Time was when working males in Japan rarely, if ever, took parental leave so as not to impose a burden on their colleagues while they were absent. But that has changed radically in recent years with changing lifestyles taking root.

This was amply illustrated in a recent Asahi Shimbun survey that found the ratio of eligible male workers who took child care leave in fiscal 2020 exceeded 30 percent in 42 of the nation’s 100 leading companies, and topped 70 percent in 20 of them.

The government has set a goal of raising the corresponding proportion nationwide from a mere 12.65 percent in a 2020 labor ministry survey to 30 percent by 2025.

At some top businesses, however, the average duration of parental leave totaled only several days in each case despite a high percentage of eligible males who took advantage of the program.

One expert on labor issues noted that employers will be in a win-win situation by allowing their male employees to take at least two weeks off in parental leave.

In the survey taken during the second half of November, The Asahi Shimbun asked the target companies what percentage of eligible male employees took child care leave in fiscal 2020 and how many days they took on average.

Six companies said everybody who was eligible took parental leave.

Sekisui House Ltd., one of the six, said the time off taken totaled 31 days on average. The Osaka-based housing company urges its male employees to take at least a full month of child care leave.

“It is extremely important that they do so to face up to their changed family situation and the presence of children,” said Sekisui House President Yoshihiro Nakai. “My hope is that parental leave does not end up as something that is transitory.”

At Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), as many as 80 percent of eligible male workers took child care leave, and for 51 days on average.

The telecommunications giant provides career-nurturing training to male employees who took such leave. Accounts of what the leave entailed for each individual are also shared within the company.

Businesses in the financial sector have scored spectacular success in ensuring that child care leave is taken. The figures exceed 90 percent in most cases.

Nippon Life Insurance Co. posted a male parental leave taker ratio of 100 percent for eight years in a row through fiscal 2020.

“We are encouraging our male workers to take child care leave, if only for a week for starters, to foster a corporate culture that does not make them feel reticent or anxious about taking advantage of the system,” said Satoshi Asahi, a senior managing executive officer with Nippon Life.

But in many companies in the financial sector, the leave taken by male employees came to less than 10 days on average, and in the case of Nippon Life, only eight days.

Ninety-eight percent of eligible males took child care leave, and for six days on average, at Mizuho Financial Group Inc. The corresponding ratio at insurance giant Sompo Holdings Inc. was 94 percent, but the average leave duration was only three days 

Male employees tended to take longer child care leave at companies in the manufacturing sector, which accounted for more than half of the 30 firms with average leave durations of 30 days or more.

The manufacturers, however, had lower ratios of male parental leave takers, which remained in many cases at below 20 percent, and sometimes even in single digit figures.

Companies in a range of sectors said they have independent leave and other systems in place, apart from those set by the government, to make it easier for their male workers to take leave for child care purposes.

Amendments to the law on child care and family care leave will take effect in stages, starting in 2022, to prompt more men to take parental leave.

Businesses will be obligated from this April to ask their employees of both sexes, who have given notice of an imminent birth or pregnancy, whether they intend to take child care leave. This will be done on a case-by-case basis. 

From October, fathers can take up to four weeks of paternity leave immediately after the birth of offspring.

“Under the amended law, more men will be taking child care leave, and for longer durations,” said Manabu Tsukagoshi, a director with Fathering Japan, a nonprofit group that provides assistance to men taking child care leave. “Both their superiors and their employers need to face up squarely to the amended law so that the trend does not result in harassment and other negative consequences.”

Tsukagoshi said he believes that male workers should take at least two weeks of parental leave.

“When the leave is worth so much, that obliges businesses to find ways, as an organization, for reviewing their work flows, reforming their work styles and fostering teamwork,” he said. “Doing so is bound to help raise the overall levels of their organizational strength.”