Japan’s notoriously hard-working salarymen are being given a chance by the government to cut their hours in a bid to improve their health — and their fecundity.

Workers who put in more than 40 hours of overtime a month will earn the right to an extra day off the next month, according to a policy paper prepared by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Employers will also have to pay them an extra-high rate for overtime above 30 hours, in an attempt to make companies think twice about asking their workers to burn the midnight oil.