Toyota Motor will exempt factory workers with preschool children from the night shift, beginning in September, to help them balance work and child rearing, media reports said.
Such plant workers will be allowed to work only in the daytime if they meet certain conditions, sources told Jiji Press.
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The move is a response to prime minister Shinzo Abe’s call for industry to boost child-rearing support to employees, as part of the government’s growth strategy. More than 1,000 women work at Toyota’s factories.
Both men and women will be eligible for the exemption, as long as they have children before school age and no other family members available to care for them.
The automaker’s plants generally operate in two shifts: one from early morning to evening and the other from evening to late at night. Workers with infants and toddlers have until now struggled to find nighttime care facilities.
For day shifts, the company is considering providing financial support to hire baby sitters for early morning hours before day care facilities open.
