Japan major bank to make 1-month paternity leave mandatory

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will require its employees to take at least one month's paternity leave in principle from October to encourage participation in childcare and improve the working environment, the company said, Report informs via Kyodo.

As part of the measures to be adopted by fiscal year 2028, the major bank will pay a bonus of 50,000 yen ($335) to employees on parental leave and their colleagues if the business continues to operate stably during their absence.

Taking into consideration that workers will be able to secure adequate time for preparation, "We will promote initiatives to strengthen team resilience, seeing absences arising from childcare as an opportunity," the company said in a press release on Sept. 19.

The new measures will be adopted after the bank achieved a 100 percent acquisition rate for paternity leave in the 2023 fiscal year. However, the average length of leave was just 12 days, falling far short of the 30-day target.

Employees with children under 2 years old are subject to the paternity leave measure.

"Our goal is to eliminate gender stereotypes and establish a culture in which men taking paternity leave and participating in childcare are seen as the norm," the bank said.