With flashy muscles and a friendly smile, Takuya Usui accommodates a resident in his wheelchair at a care home in central Japan. He is one of a new generation of male caregivers who are hired to meet the needs of an aging country.
Hindered by gender stereotypes and unattractive salaries, young men have discarded this care sector for years.
But the Nagoya-based company Visionary found an original formula to attract them: hire bodybuilding enthusiasts, seduced by benefits such as paid weight training hours and subsidies for protein drinks.
“Before, this work didn’t attract me at all,” admits Takuya Usui, a former sports coach. “But when they told me I could put my muscles to use, I thought, ‘Why not?’.”
Wearing a black tank top that highlights his physique, he effortlessly lifts 65-year-old Madoka Yamaguchi to help her eat, brush her teeth and apply eye drops.
“He’s so muscular that I’m never afraid he might drop me,” smiles the patient at Visionary’s disability care center.
Japan has the second oldest population in the world, behind only Monaco, and faces an acute caregiver crisis: for each candidate there are around four vacancies to fill.
The Ministry of Labor predicts a deficit of 570,000 caregivers by 2040, due to very low wages for physically demanding work.
Men continue to be a minority in the sector, in which more than 70% of positions are occupied by women over 40 years of age.
It was an ET
“When I started, I was an ET: young and male”, recalls Yusuke Niwa, director of Visionary, now 40 years old.
He then realized that making the work attractive was essential to generating interest from young men. “Bodybuilders are extremely photogenic and embody tireless work,” he highlights.
In 2018, ten years after the creation of his company, Yusuke Niwa launched the concept of “muscular caregivers” to break stereotypes. Until then, Visionary had difficulty hiring. But this atypical campaign attracted numerous candidates, especially young men.
The company forecasts revenue of 2.2 billion yen (R$76.9 million) for the current financial year, ten times more than in 2018.
The majority of those hired are fitness amateurs, but an elite group of professional bodybuilders benefit from additional benefits, such as two hours of paid weight training per day.
Among them, Hokuto Tatsumi prides himself on an “ideal work environment for those passionate about bodybuilding.” For this 27-year-old ex-soldier, the rigor of bodybuilders – daily training, strict regime – is “an added value” for a demanding job.
Each year, around 100,000 Japanese leave their jobs to care for a dependent family member. By 2030, another 300,000 will have to balance work and care, which could cost the Japanese economy the equivalent of around US$58.9 billion (R$317.1 billion), according to authorities.
It is “a huge loss” of human potential, warns Yusuke Niwa, who calls for a reinvention of the sector.
Two years ago, Takuya Usui created a special relationship with Mrs. Yamaguchi, who is passionate about painting and pearls.
“Madoka can’t use her hands, but she paints with her mouth. It’s impressive”, he says, admiringly.
He arrived for bodybuilding, but discovered “that care is much more than that”.
