Press Releases
[The Chosun Daily] Less Than 50 Employees, Yet “Our Family-Friendly Benefits Rival Those of Large Corporations”
Employees pose for a commemorative photo holding pictures and toys of their children
at U2XLAB’s headquarters office in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, on the 7th.
Although U2XLAB has fewer than 50 employees, the company is said to have many long-serving employees
thanks to its family-friendly policies and benefits comparable to those offered by large corporations.
For Song Young-hoon (43, Assistant Manager), an employee at the small and medium-sized enterprise U2XLab, the third Friday of every month is “family dining day.” This family tradition began after Song joined the company early last year, thanks to the company’s “Family Day” program, which allows employees to leave work two hours earlier than usual.
“At first, I wondered how much of a difference leaving work two hours early would really make. But once I experienced it, I realized those two hours meant a lot to my family,” Song said. “Now, my two daughters look forward to Family Day and even ask when it will be each month.”
U2XLab is a clinical trial analysis services company that analyzes samples commissioned by pharmaceutical companies and drug developers and delivers the results. Although the company has only 48 employees, employees say that “when it comes to family-friendly benefits, we have nothing to envy about large corporations.”
In addition to a flexible working-hours system that allows employees to start work anytime between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. and complete their eight-hour workday, U2XLab operates a two-hour reduced-workday program, known as Family Day, on the third Friday of every month. Employees can also use annual leave in one-hour increments rather than only in full-day or half-day units. When a child needs to visit a hospital, for example, employees can work remotely instead of coming into the office.
Among these benefits, employees cite the flexible working-hours system as the one they appreciate most. Employees can adjust their start time down to the minute between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. according to their personal schedules. They can even set a different start time each day rather than maintaining a fixed schedule.
On days when they need to take their children to school or daycare, employees can arrive at work after completing drop-off. Likewise, if they have a medical appointment or need to visit a bank, they can simply adjust their start time without having to obtain separate approval from the company.
Kim Jae-hee (43), a team leader at the company’s analysis center, said, “At my previous job, I had to rely heavily on my mother-in-law to help with dropping off and picking up my children. Now, thanks to the flexible working-hours system, I can take my younger child to kindergarten and then come to work.”
The system has reduced the burden of childcare while allowing employees to spend more time with their children.
At U2XLab, employees actively use “hourly annual leave” in addition to full-day and half-day leave. Introduced in 2021, the system allows employees to enter the number of hours of leave they need into the company’s internal system, with the corresponding amount deducted from their remaining annual leave balance.
Tasks that previously would have required taking a half-day off can now be handled by taking only the necessary hours of leave before returning to work. Employees say this makes it easier to attend not only their children’s medical appointments but also events at daycare centers and kindergartens.
Lim Ju-yeon (42), a department manager raising a seven-year-old son, said, “I have attended almost every daycare event, and I was even one of the few working mothers who served on the daycare’s parent committee.”
U2XLab also provides up to one year of unpaid leave for employees undergoing fertility treatment and allows pregnant employees to reduce their working hours by two hours per day.
Employees with children in sixth grade or younger can also use a “work-from-home program for employees with young children” up to 24 times a year, in addition to legally guaranteed parental leave. Many employees use the program during school vacations and other periods when children need more support and time with their parents.
Starting this month, the company has also significantly expanded its educational assistance program. The company provides up to KRW 1 million per quarter for elementary, middle, and high school tuition expenses and up to KRW 7 million per semester for university tuition.
Employees who have worked at the company for at least one year are also eligible for KRW 250,000 per year toward health checkups. If an employee does not use the benefit for a health checkup, the allowance can instead be used by a family member for a health screening or for fitness facilities such as a gym.
Expanding welfare programs that require significant financial investment was not an easy decision. Nevertheless, U2XLab has continued to invest in family-friendly policies because it believes that “retaining experienced employees strengthens the company’s competitiveness.”
Expertise and employee proficiency are particularly important in clinical trial analysis. Even after hiring a new employee, the company requires at least several months of training and adaptation. As a result, the departure of even a single experienced employee can affect the company’s overall operations.
For this reason, U2XLab has gradually introduced work-life balance programs since 2021, including flexible working hours, hourly annual leave, work-from-home options for employees with young children, and Family Day.
The company also operates an “onboarding” program for employees returning from parental leave. Because work processes and organizational dynamics may change during an employee’s leave, the program helps returning employees readjust to the workplace. Employees who have previously taken parental leave serve as mentors and explain changes that occurred during the leave period. The company also puts up a small banner welcoming employees back to the office.
Since the program was introduced in 2024, three employees have already participated in the onboarding program.
As a result, U2XLab says it has eliminated cases of employees leaving the company due to childbirth or childcare responsibilities. In some cases, former employees have even returned to the company, saying that they wanted to come back because of its family-friendly benefits.
There have also been numerous cases in which prospective hires decided to join the company after learning about its family-friendly policies during recruitment discussions.
Hyuk-sung Jin, CEO of U2XLab, said, “The smaller the company, the more directly its people translate into competitiveness. We believe that family-friendly policies are not a cost, but an investment in increasing productivity.”