps create an organizational culture where flexible work for childcare and maternity protection leave can be used without burden, as well as smooth handover of duties. Through this, SMEs can resolve the work gap caused by employees on parental leave, and young interns are provided with opportunities to gain work experience and strengthen their skills at excellent SMEs.

Additionally, if a youth aged 18 to 34 residing in Seoul is newly hired as a regular employee, a ‘work environment improvement fund’ of 15 million KRW per person will be supported for up to three people. The support fund can be used for welfare expenses such as rest and convenience facilities, installation and improvement of childcare facilities, marriage and childbirth congratulatory money, and self-development expenses. It can also be used for quarantine costs due to COVID-19, ‘organizational adaptation training,’ and ‘organizational culture workshops’ for new employees.

To foster child-friendly and work-life balance corporate cultures, customized consulting by experts will also be provided to selected companies. For new Small Giant Companies, a survey diagnosing the level of work-life balance will be conducted in advance, and based on this, consultants from the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family will visit and provide customized consulting according to the level.

Furthermore, to support youth employment, a dedicated recruitment section for Seoul-type Small Giant Companies is operated on the private job portal (Job Korea), and benefits such as a preferential loan interest rate of 0.5% up to 3 billion KRW per company are also provided.

Eligibility requires companies certified by public institutions, and the final selected companies will be announced at the end of September after thoroughly evaluating job quality and corporate capabilities, including the rate of increase in regular employees, sales and operating profit, regular employee ratio and wage level, welfare level, operation of gender equality systems, and operation of work-life balance systems.

Shin Dae-hyun, Director of Seoul City’s Job Policy Division, said, “We will actively discover and nurture SMEs with organizational cultures preferred by young people among those struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, continuously create quality youth jobs, and spread child-friendly organizational cultures.”

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