Fertility Benefits for Employers in Japan

Written by Anna Haotanto, Founder, Zora Health. Last reviewed: November 2026. General information, not legal or medical advice. This guide covers IVF and egg freezing costs, public funding, the rules and how to build a fertility benefit.

Why fertility is a business problem for employers

Fertility treatment does not fit around a work calendar. A clinic sets the date of a scan the day before. Egg collection happens when the body is ready, usually about 36 hours after a final trigger injection. Then comes a two-week wait, and for many couples, another cycle. Your team feels it: missed meetings, unexplained absences, a strong performer who suddenly goes quiet.

Most employees hide treatment. In a 2023 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey of 2,000 workers and 1,859 companies, 14.5% of workers had been through or planned fertility treatment, and only 55.3% of those with experience said they managed to combine it with work. The cost shows up as:

• Resignations. 10.9% quit their job because they could not balance work and treatment. A further 7.8% gave up treatment and 7.4% changed their type of employment: 26.1% in all (our calculation).
• Silence. 47.1% of workers who had or planned treatment had told no one at work and did not plan to. 62.3% of employers did not know whether any employee was in treatment.
• No support. 73.5% of employers had no support at all, and only 10.6% had a formal system (JILPT summary).
• Unequal treatment. Insurance covers IVF only for married or de facto couples where the woman starts before 43, and a Tokyo resident can get help with egg freezing that a colleague in Osaka cannot. One benefits budget lands very differently across one team.

What employers gain

What IVF costs, and what the state pays

Since April 2022, public health insurance has covered IVF, ICSI and embryo transfer at the standard 30% co-pay (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The high-cost medical expense system caps what a patient pays each month, but those caps rose in August 2026 and are due to rise again in August 2027. Separately, Health Insurance Act amendments passed in May 2026 will cover normal childbirth in full under public insurance from around June 2028, while caesarean births keep the usual 30% co-pay (Akita Sakigake Shimpo, 2026).

Egg freezing cost: NLI Research Institute, December 2024. Add-ons: Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, December 2025. Before insurance, a ministry-commissioned survey found an average of ¥501,281 per IVF treatment, and more than half of patients spent over ¥1 million in total. That survey dates from 2020 and 2021.

Sources: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, egg freezing subsidy and employer grant, July 2026.

Age is one of the strongest predictors of IVF success, alongside individual medical and treatment factors. In 2023, live births per started cycle peaked at 23.8% at age 29 and fell below 10% from age 41.

Those figures come from the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology registry report for 2023, which also puts the live birth rate per frozen embryo transfer at 28.8%. Insurance stops at 43, and many couples need more than one cycle, which is why the size of an allowance, and when employees can use it, matter as much as whether you offer one.

Fertility support that fits your workforce and budget

You do not need to overhaul your existing health insurance to support employees through fertility treatment. Start with awareness and manager education, add confidential one-to-one support, or introduce a funded allowance across your offices. There is no minimum company size.

Where included in the employer programme, eligible employees can use talks and care navigation without paying Zora a separate fee. Care navigation allowances are set in each proposal. Treatment and other third-party costs are paid separately, either by employees or through the fertility allowance their employer provides.

Optional add-ons can be added to any programme, subject to availability: hormone and fertility diagnostics and telehealth with specialists. Pricing is tailored to your headcount, your countries and the services you choose. Most companies start with a single talk.

Request a proposal See how Zora works for employers

Plan your fertility benefit budget

Already have corporate health insurance? Here is where Zora fits

Your medical plan may cover some consultations and tests, but fertility treatment is often limited or excluded, so check your policy wording. Employees still need to understand their options, the public funding they qualify for and which clinic suits them.

Zora works alongside your existing insurance and benefits. We help employees get reliable information, navigate their care options and reach suitable specialists, and we give HR manager guidance, policy templates and, on the Complete programme, anonymised reporting. You strengthen fertility support without replacing your medical plan.

How Zora works

For your employees

Employees join the Zora app with a company code, or single sign-on for larger teams. They can learn about fertility and egg freezing, understand what your benefit covers, book a confidential care navigation call and find partner clinics and specialists.

For HR

1. Kick-off, week 1. Agree goals, countries and which employees are eligible.
2. Policy and benefit design, weeks 2 to 4. Draft or update your fertility policy using our templates.
3. Launch, typically weeks 4 to 6. A launch talk for employees and managers, plus a communications pack for HR to send.
4. Live support. Employees book care navigation calls and use the Zora app.
5. Reporting, every 3 months, on the Complete programme. Anonymised usage, common themes and our recommendations, reviewed with your account manager.

Privacy

Employee privacy is central to our programmes. On the Complete programme, routine employer reports contain aggregated engagement and utilisation information, with safeguards to prevent identification of individual employees. On every programme, personal health information is not included in standard HR reporting, and employees can get help without telling their manager. Where eligibility checks or claims administration need individual-level data, access is limited to authorised parties for defined purposes, as agreed in writing before launch. Employee data is handled in line with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act and Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information, which treats medical history as special care-required personal information.

Clinics and doctors in Japan

Zora’s directory lists 28 clinics and 15 doctors in Japan. Locations include Tokyo, Osaka and Sendai. Of these clinics, 22 list IVF and 18 list egg freezing.

Employees can browse clinics in Japan, see IVF clinics and find a doctor in Japan on the Zora app. The directory is for information only and is not an endorsement. See Zora’s employer guides for every country.

Rules and eligibility in Japan

Why employers choose Zora

Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with Zora Health. We work alongside your existing insurance, helping employees use the cover they already have and find suitable specialists based on their needs.

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Trying to conceive with a heavy workload took a toll on my husband and me. It helped us understand our options.

Questions HR teams ask us

Is fertility leave mandatory in Japan?

No. There is no statutory fertility treatment leave. Employers that offer dedicated leave and meet the other criteria can apply for Kurumin Plus certification.

Does health insurance cover IVF in Japan?

Yes, since April 2022, at a 30% co-pay for women under 43 at the start of treatment, with limits on the number of embryo transfers per child. Add-on treatments and elective egg freezing are not covered.

Is there any public support for egg freezing?

Tokyo runs a subsidy for residents aged 18 to 39 who join its research programme, and a grant for employers that introduce an egg freezing benefit. There is no national scheme.

Does Zora replace our health insurance?

No. Zora works alongside your insurance. We help employees understand their options, find suitable specialists and use the cover they already have.

How much does a fertility benefit cost an employer?

It depends on the allowance, eligibility and expected uptake. Use the budget planner on this page for a first estimate, then ask us for a tailored proposal based on your headcount and countries.

How quickly can we launch?

Typically 4 to 6 weeks from contract to launch, depending on scope and countries. Most companies start with a single talk.

Related guides for Japan employers

Information on this page is correct as of 5 November 2026. Laws, public funding, insurance rules and treatment costs change often, so check current rules with the relevant authority, insurer or a qualified adviser before making decisions. This page is general information, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice.