The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) today hosted the 2023 Family Friendly Alliance Summit with the theme “The ‘S’ in ESG - Sustainable Population, Sustainable Economy - How employers can make an impact and serve as role models”. The summit was the first major event arranged by the ECCT’s Family Friendly Alliance (FFA), which was established as a platform for collaboration among various stakeholders to address the challenges resulting from Taiwan’s low birth-rate, ageing population and talent shortage. The event brought together experts from government and the private sector to examine the major demographic trends and related challenges facing Taiwan and seek possible solutions to address them.

The event was opened by ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo and Filip Grzegorzewski, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan. This was followed by presentations in two sessions by government officials and industry experts on topics including demographic challenges, advancing family-friendly policies to support sustainable population development, a sustainable economy, achieving work-life balance and labour law reform proposals for a family friendly environment, among others. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Fran Milnes, Novartis Taiwan President. The event was concluded with a ceremony where representatives from 12 ECCT member companies pledged their commitment to create family friendly workplaces in their organisations.

This summit comes at a crucial time for Taiwan, which experienced its third consecutive annual population decline in 2022 as the country saw both its lowest number of births and highest number of deaths on record and is on track to become a super-aged society by 2025, with one in five residents over the age of 65. European countries and companies are global leaders in providing parental leave, childcare, advanced labour standards and workplace policies, reproductive healthcare, care for the aged and other benefits designed to encourage families to raise children and facilitate an optimal work-life balance for all stages of life. By sharing best practices from Europe, the FFA aims to promote cooperation between the government, corporations and NGOs to create a family friendly environment in Taiwan. 

The first session on the theme “Demographic challenges and sustainable economy featured the following speakers and topics:  

Shih Keh-her, Deputy Minister of the National Development Council, spoke on the topic “Demographic challenges for a sustainable Taiwan”.

Emily Tiemann, Manager of the Health Policy Team for Economist Impact, spoke on the topic “Declining birth rates and an ageing workforce – From theory to action”.

Lee Li-Feng, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, spoke on the topic “Advancing family friendly policies to support population growth”.

Boonhuey EE, General Manager of Merck Healthcare Taiwan; Managing Director, Merck Hong Kong and Macau & Co-chair of the FFA spoke on the topic “Sustainable population, sustainable economy”.

The second session on the theme “Family friendly workplace and talent sustainability” featured the following speakers and topics: 

Howard Shiu, Partner, Baker McKenzie & Co-chair of the ECCT’s Human Resources committee, spoke on the topic “Labour law reform for a family friendly environment”.

Cindy Chen, Regional Head, Adecco Taiwan & South Korea & Co-Chair of the FFA spoke on the topic “Gain an edge – winning the war for talent”.

The final panel discussion featured all of the speakers as well as Sherman Yu, Vice President and General Manager of GSK Taiwan.

歐洲商會友善家庭聯盟高峰會
蔣萬安：打造友善環境提升生育率

歐洲商會(ECCT) 友善家庭聯盟(FFA)首次舉辦2023友善家庭聯盟高峰會，以「ESG中的『S』- 永續人口，永續經濟 -僱主如何發揮影響力並成為典範」為主題。該聯盟旨在建立合作平台，凝聚各方合作，以應對台灣低出生率、高齡化人口及人才短缺所帶來的挑戰。此次活動集結來自政府單位及企業的專家，探討台灣面臨的主要人口趨勢和相關挑戰，並尋求可能的解決方案。

剛喜獲第三個兒子的台北市長蔣萬安，非常關心國內人口老化及少子化的趨勢，特地錄影致詞，講述台北市對於人口老化及少子化的各類補助，包括從孕期開始的各種檢查至孩童的早期療程等以及生育補助。蔣市長特別提到，對於特殊教育，將提供更多資源及擴大預算，並致力能在台北市提供婦女友善工作環境，以利提升生育率。

此活動由歐洲在台協會主席尹容(Giuseppe Izzo)和歐洲經貿駐台辦事處代表高哲夫處長(Filip Grzegorzewski)致詞揭開序幕。緊接著的兩場會議，由政府官員和業界專家進行演講，主題包括人口挑戰、推動家庭友善政策以支持永續人口發展、永續經濟、實現工作與生活平衡、提出勞動法改革建議以創造家庭友善的工作環境等議題，會後由友善家庭聯盟會員麥芳蘭(Fran Milnes)主持座談會進行討論。本活動在12家歐洲商會成員企業代表發表聯合宣言，承諾打造親子友善工作場所後，劃下完美句點。

這場高峰會的舉辦正值台灣的關鍵時刻。2022年，台灣已連續三年出現人口下降現象，出生率再創新低，死亡率則創下新高，預估到2025年，台灣65歲以上老年人口將佔總人口的五分之一，成為超高齡社會。在提供育嬰假、兒童照護、勞動標準和工作場所政策、生殖保健、老年照護，以及促進工作與家庭生活的平衡發展等方面，歐洲國家和企業為全球的領導者，透過與歐洲分享經驗，友善家庭聯盟期望促進政府、企業和非政府組織之間的合作，一同打造更友善的家庭職場環境。

第一場會議的主題為「人口挑戰與永續經濟」，由國家發展委員會副主委施克和以「台灣永續發展面臨的人口挑戰」為主題進行討論；《經濟學人》健康政策小組經理Emily Tiemann演說「出生率下降和人口老化——從理論到實踐」；衛福部政務次長李麗芬發表關於「推動人口增長的家庭友善政策」的演說；而友善家庭聯盟聯合主席余文慧，討論「永續人口和永續經濟」議題。

第二場會議主題著重在「家庭友善職場與人才永續」；歐洲商會人資委員會聯合主席許修豪，探討「為友善家庭環境進行勞動法改革」議題；友善家庭聯盟(FFA)聯合主席陳玉芬，發表了關於「贏得人才的優勢」演說。最後的座談會則邀請所有的演講者以及友善家庭聯盟聯合主席余文慧共同參與。