Sustainability
Social Impact Breaking Job Market Barriers
Commitment to Society
Job seekers facing barriers*²
Helping 30 million people facing barriers in the labor market around the world get hired ― barriers such as age, disability, race and ethnicity, criminal records, education and others*².
Job seekers from vulnerable and marginalized communities face barriers in the labor market. These barriers are difficult to remove by improving matching efficiency alone.
Progress in FY2021
In FY2021, we analyzed data from Indeed and worked with various organizations, professional associations, and community organizations to better understand who is vulnerable to disadvantages in the job market, and the barriers they face.
Race & Ethnicity
Disability
Age
Criminal record
Focused on severe and significant barriers — e.g. a criminal record
We first focused on and prioritized addressing the barriers associated with a criminal record, as these appear to be particularly severe and significant. For example, in the U.S., more than 70 million people, or about one in three of the adult population, have some type of criminal record*³.
In the U.S., fair chance legislation is meant to curb discrimination against job seekers with a criminal record, and to promote hiring based on the qualification of an applicant*⁴. Despite such efforts having been expanded gradually, the unemployment rate for job seekers with criminal records is about five times higher than the national average*³. However, research indicates that finding a job that pays more than the minimum wage within two months of release from prison cuts the chances of reincarceration by at least half*³.
Initiatives at Group Companies
HR Technology SBU
Indeed Initiatives
1. Platform
We are working on a variety of initiatives to improve the UI (user interface) of the Indeed platform to make it easier to find listed jobs where criminal records are not relevant to the hiring process — known as "fair chance hirings."
2. Partnerships
Data suggests that approximately 40% of those with criminal records are eligible to have all or part of their criminal records expunged*⁴. In February 2022, along with partners such as the Texas Fair Defense Project and Checkr, Indeed launched a program called "Essentials to Work" to assist in this process.
3.Internal Hiring
We have partnered with Persevere — an NPO that offers coding courses for justice-impacted individuals on parole — and Banyan Labs, a company created out of the need to place Persevere graduates into jobs through an on-the-job training program at Indeed and other companies. This partnership has helped justice-impacted individuals find jobs smoothly after release from prison and has maintained a very low recidivism rate.
A coding education program for inmates and parolees, provided through a partnership
Matching & Solutions SBU
Initiatives at Recruit
"WORK FIT" (in Japanese only) is a Japan-based program run by Recruit that supports employment and career education. The program started in 2011 and has assisted people from various backgrounds, including those in juvenile detention facilities, children's homes, and young people without employment.
Starting in FY2022, aiming to contribute to reducing recidivism, we plan to develop a program for justice-impacted women at a prison to help them prepare for life after release.
Staffing SBU
Staffmark Initiatives
Staffmark — a Recruit temporary staffing company in the U.S. — has been working with major client companies active in fair chance hiring to implement a program that allows employees to begin working as temporary staff and then be directly hired. The program is now in its sixth year and has received extremely high satisfaction ratings from participants, with 95% of those who joined the program continuing to work six months after starting a position.
Our goals for FY2022
As calls for a fairer and more just society grow worldwide, employers are becoming increasingly conscious of the need for inclusive hiring*⁵ to level the employment playing field for people from diverse backgrounds. We are working to reduce barriers to employment at all our Group companies across the globe, tailoring to the needs of each country and region. As we continue striving to bring down these barriers with a sense of urgency, we will utilize technology-based support alongside partnerships to create more opportunities for employment worldwide.
Other activities
- *1On 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.
- *2The initiative as of today includes providing assistance through the Company’s online job platform, and through partnerships with NPOs and other organizations with whom the Company collaborates. The Company may also aim to reduce other various barriers, including newly emerging issues in the labor market by FY2030.
- *3In the United States, approximately 70 million people (source: The Sentencing Project) have a criminal record, and the unemployment rate of job seekers with a criminal record is approximately five times higher than the US average (source: Prison Policy Initiative). However, recidivism rates have been found to drop significantly if an individual finds a job that pays above minimum wage within two months of release (source: The Urban Institute).
- *4U.S. legislative actions toward promoting fair employment opportunities for job seekers with a criminal record. With the aim of increasing the rate of employment of qualified workers, actions include prohibiting employers from asking applicants for their criminal record during the hiring process, or before issuing a written offer (source: National Employment Law Project).
- *5Inclusive hiring indicates a company’s efforts to realize improved fairness in recruitment in order to achieve a workplace that reflects the diversity of society, as well as ensuring all people have access to economic opportunities.