A pregnancy and childbirth scheduling board for contractors in Suwon and Hwaseong is now possible

Leave options from pregnancy through childbirth have expanded

From September 18, 2026, employees can take leave when their spouse experiences a miscarriage or stillbirth, and spouse childbirth leave was renamed spouse prenatal and postnatal leave. Male employees caring for a spouse diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy can now use childcare leave before the birth. All three changes move the schedules of not only the pregnant person, but also their spouse and workplace.

An employee whose spouse experiences a miscarriage or stillbirth can request between one and five days of leave within 20 days of the event. The first three days are paid, and public holidays and regular days off do not count toward the leave period (National Law Information Center and Suwon Employment Welfare Plus Center). Twenty days is less than three weeks, so it is important to record the request with the company soon after the event.

Spouse prenatal and postnatal leave is 20 days of paid leave in total. The number of days has not changed, but it can now be scheduled from 50 days before the expected date of birth through 120 days after the actual birth date, and split three times into up to four periods (Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Korean government ministry responsible for labor policy). For someone working five days a week, that is roughly four weeks that can be divided among checkups, hospital preparation, and care immediately after birth.

Prenatal childcare leave for male employees does not apply to every pregnancy. It can be requested when a spouse has been diagnosed with a high-risk condition defined in the regulations, such as threatened miscarriage, gestational hypertension, or preterm labor without delivery, and needs care. This is not additional leave: it is used first from the existing childcare-leave entitlement, reducing the time left after birth (Ministry of Employment and Labor).

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said that about 22,000 people received spouse childbirth leave benefits from January through August 2026, up 45.1% from the same period a year earlier. Most of that period came before September 18, so the figure does not show the effect of expanded pre-birth use. It does show that many people were already using the system while the number of schedule types companies must handle has increased.

What changes at a 12-person contracting company

Consider a hypothetical 12-person window-installation contractor in Suwon and Hwaseong. The owner handles sales and site assignments, while a family member manages payroll and leave. There is no dedicated HR staff.

Today, when an employee sends an expected birth date by messenger, the person in charge searches online for the number of leave days. They check pre-birth leave, post-birth leave, and childcare leave separately, then write them again in a paper calendar and payroll file. Moving the same dates repeatedly between employee messages, site schedules, and payroll records can create omissions and date errors.

A miscarriage or stillbirth requires even greater care. In a difficult situation, the employee must find the leave name and 20-day request deadline themselves, while the administrator must decide what information to collect. There is also a risk of exchanging more medical information than necessary through messaging, creating a need to separate leave records from health information.

A service for local businesses could let an employee choose “expected birth,” “high-risk pregnancy,” or “miscarriage or stillbirth” on the first screen. After entering dates, they would see eligible leave types, the final request date, paid coverage, and what to prepare in one place. The company would receive only the dates and application status needed to process the leave legally.

An employee expecting a child could place their 20 days on a calendar to test different arrangements. If they divide the time into two days for their spouse’s checkups, 10 days around the birth, and eight days for postnatal care, the remaining balance and the final usable date after the actual birth would update together. If both members of a couple enter their workplace leave, the calendar could also show days when they are both off and days when care is uncovered.

The owner’s screen would show site staffing gaps rather than health conditions. It could list, by date, how many people are missing from each project, who takes over the work, and how far paid leave and government benefit applications have progressed. Starting with a few nearby businesses in Suwon and Hwaseong means the product would not need to cover every industry across the country at once.

People still need to do some work. The company and its local employment center must make the final determination on whether a high-risk pregnancy meets the legal conditions, whether benefits are available, and which medical documents are required. No screen can replace attention to an employee’s emotional circumstances or coordination of construction schedules with colleagues.

Elsewhere, leave calculation has been paired with people support

Australia’s Transitioning Well has offered parental-leave coaching for SEEK employees and managers since 2017. Alongside one-to-one coaching before and after leave, it provided sessions where couples could decide how to divide responsibilities and plan a return to work.

Seventy-eight percent of participants said they were more willing to ask their company for flexible work or additional support, and 74% said they felt more confident managing work and family responsibilities together. This was the provider’s own survey, so its measurement method needs separate verification, but it is an example of treating a couple, rather than only an individual employee, as the planning unit.

In the United States, Sparrow helps companies manage employee leave eligibility, documents, pay, and return-to-work schedules. Electric moved its childcare-leave administration from spreadsheets to the service.

Electric said HR work taking more than 20 hours per leave case fell to about four hours. The figure comes from a customer case study published by Sparrow, but it shows what may be reduced when employee guidance and company schedule processing are brought together.

In England, the National Health Service (NHS), the public healthcare system, first tested a pregnancy-loss support policy at healthcare organizations in the Birmingham area before extending it into a national policy. It provides up to 10 days of paid leave for employees experiencing pregnancy loss and up to five days for partners, while also connecting them with testing and mental-health support.

In a staff survey during the pilot, respondents were twice as likely to say the policy made them likely to remain with their current employer. This was also a self-reported survey, but it shows that support can extend beyond statutory leave guidance to return-to-work and emotional support.

Four things that could be built first in Suwon and Hwaseong

1. A leave navigator for small businesses would show available leave, request deadlines, paid coverage, and suggested wording for company submissions after a user enters their situation and dates. It would be used by accounting staff who also handle leave at window-installation, electrical, and facilities contractors with 10 to 50 employees.

It is timely because three new policy changes took effect at once, making older guidance difficult to use. Its first screen would ask, “What happened?” and offer three options: expected birth, high-risk pregnancy, and miscarriage or stillbirth.

2. A care calendar for dual-income couples would place both people’s workplace leave on one calendar and show days when care overlaps or is missing. It would be used by expecting parents who work in Suwon and Hwaseong at different companies.

It is worth building now because spouse leave can be split and used before birth, giving couples more room to combine dates. Its first screen would include fields for the expected birth date and each person’s working days.

3. A private inbox for miscarriage and stillbirth leave requests would help an employee submit only the minimum necessary information to their company through an electronic document and avoid missing the 20-day deadline. It would be used by workers and leave administrators at small businesses without a separate HR team.

It is timely because the new leave exists, but workers may struggle to find the policy and required wording immediately after an event. Its first screen would show “days left before the request deadline” and a short request message to send to the company.

4. A site-gap handover board would organize only the absent dates, site, work to hand over, and whether colleagues are compensated, without exposing the leave-taker’s medical information. It would be used by owners of local contractors with 10 to 30 employees running several projects at once.

It is timely because the 20 days can be split into several periods and used before birth, which can create repeated short staffing gaps. Its first screen would place “dates without coverage” and “work that cannot stop” ahead of the employee’s name.

Why this matters where you are

These leave rules, deadlines, and government benefit processes are Korean conditions, so they will not transfer directly to another market. But the workflow problem is more portable: check whether small employers in your market still copy the same absence dates among messages, calendars, payroll records, and site plans. Where couples can coordinate leave, a shared care calendar may reveal both overlapping time and uncovered care days.

What to check today

Call three window-installation, electrical, or facilities contractors in Suwon and Hwaseong. Ask where they recorded a recent childbirth-related leave case and how many times they copied the same date. If at least two of the three use both messaging and paper or spreadsheet files, and say the new date calculations are difficult, a leave navigator for local businesses is worth testing first.