Providing Comfortable Working Environment for Employees

Efforts to Support Employees’ Childcare and Nursing Care

During the course of their working lives, employees inevitably pass through life stages that require them to render childcare and nursing care. To enable them to continue working with peace of mind and demonstrate their fullest potential, ITOCHU has expanded and upgraded systems to help that are far and above those required by law. These systems are available to both men and women, and provide support to employees in their work as well as child and/or nursing care duties.
In fiscal 2008, along with offering a system for childcare leave, we added systems that allow employees to choose the days they wish to work and to work shorter hours when raising children. We also established a paternity leave system as yet another way to support employees in both work and parenting, with the number of employees utilizing this system growing each year.
In fiscal 2010, we opened I-Kids, a childcare center for our employees, at a location close to our Tokyo headquarters. This move was made in light of a widespread social issue where many children are currently waiting for entry to nurseries in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and female workers face difficulties in planning their return from childcare leave. Subsequently, we took this step to minimize factors that might hinder our employees from continuing their careers and support their motivation to keep working. Furthermore, in line with revisions to Japan’s Child Care and Family Care Leave Law, in fiscal 2011, we expanded our system for supporting the participation of male employees in childcare, and established a new system of nursing care leave, allowing employees to take short periods off from work as a way to support them in meeting their work and nursing care responsibilities.
Through the continued expansion and upgrade of support and systems of this kind, ITOCHU is creating a working environment that will enable employees to retain their motivation to continue working.

Acquisition of leave according to child care or nursing care related systems

(Unit: persons)
		FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011
Child care	Parental leave	30	43	49（2 males; 47 females）
	Leave to nurse sick children	71	98	125（58 males; 67 females）
	Shorter working hours for child care	40	32	50（1 males; 49females）
	Special parental leave	21	16	13（7 males; 6 females）
	Paternity leave	48	53	62（62 males）
Nursing care	Nursing care leave	0	0	0
	Special nursing care leave	9	8	9（3 male; 6 females）
	Nursing care responsibilities	-	-	16（7 males; 9 females）
	Shorter working hours for nursing care	1	2	2
Family support leave		247	383	469（285 males; 184 females）

Comments from an I-Kids user

Investor Relations DepartmentAkihide Hoshiba

Birthday party at I-Kids

I was unable to get my child into an approved nursery school, so I chose to use I-Kids instead. I was a bit worried at first if my daughter would adapt to being in daycare. But she quickly became accustomed to going to I-Kids and seems to enjoy being their each day, which as a parent makes me glad. While commuting to work on the train with a one year old can be tough, my wife and I both appreciate knowing that we can continue to work while having her looked after by nursery school teachers, nutritionists and other staff that we can trust.

Comments from a user of childcare leave

HR Management Department, Human Resources & General Affairs DivisionTakashi Kawasaki

When my second child was born last year, I decided to take leave from the Company after discussing the decision with my supervisor and my wife. Thanks to the support of my supervisor and colleagues, I was able to give my all to helping raise my child during this irreplaceable time in a baby’s development. Although there are still not many male employees opting to take leave, as Japan’s birthrate declines and its population grows older, supporting childcare efforts will become an increasingly major social responsibility that companies must fulfill. I think that more must be done to create an environment and atmosphere that will allow men and women alike to meet their respective parental duties.

Acquired “Kurumin” Mark Certification

On July 11, 2011, ITOCHU Corporation obtained approval from the Tokyo Labor Bureau to display the Next-Generation Certification Mark (affectionately known as Kurumin) after satisfying approval criteria stipulated by Japan's Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children^(*).
In an effort to create working environments suitable for all of its employees, ITOCHU has a full range of systems in place to support them in balancing their work and parental responsibilities. Steps taken to embed and promote active participation by more of our diverse workforce over the years have included the establishment of an in-house child daycare center, called I-Kids, in January 2010. Approval to display the Kurumin Mark is an acknowledgement of ITOCHU's track record in this important area.
ITOCHU will continue to create environments that make diverse working styles possible, allowing employees to balance work and childrearing, as well as give ample play to their own skills and abilities.

* Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children
The Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children calls on regional public-sector organizations to formulate and present local action plans to help reverse Japan's rapidly declining birthrate. Meanwhile companies, based on the number of employees employed, are mandated to formulate action plans of their own for supporting employees in balancing work and parental duties, and submit a detailed summary of these to prefectural labor bureaus. (Excerpt from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japanese only)

Career Counseling

The Career Counseling Center offers a wide range of counseling and support for diverse career stages, ranging from new recruits to organization managers. Staffed by several employees certified as career counselors, the department touches on an array of topics with its clients, including relationships with supervisors, junior staff and peers, approaches to work, and considerations about one’s own future. A mechanism is in place in which all young employees go to career counseling at certain milestones after joining ITOCHU as part of their training. Counseling, moreover, is available to all employees when choosing a career path, as well as for middle-aged employees looking to extend their employment. In the words of one employee, “Since I usually don’t have time on a given day to really sit and consider my situation, being able to go to career counseling was a very valuable experience for me.”

Employee Health Management

For ITOCHU Corporation, employees are assets, and thus the health management of every single employee is extremely important to ensure that a diversity of employees can freely exert their capabilities.
We have developed an in-house system that allows employees to receive counseling on their health at any time. For example, the Health Administration Center at ITOCHU’s Tokyo Headquarters, which also serves as a clinic, has 20 specialist physicians on staff, as well as an X-ray technician and a pharmacist. These health maintenance professionals, who each act as a “health concierge,” care for every aspect of health for each employee, providing them with the support needed to manage their own health.
Where mental health is concerned, we have established a stress management room in-house, and have a system where employees can talk at any time with a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.
We are also taking steps to prevent long working hours, including setting days at each business site for early dismissal from work. At the same time, we are further strengthening our system for ensuring proper time management as a company, including utilizing an objective labor time management system based on building entry and exit records.

Employee Safety Measures

To ensure that ITOCHU Corporation employees stationed around the world and their families spend a meaningful assignment term in safety and good health, we have built a full system not only for incidents, accidents, disasters and other emergencies, but also for health management.
To prepare for emergencies such as diseases or injuries, including preventive measures for infectious diseases in the dispatched area, we collaborate with multiple medical emergency service companies for a complete support system.

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