One Year Later: Trip.com Group's Childcare Subsidies Benefit Hundreds of Employees

• Over 540 employees worldwide have benefited from the childcare subsidy since its launch last year.
• Other family-friendly policies include hybrid work options and assisted reproduction benefits.

SHANGHAI, July 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Trip.com Group is pleased to announce the one-year anniversary of its successful childcare subsidy for its global employees. To support employees in family planning and promote working families, all employees who have been with the company for three years or more receive an annual cash bonus of RMB 10,000 for each newborn child every year. This applies from the child's first birthday until the age of five.

The childcare subsidies come in the form of a cash bonus, and employees are free to decide on what to spend it on. Some employees, such as Peter Song, a market manager in Korea, who expressed his joy at being a working father, shared that his family will be spending it on daily necessities such as milk powder and diapers.

Others such as lsla Fang, a senior financial analyst in China, who found out about her pregnancy in November 2023, shared that the funds would support her child's education: "I hope my children can receive education through collective activity as soon as possible, so they are in a happier and relaxed learning environment. The policies allow this and provide my family with two key things: money and time."

Beyond the financial support, employees also highlighted the sense of happiness and relief at being emotionally supported by a company culture that encourages wellness and a work-life balance.

Selviana Fortunella Santoso, a market executive in Indonesia, was five months pregnant when she found out that she would receive the childcare subsidy, and said it was like receiving a miracle. She was also particularly happy with the company's other family-friendly policies, such as insurance coverage and maternity leave.

"This is the first time I have directly experienced such a supportive policy in the company," said Xinqi Du, a market executive in Japan. "It's a very family-friendly environment - you can even bring your children to the workplace after school. I also have supportive supervisors and colleagues, who fully understand as a working parent, sometimes I may not be able to reply to messages promptly when working from home."

Promoting employee wellness through a hybrid work model

As a pro-family company, Trip.com Group continues to support working parents and care for pregnant employees. In recent years, the Group has implemented family-friendly policies such as hybrid work, company insurance that covers spouses and children, and assisted reproduction benefits such as egg freezing.

This year, Trip.com Group also celebrates its two-year-anniversary of successfully introducing hybrid working for employees, a work model which officially launched in March 2022. The global group was the first internet company in China to implement such a scheme, offering employees the choice to work remotely on certain days of the week.

The policy has now been expanded to all of Trip.com Group's global offices across selected business lines. It aims to improve employee satisfaction, contribute to family care and the promotion of work-life balance, and even help to reduce traffic congestion in cities across the world.

Working from home has become standard for many employees around the world. Yet, some continue to argue over the effects of hybrid working on employees and firms, and that it detracts from productivity, innovation and career development. There is, however, published research that shows otherwise. In a six-month randomised control trial investigating the effects of hybrid working from home on 1,612 Trip.com Group employees in 2021-2022, it found that hybrid working improved job satisfaction and quality of life.

Hybrid work was especially welcomed by female employees and those with long commutes. Moreover, there was no evidence to show that hybrid working affected performance grades over the next two years of reviews, and no evidence for a difference in promotions over the next two years overall, or any major employee subgroup.

Going forward, Trip.com Group will continue to find new ways to support employee wellness, help employees in family planning, and promote working families with inclusive initiatives.

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