SoftBank, one of the biggest telecommunications and internet corporations that has a number of well known corporations under the umbrella of affiliations, such as Yahoo!, BOOKOFF, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and ASKUL, has revised its in-house policies to recognize same-sex partners as family members and extend employee benefits to them.

　SoftBank had already started treating same-sex partners of its customers equally as ‘spouse’ and they were eligible for “Family Discount.” The company was considering revising its in-house policies that affected its 18,000 employees. Under the new in- house policies, same-sex partners of its employees are equally treated as ‘spouse’ and eligible for marriage leave, condolence leave, and wedding payments. Same-sex partners will be treated as ‘spouse’ with submission of documents that prove their cohabitation so that those living in wards that have no same-sex partnership system can apply for the employee benefits.

　“We would like all of our employees to feel that diversity is respected and celebrated in our workplace. It is important to make our workplace LGBT-friendly if we want to hire people with diverse social backgrounds. ” said, personnel from SoftBank.

　As you know, SoftBank has been famous as a LGBT-friendly company in our community since 2009 when SoftBank announced “Family Discount” for same-sex partners. SoftBank has sponsored LGBT pride events not only in Tokyo, but also in Sapporo, Hokkaido since then. Its LGBT-friendly policies have stood out so much among other businesses.

2016/09/07