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Sustainability

Breaking Down Job Market Bias & Barriers to Help 30M Job Seekers Get Hired

Commitment to Society

Help 30 million job seekers get hired by FY2030.

Help 30 million people facing barriers in the labor market around the world get hired ― barriers such as education, criminal records, disability, military experiences and others*2

Help 30 million job seekers get hired by FY2030.

The only requirement to be hired for a job should be that you have the skills and abilities necessary to perform it. However, bias and barriers in hiring can make it harder for many job seekers to find, get, and keep a job.

At Recruit Group, we are committed to breaking down these biases and barriers by advancing our platforms, partnerships, and our own efforts at our organization. By increasing access to quality opportunities, we strive to make a positive, equitable, and sustainable social impact by connecting people to better work to create better lives.

To make progress toward this goal, since FY2021, we have focused on working to reduce five barriers: education, criminal records,*3 disability, prior military service experience,*4 and lack of access to essential technology and transportation necessary when it comes to securing a job.*5 In FY2023, as geopolitical tensions increased globally and significantly impacted society, we added a sixth barrier: refugee*6 backgrounds. Moving forward, based on the efforts made by our Strategic Business Units (SBUs), we are working to support the employment of refugee job seekers in collaboration with international humanitarian organizations.

Initiatives for Job Seekers with Refugee Backgrounds

Recruit Group has been actively supporting the employment of refugees, primarily through our business operations in Europe. Since 2022, we have deepened our collaboration with international humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Tent Partnership for Refugees (TENT), expanding our support to people who have fled conflicts from around the world, including Ukraine.

HR Technology SBU

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Indeed established a working group across the company aimed at supporting Ukrainian refugees. They initiated a program based on four pillars: support for job seekers, support for employers, support for refugee aid organizations, and support by Indeed employees. For example, to ensure there were no communication barriers, Indeed launched a Ukrainian language version of the website.

Indeed also deepened its collaboration with international humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR and TENT, focusing on gathering information about the situation of refugees. Consequently, in December 2022, a job fair was held in Poland, spearheaded by Indeed’s European team members in partnership with international bodies such as UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This initiative contributed to rebuilding the lives of Ukrainian refugees by assisting them in finding jobs in their host countries. Subsequently, throughout 2023, five more job fairs were organized across Europe for refugees of all backgrounds. Across the 2022 and 2023 job fairs, there were approximately 700 offers/hires made (figure based on measurable data).

The initiatives' results were measured through surveys of event participants and employers. The number of job seekers contacted through job fairs and collaboration with NGOs totaled 5,464. The number of interviews conducted totaled 3,666. The number of participating employers totaled 233. The number of collaborating NGOs totaled 65. The number of offers and/or hires totaled 668. The number of countries where fairs were held totaled six.

Data measured through surveys of event participants and employers.

Learn more about the initiative

Staffing SBU

Refugees often face significant barriers to employment. Meanwhile, in recent years, many European countries have experienced a significant labor shortage. Over the past few years, our European Staffing SBU subsidiaries have been leveraging their expertise in migrant support to assist refugees in finding employment. We have helped many refugees from countries including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Turkey, Iraq, and Ukraine, integrate into the local labor market as staffing personnel.

For example, at RGF Staffing Germany, an international recruitment team has been established to advocate for the employment of refugees to corporate clients while providing various employment and job retention support for refugee job seekers and workers. This includes job referrals, interpreting and translation tools during interviews, assistance with administrative procedures and tax documents, and arranging housing. As a result, particularly in supporting Ukrainian refugees, we have facilitated employment for 325 people as of April 2024.

Moving forward, we aim to enhance our activities to provide long-term support for refugees, working in collaboration with corporate clients to enable more flexible working arrangements tailored to each refugee's circumstances.

Learn more about the initiative

Other Initiatives for Other Barriers

Education

According to one survey, approximately 60% of employers have rejected a candidate because they did not have a post-secondary education.*7

Learn more about our initiatives

Criminal Records

Job seekers with criminal records are over 50% less likely to get a call back or offer.*8

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Accessibility

Job seekers with disabilities face additional barriers to finding a job and may need additional accommodations on the job.

Learn more about our initiatives

Military-Experienced

Veterans who are looking for a new opportunity or transitioning from service to civilian life; they may have difficulty matching their skills and experience to the job market.

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Job seekers without Work Essentials

Without critical support like digital access and transportation, job seekers struggle to find work and get employed.

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Our Journey Toward 2030

While our challenge is just beginning, we are proud to have been able to help 6.9 million job seekers facing barriers get hired*9 through the end of FY2023. We will continue to respond to the growing needs of employers for Inclusive and skills-first hiring*10 by further improving our platforms.

An infographic showing the cumulative support for 6.9 million job seekers facing barriers by the end of FY2023 in pursuit of the goal of assisting 30 million job seekers facing barriers by FY2030.

Other Initiatives at Group Companies

Matching & Solutions SBU: Initiatives at Recruit

Recruit of Matching & Solutions SBU, which operates mainly in Japan, is providing "WORK FIT", an employment support and career education program for justice-impacted people such as those in prisons and juvenile detention centers, and starting in 2023, to those at probation offices. The program has been offered at schools and local employment support organizations since 2011. To solve the issue of recidivism among the justice-impacted, Recruit is conducting a program where self-reflection and preparation for a new life in society are encouraged.

Learn more (Japanese Only)

Staffing SBU: Initiatives through RGF Connect

Florida, where one of our Staffing SBU group companies, CSI Companies, is located, is a case in point. The state has a large population of racial and ethnic minorities and, like many other states in the U.S., struggles with ongoing disparities in education and job opportunities. Against the backdrop of these disparities, CSI Companies is working to provide job opportunities and career development support in the tech industry for college and high school students in the region who are relatively disadvantaged from a hiring perspective. By April 2024, 60 interns completed the CSI Connect Internship Program. The company plans to grow the program by investing in the local High School Technology Magnet, exposing students to tech, encouraging them to choose IT majors in college, and then offering them college internships.

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Reducing the Time to Get Hired by Half

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Community Support

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  • 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.
  • The 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.
  • In the United States, approximately 79 million people out of 330 million US population have a criminal record of some sort (source: Prison Policy Initiative, 2024), and the jobless rate of job seekers with a criminal record is approximately five times higher than the U.S. average (source: Prison Policy Initiative, 2022).
  • A U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study from 2016 found that 53% of veterans are unemployed for four months or longer after leaving the military. We recognize that veterans who are looking for a new opportunity or transitioning from military service to civilian life may have difficulty matching their skills and experience to the job market.
  • This indicates barriers that hinder job hunting, such as being unable to connect to the Internet, a resultant lack of access to a job platform, and/or lack of transportation to interviews and work.
  • Refugee definition from the UNHCR: individuals who fled their own country to escape conflict, violence, or persecution and have sought safety in another country.
  • Source: Accenture, Grads of Life, Harvard Business School (2017), “Dismissed by Degrees: How degree inflation is undermining U.S. competitiveness and hurting America’s middle class.”
  • Source: Wendy Sawyer, Peter Wagner (2020), “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020”
  • Represents the number of hires made on Indeed reported from both job seeker and employer sources through our Hired Signal measurement, from May 1, 2021 - March 31, 2024, globally for job seekers who faced at least one of the following barriers: education, criminal record, military experience, disability or lack of essentials such as a computer or internet access. Job seekers with refugee backgrounds will be included in the count from FY2024.
  • Inclusive 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. Skills-first hiring is a method of selecting job candidates based on their skillset at an early stage of the hiring process. Unlike the traditional selection method, which first ‘screens out’ candidates based on their academic background, skills-first hiring ‘screens in’ candidates first by evaluating their skills. The aim is to allow employers to hire people with the right skills and abilities to perform their jobs, all in a shorter period of time.