KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

Measures to apply industry-specific characteristics by business type

in the certification system for family-friendly corporations

 

Hong, Seung ah
Kim, Eun ji

 

The certification system for family-friendly corporations, which was introduced in 2008, has taken its solid base as one of the Korean government’s major projects for raising awareness of and creating a family-friendly social and corporate environment to build and expand a family-friendly corporate culture. At this juncture, new mid-to-long-term measures should be put together to complement institutional infrastructure so that the certification system can develop further and spread into other parts of the society. In particular, the certification system should be made more convenient and accessible for corporations to seek the certificate for family?friendly corporation, further developing the certification system as a highly practical and useful system supporting work-life balance of male and female workers.

The purpose of this study is to identify characteristics of corporations by their business type and how the certification system for family-friendly corporations is operated, and thus to examine the need for new measures to reflect characteristics of corporations depending on their business type and review measures to be newly introduced to make the certification system more reliable and valid. To that end, this study examines the necessity and feasibility of subdividing categories of certificates granted under the system by analyzing the current status of human resources management of corporations by business type and of the certification system. Then, this study proposes measures to reflect such different characteristics in the certification system.

For the above-mentioned purpose, this study conducts statistical analysis based on the data of certified family-friendly corporations, FGI (Focus Group Interview) on examiners who evaluate companies’ family-friendliness, expert advisory council, and carries out case studies on similar certification systems both at home and abroad. The results are as follows: The results of the analysis on corporations that are currently certificated as family-friendly demonstrate that the size of corporations and the composition of workforce within corporations, rather than different characteristics of corporations by business type, have effects on the implementation of the certification system. Particularly in case of SMEs, the age of workers within corporations are found to be closely associated with the implementation of the certification system. As a matter of fact, the age structure of workers in corporations is one of the most important factors affecting how well the certification system is run and how a family-friendly corporate culture is formed within corporations.

The results of FGI on examiners who evaluate companies’ family-friendliness also highlight that demographic characteristics of employees, such as whether corporations have workers who are in the age of childbearing and childrearing highly influence the selection process. Therefore, the age structure and gender composition of workers in corporations constitute key factors determining the selection of certificate winners under the system. The case studies on similar certification systems both at home and abroad also show that the size of corporation, rather than type of business, affects whether corporations are eligible for certification.

Based on such findings, this study concludes that it is too early to reflect characteristics by business type in the implementation of the certification system for family-friendly corporations. Nonetheless, this study suggests a gradual approach in reflecting characteristics by business type in the implementation of the certification system after an enough amount of data on corporations becomes available and alternative measures to reflect characteristics by business type.