Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare compiles guidelines regarding people with disabilities in the workplace

Written with edited extracts translated from Nikkei

November 30th 2019

TOKYO – On November 30th the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare published guidelines for national and local governments to create plans for creating workplaces so that persons with disabilities working in government agencies can play an active role. It was pointed out that it is important to promote the understanding of colleagues and supervisors through training and to improve facilities such as the installation of multipurpose toilets.

It was a response to the problem of increased employment of people with disabilities in government agencies that was discovered last August.

The revised Law on Employment Promotion for Persons with Disabilities, which was enacted in June, requires the national and local governments to create and publish the “Disability Promotion Plan for Persons with Disabilities”. Each institution will create a 2-5 year plan according to the guidelines. The guidelines stipulated that persons with disabilities be invited to participate at the planning stage.

A specialized team will be set up for each institution to check the implementation status of the plan and announce the results once a year.Understand and analyze workplace retention rates to prevent employee turnover. Training was provided to colleagues and supervisors, facilities such as slopes, and employment support equipment such as voice reading software were also included.