April 20, 2024

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HanmiGlobal Chairman Kim Jong-hoon (HanmiGlobal)

South Korean construction management firm HanmiGlobal announced a new welfare policy Friday under which it will promote any employee who will have a third child, and offer financial support for all workers expecting a child.

The company said any employee expecting a third child will be promoted, regardless of the employee’s performance or the length of their service at the company.

For those employees who will have a fourth child, HanmiGlobal will give financial support for hiring babysitters for a year-long period. The company will also provide them with a paid maternity leave period of 30 days, in addition to the 90-days of maternity leave that the country’s law entitles.

The company added that employees will also be paid during the 90-days of maternity leave.

The company also said employees the time spent on parental leave, which can be as long as two years, will be included in the length of service at the company, which is considered during promotion reviews.

Beside its third- and fourth-child policy, HanmiGlobal said the company will also provide employees getting married with a mortgage of up to 100 million won ($77,514) to help them find housing.

The latest change in the company’s welfare policy came amid the country’s low birth rate and decreasing population, the company said.

“HanmiGlobal is considering introducing additional benefits to those employees who are expecting children,” an official from HanmiGlobal said. “The company will add more family-friendly policies and achieve a fertility rate of 2 within a decade,” the official added.

South Korea’s fertility rate, the average number of children born to a woman in her reproductive years, reached 0.78 in 2022, according to Statistics Korea.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)