Sustainability
Our People
Commitment to Our People
Women's representation in leadership
Achieving gender parity among senior executives, those in managerial positions, and all employee levels by FY2030 at Recruit Group*2.
Recruit Group's diverse employee base has been the source of our value creation from the very beginning. Betting on the passion and ideas of our employees has been our competitive advantage, and the reason why our management prioritizes and continues to roll out further initiatives to promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive (DEI) workforce that empowers individuals and fosters innovation. We are focusing on diversifying our management by setting a group-wide target for greater gender diversity.
Value Creation Cycle
It always starts from within
When all of our employees are empowered to foster their passions, they will be motivated to invent innovative ways to better support our users as well as the society they live in. When job seekers and employers are happy with our products and services, our businesses can succeed, and we can then share
the success with shareholders.
We believe that we can sustainably grow our corporate value through aiming to prosper together with all of our stakeholders.
Progress in FY2021
Women among our senior executives more than doubled from 10% to 21%*2
During FY2021, each of our business segments, strategic business units (SBU), reviewed their gender gaps, analyzed the respective root causes of these, and continued to proactively hire to redress the balance. As a result, the percentage of women among senior executives — CEOs of main subsidiaries as well as executive officers of SBUs — has increased from approximately 10% to 21%.*2
Set a three-year target as a milestone toward FY2030*3
For our three-year target, as the first step on our journey to further enhance the entire Recruit Group's corporate culture into one that embraces DEI even more deeply, we will increase the percentage of women in senior executive positions — the people in charge of making pivotal managerial decisions.
In addition, we will accelerate our efforts by linking the degree of achievement of the three-year plan to a portion of long-term incentive compensation*4for executive directors and corporate officers, who are in charge of driving and realizing the target.
-
HR Technology SBU: Championing Inclusive Interviewing Rules
The SBU introduced “Inclusive Interviewing Rules” to ensure improved diversity in candidates before starting interviews. The SBU also plans to implement measures to boost the number of women candidates for engineering, science, and tech-related positions.
-
Matching & Solutions SBU: Driving change together with Japan — currently ranked 121st in the Global Gender Gap Report*5
The SBU continues to review its management requirements and remove ingrained unconscious bias in appointments. The SBU is also working together with all employees to shift traditional perceptions of gender roles by encouraging initiatives such as men's parental leave.
-
Staffing SBU: Succession Planning for Senior Executives
The SBU aims to further strengthen succession planning for its senior executives — the CEOs of major subsidiaries and SBU executives — and to increase the number of women in their candidate pool.
Closing the Gender Gap Together with the Global Leaders
Committing to the Women's Empowerment Principles*6
In February 2022, Recruit Group endorsed the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs)*6, a set of action principles developed jointly by the UN Global Compact and UN Women to proactively promote the advancement of women.
Becoming a #HeForShe*7 Alliance Corporate Champion
In conjunction with our support for #HeForShe*⁷, the global solidarity movement for gender equality led by the United Nations entity, UN Women, we announced a further commitment to gender equality by becoming a HeForShe corporate champion*8.
Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba
President/CEO/Head of HR Technology SBU
Ayano "Sena" Senaha
COO, Managing Corporate Executive Officer, and Director of the Board
Yoshihiro Kitamura
Managing Corporate Executive Officer/Head of Matching & Solutions Business
Rob Zandbergen
Managing Corporate Executive Officer/Head of Staffing Business
Recruit Holdings' CEO, Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba took to the stage at the 2022 HeForShe Summit to assert the company’s commitment to gender equality in front of an international audience of global leaders from government, business, and academia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan invited our CEO, Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba, to present a video message at the World Assembly for Women (WAW!)*9 2022 as a champion company of the HeForShe Alliance. In response to the discussion theme of “increasing men’s interest and involvement”, Deko conveyed the importance of promoting gender equality in the workplace and his and Recruit Group's commitment to progress in this area.
Each SBU at Recruit Group is implementing diverse region- and occupation-specific initiatives to achieve gender parity by FY2030. We aim to explore the perspectives of leaders in the field on the challenges they face, the goals they are aiming to achieve, and their current efforts to effect change. Here, we share an overview of the ever-evolving situation on the ground.
Initiatives to promote gender equality in society
HR Technology SBU: Recruit Group Embraces DEI Efforts That Drive Employers to Open Up Job Opportunities For All
To foster Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, which naturally includes addressing gender disparities, companies must prioritize transparency, acknowledge the existing gaps between their DEI goals and the current status and take concrete actions to close these gaps. HR Technology SBU plays a critical role in providing companies with data on the outcomes of their DEI efforts, such as their Indeed Happiness Score or Glassdoor reviews – two ways in which job seekers provide feedback on organizations' reputations for promoting DEI - including gender parity efforts.
Matching and Solutions SBU: What Gender Equality Means to Recruit: Fostering Forward-Thinking and Creativity
According to the World Economic Forum's "Gender Gap Index 2022," which measures the disparity between men and women in various countries, Japan ranks 116th out of 146 countries. Eliminating unconscious gender bias at home, in the workplace, and across society is vital for achieving gender equality. To this end, Recruit is implementing various innovative initiatives led by frontline leaders, which are expected to serve as a positive agent for change, not only within the company but also throughout Japan.
Staffing SBU: No Glass Ceiling Program
Chandler Macleod, a staffing firm within the Staffing SBU, offers an employment program that provides training, mentorship, and job opportunities for women aged 45 and above who have career gaps or face other employment challenges. The company remains committed to providing diverse job prospects for women, empowering them to enhance their self-confidence and achieve financial independence.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
Since our foundation, respecting all individuals and embracing each other's differences have always been at the heart of everything we do.
- On this webpage, the number of years stated are reflective of the number of Recruit Holdings fiscal years, which begin on April 1 each year and end March 31 of the following year. All figures displayed here are approximate.
- Senior executive positions are defined as Corporate Executive Officers and Corporate Officers of Recruit Holdings and Matching & Solutions Strategic Business Unit (SBU), and CEOs of the Company's major subsidiaries and heads of key functions in the HR Technology and Staffing SBUs. Figures for managerial positions and employees are calculated from Recruit Holdings, SBU Headquarters, and primary operating companies of each SBU. Managerial positions mean all of those that have subordinate employees.
- The women representation target for employees is based on the results from April 1, 2022 to April 1, 2025.
- Compensation based on ESG target achievements is set as a part of BIP trust (stock) compensation. Eligibility to receive this award and the payout amount will depend on whether or not the three-year target is achieved.
- The figure is based on data compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF) (source: WEF (2021), Global Gender Gap Report).
- Established by UN Women and UN Global Compact, the WEPs are a set of principles offering guidance to business on how to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. It serves as a practical guide for companies to examine and analyze their current practices, standards and behaviors.
- HeForShe is a movement for the realization of gender equality that UN Women has been promoting globally since 2014. It provides an opportunity for all people in the world, including men, to express their commitment and support for the realization of a gender-equal society.
- Champions are an ambitious group of trailblazers in the HeForShe Alliance across a broad set of fields, with tangible commitments focused on transformative change across countries, companies, and communities. Through HeForShe Alliance, champions join forces as role models and develop scalable and shareable solutions for gender equality's most pressing challenges. They are required to set ambitious goals for gender equality, both individually and for the organization they lead as a whole, and to express their commitment to achieving these goals. In addition to achieving gender equality within their own organizations, Champions are expected to establish collaborative programs with UN Women, conduct awareness-raising activities and investments to solve issues in their relevant industries and regions, regularly report on the progress of their initiatives, and serve as practical role models in promoting equality.
- World Assembly for Women (WAW!) is an international conference focused on gender equality and women empowerment, topics prioritized by the Japanese government. Since 2014, top leaders with a proven track record in realizing gender equality in the workplace from various regions and international organizations have attended the conference to discuss efforts to empower women in Japan and the world.