"Thank You for Your Overtime and Extra Work"...Companies Introduce Matchmaking Welfare for Single Employees

Utilizing Dating Apps Amid Low Birthrate and Population Decline
Government and Local Authorities Also Support Matching Services

Major Japanese corporations are introducing "company-exclusive matchmaking apps" as part of their employee welfare programs to address severe labor shortages and the declining birth rate. By supporting employees' romantic relationships and marriages, these companies aim to increase retention rates and reduce turnover. This strategy aligns with the Japanese government's broader efforts to combat the low birth rate, and its adoption is spreading.

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On January 5, the Asahi Shimbun reported that, in addition to large corporations, government agencies in Japan are actively cooperating to provide a variety of welfare programs aimed at encouraging marriage and childbirth. Approximately 1,500 companies and institutions, including Toyota Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), are offering a matching service exclusively for single employees as an official welfare program. This service verifies employment status to enhance trustworthiness and focuses on matching individuals based on their intentions to marry.

The direct involvement of companies in arranging matchmaking stems from the relative sense of deprivation felt by single employees. Traditionally, Japanese corporate welfare programs have focused on those taking childcare or nursing leave, while single employees, who have often had to cover for their absent colleagues by working overtime or taking on additional tasks, have voiced dissatisfaction over being excluded from welfare benefits. Considering that more than 40% of its employees are single, credit card company Orient Corporation (Orico) introduced the app in April last year. According to the Asahi Shimbun, since its introduction, 176 employees have used the service, and 17 have started actual relationships.

Approximately 1,500 companies and institutions, including Toyota Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), offer Aill Goen, a matching service exclusively for single employees, as an official welfare program. Aill Goen website

Daito Trust Construction is also providing employees who take on extra work due to colleagues' leave with an allowance of up to 30,000 yen (approximately 280,000 won), along with access to the matchmaking app. The company explained that the introduction of this program was accelerated by the fact that 60% of its approximately 3,000 single employees-mainly in their 20s and 30s-are open to meeting people through such apps.

This corporate movement is closely aligned with the Japanese government's low birth rate policies. The government has defined the declining birth rate as a national crisis and is pursuing what it calls a "two-dimensional low birth rate strategy," which includes expanding child allowances, reducing childbirth and childcare costs, extending mandatory paternity leave for men, and increasing childcare facilities. In addition, policies that actively encourage marriage itself are being strengthened.

In Tokyo Metropolis, to encourage marriage, they started offering a self-developed matchmaking app from 2024. Submission of a "Certificate of Singleness" is mandatory to register for the app. Tokyo Metropolis official website

In practice, local governments, including Tokyo Metropolis, are operating AI-based matchmaking apps and public marriage support programs to actively facilitate meetings between single men and women. As a result of these efforts, dating apps have already become a major route to marriage in Japanese society. According to Tokyo Metropolis, more than 30% of couples married in the past year met through a matching app. Consequently, both the corporate and public sectors are clearly utilizing dating services as a means to address the declining birth rate. In particular, companies expect that "matchmaking welfare" can serve as a new welfare model that simultaneously aims to increase employee life satisfaction, promote long-term retention and talent acquisition, and address the low birth rate.