Empowering Women to Thrive
system
This page introduces JAMSTEC’s various support
systems to help women build their careers.
Support Systems at a Glance
About Each System
Birth Support Leave
The leave is available for up to five days per year for infertility treatment, including inpatient and outpatient care and information sessions.
Accumulated paid leave Paid
Employees can accumulate up to 40 days of expiring annual paid leave, no more than five days per year, for use in such cases as infertility treatment, infertility counseling, and childcare or nursing care for a child who is not yet in junior high school.
Exemption from work for maternal health examinations Paid
Expectant and nursing mothers are exempt from work for the time required to receive regular health examinations and health guidance.
Maternal health management measures(e.g., relaxation of commuting, breaks, reduced workload, measures to address symptoms)
To protect maternal health, by making an application and based on their doctor’s guidance, employees can use various measures such as relaxation of commuting up to one hour per day, extended or more frequent breaks, shorter working hours, leave, and measures to address symptoms.
Exemption from and restriction on overtime work, holiday work, and late-night work for expectant and nursing mothers
By making an application, expectant and nursing mothers can be exempt from overtime work, holiday work, and late-night work (between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. the next day).
Prenatal Leave Paid
The leave of six weeks (14 weeks for multiple pregnancies) is available.
Postnatal Leave Paid
The leave of eight weeks is available.
Spouse Maternity Leave Paid
The leave of up to three days is available to spouses to help childbirth, such as accompanying their spouse to and from the hospital and during childbirth.
Childcare Participation Leave Paid
The leave of up to five days is available during the period before and after the spouse’s childbirth to help childcare, including the newborn and older children.
Childcare Leave at Birth Benefits
Employees, whose spouse gives birth, can take up to four weeks (28 days) within eight weeks since the child’s birth.
Childcare Leave Benefits
Employees can take the leave for childcare until the child turns three years old.
Short-time work for childcare Benefits
Employees can reduce prescribed working hours by one, two, or three hours.
Childcare time Paid
Employees are allowed to take time off twice a day, up to 30 minutes at a time, to provide childcare.
Leave to care etc. for a child Paid
The leave of up to five days per year is available for the child’s illness or injury, vaccinations and health examinations, class closures due to infectious diseases, entrance (admission) ceremonies, graduation ceremonies, and school events such as sports days and visiting days.
Variable working hours (flextime) system
Based on specified total working hours per month, employees can decide their own daily working hours as well as starting and ending times (core time: 13:00 to 15:00). They can use this system together with the short-time work for childcare.
Staggered working hours
Employees, raising a child who is not yet in elementary school, can apply for this system to start their workdays earlier or later than the regular schedule. They can use this system together with the short-time work for childcare.
Telecommuting
Employees can work from home, etc. up to 10 days per month.
Restriction on late-night work and overtime work for childcare
By making an application, employees raising a child who has not completed the third grade of elementary school can be restricted from late-night work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. the next day, as well as overtime work exceeding 24 hours per month and 150 hours per year.
Exemption from overtime work for childcare
By making an application, employees raising a child who has not completed the third grade of elementary school can be exempt from working beyond prescribed working hours.
Annual paid leave Paid
Annual paid leave will be granted every fiscal year during the period of Childcare Leave according to the employment regulations.
Acquiring Certification
The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare has awarded the Eruboshi and Kurumin certification to Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), acknowledging its efforts for empowering women to thrive as well as for helping employees balance work and parenting.
JAMSTEC has acquired the highest level (three stars) of the Eruboshi certification, recognized as a corporation with excellent initiatives to promote women’s active engagement, effective July 25, 2025.
The Eruboshi certification is granted to corporations meeting all of the following items based on the Act on the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life: recruitment, retention, work styles including working hours, ratio of female managers, and diverse career paths. JAMSTEC has met all of these evaluation items, leading to the highest-level certification.
JAMSTEC has also acquired the Kurumin certification, effective November 13, 2025. This is granted to corporations with excellent initiatives to help employees in childcare.
The Kurumin certification is granted based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, recognizing corporations that implement measures to help employees balance work and childcare and meet certain criteria.
While such certification is the fruit of our efforts to promote diversity and to support work-life balance, it is also a significant step forward in further accelerating our efforts to build the organization that embraces diverse talents.
JAMSTEC will remain committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE & I), aiming to ensure that people from diverse backgrounds, regardless of gender, nationality, age, and (dis)ability, can realize their own potential. To this end, we will keep striving to build an enabling work environment, where all employees feel respected and safe as they thrive at work.