Work-life Balance
A System to Support Careers and Childcare
Balance Support Program
We offer a wide range of programs to avoid the situation where a motivated employee needs to quit due to childbirth, childcare or the need to care for a sick or elderly relative. We support the balancing of work with childcare and home nursing care through such programs as maternity leave, childcare leave, shortened working hours for childcare, and leave for looking after sick children, as well as home care leave and shortened working hours for home care. For our childcare leave program in particular, we have introduced a system that allows employees to take leave without worry. The system provides access to a dedicated website during the leave period, enabling employees to stay in contact with their bosses, take e-learning courses, and such like.
In fiscal 2008, we revised our leave program for tending children who suddenly become sick, enabling employees to take leave on an hourly basis. The usage rate of our leave and other programs continues to increase each year.
Moreover, in keeping with the amendment of the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, we established a home care leave and increased the number of days for child nursing care leave.
Number of Employees Using the Childcare and Home Care Support System
(No. of people)
| Program | Gender | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Childcare | Maternity leave | Women | 133 | 129 | 140 |
| Childcare absence | Men | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Women | 221 | 241 | 248 | ||
| Shortened working hours for childcare | Men | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| Women | 226 | 172 | 305 | ||
| Home care | Home care absence | Men | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Women | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Home care leave | Men | - | - | 21 | |
| Women | - | - | 72 | ||
| Shortened working hours for nursing care | Men | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Women | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Child nursing care leave | Men | 610 | 644 | 729 | |
| Women | 246 | 296 | 313 | ||
Acquisition the "Kurumin" Certification as Provider of Next-generation Childcare Support
In July 2009, KDDI was certified by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as a company involved in providing aid measures for raising the next generation and acquired the "Next-generation childcare support certification mark" (known as the "Kurumin"). As a result of planning and executing efforts to provide aid For Employees <Material Issue 4> Vitalizing the Company by Developing a Diverse Workforce who choose to raise a family while pursuing a career, the Ministry praised KDDI's expansion of the childcare system and implementation of a telework system, leading to acquisition of the certification mark. In addition to aiding the choice to take on a career and family raising, KDDI will continue to design a working environment where each worker is motivated to perform dynamically.
Efforts that were recognized
- Revision of the current system concerning childcare and implementation of a new system
- Maintenance of an environment that allows employees on childcare leave to easily reintegrate back into the workplace
- Revision of the current system concerning care giving
- Reduction of overtime work
- Maintenance of diverse labor conditions conducive to revising work styles
- Promotion of activity by female employees and correction of ideas about gender role allotment
The "kurumin" logo
This symbolizes commitment to childcare, represented by the baby blanket in which the infant is lovingly wrapped (okurumi), and the concern and care of the entire workplace or company (shokuba-gurumi/kaisha-gurumi).
Guide to Support For Employees <Material Issue 4> Vitalizing the Company by Developing a Diverse Workforce Involved in Childcare and Caregiving
In order to promote an even higher level of aid For Employees <Material Issue 4> Vitalizing the Company by Developing a Diverse Workforce who are also involved in childcare and care giving, KDDI has prepared guidelines including system overviews and feedback from employees using the system and released these guidelines via the intranet.
Guide to support For Employees <Material Issue 4> Vitalizing the Company by Developing a Diverse Workforce involved in childcare and care giving
"Papa's Management Seminar"
As part of KDDI's work-life balance promotional measures, we held "Papa's Management Seminar" in November 2010. KDDI supports parenting and father-to-be male employees through this seminar, in which participating male employees learned the importance of the paternal role in child-rearing as well as gained tips for balancing work and childcare. The seminar also served as a setting for networking between the male employees.
Papa's Management Seminar
Re-hiring Program
In April 2008, we introduced a program to re-hire employees who quit for reasons such as marriage, childbirth, childcare, home care or nursing care, or transfer of spouse (within 6 years of quitting).
The aim of this program is to enhance our support for work-life balance among our increasingly diverse workforce. Under this program, employees who quit working at KDDI for one of the above reasons can come back after undergoing a selection process in order to put the knowledge, skills and expertise they cultivated at KDDI into immediate practice.
Diverse Work Styles
Telework Program
In April 2009, we expanded our telework program aimed at achieving work-life balance and improving work efficiency.
In addition to the existing program to enable employees caring for children or sick relatives to work from home, we are preparing a new program for full-time employees. (The program will be expanded gradually to full-time employees.)
Telework uses the "thin client system" based on KDDI's telecommunications technology and creates an environment almost the same as that of the workplace.
Adjustable Work Hour System
KDDI is implementing an "Adjustable work hour system" that allows employees to adjust their standard working hours to compliment their respective workloads. Previously this only targeted employees working in designated areas, but the labor system is being applied with more flexibility in order to allow this adjustability anywhere if deemed necessary by the company, regardless of work area. Furthermore, KDDI is striving to fully actualize total work time reduction and work/life balance through this system in an effort to design a work environment that motivates each worker to perform dynamically.
Satellite Office
In September 2006, our FMC division opened a satellite office in Chiyoda, Tokyo, in order to overcome time and location constraints and create a work style that could respond efficiently to our customers' needs. The office is used mainly by sales personnel.
