Male government officials taking childcare leave last year more than 20% for the first time last year on September 30 18:08
The percentage of male government officials who took new childcare leave exceeded 20% for the first time last fiscal year.
National civil servants working in central ministries and other agencies are allowed to take childcare leave regardless of gender until the child is three years old.
According to the National Personnel Authority, the number of male national civil servants in general positions, excluding special positions such as self-defense officers who took childcare leave in the previous fiscal year and 2018, increased by more than 160 from the previous year to 1,350.
The acquisition rate was 21.6%, surpassing 20% for the first time and renewing the record high for 6 years, approximately four times the 2014 level four years ago.
On the other hand, 72% of those who took childcare leave were less than one month, and 28% took more than one month.
The National Personnel Authority says, “It may be the result of the government's efforts to create a workplace atmosphere that makes it easier to take childcare leave, with the goal of raising the rate of male childcare leave.”
Rapid increase in acquisition rate Changes in the workplace environment in the background
One of the reasons for the increase in the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave is a change in the workplace environment.
The government has set the goal of improving the male childcare leave acquisition rate for the realization of women's active participation, and the movement to actively promote the acquisition at the central ministries has expanded over the past few years.
Mika Harada of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications took a leave for childcare for 11 months, combining nine months of childcare leave with summer vacations three years before the eldest daughter was born.
The boss who consented to Mr. Harada's proposal was encouraged by "Do your best in childcare" and blessed by colleagues.
Mr. Harada said, “It is important to understand the workplace, especially managers, to take childcare leave. In my case, I was sent out warmly, but it was a hurdle if managers showed disappointment. I think. "
And “I was able to see the growth of my daughter firmly. It was a great pleasure. Even after I returned to the workplace, I became more aware of trying to work efficiently, even if I was involved in childcare as much as possible. I hope that the environment where I can take childcare leave will spread. ”
Efforts to reform managers' awareness
In order to encourage male employees to take childcare leave, the central ministry is focusing on reforming the awareness of managers.
Last year, we created a check sheet to check whether the child has a plan to be born, whether he is thinking of taking childcare leave when he was born, in an interview with the manager.
By sharing this check sheet with the department in charge of human resources, it has become possible to smoothly prepare for work assignment and staff assignment when employees take childcare leave.
In order to promote awareness-raising, the status of taking childcare leave for subordinates was positioned as one of the elements of managerial personnel evaluation.
The manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications interviewed his subordinates, “When I entered the government office 20 years ago, it was hard to say that a man's childcare leave was a little difficult. However, the atmosphere of taking childcare leave is spreading, so I would like to communicate positively. "
Expert to remove psychological obstacles
Yuki Atsumi, a senior researcher at Toray Institute of Management, who is familiar with work-life balance, said, “At the central ministry,“ Beginning with Samurai, ”a top-down approach to male childcare leave has led to results. On the other hand, he pointed out, “Japan is still low because the rate of male government employees taking childcare leave exceeds 90% in Western countries.”
On top of that, Mr. Atsumi said, “It is an urgent need to create a work environment that makes it easy to take childcare leave, regardless of whether it is public or private. The Japanese system guarantees 67% of income even during childcare leave. Since the level is high, it seems that the reason why the acquisition does not progress is due to psychological hurdles.In the future, there will be an increase in the problems of parental care among management generations, so an atmosphere of helping the entire workplace may be fostered. I think it will change to the awareness that it is a big risk management for the workplace and the company.
National government officials as a whole have not achieved their targets
The rate of taking childcare leave for male public officials announced on the 30th does not include “special positions” such as SDF personnel.
The government has set a goal of raising the rate of childcare leave for all male public employees, including those in special positions, to 13% by next year and by the second year of order.
According to the Cabinet Personnel Bureau, the latest data (H29) is 10.0%, which exceeds 6.16% of private companies (as of October 2010), but has not yet reached the target.
Comparison with the private sector
The rate of taking childcare leave for male national civil servants, excluding special jobs, has increased by around 4 points every year since 2015.
The acquisition rate in the last fiscal year has been about four times as high as 16 points since FY2014.
On the other hand, although private enterprises are also growing every year, the growth rate is lower than that of the national civil servants, and in FY2018, the growth rate is only about 4 points from FY2014.
Regarding this background, Mr. Atsumi of Toray Management Research Institute said, “Some private companies are reluctant to take childcare leave for employees from a short-term perspective, which is“ becoming management negative. ” There are some advanced companies, and the workplace environment varies greatly depending on the awareness of top management. ”