Photo/Illutration Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Provided by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co.)

When employees take child care leave, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. wants to ensure that all their co-workers benefit and it becomes a reason to celebrate. 

The leading insurance firm will start an allowance system under which 3,000 yen ($22.90) to 100,000 yen will be paid to all colleagues of those on parental leave.

According to Mitsui Sumitomo's announcement on March 17, the one-off payment, which will start in July, seeks to create a positive environment for employees with young children to take time off for child care without having any reservations.

“We will be building a corporate atmosphere where the birth and growth of staff’s offspring will be celebrated in a heartfelt fashion and accepted and assisted willingly throughout their entire workplaces,” said a Mitsui Sumitomo representative.

Dubbed a congratulatory gift, the office support compensation during an employee’s child care leave will apply to all employees of Mitsui Sumitomo, with staffers belonging to its branches included.

How much they receive will be determined on the number of employees at each workplace. Offices with fewer people will be eligible for larger sums, since co-workers of those on parental leave at such places need to commit themselves to doing more work.

Consideration will not be given to leave-takers’ assigned tasks, how long they are absent nor what season they take days off in.

A workplace having more than one employee on parental leave will be rewarded by benefits for all leave-takers.

According to a survey conducted by the Cabinet Office in 2021, among married men in their 20s and 30s, most respondents, or 42.3 percent, said they do not take a leave of a month or longer for child-rearing because they “do not want to cause trouble” to their colleagues.

As multiple answers were allowed, many also cited as a reason their workplaces’ “environment in which taking paternal leave appears unforgivable.” The ratio of such individuals came to 33.8 percent.

Mitsui Sumitomo has been assisting employees who have infants, such as arranging for all men who have just had babies to take parental leave or paid leave basically for one month since June 2021.

The ratios for male and female workers at the company taking child-rearing leave in fiscal 2021 were 87.6 percent and 95.6 percent, respectively.

Shintaro Yamaguchi, a household economics professor at the University of Tokyo, who is well known for his book about economic studies on child care support, praised the insurance company’s latest move.

“People often say they do not take parental leave out of consideration for those around them, but this system will provide co-workers financial benefits and help form win-win relationships with even those without children,” he said.

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