Why Did Park Hee-young, Yongsan District Mayor, Hold a Meeting with Multi-Child Employees on Childcare?

Produced 'Yongsan-gu Employee Childbirth and Childcare Guidebook' to Shift Awareness of All Staff
On the 15th, Yongsan-gu Mayor Park Hee-young Spent About 1 Hour Talking with 8 Employees with Multiple Children
Promoting Use of Parental Leave and Childcare Time, Expanding Childcare Leave Implementation

According to a report released on the 15th by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI), the contribution of labor growth is expected to significantly decline due to low birth rates and aging population, dropping to 0.7% by 2040.

Yongsan-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Park Hee-young) will actively promote a shift in awareness and expanded support regarding childbirth and childcare among its employees to overcome low birth rates and achieve work-life balance.

It is necessary to build a consensus that childbirth and childcare are not individual issues but collective challenges that require the cooperation of all members of the organization.

First, the district will implement measures including ▲production of a childbirth and childcare guidebook ▲additional points in performance evaluations for employees with childcare responsibilities ▲expansion of childcare leave for child care ▲mandatory use of spouse childbirth leave ▲promotion of parental leave and infertility leave usage ▲activation of childcare time usage plans.

For the first time among Seoul’s autonomous districts, Yongsan-gu will produce the ‘Yongsan-gu Employee Childbirth and Childcare Guidebook’ to clearly organize various systems and inform employees. The plan is to ensure no employee misses out on benefits due to lack of awareness and to foster recognition that childbirth and childcare are societal issues to be solved together rather than burdens on other employees. Additionally, department heads will be encouraged to support their staff in utilizing these resources.

On the 15th, Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, held a one-hour discussion with eight employees raising children to talk about practical difficulties and ways to promote a family-friendly organizational culture.

One official participating in the discussion expressed, “Most employees feel sorry toward their colleagues and therefore do not use the childcare time available under the system,” highlighting the challenges faced.

Mayor Park emphasized, “We will strive to spread a family-friendly organizational culture where neither employees with childcare responsibilities nor those without feel burdened.”

Departments experiencing vacancies due to leave for childbirth, childcare, or infertility will be prioritized for staff replenishment. When employees return from parental leave, they will be given priority transfers within their preferred choices (such as placement near daycare centers) to reduce the burden on employers.

As an improvement measure, an incentive has been established granting three days of special leave to employees who cover for those using childcare time.

The district plans to revise related ordinances and regulations within the second half of the year to actively implement childbirth and childcare support policies.

Mayor Park Hee-young stated, “It is important not only to solve the low birth rate problem but also to create an organizational culture where work and life are balanced. We will actively gather employees’ opinions and reflect them in policies to improve our organizational culture first and thereby exert a positive influence throughout society.”

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