Korean companies are getting more and more proactive and creative to indulge employees with various benefits ranging from paying for house cleaning and meals to lengthy paid leave amid heated competition for experienced IT workers.

Mid-sized game developer Pearl Abyss provides employees house cleaning service and pet insurance policy. Employees with pets can receive insurance benefits for up to three pets for their medical services. They can also apply for house cleaning service once a month. The items have been selected as the most-wanted benefits by workers via a welfare idea contest.

Companies are also finding innovative ways to support food expenses for workers working from home. Yanolja, an accommodation booking platform, offers 10,000 won ($9) per day and a 50,000 won worth voucher that can be used at food delivery app Yogiyo for a month. Vendys, a mobile meal ticket app operator, allows employees who work remotely to order food at their home.

Employers are strategically beefing up their wellness programs to reduce stress and motivate inspiration for employees. Class101 Business, an online lecture platform for companies, provide its service to 92 companies including SK Telecom, Nike Korea and Samsung Card to allow their workers to take online courses about 1,000 or more subjects including arts, exercise, handicraft, programming and investment. LG Chem and Jeju Air and 60 or more companies provide free counseling services to enhance mental health of their workers in partnership with Humart Company, an operator of counseling app Trost.

In order to adapt to a workforce that is increasingly unmarried, some companies are devising benefits for single employees. Lush Korea designates the last Friday of May as ‘stay single day’ and gives 500,000 won cash gift and 10-day paid leave to employees who stay in the company for more than five years and choose not to get married. The company also provides 50,000 won worth pet caring benefits for the single employees. A company official said there are nine employees who declare that they will remain single.

Pet subscription box service provider Sandbag gives a day off to a worker whose pet has just died. It also pays 30,000 won pet insurance premium for workers with up to three pets.

Property platform operator Zigbang has a virtual reality office program where workers can access online as an avatar. They can have face-to-face communications with their colleagues and have a meeting at a conference room. The virtual office program is well received by workers who want to save their commuting hours and costs.

It is not only the startups but large and established companies are also working hard to fatten up benefits and perks for their employees to keep talents onboard.

Hanwha Group gives one-month leave to an employee who is promoted as a manager. The group also provides a leave of up to two years for career development and one-month paternity leave, twice longer than statutory period.

Steel making giant Posco allows workers with children aged less than eight to apply for full-day or half-day remote working. Full-day remote work can be used up to two years and half-day remote work is available for up to two years per child, meaning that an employee with two children can work from home for full day or half day for up to six years in total, according to a company official.

By Oh Dae-seok, Kim Geum-i and Choi Mira

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