News Release

October 1, 2020

Have you ever worked with small kids? Surely teachers do.
But imagine that at the workplace, your usual office, you are hearing kids' playing voices, crossing little toddlers at the corridors, chatting with a 2yo who just started to phrase two words at a time in the bathrooms, welcoming the visit of a dressed-up tiny person on Halloween. This is our every day here at Satake Head Office in Hiroshima.

But do children work, too? Definitely not. In Satake, a kids' room is made available for working parents for them to be able to focus on their work and not worrying about the care of their toddlers. This 260 total square meter facility, Bam-Boo, was founded in 2004. It consists of a room to accommodate up to 15 kids, from new-born to pre-school aged children, and a playing ground to enjoy sunny days such as pool activity, etc. For the side note, "-take" in the name "Satake" means bamboo and there are many bamboos used to symbolize the company. For example, Satake's pre-assembled rice milling plant REACH has a brand logo resembling bamboo as well.

Parental support from companies is deemed important for many reasons including psychological, physical, and financial. The proximity of the facility spares them the tiring back-and-forth transit to day-care centers before and after work. Also, it procures a "safe feeling" knowing that their kids are in the same building where they are working in an emergency case or the kid not feeling well sometimes. Besides, events and activities are organized to foster the parent-kids relationship. For example, once a month, events are organized for parents to participate actively and admire the development of their children.

Satake hopes to alleviate the parent's difficulty to find appropriate and reliable child care knowing quite a few parents are constrained to desist from their job due to non-availability or limited vacancy at nursery schools putting them on a very long waiting list before getting admittance to one of them. Furthermore, employees are restricted from overtime work and all may leave on time every day. It provides them more time to take care of their families properly after work.

Along with this facility, there are many other programs found here at Satake to assist employees balance child-raising and work. Satake will continue to be responsible for a healthy working environment for our employees in all matter to the maximum extent practicable as our motto mention: "Our duty is to see that company and employees mutually prosper and maintain a harmonious relationship".