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Employment Services for the Elderly

Support for Employers Concerning Elderly Employment

JEED seeks to realize a society with lifelong employment by providing counseling and other forms of support to the employers on technical issues concerning (1) supply of grants and (2) employment of the elderly as well as conducting research/surveys on the development of practical methods and publicity activities based on the Law Concerning Stabilization of Employment of the Elderly. These supports aim to facilitate employers’ initiatives in the development of companies where people can work regardless of their age, by improving both measures that contribute to the stable employment of the elderly and employment management for the elderly, and securing a variety of vocational opportunities for them.

1.Providing Grants to Stabilize Employment of the Elderly

Grants to Promote Employment of the Elderly over 65

This grant is provided to employers in order to realize a society with lifelong employment where the elderly can work regardless of age as long as they have the will and the ability to work. The grant is composed of the following 3programs.

Grant to Promote the Continuous Employment of the Elderly over 65

A certain amount of grant will be provided to employers who take measures either to raise the retirement age, to abolish the compulsory retirement age system, to establish a continued employment system for employees who desire to continue working until the age of 66 or older, or to establish a continued employment system by another company, depending on the content of the measures and the extent to which the ages of retirement, etc., have been raised, as well as the number of employees aged 60 or over covered by employment insurance.

Grant to Improve Employment Management including the Evaluation System for the Elderly

This grant will be given to employers who implement measures (an employees’ wage and remuneration system, working hours, a health management system, etc.) to improve their employment management system in order to promote the employment of elderly workers.

Grant to Transfer Elderly Workers’ Employment to Nonfixed Term

The grant will be provided to employers who transfer the fixed-term employees aged 50 or over but under the retirement age to a non-fixed term. The amount of grant depends on the number of employees transferred.

Requests for counseling and applications for grants should be submitted to the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities Services Department of the respective JEED prefectural offices. (Business Handling Department in Tokyo and Osaka prefectural offices.) (See pp. 25-26 for locations, etc.)

2.Counseling and Assistance on Employment of the Elderly

If private enterprises are to create working environmentsin which elderly individuals can fully exercise their abilities,it is necessary to reexamine the personnel managementsystems including wage and retirement benefit systems,development and improvement of vocational capability,development of job categories, and improvement of the work environment. Furthermore, to promote the elderly employment strategy more proactively, it is required to raisethe retirement age and extend the period of continuous employment. JEED appoints specialists with professional and practical expertise in the field of elderly employment such as socialinsurance labor consultants, small- and medium-sized enterprise management consultants, and management and labor consultants as planners for employment of the elderly over 65 (Employment Planner) and advisors on employment of the elderly (Advisors), in order to provide various services. Specifically, Advisors provide companies with counseling and support on overall technical problems involved in employing elderly persons, while Employment Planners provide counseling and support to companies through proposals on concrete system improvements related to the extension of continued employment over 65 and raising the retirement age to 65 and over, based on the specialized knowledge accumulated at JEED. Also, based on requests from the companies, Advisors will make proposals for practical improvement to promote employment of the elderly. Furthermore, when requested by the companies, Advisors will provide training for the corporate workplace managers,as well as for the middle-aged and older employees to strengthen their motivation.

Counseling/advice by Employment Planner

3.Development of Practical Methods

Considering the falling birthrate and aging population as well as a future shrinking labor force in our country, it has become increasingly essential for the elderly to play an active role in supporting our society.
Given the circumstances, in order to ensure employment until the age of 65 and secure employment opportunities from age 65 to age 70 with the aim of realizing a society with lifelong employment, JEED develops practical methods pertaining to the expansion of job categories and the reexamination of wages, personnel management systems, and training programs while fully grasping the challenges and needs of companies and clarifying the solutions and areas of improvement that can be taken by them to ensure that the elderly become a substantial part of the workforce.
Practical methods developed by JEED are compiled into reports, and summaries are provided on the website to be used in work settings as a reference for corporate approaches to the employment of the elderly. More so, they are used by Employment Planners and Advisors as explanatory materials when conducting counseling and support activities at companies. Furthermore, Employment Planners and Advisors utilize these materials to improve their knowledge and consulting/supporting skills.
The reports are also utilized on TV, in newspapers, and in magazines as news or in commentary articles.

Helpful Career Tips for Active Aging in the Workplace

Guideline for Promoting Employment of Elderly by Industries

Manual for Promoting Employment of the Elderly until 70

Collection of Cases Promoting Employment of the Elderly until 70

4.Educational Activities to Realize a Society with Lifelong Employment

JEED collects and provides information on employers’ good practices in order to disseminate and promote the concept of companies where people can work regardless of their age and to further propose improvement of systems related to the extension of continued employment and raising the retirement age with the aim of securing employment opportunities for the elderly until the age of 70.
JEED accumulates companies’ good initiatives that will help to improve the work environment for elderly workers and holds contests to recognize the best practices, with the awards ceremony at the Forum for Companies Providing Successful Employment to the Elderly being held every year in October, the designated Elderly Employment Support Month. In the Forum, companies have opportunities to introduce their initiatives. In addition, JEED makes efforts to promote understanding aimed at realizing a society with lifelong employment through local workshops, held for companies to present their improvement initiatives and creativity as well as exchange opinions, and symposia, held under the theme of the revised Law Concerning Stabilization of Employment of the Elderly, etc.
Also, JEED makes efforts to collect companies’ various initiatives, including raising the retirement age with an aim to secure employment opportunities for the elderly until the age of 70. The information on their good practices in elderly employment as well as measures to address an aging society are to be broadly disseminated to the general public and companies through the website that introduces the employment promotion of the elderly until 70 and the relevant outcomes, with the aim of building national momentum towards realizing a society with lifelong employment.

“Elder” - Elderly Employment Educational JournalEducational Journal

Symposium for Realizing a Society with Lifelong Employment

Collection of Cases Promoting Employment of the Elderly until 70 （URL:https://www.elder.jeed.go.jp/）

Tools supporting voluntary efforts of companies