Billionaire construction company CEO offers employees £60k bonus to have babies

02 March 2024 , 14:31

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A pregnant woman is pictured working at a des (file image) (Image: Getty Images)

A billionaire boss is handing employees the equivalent of £60,000 if they have choose to have a baby.

Booyoung Group, a construction firm, says the policy is designed to try to help reverse South Korea’s declining birth rate. It is even backdating payments to those who started a family before the policy came into place.

Lee Joong-keun, the founder and chairman of the group, said: "If the current state of low birth rates persists, we will face a national existential crisis such as workforce decline and a lack of defence manpower necessary for national security. The low birth-rate results from financial burdens and difficulties in balancing work and family life, so we decided to take such a drastic measure."

The country's birth rate has plunged over the decades to around 0.84 births per woman currently. It is well below other Asian countries, including North Korea and Japan. Life expectancy in South Korea is around 83. As well as awarding a total of seven billion Korean won (£4.15 million) to employees who collectively had 70 babies since 2021, the construction giant’s "drastic" measures include potentially footing the bill for larger families' rent.

"If land is provided by the government, for employees with three or more children, we'll let them choose between a childbirth incentive equivalent for three newborns or a public housing-like rental home [with no tenant tax burden or maintenance responsibilities]," Mr Joong-keun, 84, added.

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President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is trying to address the country's declining birth rate (Getty Images)

The no-strings-attached benefit will be available to both male and female employees at its 2,500-strong workforce, the company confirmed to CNN. In addition to the childbirth incentive, Booyoung Group is reportedly already trying to ease the financial burden on parents by helping out with college tuition for employees’ children, medical expenses for direct family members, and child allowances.

On top of that, Joong-keun is also proposing the state implement a new tax deduction system to waive corporate and income tax so the employees can receive full benefits of the parenting incentives and more companies can follow suit.

Bradley Jolly