Japan wants big companies to disclose paternity leave targets: reports

The Japanese government is planning to mandate organisations with over 100 employees to set and disclose paternity leave targets, according to reports.

The Japan Times, citing government sources, reported this week that the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare plans to submit a bill during the current session of Parliament to implement the measure.

Under the bill, organisations will be mandated to compile under their action plans the disclosure of paternity leave, as well as targets on the amount of overtime per full-time employee.

Employers will then submit the action plans to the ministry's labour bureaus before making them public, according to the report.

The measure is expected to cover around 50,000 companies with over 100 employees in Japan, the report added. Those who have less than a hundred will not be mandated to set paternity leave targets but will still be asked to make efforts on them.

Paternity leave in Japan

According to the report, the measure aims to facilitate fathers' involvement in raising their children and to help parents better juggle between their responsibilities at home and at work.

It adds to the growing number of measures in the country that aim to improve the number of men taking up paternity leave as the country suffers from low birth rates.

The percentage of men who took paternity leave hit a record-high 17.13% in 2022, but it remains below the 50% target of the government by 2025.

Other measures from the government include making organisations publish their ratio of male employees taking paternity leave.