Reversing Taiwan's low birth rate and population decline will require concerted efforts to address concerns about work-life conflicts, financial security and day care, among others. These are some of the findings of the 2023 Family Friendly Workplace Survey Report released today by the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT). As an initiative of the chamber's Family Friendly Alliance (FFA), the report provides the results of a survey of 1,263 employees and 65 employers in Taiwan conducted in 2022 by Adecco Taiwan in cooperation with the ECCT. The purpose of the survey was to gain an understanding of the level of family friendliness of the workplace environment in Taiwan.

Declining population will lead to talent crunch
Taiwan's population is shrinking and the total fertility rate of 1.08 per woman is one of the world's lowest. This is expected to lead to a chronic labour and talent shortage in the near future. While the government has rolled out a number of policy measures, such as expanding public childcare services, providing childcare subsidies, subsidised IVF treatment and childcare support for children under the age of six, so far, they have failed to reverse the trend.

The survey posed 23 questions to employees and 15 questions for employers. Based on the results, the report lists some of the work-life conflicts commonly faced by employees and their needs and expectations for support. It also sets out challenges faced by employers and explores possible solutions.

Parents need more financial support and flexible working options
Respondents agreed that there is a clear link between childcare subsidies, allowances and paid parental leave offered by companies and their willingness to have children. In addition, having flexible working hours and being able to work remotely were considered extremely helpful for workers who wished to balance work and family life.

On the question as to the most important factors when making job decisions, employees ranked work-family balance as the third most important factor after salary (1st) and job stability (2nd). On the question as to the major challenges in maintaining work and family balance, the most significant challenges facing employees were 1) concerns about performance review results and chances for gaining a promotion when taking family leave (cited by 39.89% of respondents); 2) difficulty in finding a job opportunity where both job requirements and family demands can be met (cited by 39.36% of respondents) and 3) long working hours and little private time (37.65% of respondents). Most respondents reported difficulty striking a balance between work and family life.

Good and affordable childcare is in short supply
For childcare, most employees must rely on day care facilities or support from relatives or else they are forced to sacrifice some working hours or switch to a part-time job in order to have more time and energy to take care of their children.

Moreover, the most common stress reported by participants with children was “having no time and energy to take care of children due to long working hours”, followed by “worries about the quality of infant and childcare centres”.  

Desire for quality of life and financial security impeding fertility
As to the reasons for a decline in the fertility rate, the top reason cited by respondents was 1) because they want a quality personal life (cited by 64.46% of respondents), followed by 2) the desire to save money to buy a home or pay a mortgage (63.37%); 3) unstable financial capability (57.23%); 4) do not have a partner yet (49.5%); 5) have difficulty arranging childcare with no support from family members (41.88%) and 6) live in an unfavourable social environment (38.12%, due to pollution, bad education system and high competitiveness).

When making a childbearing decision, having favourable financial capability is considered the most important factor, followed by 2) having the right partner; 3) having good physical and mental health; 4) able to provide a good environment for children and 5) having time to spend with children.

Businesses can play a key role
Businesses can play a key role in addressing work-life conflicts by creating more family-friendly, diverse and inclusive workplaces. At present, the family friendly policies most businesses offer are flexible working hours and remote/hybrid work. Many companies also offer subsidies such as marriage and maternity allowances (offered by around 50% of respondents' companies) and parental leave above the statutory requirement (offered by 43.56% of respondents' companies).   

The report also contains chapters by members of the ECCT's FFA in which they share information and best practices on how they are improving the family friendliness of their workplaces in Taiwan. These include providing flexible working arrangements, higher than the statutory requirements for parental leave, childcare support and promoting the government's support policies for fertility treatment and child support.

歐洲商會調查報告：建立友善職場 提升生育率

台灣的人口急速減少和低生育率已成為嚴峻的議題；為了解決這一趨勢，歐洲商會（ECCT）今日發布了「2023歐洲商會友善家庭照顧趨勢調查報告」，該報告是商會友善家庭聯盟（FFA）的倡議，旨在了解台灣職場環境的家庭友善程度。為此，歐洲商會與Adecco台灣合作，對1,263名員工和65家雇主進行了調查。

人口下降將導致人才短缺問題

目前台灣每名婦女的總生育率僅為1.08，成為全球生育率最低的國家。這一現象將導致勞動力和人才短缺問題。雖然政府已經推出了一系列政策措施，如擴大公共托育服務、提供托育津貼、補貼試管嬰兒治療以及提供六歲以下兒童的托育服務，但這些措施尚未奏效。

這項調查涵蓋了23個問題，針對員工提出了工作和生活衝突、育兒支持需求和期望等議題，同時對雇主提出了15個問題，以了解他們所面臨的挑戰和可能的解決方案。

父母需要更多財務支持和彈性的工作選擇

受訪者一致認為，公司提供的托育津貼、補貼和帶薪育嬰假等政策，對生育子女的意願有密切關聯。同時，對於希望在工作與家庭生活中取得平衡的員工而言，彈性的工作時間和遠距辦公具有重要的幫助。

在職涯決策時，員工將工作與家庭平衡視為第三重要的因素，僅次於薪水（第一）和工作穩定性（第二）。調查顯示，員工在追求工作和家庭平衡方面面臨著多項挑戰。首先，39.89％的受訪者擔心在請家庭照顧假期間的工作，是否影響績效評估和晉升機會。其次，39.36％的受訪者表示難以找到既符合工作要求又滿足家庭需求的工作機會。此外，37.65％的受訪者提到長時間工作和缺乏私人時間是另一主要挑戰。結果顯示，大多數受訪者表示在工作和家庭生活之間取得平衡非常困難。

優質且價格合理的托育服務供不應求

在托育需求方面，大多數員工必須仰賴日間托育設施或家人的支持。如果沒有這樣的支持，他們可能不得不犧牲一些工作時間，或轉為兼職工作，以便有更多時間和精力照顧孩子。這顯示出在台灣，滿足托育需求對員工而言是一個重要的問題。

此外，調查發現有子女的受訪者中，他們最常提到的壓力來源之一是「由於長時間工作而沒有時間和精力照顧孩子」。這表明在追求事業成功的同時，員工面臨著平衡工作和家庭的困難。另外，他們也表示對托育中心的品質感到擔憂。

生活品質與財務安全需求影響生育意願

根據受訪者的回答，考慮是否生育等相關因素時其中最常被提及的原因包括對於個人生活品質的追求（64.46%）、為了購屋或償還貸款（63.37%）以及財務狀況的不穩定（57.23%），近一半的受訪者表示尚未找到合適的伴侶（49.5%），以及面臨因為缺乏家人的支持而無法安排托育的困境（41.88%）。另外，生活在不利的社會環境下（如污染、教育體系不良和激烈競爭）也對生育意願產生了負面影響（38.12%）。

在考慮是否要生育之前，受訪者認為擁有良好的財務能力是最重要的因素，其次是找到合適的伴侶。此外，身心健康的狀態、能夠提供良好的子女成長環境以及擁有充裕的陪伴子女時間等，也被視為重要考量因素。

企業扮演關鍵角色

企業可以在解決工作與生活衝突方面發揮關鍵作用，創建更多親子友善、多元和包容的工作。目前，多數企業提供親子友善政策，例如靈活的工作時間和遠距/混合工作模式。此外，許多公司還提供婚姻和產假津貼（約50％的受訪公司提供），以及超過法定要求的育嬰假（43.56％的受訪公司提供）等補助措施。

報告內容還包含了ECCT家庭友善聯盟（FFA）成員的分享，包括提供了改善台灣職場環境親子友善的資，訊包括提供彈性工作安排、超過法定育嬰假要求、托育支持，並倡導政府支持生育治療和子女扶養的政策。企業提供這些舉措，將為員工締造更有利於平衡工作和生活的環境。