Childcare and Nursing care Support

As of March 2023, the percentage of female managers is 3.6%, and the wage gap between men and women is 71.4%, making the promotion of women a challenge for the Group. We believe that the main impediment to women’s success in the workplace is that housework and childcare are often biased in favor of women, leading to time, psychological and physical constraints. Considering that late working hours make it difficult for employees with children to continue working, we revised the system of shorter working hours for childcare in April 2023 to allow using this system until the child finishes the third year of junior high school. In addition, we expanded the prescribed working hours of the shorter working hours system for childcare from two patterns: 5 hours and 6 hours to six patterns from 5 hours to 7.5 hours (in 30-minute increments). This change will let employees choose their work style according to their personal circumstances. We want to link this change not only to support for balancing work with childcare, but also to the career development of women.

　The utilization rate of the special paid leave program for childcare (known as Ikumen leave), which was expanded to a maximum of 28 days in April 2022, reached 100% in FY2022, as 135 employees took advantage of the program.We intend to create a work environment where employees, as part of their lifestyle, can enjoy both work and childcare regardless of their gender.

The Company has also enhanced measures to support employees taking care of their families. Under the system of nursing care leave and shorter working hours introduced in 1994, nursing care leave can be used for up to one year per person requiring family care, and there is no time limitation for shortened working hours for nursing care. The system is designed to help employees continue their careers while fulfilling their family responsibilities, care needs are very complex and diverse, so the use of leave or shorter working hours alone is not sufficient support.

We are planning to establish a specialized consultation desk to provide more extensive support, including information on public support systems, introductions to nursing care facilities, and mental health care for caregivers.

In the future, the number of employees who work while providing nursing care to family members is expected to rise.

To support these employees providing nursing care and prevent them from leaving the company due to their obligations for nursing, on March 1, 2022 the Joshin Group launched the nursing care consultation desk, which is available for all employees directly employed by the Group. We joined a nursing insurance program as a joint labor-management project, and the consultation desk is available for free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.