Employees balancing work, caregiving, and personal life should become the new standard in personnel management to address South Korea’s declining birth rate and achieve better work-life integration. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Experts at a population strategy forum have called for a fundamental shift in workplace culture, arguing that employees balancing work, caregiving, and personal life should become the new standard in personnel management to address South Korea’s declining birth rate and achieve better work-life integration.
The forum, held on November 20 at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, was jointly organized by the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Korean Association of Personnel Administration.
Kang Min-jung, a researcher at the Korean Women’s Development Institute, noted that despite significant advances in work-family balance policies over the past decade — including maternity leave, parental leave, and reduced working hours for childcare — these programs are still predominantly utilized by women due to persistent gender role segregation.
Research presented at the forum showed that countries that have moved away from traditional gender roles of “male breadwinner, female caregiver” and increased male participation in household duties and childcare have seen increases in their birth rates.
“Work-family balance policies can only effectively address the low birth rate issue when they support work-life balance for both men and women,” Kang emphasized.
She introduced the concept of “flexibility stigma” — where managers and colleagues perceive employees using flexible work arrangements as less committed to their jobs, often resulting in disadvantages in promotions and assignments after parental leave.
To eliminate this stigma, Kang argued that work-life balance programs should be universally accessible regardless of gender, age, family structure, or employment status. She proposed redefining the standard worker profile in personnel management to recognize individuals who balance work, caregiving, and personal life.
The forum also addressed how the COVID-19 pandemic has blurred the boundaries between work and personal life. Kang suggested that personnel management should shift from a time-based to a task-based approach, advocating for the evolution of “work-life balance” to “work-life integration”.
Additional recommendations included consolidating employer subsidies for work-life balance initiatives to support hiring temporary replacements, and providing consulting services to help companies effectively manage temporary staff through internal work adjustments.
Joo Hyung-hwan, deputy chairman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, pledged that the government and public sector would take the lead in creating a society without “parenting penalties” by preventing disadvantages in promotions and job assignments due to parental leave.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
