Since 1 December 2015, every workplace with 50 or more workers has had to offer each of them a stress check once a year. It is a questionnaire, usually the ministry's standard 57-item version, covering the sources of stress at work, the employee's own symptoms and the support they get from managers and colleagues. A doctor, public health nurse or other qualified person runs it, not the employer, and the workplace must report that it was done to the Labour Standards Inspection Office.
The design is built around confidentiality. Individual results go to the employee. The employer may not see them without the employee's consent, and may not treat anyone unfavourably for declining to take the check, for asking to see a doctor, or because of the results. An employee assessed as high-stress can ask for an interview with a doctor, and the employer must arrange it, hear the doctor's opinion and take measures where needed, such as reducing hours or changing duties. Analysing results by team, to spot units with a problem, is so far only an effort duty.
Workplaces with fewer than 50 workers have only been asked to make an effort. An amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Act promulgated on 14 May 2025 makes the check mandatory for them too. A cabinet order has fixed the start date as 1 April 2028.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Count by workplace, not by company. The threshold applies to each site. A 120-person Japan entity with a 30-person branch office has different duties at each until the small-workplace rule takes effect.
- Do not route results to the region. Sharing individual results with a regional HR team or line manager without consent breaches the law. Group-level analysis, properly anonymised, is the useful output for management.
- A high-stress result is a signal for the duty of care. If a doctor recommends lighter duties and nothing changes, that record matters if the employee later falls ill.
- Small offices should prepare now. Many foreign subsidiaries have fewer than 50 people and have never run one. Line up a provider before the deadline.
Sources
- Industrial Safety and Health Act, Article 66-10 (in force 1 December 2015).
- Act partially amending the Industrial Safety and Health Act, promulgated 14 May 2025, and the cabinet order fixing 1 April 2028 for workplaces with fewer than 50 workers.
- Yamanashi Labour Bureau, notice on stress checks becoming mandatory for workplaces with fewer than 50 workers from 1 April 2028.
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, guidelines on the stress check programme.