Japanese private sector employees took more paid leave in 2022 than in any previous year on record. By which is an average of 62.1%, or 10.9 of the 17.6 days available. This is an increase over the previous year as the take-up rate was 58.3%.
Despite these advances, challenges remain as the government strives for a 70% usage rate by 2025. The survey was done by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, and it indicated that larger companies which are those with 1,000 workers or more had a higher utilisation rate of 65.6% compared to smaller companies (those with 30 to 99 employees), which had a higher rate of 57.1%.
There were clear differences between industries. Post offices, for example, were the most used to paid off time, with 74.8% of employees, while the food and lodging services sector trailed behind with 49.1%.
The government’s push for the “work-interval system,” which establishes regular hours in between workdays, was also made clear by the study. The Japan Times noted that although 15% or more of organizations were supposed to adopt this approach by 2025, just 6% of organizations have done so, suggesting that there is still opportunity for improvement in terms of aligning with government objectives.
The results of a different poll performed by Expedia in April, which placed Japan second-to-last globally in terms of paid leave utilization, ahead of only the US, are reinforced by the most recent statistics. The poll, which focused on the worldwide backdrop of Japan’s continuous attempts to transform its work culture, encompassed sixteen nations and regions
