CJ CheilJedang is supporting its employees through its family-oriented policies.
South Korea’s low birth rate remains the lowest in the world and has garnered global attention as highlighted by a feature on CBS News. With the country’s population expected to decrease by more than a quarter by 2070, the Korean government and companies are hoping to encourage families to have children by providing benefits to their citizens and employees.
CBS Mornings aired on March 15th, took an in-depth look at CJ CheilJedang’s childcare support policy as part of the company’s efforts to address the declining birthrate. This week, CJ Newsroom explores some of these policies.
Lifting Up Women and Families
With various factors contributing to why people are choosing to not have children, more individuals worry that a lack of support systems and resources, such as childcare and financial benefits, will make raising children difficult.
However, CJ CheilJedang is taking steps to combat these issues with its family-oriented policies. One of the benefits highlighted by CBS includes extra paid leave for pregnant employees, providing them with the convenience to attend doctor’s appointments on a regular basis. Because CJ CheilJedang recognizes that maternity care is responsible by both parents, it has extended the prenatal leave previously applied only to female employees to male employees. This change enables male employees to commit to and spend meaningful moments with their families. Additionally, when employees with children return to work, there is the in-office free daycare center called CJ Kidsville that allows employees to drop off their children during working hours, removing the hurdle of having to seek out often costly childcare that may be out of the way of the office or home.
Aside from the policies mentioned in the news, CJ also offers reduced office hours and leave for newborn care and other childcare activities, giving employees with children the necessary flexibility to fulfill their work and parental duties. For employees undergoing fertility treatment, CJ offers additional paid leave and financial support to help them start and grow their families.
Growing the Future Generation
Through these initiatives, CJ CheilJedang hopes to help women and families, with the ultimate goal of increasing South Korea’s birth rate as well as its employees’ lifestyles. Support programs and benefits such as the ones provided by CJ CheilJedang are crucial to providing employees with the tools they need to raise children, helping to grow the next generation by assisting the present one.
