JAPAN: 90% of big Japan firms implement mental health policies, survey shows

. TOKYO, Japan (The Japan Times), October 11, 2008 More than 90% of big Japanese companies with over 1,000 employees have mental health policies in place, a labor ministry survey showed Friday. The survey, which polled 14,000 firms and 18,000 employees last October, showed that 33% of all the firms had such policies, up 10 percentage points from the previous survey in 2002. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey, all the firms with 5,000 employees or more had mental health policies, while 95% of those with an employee size of 1,000 to 4,999 had them. Asked what kind of mental health measures were in place, 59 of the companies cited establishment of a counseling service. Forty-nine percent said they provided employees with education, training and information about mental health, and 34% said they provided managers with them. © 2008 Kyodo News