Corporate Welfare Arranging Blind Dates? What Do You Think? [Jjinbit]

Japanese Companies Partner with Dating Apps
As Employee Welfare for Singles... Japan's Lowest Marriage Rate
Companies Ensure Employee Identity Protection... Promise Work-Family Balance

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jung Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in changes in work.

The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan will start arranging matchmaking for employees of member companies from next month. It is said to be a welfare benefit for employees. It may come as a surprise and feel burdensome at first that a company is stepping into the very personal dating business of single employees. Such initiatives are happening not only at the Tokyo Chamber but also in major Japanese corporations.

The matchmaking arranged by the Tokyo Chamber is conducted through the matchmaking application (app) Eigoen. Like the global dating app Tinder and the domestic app Wippy, single men and women use it to find romantic or marriage partners. A total of 1,050 companies, including major Japanese corporations such as NTT, Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi, and JAL, use this service. Japanese office furniture company Itoki introduced this service in July last year and bears the costs. Companies explain that this welfare is designed to prevent benefits from being concentrated only on parents balancing childcare and work in the low birthrate era, allowing single employees to also enjoy welfare benefits.

Marriage among Japanese youth is declining rapidly, just like in Korea. Last year, the number of marriages in Japan hit a record low of 489,281. As young people's willingness to marry sharply decreases, the response rate for 'I have no intention of ever marrying' is also rising. Companies struggling with labor shortages due to the low birthrate problem have begun to move to capture the hearts of the younger generation who seek work-life balance.

Simply allowing the use of a matchmaking app is not enough to win the hearts of single employees. The message companies want to convey is important, as seen through the characteristics of the matchmaking app Eigoen, which these companies have partnered with.

First, this app is a 'company-exclusive app' that arranges matchmaking among employees of companies registered for the service. Only employees of companies registered as service members can use it, and the user's affiliated company is displayed in the app. In a situation where economic factors are cited as the primary obstacle to marriage, the company steps in to guarantee the identity of male and female employees as well as the possibility of dual incomes. Of course, all activities conducted within the app are not reported to the affiliated company.

It is also noteworthy that only companies with well-established work-family balance systems can join this app. Only companies certified as 'Family-Friendly Excellent Companies' by the Japanese government can use this app. Ultimately, companies offering this as welfare can be interpreted as promising to guarantee employees' work-family balance. Additionally, users can directly write about their envisioned division of household chores and childcare after marriage, allowing them to picture their life post-marriage. It is said that 81% of male members actually wrote that they would share household chores and childcare duties at 50% or more.

The reason why this attempt by Japanese companies draws attention is that they recognize that improving the lives of individual employees has a positive effect on performance. Itoki's CEO Minato Koji said in an interview with NHK, "I think the message itself conveyed by the company providing such a system is important," and mentioned that performance improvements are being achieved. An environment where employees and companies can 'win-win' is ultimately the competitiveness of the new era.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.