Introduction of Flexible Work After Parental Leave Raises Women's Employment Probability by 13% Points

Short-Term Impact on Job Retention and Tenure When Only Parental Leave Is Used

"Policy Focus Should Shift from Parental Leave to Post-Return Job Retention"

A study has found that the more flexible work arrangements are combined with parental leave, the higher the rate of job retention among women. Women who returned to companies that implemented flexible work policies after taking parental leave had a job retention probability at their second year of return that was more than 10 percentage points higher than those at companies without such measures.

On August 4, the Korean Women's Development Institute announced the results of its research on "Women's Labor Market and Work-Life Balance Policies," based on the Korea Labor Panel Survey (2015–2023), targeting women with children aged zero.

The results showed that women who took parental leave had a 9.8 percentage point higher probability of employment at the time of childbirth and parental leave than women who did not take such leave. In the short term, parental leave helped maintain employment status. However, the probability of employment decreased sharply after returning to work. One year after their return, the probability of employment had dropped by 12.6 percentage points from the time of their return, and the rate of decrease widened over time.

In contrast, women who worked at companies offering flexible work arrangements after utilizing parental leave were significantly more likely to be employed between two and four years after returning, compared to those at companies without such policies. Specifically, the employment probability was 13.4 percentage points higher in the second year of return, 9.2 percentage points higher in the third year, and 6.7 percentage points higher in the fourth year. The analysis concluded that flexible work policies offset much of the post-parental leave employment decline shock.

The use of flexible work arrangements after parental leave also affected job tenure. Without flexible work arrangements, the positive effect on tenure lasted only for the first year after returning to work. However, for women who combined parental leave with flexible work, the duration of their tenure in the fourth year after returning was 44% longer than that of women who did not utilize flexible work options.

The researchers proposed several key policy tasks: shifting from policies focusing solely on parental leave to those centering on post-leave job retention, expanding flexible work arrangements, implementing a phased and combined system of parental leave, reduced work hours, and flexible work; and strengthening infrastructure and labor management support to help small and medium-sized enterprises adopt flexible work systems.

Research Fellow Jung Sungmi stated, "The effects of parental leave are short-term and have limits in leading to long-term tenure." She added, "It is necessary to design policies that can systematically connect reduced working hours and flexible work arrangements after parental leave."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.