Taiwan: More flexible parental and family care leaves

Employer Action Code: Act

The Ministry of Labor has announced that eligible employees will be able to take a portion of their parental leave entitlement on a daily basis and their family care leave on an hourly basis. The changes are intended to provide more flexibility in balancing work and childcare responsibilities, within a wider context of record low fertility rates and a rapidly aging population and workforce.

Key details

The changes, effective January 1, 2026, include:

• Up to 30 days of parental leave will be available for use in one-day increments; the rest of the entitlement (one year and 11 months) must be used in minimum increments of one month. Parental leave is unpaid by the employer, but social security (Labor Insurance) provides up to six months of pay replacement benefits to each parent (seven months if each parent takes the full six months) at 80% of average monthly covered earnings. In addition, for companies with fewer than 30 employees, the government will pay employees on parental leave a bonus of 1,000 Taiwan dollars for each day of leave
• The annual entitlement of seven days of unpaid family care leave may be used on an hourly basis for up to 56 hours per year. Currently, family care leave, which is part of a broader entitlement of 14 days of unpaid leave for personal matters, can only be taken in full-day increments

Employer implications

The Bureau of Labor Insurance is updating its systems and processes to accommodate applications for parental leave on a daily basis. Employers should likewise prepare for the introduction of more flexible parental and family care leaves and a possible increase in employee use of these leaves. The changes are part of continuing improvements to the conditions of parental leave and social security pay replacement benefits during leave. According to Bureau of Labor Insurance data, the uptake of parental leave among men increased by close to 60% from 2019 to 2024, whereas among women the increase was only 5%. As a consequence, men’s share of total parental leave taken rose from 23% in 2019 to 35% in 2024. Over the same period, total maternity leave taken fell by around 25%, reflecting falling birth rates. None of the companies surveyed by WTW offer parental leave in excess of statutory requirements.