SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free has been awarded the accolade of ‘Work-Life Balance Excellence Company’ for 2025 by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
The selection, announced on 27 November, was made through a comprehensive evaluation covering quantitative metrics. These included flexible work and parental leave usage, along with qualitative measures that promote improved work practices and a culture that supports work-childcare balance.
Recognised companies receive incentives, including a three-year exemption from regular labour inspections and additional points in family-friendly and leisure-friendly certification systems.
Lotte Duty Free achieved strong evaluations for its flexible work policies and for support programmes that help employees balance their work and childcare needs.
Flexible work practices are firmly in place across the company, with about 80% of headquarters staff using a flextime system that allows 30-minute start and end time adjustments, and all store employees operating under a bi-weekly flexible hours programme.
We will continue to support the balance between work and life for our employees and strive to become a company where people of all genders and ages enjoy working
– Lotte Duty Free Head of the Management Support Division Park Sang-ho
The company was further commended for advancing a supportive environment for employees balancing work and childcare, with multiple family-friendly programmes.
Lotte Duty Free’s family-focused programmes exceed legal requirements, providing strong support for employees balancing work and childcare. Female employees can access practical benefits during pregnancy and childbirth, including infertility treatment leave (twice in six months) and unpaid pre-natal leave for up to ten months.
In addition, the company expanded its child-rearing support system starting this year, increasing extended childcare leave eligibility from age 8 to 12, and allowing male employees up to one year of elementary child-rearing leave from school entry to age 12.
These programmes have resulted in parental leave usage rates of 94% for women and 83% for men across the company, confirming a gender-inclusive environment that allows employees to balance work and childcare.
Lotte Duty Free Head of the Management Support Division Park Sang-ho said: “We are pleased that Lotte Duty Free’s excellent internal welfare programmes and corporate culture have been externally recognised.
“We will continue to support the balance between work and life for our employees and strive to become a company where people of all genders and ages enjoy working.”
This recognition builds on the company’s track record of accolades, reflecting its strong corporate culture, including previous awards for outstanding labour-management practices and certifications as a family-friendly and leisure-friendly company.
Lotte Duty Free noted its sustained efforts to reinforce an employee-centred culture through initiatives such as professional psychological counselling offered eight times a year and the operation of a Junior Board and Organizational Culture Task Force. ✈
