Against the backdrop of demographic challenges experienced in Japan, Recruit chose to focus on the 1.2 million Japanese women who want to work but find it difficult to combine work with caring responsibilities. To encourage their participation in the labour market, Recruit launched "Iction!". The programme engages with businesses and young parents in creating the right conditions for them to combine caring responsibilities with work in a new way. Since the programme's conception, 170,000 part-time jobs have been created and over 1 million child-raising mothers have received support and information.
The challenge
As a result of low birthrate and ageing population, Japan is experiencing a shrinking of its workforce. In addition, attracting women to participate in the labour market is challenged by the difficulties in combining work with childcare responsibilities. Participation rate of Japanese women follows an M-shaped curve, dropping at the time they marry and have children and rising again as their care responsibilities lessen.
Solution
Recruit launched the 'iction!' project in 2015 to create an environment where employees, especially women, can more easily balance working life with parenting. The program focuses on five key themes:
- Supporting career planning
- Improving personal finances
- Supporting managers in promoting work-life balance
- Supporting remote working
- Crafting jobs and tasks to enable more task-based work
Key numbers
170000
short-hour jobs created
1
million women better informed
Resources
Country/ies of implementation
Partners
- Non-profit organizations
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
- Cities and local governments (i.a. Kitakyushu city, Itabashi-ku, Arakawa-ku, Yokohama city)