Policy on Balance Support
of the Work and Childcare
At SoftBank Corp. as part of initiatives to create a working environment which allows our employees to balance their careers while raising children, we have formulated a parenting support system policy as well as a business operator action plan in accordance with the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children.
Child support system policy
The basic goal of the child support system is to support people who to wish to continue working while fulfilling their roles as parents. The system operates under the following two policies:
- A framework that allows working parents to stay highly motivated at work and continue to aspire to grow as employees.
- A framework which helps to avoid situations where parenting becomes a barrier for employees, prevents them from leveraging their full potential, or becomes a reason for leaving the company.
As with all our employees, our wish is for those who are pregnant or raising children to continue to achieve growth and advancement at SoftBank, and we will continue to consider the ongoing development of a child support system that focuses on balancing work with parenting.
Business operator action plan and ‘Kurumin’ certification
In April 2005, the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children was passed as part of measures to curb Japan's declining birth rate and to ensure the development of a social community where the children can flourish into leaders of the next generation.
This Act requires government and regional organizations and corporations over a certain scale to formulate and implement a business operator action plan for the purpose of ensuring a balance between work and parenting.
When a company reaches the goals set out in its action plan and meets specified requirements, it is eligible for certification as a company supporting parenting, from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.
We also achieved the goals set out in our third-period action plan, and we are currently in the midst of our fourth-period action plan for the period of September 1, 2015 to March 31, 2018. As a result of initiatives to date, including the introduction and utilization of a system supporting a balance between work and parenting, in February 2017 we obtained the Platinum ‘Kurumin’ certification for achieving high-level initiatives.
We will continue to actively implement initiatives to support a balance between work and parenting.