Annual Schedule Design for Stress Checks and Health Checkups — Streamlining Occupational Health Management
The Common Question
"Should we run the stress check before or after the health checkup?"
This is one of the most practical scheduling questions HR and general affairs teams face when planning annual occupational health activities. Stress checks and health checkups both fall under "employee health management," but they have different legal foundations, purposes, and administrative requirements.
Treating them as independent events is the default approach — but organizations that coordinate them carefully get more out of both, with less strain on their occupational physician and HR team.
Key Differences: Stress Check vs. Health Checkup
| Factor | Stress Check | Annual Health Checkup |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Industrial Safety and Health Act, Article 66-10 | Industrial Safety and Health Act, Article 66 |
| Purpose | Measure psychological stress; primary prevention | Detect health abnormalities early; recommend work adjustments |
| Who is required | Workplaces with 50+ employees (expanding to all by ~2028) | All employers, for qualifying employees |
| Who conducts it | Licensed practitioner (physician, public health nurse, certified mental health practitioner) | Physician |
| Employee obligation | Voluntary — employees cannot be required to participate | Employers must provide the opportunity; effectively mandatory |
| Result disclosure | Results go directly to the employee, not the employer | Employer and occupational physician can access results |
| Follow-up | Face-to-face guidance only if the high-stress employee requests it | Medical opinion on employees with abnormal findings |
| Record retention | 5 years | 5 years |
The critical legal distinction: Employer access to individual stress check results is prohibited unless the employee explicitly consents. Health checkup results, by contrast, are accessible to the employer and occupational physician. This shapes how the two programs can be integrated — they share a calendar, not data.
Timing Options: Same Month vs. Separated
Option A: Same-month implementation
Advantages: - Occupational physician engagement is concentrated — face-to-face guidance and medical opinions happen in the same window - Single announcement can cover both programs - Occupational health committee review can address both at once
Disadvantages: - Administrative load concentrates: coordination, tracking, result processing, and follow-up all arrive simultaneously - Employees may confuse the two notification systems (stress check results go directly to them; health checkup results go to the employer)
Best for: Workplaces under 100 employees with 1–2 HR staff managing health programs
Option B: 2–3 month separation (recommended)
Advantages: - Administrative work is spread across the year - High-stress employee face-to-face guidance and health checkup follow-up are handled in separate windows, allowing each to receive proper attention - Group analysis results from the stress check can be reviewed with the occupational physician before the health checkup, improving the quality of medical opinions
Disadvantages: - Two major events per year means two announcement and coordination cycles
Best for: Workplaces with 200+ employees, or any organization that wants to use occupational physician time effectively
Sample Annual Calendar: 50+ Employees (April Fiscal Year)
Recommended pattern: Stress check in June, health checkup in October
| Month | Key Activities |
|---|---|
| April | Occupational health committee: approve this year's stress check implementation plan |
| May | Send participation notices; confirm practitioner contract |
| June | Stress check implementation (2–4 week participation window) |
| July | Results distributed directly to employees; group analysis compiled |
| August | Face-to-face guidance for high-stress employees who request it; group analysis delivered to occupational physician |
| September | Occupational health committee: group analysis results review + workplace improvement plan |
| October | Annual health checkup implementation |
| November | Medical opinions for employees with abnormal findings; work adjustment decisions |
| December | Occupational physician: integrated review of stress check group trends + health checkup findings |
| January | Progress review on workplace improvement measures (occupational health committee) |
| February | Occupational health committee: draft next year's schedule |
| March | Finalize next year's plan; renew contracts with practitioners and health checkup providers |
Why June stress check + October health checkup?
- June: Organizational changes and overwork from April–May tend to surface as psychological stress. An early-year stress check catches this window.
- October: Midpoint of the fiscal year — if abnormal findings require work adjustments, there's still time to act before year-end.
- The August–September buffer: Completing stress check face-to-face guidance before the health checkup allows the occupational physician to hold both perspectives when reviewing the October results.
Workplaces Under 50 Employees: Preparing for the 2028 Mandate
Japan's amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Act, enacted in May 2025, will make stress checks mandatory for workplaces under 50 employees — expected to take effect around 2028.
Starting the practice now, even voluntarily, builds the administrative capability before it becomes required.
| Month | Preparation Phase (2026–2027) | Post-Mandate |
|---|---|---|
| April–May | Identify a licensed practitioner; evaluate external vendor options | Review and approve implementation plan |
| June | Voluntary trial run | Stress check implementation |
| July–August | Walk through the result notification and group analysis process | Distribute results; coordinate face-to-face guidance if requested |
| October | Run annual health checkup; consult occupational physician about both | Annual health checkup |
| January–March | Draft workplace improvement plan; organize records | Annual record compilation; next year planning |
Specific considerations for under-50 workplaces: - Most do not have a full-time occupational physician — the Regional Industrial Health Center (地域産業保健センター) provides free support - Group analysis for departments under 10 employees requires all-employee consent (privacy protection) - External vendor implementation is strongly recommended for both practitioner access and confidentiality compliance
Completion Rate Management
Tracking stress check and health checkup completion rates separately is common — but managing them from a unified employee list makes follow-up far more efficient.
| Management Item | Stress Check | Health Checkup |
|---|---|---|
| Target list | All current employees (voluntary participation) | Qualifying employees by employment type |
| Non-completion follow-up | Cannot compel — document participation encouragement | Employer is obligated to ensure access; follow up with non-participants |
| Reporting audience | Occupational health committee; practitioner | Occupational health committee; occupational physician |
| Record retention | 5 years | 5 years |
The spreadsheet ceiling: Managing these two programs in separate spreadsheet tabs is workable for small teams, but becomes error-prone at scale. When an employee number serves as the common key across both programs, annual reporting becomes extractable in minutes rather than hours.
Summary
| Design Principle | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Timing | Separate stress check and health checkup by 2–3 months — balances load and maximizes occupational physician value |
| Occupational physician integration | December integrated review: stress check group data + health checkup findings together |
| Under-50 workplaces | Begin voluntary implementation now; engage the Regional Industrial Health Center |
| Completion tracking | Use a unified employee-keyed system; document stress check participation encouragement |
| Record retention | Both: 5 years (confirm third-party storage terms with your vendor) |
Stress checks and health checkups work best when they're treated not as separate compliance events, but as two inputs into a continuous occupational health cycle — one measuring psychological stress, the other physical health signals. Together, they give the occupational physician and HR team the information needed to act before problems become crises.
COCKPITOS provides integrated management of stress check implementation, group analysis reporting, and completion rate tracking — with occupational physician coordination records included. Contact us via our free consultation form.