TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — The Tokyo metropolitan authorities was contemplating introduction of a four-day workweek possibility for its authorities staff beginning in subsequent fiscal 12 months as a part of efforts to create a supportive atmosphere for balancing careers and childcare.
The initiative, disclosed earlier this month by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, allowed municipal staff to make the most of a versatile working hours system that caters to their particular person wants.
Using a flextime system, eligible staff, excluding these in part-time or fiscal-year-based positions, will be capable of take an extra weekday off every week.
Currently, staff working 155 hours over a four-week interval can take one further weekday off throughout that interval. Under the brand new system, whole required working hours will stay the identical, however staff can be allowed to take an extra day without work inside a single week.
Similar methods have already been carried out in different areas this 12 months, together with Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures, with Chiba reporting that 150 staff had taken benefit of the system by Nov. 1.
Governor Koike emphasised the necessity for reforms that enable girls to proceed their careers via life occasions akin to childbirth and parenting. The initiative additionally goals to set an instance for Tokyo-based companies to undertake comparable measures.
The transfer got here because the variety of births in Japan in 2024 was more likely to fall underneath 700,000 for the primary time as information confirmed that the determine within the first half fell 6.3 % from a 12 months earlier to 329,998.
The proposal has sparked blended reactions as supporters spotlight advantages like work-life steadiness whereas critics categorical skepticism about its practicality, particularly within the present financial local weather.