China’s Trip.com, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, has introduced new childcare subsidies worth 1 billion yuan ($138 million) to encourage its 32,000 employees have babies.
Workers who have been with the company for at least three years will receive an annual bonus of 10,000 yuan ($1,376) for each newborn child every year from the child’s first birthday until they reach the age of five. The policy came into effect last Saturday.
“Through the introduction of this new childcare benefit, we aim to provide financial support that will encourage our employees to start or grow their families without compromising on their professional goals and achievements,” Trip.com executive chairman, James Liang, announced through a statement last Friday.
The announcement follows similar initiatives by smaller Chinese companies and comes as the country faces a demographic crisis.
China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years, with just 6.77 births per 1,000 people — the lowest birth rate since the founding of Communist China in 1949. The country is now the world’s second most populous nation, having fallen behind India, according to the United Nations.
Beijing scrapped its decades-long “one child” policy in 2015, initially allowing married couples to have two children. But after a brief uptick in 2016, the national birth rate has continued to fall.
The issue is a key concern for policymakers, as it could have profound implications for the country. It adds to the problem of an aging population, could affect economic growth, and reduce tax revenue and contributions to a pension system that is already strained.
At Trip.com, all full-time employees who have worked for the company for three years will qualify for the bonus, regardless of their gender, position, or job location, the company said in a second statement in Chinese.
“I have always suggested that the government give money to families with children … to reduce the family’s child-rearing costs and help more young people fulfill their desire to have multiple children,” Liang said in that statement.
“Companies can also play a role within their own capabilities to build a favorable reproductive environment,” he added.
In another development, Beijing Dabeinong Technology, an agricultural company, announced last year that it would offer a cash bonus of 90,000 yuan ($12,391) to employees who have a third child. The birth of a first or second child would result in payments of 30,000 yuan ($4,130) and 60,000 yuan ($8,260) respectively.