HD Hyundai aims to double number of female employees by 2030

HD Hyundai Co., the world’s largest shipbuilding group, will introduce a childcare leave system to make the male-dominated conglomerate an attractive workplace for women juggling career and family.

The South Korean conglomerate, encompassing HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., HD Hyundai Infracore Co. and HD Hyundai Oilbank Co., said on Thursday the new family-friendly system is aimed at doubling the number of female employees across the group to 30% by 2030 from 16.8% in 2023.

The paid childcare leave will be offered to female employees with a child between the ages of six and eight for up to six months.

That is separate from the parental leave of up to one year granted to working parents under the law, in addition to the statutory three-month maternity leave.

The group’s subsidiaries with about 35,000 employees in total will also grant unpaid maternity leave for an additional month, alongside a cash gift of 5 million won ($3,800) per birth.

  
CHILDBIRTH SUPPORT

Female employees in their early and late stages of pregnancy will be able to reduce working hours and work from home.

Couples struggling with infertility will be allowed to take a five-day leave for fertility treatment, two days more than the statutory three-day leave.

FOSTERING FEMALE WORKERS

HD Hyundai also announced plans to promote more female workers to managerial roles by providing them with more opportunities to participate in management training and coaching programs.

The moves are in tandem with the government’s efforts to revive the birth rate already at the world’s lowest level.

“We need to improve workforce diversity and work-family balance to achieve sustainable growth,” said Chung Kisun, president and chief executive of HD Hyundai.

Starting this year, the group grants its employees a total of 18 million won in childcare subsidy per child for three years before entering elementary school.

HD Hyundai's subsidiaries run in-house children's daycare centers.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.