Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun, front row center, poses with families of the construction firm's employees during the company's New Year ceremony at its headquarters in Seoul, Feb. 5, after giving each of them 100 million won ($70,000) per birth. Yonhap

Major Korean companies have ramped up efforts to come up with more attractive support measures for their employees having children, as the country's total fertililty rate over the past couple of years has remained below 0.8, the lowest among OECD member nations.

In addition to the payment of cash bonuses to employees having babies, various other welfare benefits have been proposed to help working parents take care of their children without difficulties.

Samsung Electronics said Monday that its labor and management reached a tentative agreement to revise their collective agreement, allowing employees with more than three children to return to work after reaching the regular retirement age of 60.

The latest agreement came after Rep. Kim Wi-sang of the ruling People Power Party proposed a revision to the Act on Elderly Employment Promotion last August, in order to urge the private sector to make efforts to reemploy retirees having large families, if they want to return to work.

If the company's unionized workers accept the tentative agreement in their upcoming vote, Samsung Electronics will start discussions on how to introduce the new welfare benefit.

The tech giant has already provided its employees having babies with cash bonuses, as well as two years of parental leave, which is longer than the statutory minimum. In Korea, each working parent of a child can take up to 18 months of parental leave, if both the father and mother take at least three months of parental leave.

Children of Doosan Group employees play at the company's in-house day care center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in this undated photo. Courtesy of Doosan Group

On Sunday, Doosan Group said that it started paying up to 500,000 won ($350) to each teammate of an employee who takes over six months of parental leave.

The conglomerate specializing in energy and heavy industry also decided to allow its employees to take another year-long parental leave, in addition to statutory parental leave.

Additionally, it increased the size of cash bonuses for employees having babies, so that each of its employees can receive 3 million won for their first child and an additional 5 million won for their second child. Those who give birth to their third child can receive an additional 10 million won, according to Doosan.

"We expect our support measures to be helpful to our company's competitiveness in the long run," a Doosan official said.

Last year, Booyoung Group drew attention as it started giving its employees 100 million won per birth.

After the government accepted Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun's request to exempt taxes on companies' donations to help raise the birthrate, Kumho Petrochemical, Krafton and multiple other companies have joined in paying a large cash bonus to their employees who gave birth.

"If Korea's birthrate remains low, the country will face a crisis of extinction in 20 years," Lee said at Booyoung's New Year ceremony this month, after offering 100 million won again this year to each of the company's employees who gave birth last year.