Sekisui House to Urge Male Workers to Take Month-Long Parental Leave

July 27, 2018

Osaka- Sekisui House Ltd. said Thursday that it will introduce a system on Sept. 1 to encourage male employees having children below three years old to take at least one month off to look after the children.

Under the system, the Osaka-based home builder will let a male worker take parental leave for a month or longer between the birth and the three-year-old birthday of his child and make the first one month paid leave.

About 1,400 employees will be covered by the parental leave program, Sekisui House officials said, adding it is unusual for a Japanese company to have its male employees concentrate on taking care of their children for such a long period.

Sekisui House has already asked workers to take child-rearing leave. But the average leave days taken by men as of the end of January stood at only two.

The company decided to boost the promotional effort by implementing the initiative featuring the paid leave period of one month after concluding that male employees having experience in housework and child-rearing will benefit its home-building business.

It also aims to secure long and stable careers for talented personnel through the new program.

Sekisui House said it will strive to make all eligible employees take parental leave for at least one month by offering various kinds of assistance and disclosing the progress rate. Jiji Press