Aiming at creating a society where workers can get a real feeling of comfort and richness.
The Workers' Life Department is striving to spread a system to promote workers' tax-free asset-building scheme, to make workers' free time more fulfilling, and to diffuse teleworking so that workers can realize a comfortable and secure life full of vitality. It is also taking a wide variety of measures such as those designed to spread the small enterprise retirement allowance mutual aid system and to promote services at small and medium business service centers so that those at such small and medium businesses can work with a sense of security.
Workers' fulfilling life
While Japan's economy is maturing, workers do not necessarily feel their lives are comfortable and rich in terms of their working hours, housing environments and other conditions. They are unable to wipe away their anxieties about life after retirement. Under such circumstances, there is a need to do the groundwork for helping workers realize a fulfilling, well balanced, comfortable, secure and energetic life in their offices, homes and communities all through their lifetime.
To meet such requirements, a system to encourage employees' savings scheme (asset-making deposit) has been introduced to promote workers' asset-making plan.
Various steps are also being taken to make it possible for workers to fully enjoy their free time. These include efforts to spread the refreshment leave system and to promote the improvement of social environments so that workers can easily join community activities such as volunteer work. On the other hand, the Worker's Living Conditions Department is pushing ahead with its project to promote teleworking, a new way of doing jobs that contributes to the mitigation of the congestion during rush hours and the reduction in commuting hours, and meet the needs for diverse styles of doing work.
Measures for workers at small and medium businesses
Small and medium businesses take an important position in Japan's economic society. However, workers' welfare at small and medium businesses are not still good enough compared with that of employees at large companies.
In order to maintain the vitality of Japan's economic society and ensure its healthy development, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare considers it important for employees at small and medium businesses to become able to work with a sense of security and have a real feeling of comfort and affluence.
To realize this goal, the ministry is implementing various measures to spread the small enterprise retirement allowance mutual aid system and to promote projects at the small and medium business centers from the viewpoint of reducing a gap between businesses in respect of workers' labour welfare. These steps are intended to enrich the lives of workers at small and medium businesses by supporting their employers.