Seoul City Officials Doing 'Yuk-a' Work from Home Once a Week

City Officials with Children Under 8
Required to Work from Home Once a Week

Starting from the second half of this year, Seoul city officials with children under the age of 8 will be required to work from home once a week.

Based on the results of a survey conducted among 1,500 childcare public officials, Seoul announced on the 31st that it will implement a mandatory once-a-week work-from-home policy for public officials raising children under 8 years old, starting August 1.

The survey, conducted from April 19 to 22 among 1,490 childcare public officials working in the city, showed that the most common round-trip commuting time was between 1 hour and less than 2 hours at 48.6%, followed by 2 hours to less than 3 hours at 34.3%. 46.6% of respondents answered that "saving commuting time through telecommuting would allow them to support their children's school drop-off and pick-up."

Preference for telecommuting was also high. 88.3% of respondents supported the mandatory telecommuting policy, and 89.6% said that "telecommuting helps balance work and childcare."

Improvements will also be made to the existing "childcare time" system so that employees can use it without hesitation. According to the local government officials' work regulations, officials with children under 8 years old or in the second grade or below of elementary school can use 2 hours of childcare time per day for up to 36 months. Starting in August, the city plans to evaluate the usage rate of childcare time by department and commend departments with high usage rates quarterly. From next year, the city is also considering including the usage performance of telecommuting and flexible work by childcare public officials in the performance evaluation of officials at grade 4 or higher.

To support employees returning from parental leave in balancing childcare and work and adapting to the organization, job training and health programs will also be provided. By next month, psychological stabilization programs and job training will be prepared to help manage stress that may arise from balancing childcare and work.

To alleviate the high housing cost burden in Seoul compared to other cities and provinces, housing support for newlyweds and childcare public officials will be strengthened. In February, the city relaxed the criteria for recognizing newlyweds for Seoul city officials' jeonse (key money deposit) loan support from within 5 years of marriage to within 7 years, and the multi-child criteria from 3 children to 2 or more children. Next year, the city plans to expand the loan limit for jeonse loans targeting newlywed and multi-child employees.

Lee Dong-ryul, Director of the Seoul City Administration Bureau, said, "Since balancing work and childcare has long been considered an important clue to solving the low birthrate problem, Seoul City will take the lead in creating a workplace that is good for raising children," adding, "We hope that Seoul's efforts to foster a childbirth- and childcare-friendly organizational culture will spread to autonomous districts, affiliated organizations, and the private sector, becoming a starting point for overcoming the low birthrate crisis."

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