| Abstract | |
| Survey Number | 0702 |
| Survey Title | Survey on Future Support toward Balance between Work and Family Life, 2007 |
| Depositor | Employment Environment and Equal Employment Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Former Name:Work and Family Harmonization Division, Equal Employment,Children and Families Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) |
| Restriction of Use |
For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' on the SSJDA website.
- Apply to SSJDA. SSJDA's approval is required. |
| Educational Purpose | Only available for research. |
| Period of Data Use Permission | One year |
| Access to Datasets | Download |
| SSJDA Data Analysis | Not available |
| Summary |
As Japan becomes a society with a declining population, it has become increasingly important to both male and female workers to have a compatible work and family life and to have environments in place that enable continued stable employment. This survey is therefore a questionnaire survey conducted of companies and employees on the current status and issues concerning support of balance between work and life, for the purpose of aiding in the exploration of further policymaking to facilitate future balance between work and family life. This specifically refers to analyzing the introduction and details of balance-support systems such as parental leave programs, short-time working systems, and remote work systems; the issues facing the introduction of balance support systems; the status of employee systems and intention to use those systems; and the issues facing system operation. |
| Data Type | quantitative research: micro data |
| Universe |
[Company survey] Companies with 10 or more employees in Japan [Employee survey] Regular employees aged 40 years and younger working at the above surveyed companies |
| Unit of Observation | Individual,Organization |
| Sample Size |
[Company survey] Sample size: 4,000 companies Valid responses: 763 companies Valid response rate: 19.1% *Collected questionnaires included 38 companies with 9 or fewer employees. These were included for analysis as valid responses out of consideration of the fact that they had close to 10 employees, distribution closer to the aim and the circumstances of how questionnaires were being filled (same for employee survey responses that were distributed/collected via these companies). [Employee survey] Sample size: 12,000 people Number of responses: 1,771 people Response rate: 14.8% Valid responses: 1,553 Valid response rate: 12.9% *As stated above, survey subjects were “regular employees aged 40 years or younger,” but there were actually questionnaires sent back by employees over the age of 40 years or who were not regular employees. In consideration of the aims of this survey, questionnaires from employees over the age of 40 years and non-regular employees on fixed-term employment were considered invalid. Based on the results, the responses from 1,553 “regular employees aged 40 years and younger (including non-regular employees who are not on fixed-term employment)” were treated as valid questionnaires. |
| Date of Collection |
2007-11-22 ~ 2007-12-14 2007/11/22 – 12/14 |
| Time Period |
2007 ~ 2007 |
| Spatial Unit | Japan Japan |
| Sampling Procedure |
Mixed probability and non-probability
[Company survey] Companies with 10 or more employees in Japan were randomly sampled from the list of companies belonging to Teikoku Databank as a survey population. *Questionnaires were distributed according to industry (based on Japan Industry Standard Classification) and company size. [Employee survey] Multiple question items on childrearing were prepared, and since many of those questions were for regular employees, “regular employees aged 40 years and younger” working at surveyed companies were used as a survey sample. The requested number of questionnaires to be distributed to employees accounted for the size of the companies, ranging from 2 to 7 employees per company. In addition, to avoid any bias in distribution, corporations were asked to distribute questionnaires to both men and women and to multiple workplaces. Furthermore, since this survey concerns support for work and family life balance, a request was made to prioritize distribution to employees with pre-school children. |
| Mode of Data Collection |
Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Mail survey Company questionnaires and employee questionnaires were both sent to human resource managers at surveyed companies, who were also asked to select employees and distribute questionnaires to them. These were then returned by companies and employees on an individual basis. |
| Investigator | NLI Research Institute |
| DOI | 10.34500/SSJDA.0702 |
| Sponsors (Funds) | |
| Related Publications (by the Investigator) | Please refer to the abstract in Japanese. |
| Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) | List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis) |
| Documentation | [Questionnaire] |
| Major Survey Items |
[Company survey] (company questionnaire) (1) Parental leave system - Whether the upper age limit of a child to take parental leave matches the law - Whether the scope of who is eligible for parental leave matches the law - (If the scope exceeds the law), the scope of covered employees - Whether the number of leaves available for one child matches the law - (If the number exceeds the law), types of requirements to take available leave for one child - Whether or not there are employees who have taken parental leave multiple times for one child - Whether or not there is financial support from the company or a mutual aid association, etc. for employees taking parental leave. - Whether fixed-term employees and regular employees are treated the same under the parental leave system - Employee awareness of the detail of the system of parental leave and employment conditions during the leave - Whether workplace makes it easy to take parental leave (2) Short-time working system - Whether or not there is a short-time working system for childcare (excluding childcare hours under the Labor Standards Act) - Reasons for no introduction of a short-time working system for childcare - Upper age limit of children covered by the short-time working system for childcare - Details of the short-time working system for children and hours/days allowed - Rules of the short-time working system for childcare and time required for operation and application - Employee awareness of relevant details, employment conditions/work descriptions/workload/responsibilities of the short-time working system for childcare - Whether or not there have been changes in relevant job descriptions/workload/performance evaluations due to use of the short-time working system for childcare - Whether workplace makes using the short-time working system for childcare easy - Whether or not there is a non-childcare-related short-time working system and the reasons for the introduction - Plan to modify or introduce a short-time working system in the future - Possibility of introducing a short-time working system per occupation type (specialized/technical, managerial, office, sales, retail, service, production/skilled jobs) (3) Remote work system - Whether or not there is a remote work system for childcare - Reasons for no introduction of a remote work system for childcare - Upper age limit of children covered by the remote work system for childcare - Presence/details of restrictions on eligibility to use the remote work system for childcare - Number of days worked remotely under the remote work system for childcare (upper limit of days, average number of days workers under the system worked remotely, number of remote work days considered optimum for completing tasks (per week in all cases)) - Differences between when using and not using a remote work system for childcare (detail/amount of work, responsibilities, wage, wage increase/promotion, performance evaluation) - Whether or not there is a non-childcare related remote work system and the reasons for the introduction - Future plan for the remote work system - Occupation types for which remote work might be introduced (specialized/technical, managerial, office, sales, retail, service, production/skilled) (4) Re-employment systems - Whether or not there is a re-employment system - Whether or not there are restrictions on using re-employment systems and types of conditions of use - Employment conditions at time of re-employment (employment status, pay scale) - Reasons for introducing a re-employment system - Percentage of employees who were actually re-employed after enrolling in the re-employment system (for the past three years) - Future plan for the re-employment system (5) Other flexible work styles Whether or not each system has been introduced (following items) - Late night work exemptions - Overtime work limitations - Flex time system - Later starting times/earlier ending times - Overtime avoidance system - Company childcare facility - Taking childrearing situation into consideration before job transfer - Other (6) Male participation in childrearing Thoughts on necessity of companies taking measurers to promote male participation in childrearing Measures companies can take or have already taken that are likely to help promote male participation in childrearing - Financial support during parental leave - Ability for employees to take parental leave multiple times within a short period of time - Ability of both parents to take parental leave at the same time - Flexible work styles such as short-time working and remote work - Shortening of long working hours - Promotion to take paid annual leave - Improving organizational personnel support - Promotion of understanding among mangers that systems are necessary - Promotion of understanding among employees that systems are necessary - Provision of information to male employees - Provision of information to spouses of female employees (7) Face items of the company - Year of founding - Location of main office - Industry - Number of regular employees (by gender) - Number of part-timers and other non-regular employees/number of fixed-term employees therein - Whether or not submitted a “General Employer Action Plan” based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children - Whether or not certified or has a plan to apply for a certification by the Director of Prefectural Labor Bureau pursuant to the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children - Average of overall annual actual working hours per regular employee in year prior to survey - Rate of taking paid leave in the previous year - Retention of employees compared to other companies in the same industry, work motivation among employees, performance - Working patterns of female regular employees often seen in the company as a whole [Employee survey] (individual questionnaire) (1) Parental leave system - Level of awareness of details of the system - Whether current workplace makes it easy to take parental leave - Whether or not respondent has used parental leave - Intention to use parental leave - Reasons for wanting to use (by type) - Whether there are close acquaintances who have taken parental leave - Requirements that seem appropriate for approving parental leave multiple times for one child - Whether respondent is aware of “social insurance premium exemption” during parental leave - Whether respondent is aware of “payment of employment insurance benefits” when taking parental leave (2) Short-time working system - Whether current workplace has short-time working system for childcare (excluding childcare hours under the Labor Standards Act) - Level of awareness of details of short-time working system for childcare - Whether current workplace makes it easy to use short-time working system - Reasons for difficulty using the system - Whether or not respondent has experience using the system - Whether or not respondent wants to use the system - Reasons for wanting to use the system - Most desired short-time working patterns - Compatibility of content of respondent’s regular work and short-time working (3) Remote work system - Whether or not current workplace has remote work system for childcare (excluding childcare hours under the Labor Standards Act) - Whether or not respondent has experience using the system - Whether or not respondent wants to use the system - Reasons for wanting to use the system - Compatibility of content of respondent’s regular work and remote work (4) Child nursing-care leave system Details of desired child nursing-care leave system - Higher upper age for covered children - Extension of number of days that can be taken - Ability to take five days per child when respondent has multiple children - Paid child nursing-care leave - Ability to take leave in half-day units - Ability to take child nursing leave for preventive inoculations and medical examinations - Ability to take days off for non-child family nursing care - Other - Adequacy of child nursing-care leave systems currently set forth by law Whether or not respondent has experience using child nursing-care system (5) Thoughts on work styles and employment when raising children Whether or not current workplace has systems allowing for flexible work styles for childcare/experience using such systems/intention to use such systems - Late night work exemptions - Overtime work limitations - Flex time system - Later starting times/earlier ending times - Overtime avoidance system - Company childcare facility - Taking childrearing situation into consideration before job transfer - Re-employment system Desired work styles as a mother with children (the following items are per age of children) - Work styles with overtime - Work styles with no overtime - Short-time working - Remote work - Parental leave - Dedicate time to childrearing Thoughts on necessity of companies taking steps to promote male participation in childrearing Measures companies can take that are likely to help promote male participation in childrearing (following items) - Financial support during parental leave - Ability for employees to take parental leave multiple times within a short period of time - Ability of both parents to take parental leave at the same time - Flexible work styles such as short-time working and remote work - Shortening of long working hours - Promotion of paid annual leave - Improving organizational personnel support - Promotion of understanding among mangers that systems are necessary - Promotion of understanding among employees that systems are necessary - Provision of information to male employees - Provision of information to spouses of female employees (6) Employee respondent information - Age - Gender - Employment status - Regular work style (presence of overtime/amount) - Years of employment at current workplace - Occupation type - Awareness of details of action plans to support balancing work and childrearing - Degree of proactive efforts at current workplace to support balancing work and family life - Marital status - Work style of spouse (if present) - Presence of children, age of youngest child - (If there are preschool-aged children) main childcare provider - Presence and types of facilities children use (licensed nursery school, private unlicensed nursery school, company childcare facility, kindergarten, other) - Whether or not there is someone assisting childcare on a daily basis other than respondent and spouse - Person with highest income in household |
| Date of Release | 2011/03/03 |
| Topics in CESSDA |
Click here for details Labour relations/conflict Working conditions SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND GROUPINGS Family life and marriage Specific social services: use and availability |
| Topics in SSJDA | Employment/Labor Society/Culture |
| Version | 1 ： 2011-03-03 |
| Notes for Users |
Types of data provided: company survey data and merged individual and company survey data Variable and value labels are written in Japanese. |