"Come Back After Raising Kids for 5 Years"... Japan Expands 'Rehiring System' Guaranteeing Reemployment After Retirement

Chichibu City in Japan Implements Rehiring System Starting This Month
KB Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank Also Operate Childcare Retirement Programs Domestically

A company that introduces a reemployment system allowing employees who retired due to family circumstances to return after 5 years is gaining attention. After reinstatement, the previous job grade before retirement is basically maintained.

Chichibu City (市) in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, will implement the reemployment system starting this month. It targets employees with more than 5 years of work experience who retired due to childcare or nursing care reasons. To use this system, an application must be submitted at least one month before retirement. If within 5 years after retirement, interviews or essays are supplemented by reviewing the 5 years of work performance.

The Chichibu City authorities stated that securing talent was the reason for introducing the reemployment system. A representative from the Chichibu City General Affairs Department said, “Creating a work environment where work and childcare/nursing care can coexist is important, but many people still have to retire,” adding, “We thought it was necessary to establish a system that allows people to return to work once their situation stabilizes.”

The photo is not directly related to the article content. [Image source=Pixabay]

In Korea, the childcare retirement system is spreading mainly in the banking sector. Childcare retirement is a system where employees leave their job to take care of their children for 2 to 3 years and then rejoin the company.

The first bank to introduce this system was Kookmin Bank. Earlier this year, 45 employees retired with guaranteed reemployment. Combining maternity/childcare leave (2 years) and childcare retirement (3 years), employees can focus on raising their children for up to 5 years.

Woori Bank plans to process the retirement of 35 employees who applied for ‘conditional reemployment childcare retirement’ as of the 30th of this month. Childcare retirees can return to work 2 years and 6 months after retirement without a separate hiring process. This applies to employees with children under 7 years old, and their accumulated personnel evaluations and training records are maintained. At the time of reemployment, the original joining date is changed, and a new employee number is assigned.

In the industry, childcare retirement is attracting attention as an alternative to overcome the low birthrate era because it reduces employees’ childcare burdens while solving career interruption problems.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.