Mums at work: South Korean company Konny’s pro-parent, office-free policies

SEOUL – Early starts to workdays and late finishes are routine in South Korea, a country notorious for its hard-driving corporate culture, but Ms Erin Lim knew she wanted to do things differently at her business. The 38-year-old entrepreneur pioneered office-free work to help working mums like her in 2017 – well before work-from-home flexibility became a happy side effect of the pandemic, including for many parents. After the birth of her first son, Ms Lim, who describes herself as an “overwhelmingly picky customer”, could not find a baby carrier she liked. So, with her six-month-old son in tow, she headed to Seoul’s main fabric market. Soon, she had a prototype of the baby wrap she wanted and, despite having…