"Bet on Passion" is the basis of our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)philosophy. As a company whose competitive advantage is its people, it is essential to create a work environment where employees can leverage their diverse viewpoints and skills-in other words, where individuals can make the most of their individuality.
Naoko Tsukamoto Head of Diversity ＆Inclusion Recruit Co., Ltd.
In the Media & Solutions (M&S) SBU, one of the first steps we take is encouraging all employees, regardless of title, experience, age, gender, or other attributes, to play an active role in the company. In particular, since the establishment of a dedicated department in 2006, we have focused on supporting the work-life balance of women, who account for more than 40% of our employees in Japan.
As a result, we have seen many positive changes. In 2008, working mothers made up only 10.9% of our workforce, but today, 27.9%*, more than one in four of our female employees is balancing work and childcare. Today, women hold 25.2%* of management positions and 27.7%* of section manager positions-an increase of 17.4% since 2006-through which they contribute diverse perspectives that improve the company's management practices.
After seeing such promising results, we have expanded our D&I promotion for women beyond encouraging career options to management training and the introduction of new working-styles to better support work-life balance. We hope these additions will enable every employee to reach their full potential regardless of lifestyle or personal responsibilities such as childcare or elderly caregiving.
We have also expanded the number of days available to men for parental leave and begun offering seminars on childcare as part of an effort to support gender equality in childcare. As a result of these changes, in 2019, 64.6% of new fathers took parental leave-up from just 2% in 2015. Additionally, we developed a voluntary e-learning program to educate our employees about the LGBTQ+ community, and so far approximately 16,000 employees have attended.
Our employees' environments and lifestyles are changing significantly, and we are evolving our D&I measures to meet their needs. A team of D&I personnel from each organization in M&S SBU is constantly working to develop more unique initiatives and expand them to other Group companies.
To address larger societal changes that are affecting our employees, Recruit is also collaborating with other companies.For example, we have responded to the lack of childcare infrastructure in recent years, particularly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, by establishing a consultation service for nursery school enrollment. This is not an issue we can solve on our own, so we must join with other companies facing the same issues to exchange and expand our knowledge so that, together, we can catalyze wide-scale change.
By exchanging knowledge internally and externally with them, we hope to create a society in which all people work in diverse environments where they can realize their full potential and thrive.
*As of April, 2020
Professional growth
Women's career development
Career Cafe 28
Career Cafe 28 provides training for female employees in their late twenties to support professional development and career advancement. The training program teaches them how to plan their careers so that they may find success regardless of whatever life events come their way. Over 800 employees have participated in the training since it was first offered in 2012.
Management training
D&I VR training
To enable a deeper understanding of the importance of diversity and foster empathy for different lifestyles choices, we conduct experience-based training using Virtual Reality (VR). The first VR training was designed to help managers sincerely support employees struggling to balance childcare and work.
Career Cafe 28 BOSS
Career Cafe 28 BOSS is a management training program that launched in 2015. The training is held by external lecturers and is designed to teach managers about the significance of promoting the careers of female employees. It supplies them with various hands-on management tactics to help women thrive at work. More than 700 managers have participated in the program and have expressed feedback such as, "Right after I attended the training, I put what I'd learned about communication into practice to help nurture the potential of my female team members. This training helped me understand what to prioritize in staff management, and I think every single manager should take it."
Diverse and Inclusive Workplaces
Work style considerations
Comprehensive work-life balance support
We have focused heavily on work-life balance support in order to create an environment in which all of our diverse employees can succeed and flourish. More than 2,800 employees participated in 40 educational and networking events focused on childcare and elderly caregiving in FY 2019. We also updated our parental leave policy to allow male employees up to 20 days of paid leave, instead of the two days they had been allowed previously.
Nursery school concierge
In response to the recently growing need for nursery school support in the Tokyo metropolitan area, we have opened an on-site daycare center called "Ands" at our headquarters (see photo) and launched the "Hokatsuno Mikata" consultation service. Employees in need of childcare can work with HR staff to understand the different rules and regulations of each municipality and find nursery schools that fit their lifestyles so that they may return to work without concerns.
LGBTQ+ inclusion
To educate employees about LGBTQ+ identities and support our LGBTQ+ employees, we have expanded familial benefits to same-sex partners, launched the LGBTQ+ Hotline, and released a voluntary e-learning program. Approximately 16,000 employees have participated in the e-learning course. Upon completing the program, over 4,500 employees self-identified as new LGBTQ+ allies and received commemorative keychains (see photo). In recognition of these efforts, we received a Gold rating in the PRIDE Index, an evaluation index created by the Work with Pride organization to assess LGBTQ+-related corporate initiatives.
