September 22, 2008

Opening of intra-company child daycare center -- “BEAR Kids Land”

NTN Corporation (hereafter NTN) will open an intra-company child daycare center, “BEAR Kids Land”, at NTN's Iwata Works (in Higashikaizuka, Iwata city, Shizuoka prefecture) in April 2009. Intended to ensure safety and support NTN employees in raising children, this is the first center of its kind at NTN.

The NTN Iwata Works is one of NTN's main plants, manufacturing automotive bearings, drive shafts and others. A general R&D Center and Production Engineering R&D Center are also located at the same site. Including nearby affiliates, employees number about 2,500.

At BEAR Kids Land, in addition to monthly or temporary base childcare, an extended time childcare will be available to accommodate parents' overtime work. Meals will be cooked by the center itself and non-allergenic meals will also be available. The one-story building will use natural wood and an environmentally-friendly solar light generation system. Also, it will have high earthquake-resistance with for use as an evacuation center. Existing medical and security services at the Iwata Works will serve the childcare center.

To accomplish NTN's goals of “encouraging female employees to maximize their abilities” and of providing “child-rearing support for the next generation”, NTN has worked aggressively to introduce various systems such as maternity leave with pay and “twice a day” to allow time for childcare (two hours each time). As a result of these efforts, the average length of service at NTN for female employees is 19.7 years and 21.4 years for male employees. Further, the length of service at NTN for both genders is becoming similar. In addition, a reemployment system, called the “Mom back system” (for female employees who stopped work for reasons such as childbirth and childcare) and a babysitter support system to help with childcare have been recently introduced. Daycare is planned to be introduced at NTN's Kuwana and Okayama locations in the future.

Outline of the intra-company child daycare center

Name	:	NTN Iwata Works child daycare center “BEAR Kids Land” (Provisional name )
Location	:	1342-2, Higashikaizuka, Iwata city, Shizuoka prefecture
Service days	:	Working days of Iwata Works
Service hours	:	Normal care 7:30 - 17:30 Extended care 17:30 - 19:30
Capacity	:	25 children
Types of care	:	Monthly base (Regular time / Extended time), Temporary base (hourly)
Qualifying age	:	6 months to preschool age
Undertaker	:	Futaba Social Welfare Corporation, Nishikai daycare center (Nishikaizuka, Iwata city, Shizuoka refecture)

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