Only 2.9% of employees apply for childcare hour reduction: Survey

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) Only 2.9 percent of employees at companies with more than 30 workers have applied to reduce their work hours for childcare reasons in the past year, according to a survey released Friday by the Ministry of Labor (MOL).

Under Taiwan's law, employees at companies with 30 or more employees who are caring for children under the age of 3 can request a one-hour reduction in their daily work hours without pay, or apply for an adjustment of work hours. Employees at smaller companies can also negotiate similar arrangements with their employers.

The survey found that 81.4 percent of companies said they would allow hour-reduction requests, with approved reductions averaging 1.1 hours per day.

Approval rates exceeded 94 percent in industries involved in public administration and defense, publishing and ICT, as well as electricity and gas supply.

Among companies that allowed employees to reduce their work hours, 90.1 percent did not provide pay for the reduced hour, while 5.8 percent offered full pay and 4 percent provided partial pay.

If the law required employers to pay wages for the reduced hour, 25.8 percent of companies said they would still permit the arrangement.

Companies that rejected requests most commonly cited the availability of alternative leave options (76.2 percent), staffing constraints (20.5 percent), and the nature of their business operations (11.1 percent).

The MOL conducted the survey in August and September last year, collecting responses from 3,243 employers and 6,920 employees, including 4,802 women and 2,118 men, as part of its employment equality studies.