About Childcare Leave and Paternity Leave
This content is in Japanese only
Shimizu Initiatives
Shimizu has established a system for taking childcare or family care leave that exceeds the legally mandated leave length as an initiative to improve work-life balance. We also provide paid leave for caring for sick children, and have established other systems to create an environment that enables employees to work without worrying about having time for childbearing and raising children. These systems include childbirth leave for spouses, and support for employees who have taken childcare leave in returning to work, a system for re-employment of employees who have retired from the company for childbearing, raising children, etc., no-interest loans for the expense of infertility treatments, and a subsidy system which can be used when employees hire their own babysitters.
We are also working to achieve work-life balance through a system that provides a variety of days off, such as sabbaticals for personal refreshment, and days off for moving to a different job site for employees who work at a job site.
Supporting Work-Life Balance
Men are also Taking Childcare Leave
I took childcare leave of about two months when my third child was born. It coincided with the entrance of my eldest child into elementary school and my second child into kindergarten, and I wanted to support my wife. Before I took leave, I worried about various things, such as whether it would inconvenience others at the job site, what the best timing for taking it would be, etc. In contrast to my concerns, my superior gladly accepted my request. I also received warm support from the sales branch and was able to begin my leave without any problem.
While on leave, I was able to attend the birth of my third child and clearly remember crying out in joy with my wife. While my wife was in the hospital, I not only took care of all of the housework, I also saw the children off to school and welcomed them when they returned home, made their lunches, received the home visits from teachers, etc. I was able to spend quality time with my children and it was an extremely precious experience.
Family Care
Shimizu has established a system to enable employees to both work and take care of family members. We want employees to continue working and successfully balance both family care and work by using public family care systems and the systems created by Shimizu. We therefore offer an e-learning course, have produced a guidebook and established a consultation hotline, and are holding seminars on successfully balancing work and family care and implementing other programs.