Chang Hyun-jeong, a staff with KT&G Gyeonggi Province Headquarters on a paternity leave.

KT&G has been stepping up moves to support expecting mothers by extending paternity leave and childcare allowances.

KT&G is changing its corporate regulations to allow employees to take time off from conception to the birth date, plus the company will provide at least 1 million won. This is an extension of the normal paternity leave granted to new mothers after birth.

The tobacco and ginseng company also reformed its regulations to allow employees to take up to three months off at any time in the two years after their child was born. The company will double its childcare fund to 2 million won from 1 million won from the second year. Employees who take the allotted time off at the same year will get 3 million won in childcare from the company.

The company also changed its regulations so that employees returning from caring from their children be assigned to the same positions they held before leaving, to relieve their anxiety that they may not return to the same job. The company also changed regulations on performance evaluations so that employees who had time off for child birth get the same grade in the evaluations as before they took time off.  

Thanks to the moves by the company, the number of employees taking time off to care for their newborns increased 147 percent last year from just 19 in 2014. The number is likely to continue to expand with the company encouraging more employees to take time off. In the past five years, seven employees annually took extra paternity leave on average, but last year 21 took time off, and 47 of them were male employees.

As a result of the company’s family-friendly management policies, KT&G won the Family-Friendly Excellent Company Recognition from the Ministry of Female Family in 2015, which was followed by the recognition from the Ministry of Employment and Labor as an outstanding non-discriminatory employer of both sexes, winning the Ministerial Citation. KT&G officials has said that sound homes for their employees is the root for dedicated and loyal employees, and KT&G will continue to diversify its welfare systems for employees to encourage support. (Corporate PR) 

Former Minister Lee Ki-kwon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, left, holds the Letter of  Citation given to Manager Kim Tae-sob of the KT&G Strategic Planning Headquarters naming KT&G as the top company for the gender equality and paternity leaves in Korea for 2017  during a ceremony for the Gender Equality Period at KT&G in August, 2017. (Photos: KT&G)