Officials from 64 regional banks in Japan met recently to evaluate a worker relocation program that allows workers to resign their jobs and move across the country for marriage, for partners’ transfers, or for caregiving to family members.
The program, which was launched in April 2015, has re-employed about 120 workers, Jiji Press reported.
At the Tokyo meeting, difficulties from adapting to new workplaces were discussed alongside the program’s benefits. An official highlighted the need to keep supporting re-employed workers to strengthen relationships across banks.
Although the program is available to all workers, so far only women have taken advantage of it. Many of the participants have been bank tellers with the average age of 28. For example, Shiho Koshio left 77 Bank in Sendai and joined Toho Bank in Fukushima after she got married.
“My re-employment was smooth,” Koshio told Jiji Press. “It was like an internal transfer rather than getting a job at a different company.” Bank employees’ tasks, she added, were similar and she could use the skills and knowledge she already had.
Banks benefit since they get to add experienced staff without having to train new hires from scratch. The program is also expected to contribute to women’s career advancement.
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