Father’s Day Coming Soon. Kanazawa City company interviews male employees raising children 【Kanazawa Topics】

The third Sunday in June is 「Father’s Day」, which falls on the 19th this year. Prior to Father’s Day, Visto Corporation, a company headquartered in Kanazawa, interviewed two male employees who are raising children. We asked the two men, both of whom are active while raising children, how they deal with family and work.

Visto Corporation, headquartered in Hirooka, Kanazawa, provides automatic support services in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, including employment support and after-school care services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. The company, which also emphasizes life and work balance for its employees, introduces employees who have taken 「male childcare leave」 in advance of the October 2022 revision of the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law, as well as those who are expanding their careers while balancing work with childcare.

Become the first male in the company to take maternity leave

Takahiro Egawa, a consultant at 「Consultation Support Center Vist Toyama」, took an 8-month childcare leave in 2018, his first year with the company. At the time, Mr. Egawa was a center director in a management position, but his newborn daughter needed medical care, and his wife became ill after childbirth. He was driven to the point of 「I can’t work!」（Details）。

When Ms. Egawa discussed this situation with her colleagues at work, they replied, 「Why don’t you take maternity leave?」 She had not expected to take childcare leave herself, but her back was pressed against the wall. Although Mr. Egawa had not expected to take childcare leave himself, his words gave him a boost and he became the first male employee in the company to take childcare leave.

Ms. Egawa’s current duties include many interviews with users, and she works mostly in the evenings and on weekends. Because of her flexible work schedule, she is usually entrusted with preparing her daughter’s morning tube feedings, taking her to daycare, and bathing her. He sometimes attends the nursery school’s life presentation. He and his wife, who has recovered and is working part-time, raise their child and take turns taking time off when the child is sick.

Neither my wife nor myself will give up our careers because of childcare and housework

Keita Yamazaki is in charge of recruiting, training, and other aspects of human resources in the corporate department (human resources planning) as a new graduate human resources manager, and is also the father of a fourth-grader and a first-grader. At home, he says that instead of dividing household chores and childcare by item, he checks the schedule on an approximate weekly basis and divides picking up the children and making meals for them depending on the day.（Details）。

He also makes an effort to take a half day off to attend school events such as class visits and report cards. Although it is rare for her to see other fathers at school events, Ms. Yamazaki says, 「I don’t think we live in an era where we can say, 『’I can’t go to my child’s events because of my work』」.

Mr. Yamazaki, whose wife also works as a classroom manager at Visto, says that his own transfer from classroom manager to the corporate department has allowed him to have more flexible hours, making it easier for him to balance work and family. He is now active as an emcee and coordinator for marriage events, making use of the psychology he learned in college, under the motto 「Neither I nor my wife will give up our careers because of childcare or housework at home」.

Their stories show that in addition to their own desire to be involved with their families, the understanding and cooperation of their workplaces and a work schedule that allows them to spend time with their families are also important.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Visto operates in Toyama and Ishikawa prefectures, which rank third and sixth in Japan, respectively, for the percentage of dual-earner households. By introducing working fathers, the company hopes to encourage male participation in housework and childcare in its business areas and demonstrate its corporate philosophy, 「Hope for all people through work and a rich story in the heart」.