CJ Group, South Korea’s leading retail, food, and entertainment conglomerate, is about to lead changes in the Korean corporate culture that is notorious for long working hours without proper holidays by encouraging its employees to take more leaves and flexible working hours, as well as seek chances abroad to hone their talents.

CJ Group on Tuesday announced that it will adopt a more flexible working environment that will enable its employees to keep balance between work and personal life and encourage its employees to take months-long leaves to gain diverse experiences abroad. The group’s announcement comes about a week after its Chairman Lee Jae-hyun declared his official return to the helm after four years of absence due to his imprisonment from embezzlement and tax evasion. Lee was granted a special pardon by former President Park Geun-hye in August last year.

With his return, Lee has vowed to get the group’s various business projects stalled by his absence back on track and nurture new growth engines. Changing corporate culture is part of the company’s efforts to boost productivity that is essential to propel the growth.

According to CJ Group, it will allow employees with children in first grade at an elementary school to take a month-long holiday to help the children settle into a new environment. Both male and female employees will be encouraged to take two weeks of paid leave and another two weeks of unpaid leave to look after their first-grade children before and after they start school.

Also, as part of efforts to facilitate work-life balance for its employees, CJ Group will allow its employees to take two hours off from work in case of urgent family matters. The conglomerate will also extend the duration for paternity leave from the current five days - three paid and two unpaid days of leave - to two weeks of paid leaves.

Employees will also be able to apply for up to six months of leave to study overseas and go on a month-long vacation every five years to freshen up and spend time for self-development. They will be offered as little as 500,000 won ($445) and as much as 5 million won worth of vacation bonus depending on how long they have worked for the company.

CJ Group will also introduce flexible working hours that will allow employees to adjust their commuting hours and launch the campaign that bans bosses from sending work-related text messages outside of working hours.

By Lee Hee-soo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]