How much is putting your career aside to have a baby worth? A $75,000 bonus, at the South Korean construction company Booyoung Group.
The Seoul-based firm is handing out 100 million Korean won ($75,000) each time an employee has a baby to help reverse the country’s declining birth rate—and it’s even backdating payments to those who started a family before the policy came into place.
“If the current state of low birth rates persists, we will face a national existential crisis such as workforce decline and a lack of defense manpower necessary for national security,” Lee Joong-keun, the founder and chairman of Booyoung Group, said at a staff meeting, according to multiple reports.
“The low birth rate results from financial burdens and difficulties in balancing work and family life, so we decided to take such a drastic measure.”
As well as awarding a total of 7 billion Korean won ($5.25 million) to employees who collectively had 70 babies since 2021, the construction giant’s “drastic” measures include potentially footing the bill for larger families’ rent.
“If land is provided by the government, for employees with three or more children, we’ll let them choose between a childbirth incentive equivalent for three newborns or a public-housing-like rental home [with no tenant tax burden or maintenance responsibilities],” the 84-year-old billionaire added.
What’s more, the no-strings-attached benefit will be available to both male and female employees at its 2,500-strong workforce, the company confirmed to CNN.
In addition to the childbirth incentive, Booyoung Group is reportedly already trying to ease the financial burden on parents by helping out with college tuition for employees’ children, medical expenses for direct family members, and child allowances.
On top of that, Joong-keun is proposing the state implement a new tax deduction system to waive corporate and income tax so the employees can receive full benefits of the parenting incentives and more companies can follow suit.
