The government said on the 24th it will support corporations that adopt flexible work. The move aims to save energy and ease traffic congestion amid high oil prices caused by the Middle East war.
On the day, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) and the Metropolitan Transport Commission under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held a "corporate roundtable to promote flexible work" at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul. Attending were Minister Kim Young-hoon, Chairperson Kim Yong-seok of the commission, and six corporations including Mediquarters, which was selected last year as an exemplary work-life balance corporation.
The Minister said, "The government is supporting the entire process of adopting and operating flexible work—providing incentives, system support, consulting, and manuals—to ease corporations' burdens." The ministry is providing up to 252 million won in incentives to corporations that apply flexible work schemes such as staggered hours for parents of young children, work-from-home and remote work, and flextime.
Starting this year, it introduced the "10 a.m. start for parents of young children" program. The program supports employers who allow workers with young children to shorten their workday by one hour without a pay cut. The maximum support amount is 9 million won. A ministry official said, "We are pursuing improvements, such as removing the requirement that eligible workers with young children must have six months of service, and easing the submission of work rules and other regulations from 'mandatory' to 'recommended.'"
Commission Chairperson Kim Yong-seok said, "The commission has formed a pan-government task force (TF) and is also preparing measures to ease public transit rush-hour congestion, including promoting flexible work," adding, "We plan to announce them soon."