FY2014

Diversity
Management Selection 100
Collection of Best Practices

March 2015
Diversity
Management Selection 100
Collection of Best Practices Table of Contents

I FY 2014 Diversity Management Selection 100 - Collection of Best Practices

Purpose and Implementation Outline of this Project 1
1. Purpose of Diversity Management Selection 100 1
2. Implementation Outline 1

II Toward Diversity Management to Create Values 3

1. Why is diversity management important now? 3
2. Fundamental ideas of and approaches to diversity management 4
3. Conclusion 13
Appendix: List of ideas on efforts to be made 14

III FY2014 Diversity Management Selection 100 - Collection of Best Practices 22

Diversity Management Selection 100 23

Taisei Corporation… …………………………… 23 East Japan Railway Company… ………………127

KENKO TOFU, Inc.……………………………… 27 SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD.… …………………131
EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD.… ………… 31 AEON CO., LTD… ………………………………135
KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD.… … 35 Fracoco Co., Ltd.…………………………………139
SAKAE CO., LTD.… …………………………… 39 ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD.… …………………143
XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.… ………… 43 Lawson, Inc.… ……………………………………147
POLA INC.………………………………………… 47 The Chiba Bank, Inc.… …………………………151
LIXIL Group Corporation………………………… 51 Aflac Japan(American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus)……155
CALBEE, INC.… ………………………………… 55 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation…………159
DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.… ………… 59 GE Japan Inc.… …………………………………163
DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd.……………… 63 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.… ………167
BAXTER LIMITED… …………………………… 67 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company…………171
NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION…… 71 Nippon Life Insurance Company… ……………175
FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY… ………… 75 Hulic Co. Ltd.……………………………………179
FUJI Special Paper Inc.… ……………………… 79 First Collaboration… ……………………………183
STG CO., LTD.…………………………………… 83 Takushin Sangyo Company… …………………187
NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION…… 87 Resorttrust Inc.……………………………………191
KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD.… ……………… 91 JTB Corp.… ………………………………………195
SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD.… ……… 95 Rush International Co., Ltd.… …………………199
FP CORPORATION……………………………… 99 Pasona Group Inc.… ……………………………203
SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD…………………………103 Musashisakai Driving School……………………207
CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC… ……107 Sun Staff Inc.…………………………………… 211
OSAKA GAS CO., LTD.… ……………………… 111 BIKOH CORP.… …………………………………215
HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD.……………………115 Mirairo Inc.…………………………………………219
PROASSIST, LTD.… ……………………………119 Sanyo Syoji CO., LTD.……………………………223
HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD.… ……123 Okushin System… ………………………………227

Diversity Promotion Project Commendation 231

b-style, Inc.… ………………………………… 231 Recruit Management Solutions Co., Ltd.…… 232

Reference 1: List of Enterprises of Diversity Management Selection 100 (by industry/region) 233
Reference 2: Members of Examination Committee of FY2014 Diversity Management Selection 100 239
 FY 2014 Diversity Management Selection 100 ― Collection of Best Practices
Ⅰ Purpose and Implementation Outline of this Project

1. Purpose of Diversity Management Selection 100

● In order for our country to change its direction to “value creation” economy for further economic growth, it is
necessary to proceed with diversity management in which all the people including women, foreigners, elderly
people, and persons with disabilities can participate in innovations and value creation while exercising their unique
abilities.
● Although there are many companies which recognize the importance of promoting diversity management in order
to meet the challenges of globalization of the business environment and the decline in the labor population due
to the dwindling birthrate and an aging population, they are actually at a standstill in adopting this method of
management.
● Therefore, we have so far implemented the project of “Diversity Management Section 100 ― Collection of
Best Practices” (Awards given by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry) since 2012 for the purposes of
introducing innovative cases where companies are successful in tying their commitment to diversity management
to enhancement of their management performance, widely infiltrating the layer of business managers with the
significance of diversity management as a management strategy, strengthening incentives for promoting diversity
management to increase the number of companies to be engaged in this management, and further, aiming at the
development of Japanese industry and economy. We are planning to give awards to 100 companies in total. 89
companies have been selected for these two years, and this year will welcome the completion of this project.

What is “Diversity Management”?

Diversity Management is a “management for generating innovations to create values (1) by utilizing a diversity of
human resources,(2) and bringing out their maximum abilities(3).”
This is deemed to be an essential and effective strategy for enhancing Japanese enterprises’ competitiveness.
Note (1): A “diversity of human resources” include diversities not only in gender, age, nationality, and handicap but also in career and working
style.
Note (2): “Abilities” include potential abilities and features possessed by a diversity of human resources.
Note (3): “Management for generating innovations to create values” refers to the management by which “free ideas” are generated to lead to
the development of new products and services in a well-conditioned environment where respective human resources can work lively
in organizations, employing their own features.

2. Implementation Outline
[Award Department]
● Diversity Management Selection 100
● Diversity Promotion Project Commendation

[Diversity Management Selection 100]

Enterprises excelling in “diversity management”

[Diversity Promotion Project Commendation]

Enterprises which proceed with projects or programs for expanding the employment of diversity management
by supporting companies engaged in this management through business consultations and by widely diffusing
intelligence on it.

1 Best Practices Collection 2015

 [Criteria for Selection of Top 100 Enterprises Conducting Diversity Management]

“Diversity Management”
① By utilizing a diversity of human resources and providing opportunities for bringing out their maximum abilities
② Management for generating innovations to create values
[Viewpoints for Evaluation]
① Contents of Initiatives
What kinds of human resources are utilized and under what initiatives they can bring out their abilities are
evaluated from the following three points of view. However, it is not necessary to meet all these three points
of view at one time.
・Practicability：Not stopping at physical deployment of the system, but going so far as to put into practice
commitment to the utilization of human resources on a work front level.
・Innovativeness / Advancement：Becoming a “model enterprise in terms of developing new and different
initiatives from the conventional or starting to be engaged in this management in advance of other enterprises in the
same industry and of the same size that can be referred to by other enterprises for their implementation.
・Leadership of Top Management：Top management’s clear will is expressed and disseminated to the work front.
② Results
Results achieved as the result of the above initiatives, are evaluated.
・Results：Generation of innovations through the exercise of abilities by a diversity of human resources and
achievement of production improvement

[Criteria for Selection for Diversity Promotion Project Commendation]

1 Relatedness
The purpose of the enterprise’s business or program is to provide “diversity management support.”
2 Effectiveness
There is a certain amount of contribution the enterprise’s business or program makes to promotion of the dissemination of “diversity management.”

[Method of Judgement]
Judgement by the Steering Committee

[Judgement Schedule]
June 12 (Thu.), 2014 First meeting of the examination committee
From June 18 (Wed.) to 5:00 am, Deadline for applications
August 20 (Wed.), 2014
Mid-late September. 2014 Document screening (Initial screening)
October 2 (Thu.), 2014 Second meeting of the examination committee (applicant screening)
Mid October to December, 2014 Interviews (Secondary screening)
◆ Documentary Screening
Only the enterprises applying for “Diversity Management Selection 100”
which have passed the documentary screening (first screening)
January 23 (Fri.), 2015 Third meeting of the examination committee (Final decision on winners)

[Total number of applicants / Number of enterprises given the awards]

Awards Department Total number of applicants Number of enterprises given the awards
Diversity Management Selection 100 167 52
Diversity Promotion Project Commendation 12 2
Total Total179 54

[Relevant websites]
■ HP for Diversity Management Selection 100 (Project outline and best practices can be accessed for your
information.): http://www.diversity100sen.go.jp/
■ Diversity Promotion ― Strategy on Human Resources in the Age of Globalization (Economic Society Policy
Office’s Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/diversity.meti

Best Practices Collection 2015 2

 Ⅱ Toward Diversity Management to Create Values

1. Why is diversity management important now?

(1) Business strategy for building competitive advantages

Diversity Management is a “management for generating innovations to create values (1) by utilizing a diversity of human
resources,(2) and bringing out their maximum abilities(3).” It is important for enterprises to strategically utilize human
resources as a part of the management strategy for the purpose of enhancing their competitiveness rather than promoting
welfare and corporate social responsibility.
Globalization and other market environment changes have been behind the growing need for diversity management.
These changes accelerate changes in and the uncertainty of competitive environments for enterprises and diversify their
stakeholders.
Amid the changes, enterprises are required to take the following measures:

◦ Figuring out diversifying customer needs accurately and generating innovations to take new
earnings opportunities.
◦ Responding to rapid environmental changes flexibly and positively and taking risks as business opportunities
for flexible actions.
◦ Leading domestic and overseas investors to view enterprises as investment targets featuring sustainability.

As a business management strategy to meet these requirements, enterprises must conduct “diversity management”
to generate innovations and create values by securing a wide range of human resources with various values1
indispensable for business development and allowing them to exercise their potential2 as much as possible. Diversity
management is a standard tool for enterprises to survive the future.

(2) Achievements of diversity management

The diversification of employees itself is not the purpose of diversity management. Likewise, welfare and corporate
social responsibility purposes are not the direct purposes of diversity management. The purpose is to make “business
achievements”
by securing various human resources indispensable for realizing the business strategy and by placing the right
persons in the right positions and allowing them to exercise their potential as much as possible through the
development of workplace culture and ways of working encouraging them to work ambitiously.
Business achievements here can be divided into four categories:

Note (1): A “diversity of human resources” include diversities not only in gender, age, nationality, and handicap but also in career and working style.
Note (2): “Abilities” include potential abilities and features possessed by a diversity of human resources.
Note (3): “Management for generating innovations to create values” refers to the management by which “free ideas” are generated to lead to the
development of new products and services in a well-conditioned environment where respective human resources can work lively in
organizations, employing their own features.

3 Best Practices Collection 2015

① Product innovation：
Developing and improving goods and services for commercialization
(Various human resources can combine their knowledge, experiences and values in various fields to produce
“new ideas.”)
② Process innovation：
Developing and improving means to develop, manufacture and sell goods and services (including improving
administrative efficiency)
(Pursuing ways of working for various human resources to exercise their potential as much as possible can work
to improve efficiency and creativity.)
③ Improving external assessments：
Improving customer satisfaction, improving social awareness, etc.
(The utilization of various human resources and relevant achievements can improve corporate assessments by
customers and markets.)
④ Workplace effects：
Improving employees’ motivations and workplace environments
(The development of environments for human resources to exercise their potential can improve employees’
motivations and create meaningful workplaces.)

The first and second categories can bring about “direct effects” linked to corporate earnings and achievements. The
third and fourth categories can have “indirect effects” on corporate earnings and achievements.
Diversity management includes various efforts to secure and retain various human resources and promote exercise
of their potential, leading the four categories of achievements to emerge compositely.

2. Fundamental ideas of and approaches to diversity management

In order to link diversity management to satisfactory results, we had extracted common elements of the initiatives
taken by the enterprises selected for “Diversity Management Selection 100” from FY2012 till the end of FY2014 so
that you can widely refer to them beyond type of industry and corporate size. These elements are compiled in the
“Fundamental ideas of and approaches to diversity management” shown below.
It is important for you to refer to the fundamental ideas not to just follow the efforts of other enterprises but to create
your own effective “diversity management” and to put into practice what you can do now with your present
framework.

Best Practices Collection 2015 4

 Fundamental ideas of and approaches to diversity management

(1) Developing strategies to promote diversity as a management strategy

ー Things required to orient and promote the corporate diversity management ー
Diversity management is a strategy for human resources that is oriented as part of management strategies by
enterprises to build competitive advantage. By exhibiting the diverse capabilities of human resources in management,
the base for
utilization of human resources will be expanded and linked to responses to diverse market needs that make use of
various perspectives, as well as the creation of innovation that makes use of “differences.”
It is necessary for strategies for promoting diversity management to be designed so that they are integrated with the
direction of overall management. First, it is necessary to think of what kind of competitive advantage you are aiming to
establish, in the environment in which your company is currently placed, what kinds of management strategies will be
established in order to realize this, what kinds of human resources to secure in order to execute this, how to position
them, what kinds of missions to give them, and how to achieve results based on what kind of management, and to
construct such a series of approaches so that they are consistent.

① Clarification of corporate philosophy and diversity management

◆ Can your corporate philosophy be a “foothold” for summing up a diversity of values and ideas? →List of
ideas (1) ① [1]

The fact that a variety of human resources gather is likely to get together not only their attributes, but also their
cultures, values, and ideas. Out of this diversity there will come out new ideas and innovations, and accordingly
there will arise frictions among them, which will have to be properly dealt with at the work front level.
The “corporate philosophy” then provides the guidelines for solving the frictions among them. It is the most
important for employees to judge and discuss how they should solve such issues to realize the most appropriate
corporate management in reference to the “corporate philosophy.” The practices of diversity management are

5 Best Practices Collection 2015

 nothing but the cumulus of such problem-solving activities.
In this sense, it is necessary to clarify not only conceptual "corporate philosophy," but also more concrete “action
guidelines.” Sharing by all the employees of the targeted ideal image and the basic idea on it is the very first step
toward diversity management.

◆ Is diversity management positioned in the relevance of the corporate philosophy and action
guidelines?→List of ideas (1) ① [2]

Diversity Management is, as described above, a human resources strategy the company is positioned as part of
the management strategy to build a competitive advantage. Welfare and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
are not the direct purposes of diversity management.
Therefore, it is necessary to clearly position diversity management in the whole context of corporate philosophy
and action guidelines and embody it as the enterprise’s unique strategy. To do so, you have to share the clear
image of the result of diversity promotion aimed for by the enterprise. After all this, your definition of guidelines on
diversity management and behavioral objectives will help you to implement concrete measures against the
created background for promoting concrete actions.

◆ Do top leaders send clear messages on “what diversity management is for their enterprises” and “what
meaning diversity management has for them?”→List of ideas (1) ① [3]

Diversity management is a human resources utilization challenge for realizing business strategies. Positions and
measures for diversity management may differ depending on the conditions in which enterprises are placed.
Top leaders of enterprises should consider and understand why they conduct diversity management and what
they aim to obtain through diversity management, before they brief employees on these questions in an easy-to-
understand manner.
Top leaders of enterprises may be required to reform existing workplace culture and ways of working to implement
diversity management. Therefore, they must repeat messages to employees to spread understanding about the
necessity of such management throughout their respective enterprises. Important for diversity management is not
only the utilization of human resources but also the development of human resources. Therefore, diversity
management may not necessarily bring about immediate effects. Therefore, the top leaders must sustain long-
term management efforts while continuously sending messages on the importance of diversity management.

② Creation of a structure with the top management at the center and management planning

◆ Have you set up appropriate targets to realize your action program? In addition, do you manage progress
or measure the degree of progress by setting up benchmarks for the targets? →List of ideas (1) ② [1]

The creation of action guidelines alone may not lead to the realization of diversity management. In order to
promote diversity management, enterprises must analyze the present situation, find challenges and set medium to
long-term targets.
They must regularly measure degrees of progress in attaining these targets and reflect progress in the
implementation of measures. In this way, it is important to implement the PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle for
diversity management. Securing various human resources quantitatively alone may not naturally lead to
achievements.
Women’s share of managerial jobs and foreigners’ share as employees are frequently cited as indicators of
diversity management promotion. It is important to set target levels for these indicators. But increasing these
indicators should not be taken as any purpose of diversity management. Enterprises must always specify the
purpose of diversity management and who should do what to make what achievements.
With regard to selecting numerical targets, it is important to establish some that are adapted to the current
conditions. For example, for enterprises where the percentage of women making up the employee force is small,
it is effective to establish goals related to the ratio of women when hiring employees.

◆ Do top leaders communicate with not only relevant divisions but also employees in general in proceeding
with diversity management?→List of ideas (1) ② [2] and [3]

In promoting diversity management, enterprises must reform not only personnel assessment, personnel
distribution, worklife balance support and other personnel and labor management systems but also the entire

Best Practices Collection 2015 6

 organization including workplace management divisions.
Arrangements to implement diversity management measures across divisional borders are required for
proceeding with such enterprise-wide efforts comprehensively and systematically. This is because the
appointment of officials with specific roles and the authority for such arrangements can be expected to increase
the possibility of diversity management operations being sustained and make it easier for various divisions to
become aware of and support these operations. An important premise for such arrangements is that personnel
management officials rightly recognize diversity management.
If diversity management operations can be implemented flexibly even without any special or new division for such
operations, some existing division may be authorized to take charge of diversity management. Particularly at small
and medium-sized enterprises, this option may be more efficient in many cases. This is first and foremost a
management strategy that is intended only to "strengthen the competitiveness of the enterprise," so that relevant
operating divisions and departments such as corporate planning divisions and various business departments are
required to proceed with measures by keeping in close contact and cooperating with each other according to the
objectives. The division in charge of diversity promotion is required to put into practice not only company-wide
development and penetration of the personnel measures related to diversity promotion, but also to plan and
review measures for diversity promotion as part of the management strategy.

◆ Do top leaders communicate with not only relevant divisions but also employees in general in proceeding
with diversity management? →List of ideas (1) ② [4]

Diversity management is directly linked to employees’ daily business operations so that particularly managerial
officials’ consciousness and management must be reformed. Top leaders of enterprises may fall short of realizing
diversity management if relevant divisions alone are left to promote such management. While checking whether
employees exercise their potential sufficiently to contribute to enterprise-wide performances, the top leaders must
make both top-down and bottom-up efforts to improve diversity management measures.
It is effective to develop arrangements to accept and implement proposals from employees. By listening to
employees’ opinions even on minor problems found in daily business operations and repeating relevant
improvements, top leaders of enterprises may pave the way for a change-accepting culture to be developed.

(2) Paving the way for various human resources to fully exercise their potential ー Things
required to assess employees’ attributes and features for proper utilization of their abilities

In diversity management, enterprises aim to create innovation and improve productivity by figuring out employees’
potential and placing the right persons in the right positions. To this end, enterprises must give consideration to personal
conditions and pave the way for all human resources to grow more ambitious about working and exercise their potential
under various constraints. Consideration must be given to working mothers with children, foreigners with difficulties
speaking Japanese, persons with disabilities who must be supported, and elderly persons who do not want to work five
days a week on a full-time basis.
The word “challenged” indicates a new idea that persons with disabilities should be viewed as those who have been given
missions or chances to take on challenges. Child-rearing women tend to try to raise hourly productivity with a sense of
tension under time constraints. They can also take advantage of their child-rearing experiences to produce abundant
ideas.
It is important to take disabilities and time constraints as positive business chances or opportunities to raise productivity,
instead of as negative factors.
In order to lead various human resources to become more ambitious about working and exercise their potential,
enterprises must boldly reform traditional management systems for “constraint-free employees” into more flexible ones.
Time and labor must be consumed to reform ways of working. Such reforms may be taken by “constraint-free” employees
as temporarily “inconvenient,” facing in-house resistance. By specifying what should be achieved finally, by paying
attention not to the negative aspects of constrained people but to their potential and by developing and following up on
knowhow or systems to extract their potential, however, enterprises can reform themselves into organizations where
human resources with various backgrounds can work actively and voluntarily. In addition, there is a possibility of even the
"constraint-free" employees having constraints in the long course of their careers. "Constraint" is not fixed, and therefore,
it is important to recognize that everyone is likely to be affected by constraints.

7 Best Practices Collection 2015

(A) System for assessment and promotion of human resources
① Specifying duties and developing fair and transparent personnel evaluation systems

◆ Are personnel evaluation systems easy for everyone to understand? Are duties and goals specified to
secure fair evaluation? →List of ideas (2)(A) ① [1],[2] and [3]

Fair personnel evaluation must be implemented in accordance with duties and performances, irrespective of
employees’ personal attributes or ways of working. To this end, enterprises must specify roles that employees are
expected to play and goals that they should achieve and must lead them to understand their ways of working and
their goals and make efforts for achieving their goals. Their seniors are required to appropriately follow up on their
efforts. In global business management where human resources of different nationalities and from different
cultures are utilized, particularly, fair personnel evaluation is important for retaining and improving employees’
ambitions to work.
Even if a work-life balance support system is designed to make it easier for users of the system to work, it may not
turn out to be a useful system in the presence of fears that users of the system could be rated unfairly low. Even if
some employees achieve great performances while using the system, their ambiguous evaluation may cause
frictions between these and other employees.
In order to introduce a work-life balance support system and facilitate its implementation, enterprises must specify
in advance the standard quantity and quality of output that users of the system are required to produce and must
evaluate their performances based on such standards. By doing so, even when there are time constraints, it
becomes possible to move forward with work systematically, produce the expected output, and have human
resources participate actively by maintaining a high level of motivation.

② Active promotion and recruitment of diverse human resources

◆ Do you make effective use of “positive action”?→List of ideas (2)(A) ② [1] and [2]

Under traditional personnel management systems, it is more difficult for human resources other than majority or
mainstream employees in an organization to be promoted to managerial posts. In order to improve such situation
and place the right persons in the right positions in accordance with their capabilities and performances, it may be
effective for enterprises in some cases to implement “positive action” efforts as a transitional structural reform to
positively promote non-majority or non-mainstream employees. But setting and achieving numerical targets for
promoting these employees may bring about adverse effects. Enterprises must implement training sessions to
make up for business experience shortages and reform employees’ consciousness to expand the range of
employees for promotion and must build a corporate-wide follow-up arrangement for promoted employees in order
to develop an environment where promoted employees can exercise their potential sufficiently. In addition, in
order to promote foreigners, mid-career workers, etc., to managerial posts it is desirable to construct a personnel
treatment system that is not associated with nationality and length of service.

③ Job placement and transfers that draw out and utilize diversity

◆ Are job placement and transfers consciously carried out in a way such that the diversity of experiences and skills of
human resources is increased and new possibilities can be developed and exhibited? →List of ideas (2)(A) ③ [1]

It is important to actively increase diversity of the experiences and skills of human resources through conscious
job placement, transfers, etc., rather than being limited to respecting the diversity of individual human resources.
When the diversity of experiences and skills is increased, it becomes possible to further draw out the capabilities
that each individual human resource can exhibit, and to broaden opportunities as well as possibilities for active
participation.
In addition, by broadening the view of individual human resources through new experiences based on job
placement and transfers, there are expectations for original ideas to be born regarding business plans, and to link
these ideas to reform of the work process.
In job placement and transfers, it is important to increase the growth willingness of a person, by making
comparisons with their own career conscious, while clearly conveying the significance of cultivation of human
resources through sufficient communication with the person, rather than simply forcing the convenience of the
enterprise side onto the person.

Best Practices Collection 2015 8

 ◆ Are employment classifications designed to support active participation by diverse human resources? →List of ideas (2)(A) ③ [2]

In order to expand opportunities for active participation by employees who have restrictions related to the workplace,
etc., it is necessary to carry out individual personnel management that enables for various ways of working in
accordance with individual circumstances. Although there are some enterprises that have established employment
classifications of a type that are limited to work location, when an error is made in design or operation of employment
classifications, it is necessary to take heed, as this restricts opportunities for active participation by various human
resources, such as the employment classifications becoming substantively gender-segregated.
Even if employment classifications are to be established, as there are enterprises that establish mechanisms where,
in setting and operating such classifications, it is possible to reciprocally switch between employment classifications
by comparing employees’ desires and the enterprise’s needs for utilizing human resources, it is necessary to review
whether there is rationality in upper limits in such cases. At the same time, even in comprehensive work where work
locations are not limited, it is important to reexamine the frequency and timing of transfers associated with moves,
and to carry out flexible operation such as by taking child-rearing and nursing care into consideration.

(B) Improvement of working environment and systems

① Establishment of flexible working hours and place and reduction of the long working hours

◆ Is it possible to choose flexible working styles on working hours and place? →List of ideas (2)(B) ① [1], [2] and [3]

The stereotyped, rigid model for recruiting new male graduates as regular employees for long-term employment
may serve to constrain opportunities for other human resources to exercise their potential. In order to enable for
various human resources to heighten their motivation to work and exhibit their abilities, it is necessary to
reexamine the conventional way of working, and firstly, to carry out reforms in the way of working so that an
environment where employees with time constraints can participate actively in an equal manner can be
developed, such as by reducing long-term labor, etc.
For example, in order to anchor human resources who have capabilities and motivation despite having various
constraints, such as employees who are raising children and employees who are caring for family members at
home, to enterprises and to have them exhibit their capabilities to the fullest extent possible, it is necessary to
develop and run a flexible working atmosphere/system, as a “human resources utilization strategy.”
For the employees who have constraints on their working hours and place, it is not enough to adjust them
according to the business volume and load, but it is necessary to provide supports that will not make constraints
on working hours a handicap by increasing the degree of freedom on working hours and place and enabling
choice of flexible working styles such as flextime system and teleworking.

◆ Are the stereotyped working styles reviewed and long working hours so reduced? →List of ideas (2)(B) ① [4]

Even if you decide on flexible working hours and place to work, if the working hour is presupposed to be long for
employees, there will be many employees whose opportunities for exhibiting their abilities are restricted. There
are not only employees who have family matters such as childcare and nursing care, but it is also pointed out that
there are some foreign employees who cannot adapt themselves to the conventional Japanese styles of working
and decide to leave the job.
Practicing in the entire workplace the ways of working for a shorter time to achieve satisfactory results is expected
not only to enhance productivity but also to improve employee satisfaction.
However, any attempt to practice only the reduction of working hours will not change the actual state of
performance, since workplace management and change in the roles in carrying out the business need to be
changed for better results. While sharing the problem consciousness, as described above, there is a need to
proceed at the same time with efforts to review relevant systems and workplace culture.

② Building an environment and corporate systems where diverse human resources can actively participate

◆ Is the working environment established for individual employees according to their own circumstances?
Are systems for supporting their duties established?→List of ideas (2)(B) ② [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5]

Various devices are required to put into practice in order to enhance active participation by employees who need
special attention or have some constraints on their normal operations. For example, in a workplace where there
are a comparatively larger number of women with insufficient muscular force and aged people, introduction of
equipment for carrying works without using any muscular force will help to reduce work load. Similarly, the
arrangement of hardware such as the adjustment of the height of the desk, extension of the passage, and
elimination of the steps for the employees in wheelchairs will enable the employees with disabilities to work with

9 Best Practices Collection 2015

 no constraints.
On the other hand, in order to establish a smooth communication between the employees, considerations and
ingenuity may be sometimes required. For example, the communication with foreign employees is difficult not just
because of language barrier but also of differences in values and cultural practices, but presenting the differences
in the way of thinking by holding seminars and preparing manuals is deemed to be working for smooth
communications.
In addition, flexible operation of the existing systems may sometimes help to establish an environment for active
participation. For example, for employees in the childcare period, provision of allowance of child care-related costs
such as babysitting and relocation to workplaces requiring less commuting time will help them secure the enough
time for work.
In this way, when you establish an environment for individual employees in accordance with the their
circumstances, it is not enough to one-sidedly develop a system, but it is important to always review it to know
whether the system is actually easy for the employees to use, what are to be improved and devised in the day-to-
day operations. Further, when you employ the person with disability, you are required to strengthen cooperation
with external specialized organizations such as local job assistance agents at the time such as the employment of
persons to be able to provide more appropriate supports.

(C) Consciousness and skills development for employees

① Expanding education and training to form careers and develop capabilities

◆ Do you implement managerial job training for various human resources to put various persons into a decision
making class? Have you prepared various means to improve employees’ skills? →List of ideas (2)(C) ① [1]

Women and other non-majority or non-mainstream human resources in organizations have had little access to
opportunities for improving skills or to tangible and intangible in-house resources for developing management
skills in some cases. If these human resources are selected and promoted to managerial jobs without any training,
they may fail to fully exercise their potential and may lead to a feeling of failure.
Motivation training and finely tuned follow-up systems are required for non-majority or non-mainstream human
resources to exercise their potentials. For example, workplace management training and mentor systems for
female employees can be used to positively provide women with knowhow that mainstream employees have
inherited as implicit knowledge. These systems are very effective.
Also important are efforts to help various human resources build skills. In addition to providing on-the-job training
related directly to jobs, enterprises may promote and support employees’ acquisition of qualifications, may
introduce e-learning programs that employees can use without being bound by time or space constraints and may
develop leave and subsidy systems to promote employees’ learning. By implementing these measures,
enterprises may become organizations where individual employees voluntarily and positively try to build their
skills. It will also be effective to provide these human resources with opportunities to build career plans and
autonomously tackle their work.

◆ Do you motivate employees for commitment to work and career development through the networking of
human resources with a variety of carriers and values? →List of ideas (2)(C) ① [2]

In order to tackle the day-to-day business to with a high willingness to work maintained, it is important to have a
prospect of medium- and long-term career development. However, especially for women, there are no “role
models” in their immediate circles, and as such, it is pointed out that they have some difficulty in having their own
future career image.
Therefore, it is effective to set up opportunities for them to talk about worries and issues with human resources
with diverse experience in a widely-networked environment. They can exchange views on worries in a day-to-day
business operations and future careers, and share successful experiences, which will make them feel that
everybody harbors the same kinds of worries and issues and lead to improvement of their willingness to work.
In addition, if it is hard to achieve enough networking within the enterprise, it is also effective to jointly provide
opportunities for networking among a multiple of enterprises. Your employees are expected to obtain wider views
and perspectives difficult to acquire within the enterprise and vitality and specific suggestions for breaking the
status quo.

② Consciousness and skills development for the layer of management

◆ Are you making efforts to reform managerial officials’ consciousness to allow various human resources
to exercise their potential?→List of ideas (2)(C) ② [1]

The largest challenge in implementing diversity management is workplace management. Even if diversity

Best Practices Collection 2015 10

 management systems are developed, constraints on opportunities for employees to exercise their potential may
discourage them from working or exercising their potential sufficiently, leading diversity management to fail before
any achievements are made.
Leadership, to lead the organization by maximizing the "difference" of each individual, will be required to
managers.
First, employees including managerial officials must understand and agree to their enterprises’ purposes of
diversity management (why they must tackle diversity management now). Then, it may be effective to consider
how best to take advantage of diversity for resolving present organizational challenges based on the grand goals
of the corporate philosophy and action guidelines.
Employees may agree to the promotion of diversity management but oppose specific measures. In order to
promote diversity management on a corporate-wide basis, enterprises must consider all divisions’ respective
specific measures to be taken at workplace levels and include these measures into performance evaluation to
give sufficient incentives to managerial officials.

◆ Are you making efforts to improve the management skills of managerial officials?
→List of ideas (2)(C) ② [2]

It is necessary to improve the management skills of managerial officials. While a-un breathing, or rhythmic
breathing, is sufficient for the traditional management of even organizations, more advanced workplace
management skills are required to unite human resources in various conditions to maximize organizational
performances for the purpose of achieving business goals.
Managerial officials must explain the business goals, processes, deadlines and performance evaluation for
various employees through orderly communications. Particularly, they must make intentional efforts to convey
ideas and win understanding at workplaces that are abundant with foreigners having different values and cultural
practices, physically challenged persons having difficulties in communications even through domestic language,
or people having diverse values.
Managerial officials cannot develop such management skills naturally. Training sessions and workshops must be
used to reform their consciousness to improve their management skills. In an effective approach in addition to
reforming workplace management from the viewpoint of diversity management, enterprises may take the
viewpoint of diversity management into account when implementing workplace management reforms.

(3) Linking the activities of various human resources to value creation

~ What is necessary for linking the success of individual employees to creation of innovation ~
In order to link diversity management to results, reforms of the decision-making process and organization culture
are sought after in order to respect and reflect the sense of values and ideas of various human resources and to
link this to value creation while sharing the basic values and orientation as an enterprise in the form of corporate
principles, action guidelines, etc.
Furthermore, through activities that externally communicate results based on diversity, corporate values increase
through reputation and trust from general consumers and investors, and a virtuous cycle that links this to securing
superior human resources, etc. is born.

① Transparency of the information sharing/decision-making process

◆ Do you provide a place that opinion of each employees can be expressed and system to share
information? In addition, have those of diverse opinions been respected?→List of ideas (3) ① [1]

“Diverse opinions come out naturally If there are a variety of human resources.” which is never be a case.
Particularly, the "minority" of the workplace are placed in a situation where their thoughts and opinions are difficult
to share. In recognition of that point, it is useful to create a mechanism that each employee can speak equally. For
example, to provide an opportunity of "direct negotiation" to all employees or to create a system to present and
share the awareness and suggestions in the workplace, such actions will change a corporate culture to be able to
express an opinion naturally.
However, in that case, the attitude to respect the expressed the opinion, must be kept by the top management (or
site management layer). If the opinion of the minority or unprecedented idea is excluded, then there will be no
employee to speak with courage. On the introduction of the system, what is asked is the operation, such as how
to utilize the diverse opinions obtained from the system.

11 Best Practices Collection 2015

 ◆ Do the internal information-sharing and decision-making processes have high transparency for all employees?
→List of ideas (3) ① [2]

It is necessary to ensure that the decision-making processes bring a sense of satisfaction, and are fair and have
high transparency among various employees. The idea of “one should know without having to be told,” and
decision-making by only the majority/mainstream employees are not appropriate for diversity management. With
regard to the decision-making process in management and in operation of in-house meetings, it is necessary for
the opinions of various human resources who have different ways of working, senses of values, and
communication styles to be reflected, and to reexamine the process so that there is a mechanism where a sense
of satisfaction can be obtained regarding decision-making.
② Activating communication and development of a work climate that is linked to the strengths of “differences”

◆ Are you making efforts to reform managerial officials' consciousness to allow various human resources
to exercise their potential?→List of ideas (3) ② [1]

Among enterprises that are making approaches to diversity management, there are many that are implementing
offsite meetings and committee activities that are carried out in a cross-departmental manner away from everyday
work.These approaches are effective in order to activate communication that generates corporate values while
various human resources pool together their respective ideas and senses of values, and provide stimulation for
each other, rather than simply participating in the activities. By consciously promoting these kinds of measures, an
airy workplace climate that does not fall victim to sectionalism will constantly be created on a daily basis, and the
diversity of the ideas and ways of thinking of individual employees will be linked to innovation.

③ The creation of opportunities and business to enable the suitable placement

◆ Are opportunities where various human resources can exhibit their capabilities in their work and make
use of their individual strengths being actively established? →List of ideas (3) ③ [1] and [2]

In order to link diversity promotion to management results, it is important to create opportunities where human
resources with various senses of values and capabilities can make use of their ability and exhibit their individual
strengths in their work.
For example, the perspectives of individual employees as citizens and their experiences in child-rearing, nursing
care, etc. can be put to use in developing products and services as well as marketing. In addition, in bringing up
work where disabled persons and the elderly can exhibit their capabilities in accordance with their respective
characteristics, and shaping how they proceed with work, process innovation occurs, increasing production
efficiency for society as a whole, and thus enabling for a higher quality of products and services to be realized.
It is also possible to promote work improvement within the company by actively making use of the experiences of
midcareer workers in their previous occupations and generating new services.
In other words, “creation of work” that makes use of strengths, and “provision of opportunities” for various human
resources accelerate the growth of personnel, and are linked to creating new innovations from the perspectives
and capabilities that each employee possesses.

◆ Do you support the new challenges of a variety of human resources company-wide and invent to tie
them the result?→List of ideas (3) ③ [3]

To be successful in a new challenge with a variety of human resources such as mentioned above, it is required to
back up the attempt and support continuously by fully utilizing the entire company know-how. However, as a
common "failure" pattern, the case such as "formed a female team for product development aimed at female
consumers", and then "Leave-it-all to-you," can often be seen.
Weather it is a case of new business or business process improvement, it is simply not enough to recruit a new
human resources in order to promote a new initiative, and the material for the human resources to play an active
role must be prepared. In general, this point should have been recognized, however it is often a forgettable point
in the effort to bear the "success of the diverse human resources". In addition, the diversity between the
individuals will be overlooked if "female" is captured as a mono composition. In diversity management, it is
required that utilizing individual ideas and skills as an organization.

Best Practices Collection 2015 12

 It can be said that seriousness of the enterprise for promoting diversity appears as how they put one business (or
such as business process) on track, rather than being satisfied by composing a team or starting an initiative.

④ Delivering and sharing of the results through the communication with a variety of stakeholders

◆ Are policies related to diversity promotion being communicated within enterprises, and are results being
shared?→List of ideas (3) ④ [1]

Even if various measures are taken for diversity management, failure to make all employees aware of these
measures may prevent any enterprise-wide achievements from being made. Enterprises may positively publicize
employees’ specifics, duties and achievements to allow diversity promotion achievements to be shared throughout
the organization, leading to corporate culture reforms. Publicizing role models who have raised ambitions to work
and developed their performances may encourage other employees to grow more ambitious to work. This could
become a measure to improve employees’’ ambitions to work.
In particular, upon the top firmly recognize the achievements by the efforts, presenting feedback of the evaluation
to the inside of the company, which will lead to the acceleration of the further diversity promotion.

◆ Is information on the state of active participation by various human resources being communicated outside enterprises?
Has the result of diversity management been communicated and shared? →List of ideas (3) ④ [2]

While shortage of human resources due to the progress of low birth rate and longevity, securing a better human
resources is becoming a pressing issue for any enterprise. In addition, in achieving the global expansion of the
business, the enterprise shall look for the human resources beyond domesticity.
Being "an enterprise to work effectively and actively for a variety of human resources" will be recognized socially
by communicating outside the company that diverse human resources have appointed and made achievements
while working on the diversity management. To accept a wide variety of human resources is not only a contribution
to the employment promotion of diverse human resources in the community, but also may lead to secure the
better human resources from all over the country.
In addition, to communicate efforts and achievements of the diversity management actively outside the company
and to increase the sympathy for the idea will improve customers’ images of enterprises and investors’ confidence
in enterprises
So far it has stated repeatedly that the Diversity management is a business strategy rather than just "practical use
of a variety of human resources". If so, working on diversity management, that will be regarded as a essential
qualification for the company to grow in the future. Improvement of various stakeholders’ ratings of enterprises,
which will create a foundation of the enterprises’ sustainability.

3. Conclusion

If enterprises are to establish competitive advantages in the current severe environment including the intensification of
global competition and slumping domestic demand amid the falling number of children and aging population, they should
take maximum advantage of various human resources’ capabilities for creating values. If individual enterprises enhance
their competitiveness by making effective use of human resources as business resources in nominal and real terms, it
may help the Japanese economy overcome deflation and shift to a growth path.
Diversity management is part of a business strategy and should be implemented strategically to enhance corporate
competitiveness. The biggest challenge for diversity management is workplace management reform. Top leaders’ strong
leadership and continuous efforts are indispensable for putting an end to inertial workplace practices among managerial
and other employees to make progress in diversity management.
We expect enterprises to promote diversity management to enhance their competitiveness while referring to specific
cases as described in “Diversity Management Selection 100 -- Collection of Best Practices.”

13 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Appendix: List of ideas on efforts to be made

So then, how have the various companies that are making pioneering efforts and were selected for the Diversity
Management Selection 100 in FY 2012, FY 2013, and FY 2014 realized the ideas and approaches described in Section 2,
“Fundamental ideas of and approaches to diversity management”?
We picked efforts that are examples of the matters described in each item of the preceding section from among the
best practices in FY 2012, FY 2013, and FY 2014. We would like companies to utilize such efforts as a reference for the
effective practice of diversity management for individual companies.

（1）Developing strategies to promote diversity as a management strategy

① Clarification of your corporate philosophy and diversity management
[1] Clarification of corporate philosophy
▶ To start with, the company has systematically established its “VISION: where we should go,” “MISSION: what we should
go” and “VALUE: action of each individual.” They are shared in the morning meetings and a booklet was produced to be
available at hand at all times. This effort is designed to show in which direction the company is headed and what each
individual is required to do in the daily business in association with the company’s management philosophy. (Selected in
2014: EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD.)
▶ The company’s codes of conduct had been in place. However, they were expressed in terms of ideological words
and difficult to understand. Thus, in line with the formulation of the new management plan, the “8 Rules for the New
Work Style” was established to show the specific codes of conduct to facilitate the understanding of the employees.
(Selected in 2014: SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD.)
▶ They scrutinize what has been “common sense,” and to those who are persistent to their accustomed procedures
and values, they talk over what would bring the most advantages for customers on the basis of our policy, “Customer
determines our success,” and try to find the best way among all people involved to carry on the business. (Selected in
2014: GE Japan Inc.)

[2] Positioning in the corporate philosophy and action guidelines

▶ In 2010, Kao revised the “Kao Way” (Kao’s business philosophy) to specify, “We believe that the vitality engendered
by diversity is a wellspring of business development, and therefore actively embrace differences of culture, nationality,
belief, race and gender,” in its action principles. (Selected in 2012: Kao Corporation)
▶ For realizing this goal, the company has been seeking various types of employees with different personalities,
sensibilities and capabilities, who can nevertheless stay together on the same course; has put up their personnel policy,
“3G! generation free, gender free, global” in the mid-term business plan “70 VISION” drawn up for the 70th anniversary
of its founding; and defined “diversity” as a resource for their business strategies. (Selected in 2013: Hikari Kikai
Seisakusho Co., Ltd.)
[3] Declaration of diversity promotion by top leaders
▶ The company’s President, in his inauguration speech, he declared that he would carry out his longtime agenda of
“Reforms without sanctuary,” putting up diversity as a personnel strategy that does not question age, sex or nationality.
(…) He made it clear that he would take the leadership himself for promoting women, as he had been affirming the need
for this over the years. (Selected in 2013: S.T. Corporation)
▶ The president at that time thought, “It is odd that we have so many talented female employees but so few are advancing
to managerial roles. Our personnel system must be to blame for the poor involvement and resignation of female
employees. If we can reform our systems and organizations to become a company where fewer female employees
quit and instead continue their careers, these women could gain more experience and deepen their expertise. This
would contribute to higher quality service and a deeper talent pool for managerial positions.” In 2005, President issued
a company-wide proclamation regarding the involvement of female employees. (Selected in 2013: Sumitomo Life
Insurance Company)

② Creation of a structure with the top management at the center and management planning
[1] Setting up appropriate targets
▶ The company has a specific numerical goal for raising the women’s share of managerial positions (section chief and
higher): from the current 4.0% to “8.2% by 2017.” (Selected in 2013: Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd.)
▶ The company has set its KPI (key performance indicator) as “2020-10%-20%-30%,” that is, “to increase the ratio of the
number of female employees in all the managerial posts to 10%, the ratio of the number of female employees in the
managerial posts below 45 years old of age to 20% and the ratio of the number of female employees in the managerial
posts below 40 years old of age to 30%.” The two companies before the merger have started to increase the recruitment
of female employees since around 2006. Since those new employees at the time will approach the age to be eligible for
managerial posts in 2020, the company has set a feasible goal to steadily provide empowerment of women. (Selected in
2014: HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD.)

Best Practices Collection 2015 14

 [2] Establishment of Sections in charge (New/Revised)
▶ Nissan established the Diversity Development Office as an independent team dedicated to promoting diversity. Since then,
Nissan has been making company-wide efforts for diversity promotion. (Selected in 2012: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
▶ Saraya implemented work-life balance support measures mainly for female employees and proactively recruited foreigners,
while taking these measures independently of each other. Two years ago, the company launched a diversity promotion
office to systematize these measures for its entire organization. (Selected in 2012: Saraya Co., Ltd.)
▶ A position in charge of “promoting women” was established in the personnel department in 2008. The creation of
such a position for promoting women was a message from the management team who promised to promote women
as a company, enabling an environment in which measures more focused on women than before can be easily
implemented. (Selected in 2013: Asahi Breweries, Ltd.)
▶ The company established its “Kirameki Life Promotion Office” headed by an official in charge of Personnel. The office
currently consists of ten members (even male/female split), including members dedicated exclusively to female-
employee issues, that plan and manage policies for promoting greater participation by women in the workplace. (Selected
in 2013: Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.)
[3] Cooperation/Promotion System
▶ Sato created a diversity promotion office under the president’s direct control and decided to hold the 14 domestic group
companies’ presidents responsible for conducting diversity promotion projects according to the conditions of each group
company using a top-down approach. (Selected in 2012: Sato Holdings Corporation)
▶ In 2008, the Diversity Office was established as an organization under the jurisdiction of the Vice-President.
Recognizing that a strong commitment from management is essential for promoting diversity, the President and other
top management used company-wide forums and other venues to express the company’s commitment to diversity.
At the same time, the Diversity Promotion Office, under the direction of the Vice-President, clearly conveyed the
company’s direction, both inside and outside the company, with a strong intention to realize that direction. (Selected in
2013: Fujitsu Limited)
▶ Specifically, not only that the “Committee and Secretariat to Promote the Change in Work Style” was established in
each business division and group company, but also employees of the ranks of general managers and managers were
appointed in the secretariat as “dedicated staff” for the effort. In this manner, the system did not only allow the sharing
of information through the “dedicated staff” on the overall movement of the group and each business division, but
also enabled each division to carry out effective measures to achieve their respective targets. (Selected in 2014: DAI
NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.)
▶ At Diversity Promotion Committee, director and executive director of the company was appointed as the head of the
commissioners, and the head of Diversity Promotion Department and the head of Human Resource Nourishment
Department were assigned as deputy heads of commissioners. 6 female employees among 15 commissioners
(12 females and 3 males) were selected as commissioners by public recruiting. (…) Mainly by Diversity Promotion
Commission, Diversity Promotion Department, and Human Resources Nourishment Department are positively
advancing their activities as one composed of three organs. (Selected in 2014: The Chiba Bank, Ltd.)

[ 4 ] Communication with employees

▶ The Diversity Promotion Office holds “Diversity Meetings” in which employees talk with the president in person. Although
there were opportunities for employees in a small number to directly talk with the management, the participation in the
meeting is encouraged to female employees in the wake of the Diversity Declaration in 2013. (Selected in 2014: LIXIL
Group Corporation)
▶ The company holds the “Town Hall Meeting” in which employees talk directly with the management including the
president since 2009 when the current chairman/president took its post. The “Town Hall Meeting” is held in principle
twice a year in about 23 offices and factories which the management including the president visits personally to explain
the management policy directly to employees and conducts Q and A session for employees. This is an important
opportunity for communication and the current chairman/president places higher importance than other matters and the
meeting is held regularly and continuously. (Selected in 2014: CALBEE, INC..)

（ 2 ）Paving the way for various human resources to fully exercise their potential
(A) System for assessment and promotion of human resources
① Specifying duties and developing fair and transparent personnel evaluation systems
[1] Development of highly transparent personnel evaluation systems
▶ Not only women with children but also elderly people, persons with disabilities and other various human resources work
as regular employees while exercising their potential. New employees start with a uniform hourly pay irrespective of
their previous jobs, skills or disabilities and undergo semiannual performance evaluation for pay revisions. (Selected in
2012: SI Co., Ltd.)
▶ Tenhiko thoroughly reviewed the details of each department’s duties and thoroughly clarified each department’s

15 Best Practices Collection 2015

 responsibilities, so as to build a highly transparent personnel system that enables the evaluation of individual employees
according to their achievements. Tenhiko fully introduced the system in 2010 and established a mechanism for evaluation at
the end of 2012 after repeatedly making revisions. (Selected in 2012: Tenhiko Industrial Co., Ltd.)
▶ Employees must be evaluated in such a way as to cause no disadvantages to short-time workers. While the evaluation
system in which an employee is evaluated in various ways – by superiors, colleagues and other departments – was
introduced, each employee is also evaluated according to his or her goal-attainment level and business contributions
regardless of his or her length of working hours. Also, an evaluation meeting held by each department must be attended
by an officer in charge of personnel evaluation so that an employee is not degraded because of his or her short working
hours. (Selected in 2013: MSD K.K.)
▶ Both regulars and part-timers are evaluated by the same standard, and their salary increases accordingly. (Selected in
2013: Heart Co., Ltd.)
▶ The company introduced its “support system for nurturing” in 2010. Under this system, a so-called “growth sheet” or
sheet for evaluating personnel was implemented. Based on this, a person in charge and a division manager meet
with an employee once every three months to grasp the “nurturing” results (growth results) and share common goals.
(Selected in 2013: Tashiro Coffee Co., Ltd.)
[2] Clarification of Division of Duties and Operations
▶ ISF net, Inc. classifies operations using four axes, namely, confidentiality, how much they depend on specific employees’
knowledge, urgency, and importance, and distributes jobs to employees, according to individual employees’ ways of
working. For example, concerning work that can be left to a woman who is engaged in child care, projects that do not
depend much on specific employee’s knowledge and whose urgency is low are appropriate, considering that she might
suddenly take time off due to situations such as her children being ill, although it does not matter whether a project’s
confidentiality or importance are high. This evaluation system can find work that can be left to employees who have
constraints, even some work that used to be generally impossible to leave to them, and can expand the range of work
that individual employees can manage. At the same time, companies can realize the idea of having the right person in
the right place. (Selected in 2012: ISF net, Inc.)
▶ The company clearly specifies job details when making informal job offers, as the company needs human resources
who can work independently as specialists. (Selected in 2013: Metrol Co., Ltd.)
[3] Clarification of goals
▶ The firm has introduced not only personnel evaluations by supervisors but also 360-degree evaluations through which
all employees evaluate each other. There is just one criterion for evaluation, which is “contributions to the firm,” broken
down into factors such as achievements and new, bold efforts. (Selected in 2012: Support Gyoseishoshi Law Firm)
▶ All the works of all the departments have been put in a list in which the work items and the names of employees
corresponding to each work are listed up vertically and horizontally, respectively. This list is called the “ability table” (…)
On the other hand, the “work distribution table” in which future work and an employee are mapped and the “training
progress planning” which connects the “current time” and the “time in the future” have been developed in relation to the
“ability table.” (Selected in 2014: KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD.)

② Active promotion and recruitment of diverse human resources

[1] “Positive action” implementation
▶ Female candidates are always included in the succession plan (a plan for nurturing successors) of board members
drawn up mainly by those in charge of personnel affairs, where three categories of employees are listed: those good
enough to become a board member immediately, those who would be good enough in two years, and those within five
years. (Selected in 2013: MSD K.K.)
▶ In 2008, the “Challenge Post” system was adopted. This is an inter-organizational system that takes place twice a year
that offers employees, who especially have restrictions on their working hours due to child or family care, posts with
reduced working hours and/or telework. (Selected in 2013: Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.)
▶ In 2008, the company started to call outstanding managerial persons of overseas group companies to Japan and
conduct a MDP (management development program) jointly with the head office. (…) Five to six Japanese group
companies send employees at general manager level to the program. This training is intended not only to develop
simply management abilities, but also to abandon the conventional values such as “Japanese advantage” and “head
office advantage” lurking in the company and share attitude and values with a diversity of employees. (Selected in 2014:
HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD.)

[2] Appropriate follow-up for promoted employees

▶ “WIND mentoring,” in which executive officers (20 people) mentor females in management positions (total of 104 people
up to FY2013) came to be initiated once a year, on a one-on-one basis with each session lasting approximately 1 to
2 hours per person. This “WIND mentoring” aims to raise the consciousness and goals of women in management
positions, strengthen their leadership and leadership abilities, and reduce anxieties that they may have regarding
management positions. (Selected in 2013: Astellas Pharma Inc.)

Best Practices Collection 2015 16

 ▶ The company actively promotes the appointment of female employees in the selective “leadership training” to
consciously provide opportunities for “stretching” for talent development to them by selecting outstanding female
employees to develop their talent. (Selected in 2014: LIXIL Group Corporation)
▶ “Development training for department managers” (…) targets female chiefs and 16 have participated. Those who seem
capable of taking position as a department manager are selected from female chiefs to participate in the 6 months
program. During the 6 months they participate in leadership-development training and projects implemented across the
departments to learn from female executives who are assigned as their mentor the leadership and broad perspective
required for department managers. (Selected in 2014: GE Japan Inc.)

③ Personnel relocation for extracting and utilizing diversity

[1] Implementing job rotation
▶ Rokkatei has implemented frequent job rotation between manufacturing, marketing, logistics and other divisions in a bid
to allow all employees to become well versed in the operations of multiple divisions and flexibly cope with busy seasons.
Employees can bring common knowledge and devices from their previous divisions to new ones to improve production
efficiency. (Selected in 2012: Rokkatei Confectionery Co., Ltd.)
▶ By breaking down a work process for one product, the company assigns each employee for an appropriate part of the
process. One may not be able to carry out the whole process but there are many sections which disabled employees
can handle. As well, with a jig, persons with disabilities can sometimes manage parts of a process which they would
not be able to otherwise. The company, first, fully immerses them in a single part of process, and then trains those who
have mastered it in other parts of process, aiming to make them multifunctional. (Selected in 2013: Kyosei Co., Ltd.)

[2] Employment classifications designed to support active participation by diverse human resources
▶ It has established a system to promote part-timers to regular employees, under which former part-timers now
account for nearly 20% of the 57 regular employees. (Selected in 2012: Sanshu Seika Co.)
▶ Selectee promoted part-time instructors (all of them women) to full-time regular employees. With the intention of
securing high quality instructors, this is an approach that the company took for instructors, who are recommended by
the head of the school and who themselves wish to work as regular employees, so they can work for a longer period of
time. (Selected in 2013: Selectee)
▶ In 2010, toward making an environment where employees can work at ease, the company promoted monthly-paid
temporary workers called “Mate-Employees” to permanent workers, if their service years are more than four years,
ahead of the Amendment of the Worker Dispatching Act; also reduced from 5 to 4 years for taking examination for
promoting to regular-workers. (Selected in 2014: ISETAN MITSUKOSHI HOLDINGS)
▶ Accordingly, so that the employees employed in regions restrictively can experience broad work, “temporary relocation
system” which admits the moving in limited period was introduced in 2004. From before that time, the employees
employed in regions restrictively who aimed at career-up had been respectively relocated as “job posting”, it was
systematized and opportunity was presented openly to the total employees. (Selected in 2014: Aflac (American Family
Life Assurance Company of Columbus) )
▶ Traditionally, persons with disabilities most often worked as fully in-house staff or engaged in work that does not
have contact with the outside world. However, in the stream of participative “Role Innovation,” there were quite a few
employees who were inspired to take on a challenge. (Selected in 2014: Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.)

(B) Improvement of working environment and systems

① Establishment of flexible working hours and place and reduction of the long working hours
[1] Flexible working place (telework etc.)
▶ Except for some employees working shifts at plants or as department store beauty staff, any employee at any post with
or without titles can work from home one day a week for any purpose. Although they need to decide which day of the
week is used for telework one year ahead at the most, which can be changed later as necessary, managerial members
proactively use the system. (Selected in 2013: Procter & Gamble Japan)
▶ The company introduced the “Ultra Work” system. More specifically, the system allows for “working in a location of one’s
choice.” It aims for removing constraints not just on time but also on location. Almost all employees, if they ask for it,
would be allowed to use the system with permission from their manager(s). (Selected in 2013: Cybozu, Inc.)
▶ The company introduced a free address system on the occasion of integrating the five bases, which had been scattered
around the center of Tokyo, into the Sinagawa headquarters. Conventionally, it was one’s desks where people worked.
Today, however, none of sales people has a fixed desk of his or her own. Instead, they can work in a hub space installed
in office floors or One Microsoft Café where all the employees gather. With a laptop computer, they can work anywhere
they want. (Selected in 2013: Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd.)
[2] Flexible working days and hours
▶ Suntory has dramatically reformed its work-at-home and flextime systems. The application of the flextime system has

17 Best Practices Collection 2015

 shifted from being applied by each department to being applied by each individual and has also removed requirements
for core working hours so that employees can work anytime except late at night. As for the work-at-home system,
individuals can work at home up to two days a week, specifying the time worked in ten-minute increments. During this
time, they are also allowed to work at places other than their homes. When launching the system, Suntory required all 1,000
managers to have a one-day work-at-home experience as a first step. (Selected in 2012: Suntory Holdings Limited)
▶ SI features a flextime system where individual employees can freely make work schedules meeting daily, weekly and
monthly maximum working hours. (Selected in 2012: SI Co., Ltd.)
▶ OJT Solution has developed a flexible work system which allows telework (one time per week) and three-quarter work (one
day for telework and three days of the four remaining days for working at the office). (Selected in 2012: OJT Solutions Inc.)
▶ Based on the length of working hours, there are three kinds of employment systems: part-timers, semi-fulltimers (36
hours a week), and full-timers. Working hours can be adjusted depending on individual needs of co-workers. (Selected
in 2013: Ikea Japan)
▶ A working system for employees with children (shorter working hours) was introduced. The company prepared a variety
of options because commuting time, as well as drop-off and pickup times, vary depending on individuals. (Selected in
2013: Takashimaya Co., Ltd.)
[3] Change of the way of working in accordance with the events in life
▶ The “selective personnel system” is the company’s original system in which anyone can change his or her way of
working in accordance with his or her events in life. Each employee is allowed to choose his or her working style among
the following three options according to his or her own will. (PS2: more for work, PS: work-life balance, DS: more for life)
(Selected in 2013: Cybozu, Inc.)

[4] Reduction of the long working hours

▶ To ensure the reduction of overtime work, President himself gave directions and imposed a target to achieve on
each organization. The company’s organizations are made of 160 departments. Among them, the company set the
management goal across the board of reducing overtime hours of 32 departments which had had the most overtime
hours in the period from April to June 2012 to levels 50% lower in the following three months. As a result, the company
saw 16 departments halve and 7 others reduce by 25% overtime hours that they had had respectively during the time
from April to June. (Selected in 2013: SCSK Corporation)
▶ The company makes it a rule for all employees including men to terminate their work and leave on time at 17:30 so
that women in the midst of child-rearing can continue to work. If overtime work is necessary, it must be approved by a
superior. In general, working overtime without being able to finish it on time, except during a time period like the busy
year-end when overtime is apparently necessary, is regarded as a shame in the company, since anything like that is proof
of one’s incompetence at work management – a notion widespread throughout the entire company. Thus, employees are
now trying to find a way to finish their work within the time limit. (Selected in 2013: Kenkoukazoku Co., Ltd.)

② Establishment of an comfortable working environment and system for diverse human resources
[1] Improving working environment for women
▶ In order to train inexperienced female employees as technicians, Meister has beautified a rest facility, adopted specially
designed safe work uniforms and secured an exclusive workshop for women. It has thus tried to eliminate masculine
characteristics in the workplace and develop a work environment where inexperienced female employees can reduce
their resistance to working and work comfortably. These efforts have helped women technicians settle at the enterprise.
(Selected in 2012: Meister Inc.)
▶ The company is actively recruiting women for work at construction sites. (…) Company, considering that it cannot
survive unless the environment is improved and a system to accept women is established, started with the development
of hard infrastructure. Restrooms and locker rooms for women were established at construction sites, and also shower
rooms were installed. (Selected in 2014: Taisei Corporation)

[2] Improving working environment for childrearing

▶ MO-HOUSE has introduced a child-accommodating work style, allowing mothers to work while taking care of their
babies aged 0 to 1. About one-third of the employees go to work along with their infant children. To secure child safety
on the hardware side, MO-HOUSE has taken measures such as the adoption of lockable drawers for scissors and other
stationery items, and documents. On the software side, the enterprise has developed work manuals including a call for
keeping dangerous equipment away from children. (Selected in 2012: Mo-House)
▶ At the Funabashi store, a inhouse daycare center called Dagis, which accepts children at 57 days old or older after
mothers return to work from maternity leave, is available, and an environment in which childrearing mothers can work
comfortably has been prepared. (Selected in 2013: Ikea Japan)

[3] Improving working environment for persons with disabilities

▶ When a new factory was built, Otani set up wider pathways allowing two wheelchairs to pass each other, a chime linked to
revolving lights and other devices to make it easier for persons with disabilities to work comfortably. (Selected in 2012: Otani)

Best Practices Collection 2015 18

 ▶ The company took a creative approach by interviewing employees with disabilities such as physical disability,
mental retardation, and mental disorder about the characteristics of their disabilities to compile individual files so
that the company could take appropriate measures. (Selected in 2013, REGULUS CO,. Ltd.)
▶ When communicating the day’s work and a message to employees, the company writes them on a card as well. This
is an effective measure to prevent employees with disabilities from forgetting what has been told. (Selected in 2013:
Tokushuiryo Inc.)

[4] Improving working environment for the elderly

▶ The company has implemented a variety of unique approaches to facilities as well to realize an environment in which
these elderly employees can work comfortably. For example, in the factory, all heavy tools are suspended from the
ceiling so that workers can use the tools without lifting them up, and workload is reduced. Also, wheels are attached
to all loading platforms in the factory so anybody can carry them easily. All uneven places in the floor were eliminated
throughout the factory as well, including in the bathrooms. (Selected in 2013: Fujii Corporation Co., Ltd.)
[5] Improving working environment for foreigners
▶ It has developed an e-learning system covering sign language and English versions as well as the conventional
Japanese version so as to improve the learning environment. (Selected in 2012: Sato Holdings Corporation)
▶ For the stability of non-Japanese employees and development of their abilities, the company needs someone who
understands “what non-Japanese employees do not understand.” This is why the company has hired the non-Japanese
employee, a Chinese national, with experience in another company, and entrusted him with the tasks of providing advice
to other non-Japanese employees and creating a training program which they are required to take. (Selected in 2013:
Okinawa Watabe Wedding Corporation)
▶ The head office in Japan has also converted its guide sings into English, provided vegetarian menus in the cafeteria,
and established a place of worship in order to create environment to welcome a variety of employees from all over the
world. (Selected in 2013: Rakuten, Inc.)

(C) Consciousness and skills development for employees

① Expansion of education and training for career and skills development
[1] Implementing education and training for diverse human resources
▶ Supporting the aim of “education geared at management positions for women who are able to become managers both
in name and reality,” the company implemented “education and training for a class of women’s management positions,”
geared at female employees with an ambition to lead a team. More specifically, the company refined the criteria for
management positions and, based on this, the company adopted a system by which management candidates can
openly receive qualifications after passing a test and be appointed to a management position. (Selected in 2013: Toppan
Forms Co., Ltd.)
▶ From 2011 Fujitsu launched the Female Leadership Development Program to groom female employee for leadership
positions. Candidates are female employees one step away from a managerial position who are recommended by their
respective divisions. (…) The half-year program includes intensive classes and on the-job training. Someone a rank
above the candidate’s immediate supervisor is responsible for the training, and development plans are created for each
individual. (Selected in 2013: Fujitsu Limited)

[2] Human resource network

▶ P&G advanced more than other Japanese corporations, but was far behind other P&G corporations in other countries.
In order to catch up with the global standard of P&G in utilizing capabilities of female employees and respond to the
pressure from P&G Global, they established a Women’s Network with a parttime Diversity Manager in 1999 as a venue
to exchange opinions with female managers across the departments. The post of Diversity Manager has been full-time
since 2003. (Selected in 2013: Procter & Gamble Japan)
▶ With the consideration of expanding the job range of women, the company participated in a project called Shinsedai
(“new generation”) Eijo College. This project is a cross-industry joint business project to think about women’s activities
in business areas where the promotion of female workers is not making progress. This project was established by
seven major enterprises, including the company, with the aim of making cross-industrial efforts toward the promotion of
female salespersons, which remains as a common challenge of enterprises making progress in the promotion of female
workers. (Selected in 2014: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation)
▶ As there are many employees with the qualification of carrier counselor at the human resources department, employees
can directly contact the department to discuss their carrier design/life plan. There are three contact routes: by E-mail, by
telephone and through “My Carrier Bank” system using their annual self-assessment statement. The counselors receive
various consultations about the way of working, including matters of their families. (Selected in 2014: Pasona Group Inc.)

② Consciousness and skills development for the layer of management

[1] Managerial officials’ consciousness reform

19 Best Practices Collection 2015

 ▶ The company’s employee evaluation includes promotion of diversity in its behavioral assessment. For example, those
in the upper class of managerial staff are evaluated according to criteria based on whether or not “he or she fosters
a culture that promotes mutual recognition of diversified values, never fails to take up a member’s idea that beats a
precedent even though it may be something small, and praises him or her for It,” line heads are evaluated as to whether
or not “he or she refrains from pushing his or her own ideas on those with a sense of values different from his or hers,
or from his or her worksite, listens to other ideas, and leads them toward a goal while recognizing a diversified sense of
values.” (Selected in 2013: Asahi Breweries, Ltd.) )
▶ The company conducts awareness-raising activities through seminars, where the management staff is given advice such
as “Since the roles required of the management staff have changed, you need to behave as a leader for your subordinates,
for example, by presenting the performance goals persuasively.” Also, in seminars gathering only supervisors who have
direct female subordinates, the company clearly sends the message that “the key person who is to guide women who have
no role models and to develop them into management staff is you.” (Selected in 2014: Taisei Corporation)
[2] Implementing seminars for Managerial officials
▶ Diversity Management Seminars are for all branch office managers and branch company managers to share ideas and
efforts to foster female subordinates, and understand important managerial points. 2,700 managers took the seminar
this year. (Selected in 2013: Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.)
▶ In order to correct old gender views such as division of labor by gender role, the team started to implement awareness-
raising seminars including classroom lecture and e-learning for all people in managerial posts. These seminars include
not only lectures, but also group discussions and role playing with a view to enabling people in managerial posts to
understand the feelings of women. (Selected in 2014: OSAKA GAS CO., LTD.)

（ 3 ）Linking the activities of various human resources to value creation

① Transparency of the information sharing/decision-making process
[1] Structure for sharing information and findings
▶ Japan Laser Corporation has been making efforts for a program in which employees e-mail “findings of the week” to their
direct superiors (and cc the president) by every Friday for six years. These direct superiors are obliged to respond to the
e-mails (and cc the president). Although there is a rule that the mail should not be just a business report, as far as following
the rule, it is fine to include any findings in the e-mails: something the employees saw in a town in their daily lives, findings
relating to employee’s families or interests, or findings from their work. (Selected in 2012: Japan Laser Corporation)
[2] Transparency of the decision-making process
▶ When they created the company policies, they had difficulty in communicating them to employees in the beginning, from
these experiences, “The Management Plan Presentation Meeting” has been held from 25 years ago, with participation
by all employees including contractors. This has given the opportunity for all employees to deepen their understanding of
the company philosophy and management policies that can be their good judgement tool in their daily work. Not only the
presentation of the management is given, there are sessions where all the employees can discuss management, adjustment
of working environment or supporting systems. (Selected in 2014: Takushin Sangyo Company)
▶ The company states the code of conduct based on the management philosophy, and in addition to the business plan
and objectives of the period, “mission” of each employees are also added to them and distributed as a booklet. (…) In
addition, about the evaluation, President herself decides how much result was made along the above-mentioned “mission,”
not by the working hours. Although individual result is not announced, all the achievements and the financial information
of the every term are open in the company.(Selected in 2014: Rush International Co., Ltd.)

② Activating communication and development of a work climate that is linked to the strengths of “differences”
[1] System for people with divers attributes to communicate
▶ A project called “WAVE∞” consisting of 20 employees of both sexes and various ages / specialties / nationalities, was
launched. The project team made proposal to the management concerning systematic reforms and environmental
changes that could promote diversity management, beginning with the promotion of women. (Selected in 2013: Asahi
Breweries, Ltd.)
▶ Moreover, 40 to 50% of the participants in the “LIXIL Women’s Network” that was initially established to build a
network to help female employees work in a motivated manner are currently male employees. The increase in
the number of male employees is due to the fact that discussions about the way work is performed and the way
performance is managed involved male employees. (Selected in 2014: LIXIL Group Corporation)

③ Creation of opportunities and businesses for ensuring suitable personnel placement

[1] Creation of the activities of individual employees to extract their potential
▶ Because the inspection task does not require speed as much as accuracy, the President considered that the employees
with disabilities, who had great concentration, a long attention span, and abilities to fulfill work with high accuracy and
diligence, would have a high aptitude for it. (Selected in 2013: Maruzen Unyu Soko Co., Ltd.)

Best Practices Collection 2015 20

 ▶ The company started providing improvement support service at SME’s manufacturing site by making use of accumulated
rich experiences and skills of seniors who retired a major manufacturer, instead of limiting senior’s workplace only to
temporally easy work, and differentiated from other similar companies by enhancing support for SME revitalization.
(Selected in 2014: Sun Staff Inc.)
[2] Creation of operations to foster and activate the unexperienced
▶ There were no tasks that inexperienced employees could undertake. Therefore, as a first step, Meister Inc. started
offering a regrinding service (using a technique to grind drill bits with a precision of 0.001-0.002 mm) for bits for
commercial drills, which are relatively easy to handle for practice. They made the prices affordable, even though they
expected to make a loss, and received large amounts of orders. Four female employees were engaged in such work
every day, got accustomed to machining in half a year, and became capable of managing regular work. (Selected in
2012: Meister Inc.)
▶ When seniors were employed, tasks which would need judgment or special skills were initially carried out by
experienced employees and work that was routine but could not be automated was separated for seniors. At the same
time, because it would be difficult for some seniors to keep pace with young employees who worked in the same
assembly-line production, they were assigned to handle a machine which was supposed to be operated by one person.
It then became clear that senior women in particular were able to conduct light or fine work carefully and quickly. (Selected
in 2013: Kato MFG. Co., Ltd.)

[3] Building follow-up system

▶ Tenhiko Industrial Co. Ltd. established the Tenhiko Web Sales (TWS) team, which was composed of four female staff
members, and started a web sales business. (…) Although the staff members had no experience in the sale of special
steel, the company established a support system in which expert male sales staff members pass on knowledge and
know-how on handling special steel. (Selected in 2012: Tenhiko Industrial Co. Ltd.)
▶ Teams of three people, each composed of two trainers and one sales and project coordinator who transferred from
Recruit (usually in his/her 40s), are in charge of one project each (we call them ”father-and-son tag teams”). Even if one
trainer falls ill, as the trainers are comparatively older, the other trainer can grasp the situation. (Selected in 2012: OJT
Solutions Inc.)
▶ Especially for women who take care of household chores and child-rearing under time constraints, there were few
opportunities to be successful as professionals, such as architects. However, (…) President of the company thought
that, while she herself is struggling to find a balance between childcare and work, she wanted to provide a chance
for child-rearing women to play active roles as well. (…) The company delegated one task to two female workers, and
started experimenting with work sharing where people work together by helping each other. (Selected in 2013: Zm’ken
Service Co., Ltd.)

④ Dissemination and sharing of the results through communication with a variety of stakeholders
[1] Providing information in the company
▶ “Diversity and inclusion” were incorporated into the staff department’s business plan. A promotion team was formed,
headed by the company’s senior management. Finally, the company drew attention to the internal announcement by
featuring these activities in the company newsletter. (Selected in 2013: Toppan Forms Co., Ltd.)
▶ Through “Good Morning, Daiwa,” an in-house daily broadcasting program dealing the company news and house
journals, they introduce episodes of a branch making the most of the system and encourage to promote it even further
by intersectionally sharing the experiences and the knowhow. (Selected in 2013: Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd.)

[2] Diffusing information to outside the company

▶ The company published cases as a leading company for the employment of people with disabilities at the forum to
promote the employment of people with disabilities hosted by the Hello-Work Niigata and receives a series of interviews
from a variety of media including the local media, newspaper, magazine, etc. The company still receives requests for
giving lectures and request for permission to make a workplace visit. (Selected in 2014: NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING
CORPORATION)
▶ The company actively participated in events organized by a local university including the “Rikejo (female science
students)” symposium and open campus among other events in 2014. Thanks to a variety of measures including PR
and advertising activities, the company is now widely known as a workplace in which women can play a role, and with
the increase in the number of both applicants and recruits, it has opportunities for recruitment of outstanding human
resources. (Selected in 2014: SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD.)

21 Best Practices Collection 2015

III FY2014
Diversity Management Selection 100
Collection of Best Practices

Diversity Management Selection 100 23

Taisei Corporation… ……………………………… 23 East Japan Railway Company… ………………… 127

KENKO TOFU, Inc.………………………………… 27 SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD.… …………………… 131
EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD.… …………… 31 AEON CO., LTD.… ………………………………… 135
KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD.… …… 35 Fracoco Co., Ltd.…………………………………… 139
SAKAE CO., LTD.… ……………………………… 39 ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD.… …………………… 143
XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.… …………… 43 Lawson, Inc.… ……………………………………… 147
POLA INC.…………………………………………… 47 The Chiba Bank, Ltd.… …………………………… 151
LIXIL Group Corporation…………………………… 51 Aflac Japan(American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus)…… 155
CALBEE, INC.… …………………………………… 55 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation…………… 159
DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.… …………… 59 GE Japan Inc.… …………………………………… 163
DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd.… ……………… 63 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.… ………… 167
BAXTER LIMITED… ……………………………… 67 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company…………… 171
NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION…… 71 Nippon Life Insurance Company… ……………… 175
FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY… …………… 75 Hulic Co. Ltd.……………………………………… 179
FUJI Special Paper Inc.… ………………………… 79 First Collaboration… ……………………………… 183
STG CO., LTD.……………………………………… 83 Takushin Sangyo Company… …………………… 187
NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION…… 87 Resorttrust Inc.……………………………………… 191
KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD.… ………………… 91 JTB Corp.… ………………………………………… 195
SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD.… ………… 95 Rush International Co., Ltd.… …………………… 199
FP CORPORATION………………………………… 99 Pasona Group Inc.… ……………………………… 203
SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD.… ……………………… 103 Musashisakai Driving School……………………… 207
CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.… ……… 107 Sun Staff Inc.………………………………………… 211
OSAKA GAS CO., LTD.… ………………………… 111 BIKOH CORP.… …………………………………… 215
HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD.……………………… 115 Mirairo Inc.…………………………………………… 219
PROASSIST, LTD.… ……………………………… 119 Sanyo Syoji CO., LTD.……………………………… 223
HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD.… ……… 123 Okushin System… ………………………………… 227

Diversity Promotion Project Commendation 231

b-style, Inc.… ……………………………………… 231 Recruit Management Solutions Co., Ltd.………… 232

B Best Practices Collection 2015 22

Taisei Corporation Construction Large enterprise

The development of female employees and foreign

employees was supported throughout the company, and
the expansion of the fields where they can participate
actively was realized through intensive awareness-raising
among the management staff.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Utilize the potential of talented female employees and expand their work fields
 Necessity of fostering foreign employees who lead global, large-scale projects

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Strong driving force from top management and establishment of a special organization for the
development of human resources
 Awareness-raising activities starting with the management staff and changes in management
 Company-wide support for expansion of women’s work fields to sales and construction sites
 Active development of core global human resources

Outcomes of diversity management

 Sparking motivation through the active participation of female management staff members
and gaining a competitive edge in public works tenders
 Achievement of human resource development that enables large-scale projects overseas

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1917 Capital 112,448 million yen

Head office address Shinjuku Center Building, 1-25-1, Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Design and construction for domestic/overseas buildings and civil engineering, environmental technologies,
Business outline
engineering, nuclear facilities, and urban development
Sales 1,196,176 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 9,169 persons (including 1,196 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 1,540 women (including 296 non-regular employees), women’s share of managerial jobs: 0.6%
attribute category 41 foreigners (including 16 non-regular employees)
Average service years for
19.1 years (19.1 years for men, 18.9 years for women)
regular employees

23 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Taisei Corporation

abovementioned situations, the company was compelled

Background and goals of to develop foreign employees who could play active roles
globally.
diversity management Thus, recently, the company started the full-fledged
recruitment of foreign students who study in Japan as
Utilize the potential of talented female employees human recourses who can work actively in Japan and
and expand their work fields overseas. The company started developing such human
Since its foundation in 1873, Taisei Corporation resources, expecting them to learn construction
(hereinafter referred to as “the company”), with its management at sites in Japan and lead large-scale
advanced technologies, has been engaging in many overseas projects in the future.
construction-related projects, including construction work,
civil engineering work, and planning and management for
general construction. Specific measures taken for
The company’s approach to promoting women’s active
participation dates back to the beginning of the 1990s. At
promoting diversity management
that time, when Japan was enjoying its prosperity in the
midst of the bubble economy, the shortage of human Strong driving force from top management and
resources became prominent, and the company establishment of a special organization for the
proactively employed talented women “who could work as development of human resources
men could.” After the economic bubble burst, the Since 2007, when the current president took office, the
employment of women declined for a while. However, promotion of women’s active participation has been
since around 2000, female students with a technical accelerating. As mentioned above, the company created a
background started considering working in the system to strongly encourage diversity promotion by
construction industry, and the number of talented female establishing the special division called the “Office to
applicants has increased. Taking these situations as Promote the Active Participation of Women” and promotes
opportunities, the company changed course toward the the appointment of women to managerial positions on
active hiring of female students to secure more talented occasion.
human resources, anticipating a decline in the birthrate At first, this division carried out activities for female
and the working population in the future in Japan. employees, focusing on the development of systems to
In 2003, women were recruited as staff members for support their work-life balance and awareness-raising.
comprehensive work for the first time. Before then, female However, as the promotion of women’s active participation,
employees played active roles in parts of the company including the development of these support systems,
such as the design section and the technical research cannot proceed without the understanding of male
center where they could compete on the basis of their employees, since 2010, in order to consciously involve
individual abilities. However, in order to promote the active male employees in these efforts, the company has
participation of female graduates in comprehensive work, conducted a variety of awareness-raising activities, for
it was first necessary to expand their work to parts of the example, encouraging male employees to take child-care
company such as the sales department and construction leave, having forums for male employees who actually
sites, where women had never been assigned, and took child-care leave, and holding seminars on the working
increase the fields where they could work actively. style of men who have children, as child-care support for
In 2006, the management made a decision to address the male employees. Also, the company fosters awareness to
promotion of women’s active participation as an important support women’s active participation; for example, the
business challenge, and in the following year, 2007, the company holds seminars, inviting the partners of female
“Office to Promote the Active Participation of Women” was employees to promote their understanding of the
established in the personnel department, under the significance for women of continuing to work at the
leadership of which efforts to establish various systems company.
and awareness-raising activities were started in earnest In 2011, the company merged this division with the
(described later). department in charge of the development of human
resources and established the “Office to Promote the
Necessity of fostering foreign employees who Vitality of Human Resources,” aiming for the
lead global, large-scale projects company-wide development of human resources and
As for human resources, the promotion of the active support for their active participation, to take charge of
participation not only of women but also of foreigners in promoting the active participation of foreigners and
overseas projects was becoming a big issue. Overseas, persons with disabilities. This organizational change
large-scale projects such as the Bosphorus Strait Railway facilitates both the establishment of careers for individual
Tunnel in Turkey and terminal buildings at the New Doha employees and the promotion of the active participation of
International Airport in Qatar were underway, and securing various employees such as women, foreigners, and
global human resources who would supervise those sites persons with disabilities, as this division watches over
became an urgent task. them over a long time span, from hiring of new graduates
Until then, the company had not actively recruited and their entry into the company to their retirement.
foreigners and had worked with talented people contracted In addition, the Corporate Planning Department in the
on a project basis. However, in response to the President’s Office, which is responsible for the company’s

Best Practices Collection 2015 24

Taisei Corporation

overall human resource strategy such as the promotion of Although it had not been rare for female employees
the active participation of women and foreigners, employed as general office workers to be transferred to
summarizes the efforts made across many departments comprehensive work or specialist work, the expansion of
and reports on the progress made in such efforts and other work fields for women became full-fledged around 2007, at
matters at every management meeting and other meetings. the same time as the establishment of the Office to
The departments that engage in management grasp the Promote the Active Participation of Women. Interviews
whole picture of the utilization of human resources, which with one third of all the female employees about jobs and
enables the company to regard the promotion of the active careers conducted by the personnel department revealed
participation of women and foreigners as a management that women tend to engage in their work with a higher
issue. motivation than men imagine.
For sales, the public recruitment of sales staff was
Awareness-raising activities starting with the conducted, targeting female employees engaged in sales
management staff and changes in management support as office workers. After examinations and
Recently, the company has been further focusing on interviews, the first five female sales staff members were
management training for the management staff and assigned in the first year. The company meticulously held
providing opportunities to instruct the management staff internal sales training for new salespeople, and since the
about points to note when working with female or foreign OJT, they have been playing active roles as independent
subordinates, whom they have not dealt with much before, sales staff members. Some successful cases can be seen;
using concrete examples as much as possible. In addition, for example, the female sales staff members didn’t give up
the company created a guidebook that summarizes this even when customers refused but proceeded with
know-how and distributes it to the management staff. negotiations with patience and successfully made
For example, regarding communication with foreign adjustments and concluded contracts.
employees, the company submitted a questionnaire to Also, the company is actively recruiting women for work at
both foreigners and the management staff in advance and construction sites. At first, there were objections that it
then explained the gaps between their ways of thinking might be physically difficult for women to work at
one by one politely. This guidebook provides points to note construction sites. However, the company, considering that
at the level of daily activities, such as “Since scolding it cannot survive unless the environment is improved and a
someone in front of people is considered a denial of his or system to accept women is established, started with the
her personality, you need to instruct him or her individually development of hard infrastructure.
without getting emotional,” and “You should avoid using Restrooms and locker rooms for women were established
words which can be interpreted as either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ at construction sites, and also shower rooms were
depending on the intonation like ‘Ii desu’ (‘Alright’ or ‘No installed. In addition, the management informed the entire
thanks,’ depending on the situation),” and also includes company of examples of women’s active participation such
survey results indicating that “the number of years as when female employees had exhibited great
necessary for one to become a full-fledged employee” is performance at construction sites, where it had been
considered by foreigners to be less than it is by their considered difficult for women to work. The company
Japanese superiors. received the first three registered certifications for
As for managing human resources with different values or “Nadeshiko Construction Teams” from the Japan
backgrounds, the organization cannot be controlled Federation of Construction Contractors, which were given
without the clarification of its methods for development and amidst a movement for promoting women’s activities in
evaluation. In order for the management staff to recognize industry associations, and has been realizing the active
this reality, the company conducts awareness-raising participation of women at construction sites ahead of other
activities through seminars, where the management staff companies in the industry. In addition, a network with other
is given advice such as “Since the roles required of the Nadeshiko Construction Teams has been established. The
management staff have changed, you need to behave as a company has become the one that is fostering momentum
leader for your subordinates, for example, by presenting toward the promotion of women’s active participation in the
the performance goals persuasively.” Also, in seminars construction industry.
gathering only supervisors who have direct female
subordinates, the company clearly sends the message Proactive development of core global human
that “the key person who is to guide women who have no resources
role models and to develop them into management staff is In 2014, the company decided to accept Vietnamese
you.” trainees who had visited Japan through the Industrial
Thus, redefining the roles of the management staff and Training and Technical Internship Program at its
politely instructing such staff on communication methods construction sites for the model project being conducted
for specific situations vitalize on-site communications and by the Vietnamese Construction Human Resource
enable not only the smooth execution of operations but Development Council (established by general contractors
also the revitalization of the workplace itself. and specialist contractors), for which the company serves
as the chair. Behind this background, the company
Company-wide support for the expansion of considered it an international contribution of cooperation
women’s work fields to sales and construction toward the development of construction human resources
sites for Vietnam and future business development in Vietnam

25 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Taisei Corporation

2013 and attracted tremendous attention from inside and

outside the company, which led to the improvement of
motivation among those around her as she became a role
model for female employees.
In addition, efforts to support a work-life balance,
promoted as part of the support for the active participation
of women, were highly praised. Also the company received
certifications under the Act on Advancement of Measures
to Support Raising Next-Generation Children from the
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare four times and
received the Tokyo Labor Bureau Director's Award for
Excellence in Promoting Equality and Opportunity as a
company promoting equal opportunity, which gives the
company a big advantage in public works tenders. Since
the construction industry has difficulty in promoting
 A female employee playing an active role at a women’s active participation compared with other
construction site industries, such recognition increases a company’s points
for its qualifications and the evaluation items for bids for
and took in the trainees at a total of three sites in Tokyo public works commissioned by local governments, which
and Hokkaido experimentally. enables such a company to receive orders with a higher
Young Vietnamese employees are assigned to these price compared with other companies. These
model sites, and they take care of the trainees in general, achievements further foster momentum for creating a
including translation and interpretation during media workplace where women can play active roles.
interviews. Although these employees are also still
undergoing training, they serve as a bridge while learning Achievement of human resource development
from the viewpoint of supervising the sites through that enables large-scale projects overseas
supporting the trainees and performing normal operations Having foreign employees at construction sites has raised
in parallel. safety awareness. Since there are cases in which
Through this experience, they are expected to develop Vietnamese employees don’t easily understand the
themselves and play active roles globally as persons who awareness and way of thinking about safety that Japanese
manage foreign workers at construction sites. In addition, people have, workers have formed the habit of considering
through this model project, the company has been safety more consciously than those at sites where only
repeatedly examining its development methods, Japanese employees work, which has led to an increase in
compliance, and considerations about safety when the awareness of safety at the site as a whole.
accepting trainees in the industry, while considering the Also, ideas for managing Vietnamese technical interns
further development of Vietnamese construction human have been accumulated, and the horizontal deployment of
resources. such ideas makes for more efficient and safer working
sites. In addition to accumulating this management
know-how, Vietnamese employees who have devoted
Outcomes of diversity themselves as interns are expected to work at the
management company’s sites after returning to Vietnam, which will lead
to the acquisition and development of forces that will
facilitate further large-scale global projects in the future.
Sparking motivation through the active
participation of female management staff
members and gaining a competitive edge in
public works tenders
As a result of successful efforts made for the expansion of
women’s work fields, the first woman was assigned as a
management staff member in 2009 to the design section,
and now outstanding results can be seen everywhere. For
example, a woman who had been hired as an office
worker in the beginning of the 1980s was assigned to
comprehensive work, and after gaining experience and
delivering results in the design section, she became the
design section chief in 2009. In a project for a
refrigerator-freezer facility in Onagawa-cho that the
company engaged in for reconstruction after the Great
East Japan Earthquake, she demonstrated her leadership
as a director and completed the work even though the  Good Design Award-winning “Refrigerator-freezer facility
[MASKAR]”
construction time was very short. This facility received a
Good Design Award (Reconstruction Design Award) in

Best Practices Collection 2015 26

KENKO TOFU, Inc. Manufacturing SME

The Company has been able to shift to high value-added

products and improve profitability based on the
employment and fostering of people with disabilities for
more than 20 years.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 A turning-point for a local tofu producer with over 100 years’ history
 A workplace with a determination to work with people with disabilities

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Building of the system to monitor the development based on man-to-man training under the
“system to rehabilitate people with disabilities”
 Job distribution tailored to the characteristics of each worker and flexible production
management
 Production of high quality tofu products through thorough safety and health management
 Delivery of a message in person by the president once a month to each employee

Outcomes of diversity management

 Shift to high value-added products in the wake of the employment and fostering of people
with disabilities
 Improved corporate evaluation as “a company with a diverse workforce”

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1972 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address No. 11-1, Koyo-cho 1-chome, Tomakomai City, Hokkaido
Business outline Production of tofu products
Sales 10.7 million yen (as of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 9 persons (including 5 non-regular employees)
5 women (including 3 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
2 persons with disabilities (2 persons are non-regular employees)
attribute category
2 elderly persons (including 1 non-regular employee)
Average service years for
13.7 years (13.25 years for men, 14.2 years for women)
regular employees

27 Best Practices Collection 2015

 KENKO TOFU, Inc.

have been taken for the past 20 years to that end.

Background and goals of Currently, a total of nine persons including women, elderly
persons (re-employed after retirement) and persons with
diversity management disabilities are producing high quality tofu products.

A turning-point for a local tofu producer with

over 100 years’ history Specific measures taken for
KENKO TOFU, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the
company”) was founded as “Fukuhara Tofu Shop” in 1908
promoting diversity management
and was incorporated as a company in 1972. Ever since
then, the company has been producing and selling tofu, Building of the system to monitor the
deep-fried tofu, konjac and other products. In order to development based on man-to-man training
preserve the food culture of Japan and increase the under the “system in which a specific person
consumption of soy products, the company engages in plays the role of a parent in the company for
activities aimed at teaching tofu making and others. people with disabilities”
Since its foundation, the company conducted business In the beginning when the company began to hire people
stably with local stores and supermarkets for many years. with disabilities, it was at a loss about what job to entrust
With an intensification of price competition since the them with and how to train them. There were times when
mid-1980s as a result of the rise of discount stores, errors were made despite repeated instructions, harsh
however, the company was at the brink of going out of words were uttered, which made it difficult for the company
business despite its fight against the tide. to communicate normally with people with disabilities for a
In the circumstance, the current president decided to long time.
reduce production and produce higher quality products to As a result of these trials and errors, the method in which a
sell at higher prices. Currently, the company is focused on specific person only provides man-to-man training to
the production and sale of handmade high quality products people with disabilities was adopted so as to avoid
using soybeans of Hokkaido and mineral water of confusion in the direction. For example, a predetermined
Tomakomai in addition to the normal line products work program may be changed according to an
order-receiving situation. In this case, it is difficult for an
A workplace with a determination to work with employee with disabilities to understand the change of the
people with disabilities situation even if it is explained by the president or the site
In 1985, just around the same time as the change of leader who manages the production, resulting in delay in
direction focused on quality, the company was asked by the work. Then, the above method was introduced.
the Hello Work Job Center to employ a wheelchaired Whenever a new instruction is required for the change of
person with disabilities. The company had an interview work, for example, an explanation is provided to them
with the person. In the middle of the interview, the always by the specific person not by any person. This has
president found that “the disability of the person is not a enabled people with disabilities to carry on their tasks
“disability” at all if he works seated in a chair” and decided without any confusion in face of an unexpected event such
to employ him determined to give him the chance. as a change in work and allowed the production to go
Since the late fourth generation president employed a smoothly.
person with hearing disability in the past, the current In addition, the president who learned to use various
president was not adamant about working with a person colors on the worksite to prevent errors by making
with disability. However, his lack of experience of working inspections of advanced cases for the employment of
with a person with disability, he was at a loss as to what to persons with disabilities thought that there was still a big
do with him or her in order to work in the same workplace. room for improvement and adopted a variety of measures
Then, in 1992, the company was asked to employ a to improve the ways to communicate with them including a
student graduating from a local nursing school and careful use of words, easy explanation, etc.
decided to accept one man with intellectual disabilities as It was possible to help settle people with disabilities in the
an apprentice. In the following year, one woman with the workplace through a variety of measures and means
same disabilities was employed. Since then, the company including the establishment of a small-scale but familiar
has employed and worked with 20 persons with disabilities relationship and the presence of the person helping them
over the past 20 years. The above two persons with as well as improvement in ways how work was conducted.
intellectual disabilities still work in the company as key In addition, a process which allows a person with
workers with 23 years and 21 years of service, disabilities to learn to fulfill his/her role as a qualified
respectively. worker in three years was established.
The company has actively employed so far
socially-disadvantaged people including a single mother Job distribution tailored to the characteristics of
and has kept the faith in working with them in face of each worker and flexible production
various circumstances and difficulties. management
On the other hand, the company cannot afford to hold In the past when a person with lower limb disabilities was
“redundant workers.” A person once employed as the accepted, the company gradually incorporated him into the
company’s employee must actively contribute to the work process by increasing the number of tasks he could
company and in the circumstances, a variety of measures
perform starting with easy jobs, such as the cleaning of

Best Practices Collection 2015 28

KENKO TOFU, Inc.

delivery boxes and the forming of ganmodoki (deep-fried system makes it possible for the company to produce safe
tofu mixed with thinly sliced vegetables). Because of its and high quality tofu products.
small size, the company has trained employees so as to
deal with any situation regardless of their age, gender or Production of high quality tofu products through
existence of disabilities and be capable of handling all thorough safety and health management
kinds of jobs. As mentioned above, the company that shifted to the
Currently, all the production, sorting-out and delivery are production of high end products by leaving behind the
handled by nine people. Particularly, the employees with price competition in the 1990s has maintained a strict
intellectual disabilities are in charge of production, while quality control ever since. In particular, the company has
the elderly person who was reemployed after retirement is continued to make various efforts in terms of quality
in charge of sorting out the products. However, as pointed control. Since the trust in the company and the confidence
out above, all the staff is trained so as to cope with any job in the brand are lost once an accident such as a food
for any eventuality including a sudden absence of an poisoning occurs, the company has started and continued
employee. For this reason, for example, an employee who to perform sanitary inspection at own expense since 1993
needs to take care of children or provide nursing care can for more than 20 years including the purchase of two
continue to work with peace of mind. Actually, there was a refrigerated cars in order to keep the products at below
case in which an employee was forced to be absent from 10°C during the summertime as stipulated by the Food
work due to an injury and all the rest of the staff covered Sanitation Act to prevent their deterioration for the
his absence. distribution. The Tomakomai Health Center conducts
In principle, it is the job of the president to receive orders bacteria tests on tofu products regularly and the company
and manage productions. The production of tofu is started publishes and updates the results on its website every
according to the orders received on the previous evening. month.
The employees start to work at 7:30 in the morning and the In the circumstances, the daily cleaning and washing of
day’s work starts with the packing of tofu produced early in the workplace and production tools are an extremely
the morning by all the staff. Since the packing job must be important task. Every day, the cleaning job is performed
finished before proceeding to the washing and cleaning of securely. As mentioned earlier, this job is performed by the
utensils and the work area, necessarily people with person with disabilities. Thanks to her uncompromised and
disabilities also engage in this work together with other non-corner cutting efforts, a good sanitation is maintained
staff. For example, the female staff with intellectual at all times and since the start of the voluntary sanitary
disabilities who has worked for 21 years is not good at inspection, the company has continued to produce quality
handling tofu and sometimes she crushes finished tofu tofu products in a safe and secure manner for more than
products. This is a “vexing question” in terms of a strict 20 years.
production management. However, the company copes In principle, while a sanitary inspection is performed for the
with the situation by flexibly making production purposes of guaranteeing the product quality, the
management using crushed tofu for other purposes numerical values published by the Health Center is an
instead of removing her from the packing line. objective barometer of the quality of the workplace of the
On the other hand, since the person with intellectual production. A virtuous cycle where all the employees
disabilities is capable of performing extremely careful and review and improve the content of their work on the basis
precise work, she works effectively in the production of the numerical values of the inspection results is in place.
process by taking advantage of her characteristics. For
example, when tofu products are cut according to size
Delivery of a message in person by the president
specifications, usually their sizes become inconsistent with
the increase in number by losing concentration. However, once a month to each employee
she can keep the same consistency regardless of the The fact that all the employees perform their jobs under a
duration of the job or the quantity to be handled. In addition, relationship of trust in a cooperative manner within the
in the same manner, she can clean superbly the company while maintaining a sense of tension in the
production tools without cutting corners in her work, which atmosphere in which extremely high quality management
is indispensable for keeping high quality, and contributes is required is due partly to the daily message of the
to the maintenance of the quality of the products (see president that “each employee is precious and necessary
below). for the company.” There were times when considerations
In addition, with respect to the practice of the day-to-day were given toward an employee with disabilities, other
operations, employees do not only perform “only what they employees complained. At the time, the president
are told to do,” but also actively perform other work as persuaded them by saying “we need to be patient. We are
necessary. When there is a space in the production all humans and cannot be replaced like a mechanical part”
schedule, each employee voluntarily decides the amount and has continued to keep the attitude to respect all the
of work in view of work efficiency, which enables them to employees.
work autonomously and independently. In addition, the salary is delivered personally by the
In this manner, regardless of the presence or absence of president every month instead of a bank transfer with his
disabilities, the company has adopted a system where message. In the message the president shares what
work is distributed flexibly among the employees by occurred in a month with the employees including negative
considering the aptitude of each person and allowing all information such as accidents on food, claims from
the staff to perform work in a cooperative manner. This customers, etc. and expresses his view for the coming
months.

29 Best Practices Collection 2015

 KENKO TOFU, Inc.

The corporate culture under which all the employees Improved corporate evaluation as “a company
respect each other has been created by sharing the with a diverse workforce”
current state of the company with the employees and It is highly valued in Hokkaido including Tomakomai City in
continuously transmitting the message that all the which the company is located that the company started to
difficulties need to be overcome by all the staff. As a result actively employ a diversity of human resources and
of such efforts, the company has transformed into an incorporated into the company staff from the 1990s when
organization where all complement with each other and people with disabilities and single mothers had far more
work together to produce high quality products. difficulty in finding an employment.
The president has served as the chairman of the
“Association of Persons with Mental and Physical
Outcomes of diversity Disabilities of Tomakomai” for 8 terms and 16 years since
management 1999 and endeavored to engage in diverse activities
including lecture activities and acceptance of inspection
tours for the promotion of the employment of people with
Shift to high value-added products in the wake of disabilities by other companies in the city.
the employment and fostering of people with In the past when an employee with hearing disabilities was
disabilities in charge of the delivery, the company asked the person to
As a result of the thorough quality management as check the number at the destination in writing or using
mentioned earlier, the “Ajiwai Tofu” (rich taste) is being signals for communication. As such, the company has
sold at the major retail shop in the city at a price three made efforts to create a community where people with
times higher than that of other companies. Since the disabilities can also get employment and work. The
production volume was small, the company continued to company with such a track record is highly valued by the
be in the red for many years. However, thanks to the sales local government and the support organizations as an
of the main “Ajiwai Tofu” product, the company has excellent company in the city.
become profitable and is increasing its business.
The fact that the timing when the company shifted into
high quality products and the timing when the company
started to employ people with disabilities coincided has
convinced the president of the need to “strengthen the
financial state of the company in order to continuously
employ socially-disadvantaged people and single
mothers.”
In addition, the company has persisted in its policy of
“increasing profits by selling not the price, but the safety
and security of taste” in the environment in which a
plurality of people with disabilities is present at all times to
enable each employee to work in an effective and
autonomous manner. This has generated the virtuous
cycle in which the improvement in the levels of each
employee results in the production of higher quality
products.

 High grade tofu in which Hokkaido-produced soy beans

and water of Tomakomai are used

Best Practices Collection 2015 30

EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD. Manufacturing SME

The Company has evolved from the charismatic

management of the preceding president in order to
develop and expand business by accelerating research
and development focused on female engineer group.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Step up into a R & D focused company based on outsourced plating processing
 Shift into the management policy aimed to brush up skills of individuals

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Clarification of the roles of each department and each employee based on the newly
introduced management philosophy
 Reform in working conditions designed to encourage employees to exhibit their talents and
abilities
 Mechanism to foster expertise and autonomy

Outcomes of diversity management

 Acceleration of technology innovation and translation into practical use as a R&D focused
company centered on the engineer group

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1946 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address No. 22-13, Higashikojiya 5-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Plating processing
Sales 1,024 million yen (as of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of August 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 128 persons (including 38 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 65 women (including 25 non-regular employees)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 9.52%
Average service years for
11.37 years (13.59 years for men, 9.15 years for women)
regular employees

31 Best Practices Collection 2015

 EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD.

aims at management where each employee can work

Background and goals of voluntarily and autonomously. In the past, the late
president had the decision-making authority on all areas of
diversity management business including research and development, sales and
manufacturing and had the power for the assessment of
Step up into a R & D focused company based on employees. In contrast, the current president has
outsourced plating processing promoted the decentralization of power and introduced a
EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to mechanism to secure transparency in management by
as “the company”) was founded in 1946 to perform establishing systems to set management policy, help
electroplating and electroless plating processing of various perform business and evaluate personnel. In the process,
materials. In the past high-growth period, the company the current president has clarified the roles expected to be
delivered plated parts to leading manufacturing in Japan played by each employee and started to recruit personnel
and made a large profit. Since the 1990s when the with required abilities and skilled from outside.
manufacturers started to transfer their manufacturing In 2011, the company celebrated its 65th anniversary, but
bases overseas, however, the company accelerated its its business performance was stagnant partly due to the
focus on technology for survival. In order to dispel the fact the manufacturing bases for mobile phones and
image that “the plating is the workplace filled with 3K” and personal computers of the manufacturer that was its main
to step up into a R&D focused company, the company customer had been transferred overseas. The company
started from around 2000 its CI (Corporate Identity) considered for a time to move their business overseas.
activities in earnest. The company has attempted to However, the company decided against the move in
improve its image by renewing its website and the consideration of the acquired past experience gained and
company brochure in terms of software and by developing the necessity to keep the personnel as the R & D focused
a comfortable working environment by renovating company, and decided to focus its business in Japan to
extensively the building of the plant including toilets in provide high value added products as “a plating
terms of hardware with the aim to recruit outstanding manufacturer aimed at renewing the common sense in
research personnel to enable sustainable technological manufacturing.”
development.
In particular, the company established the technology
center “Techno Mark” as the base for prototyping and Specific measures taken for
development specialized in plating at the vacant lot of the
old Kamata factory in 2002. The company also established
promoting diversity management
a newly laboratory for prototyping “Space i” in the main
office building in 2010 to install the latest analysis Clarification of the roles of each department and
equipment in order to enhance the research and each employee based on the newly introduced
development system. management philosophy
To start with, the company has systematically established
Shift into the management policy aimed to brush its “VISION: where we should go,” “MISSION: what we
up skills of individuals should go” and “VALUE: action of each individual.” They
In 2009, the current president took charge of the company are shared in the morning meetings and a booklet was
due to the sudden death of the predecessor. Until then, the produced to be available at hand at all times. This effort is
second-generation president with a charismatic leadership designed to show in which direction the company is
had taken decisions solely on matters related to the headed and what each individual is required to do in the
company’s management. In contrast, the current president daily business in association with the company’s
management philosophy.
As a part of the effort, the company formulated for the first
time a mid-term management plan and reformed the
organization to that end in 2012 (see below).
The mid-term plan will be reviewed by the management. In
the meantime, the objectives and action plan of each
department as well as the challenge and orientation of
each employee will be established based on the plan and
annual targets will be set. The appraisal and evaluation of
each department and each employee will be performed
through interviews held twice a year and reviews.
In addition, the roles expected from the departments and
positions were not clear in the past and as a result, the
responsibility as to who is responsible for what was not
clear. However, not only that the business and role of each
department were clarified, but also the authority and
responsibility has been delegated to the general manager
of each department in the reorganization carried out in
 The world’s first technology center for surface around 2012. In addition, the Engineering department was
processing technology “Techno Mark”

Best Practices Collection 2015 32

EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD.

reorganized and divided into the “Development return to work, and re-employment system have been
department” and the “Production Engineering department,” made available from 2014 in order to facilitate their return
while the sales and management department was to work. Currently, the company is studying the possibility
reorganized and divided into the “Sales department” and of allowing female engineers to work at their home.
the “Production Management Department” in 2013 in order At the same time, the company has implemented an effort
to strengthen the function of research and development, so that all employees regardless of their gender may adopt
technology proposal and quality management. an unambiguous work style within a limited time to perform
In this manner, the company has established clearly its more creative work. In particular, since male workers
direction and built a decentralized system to carry it out. tended to work longer hours unbounded by time, they were
The reorganization has allowed the roles and expectations asked not to stay back in the office by a top-down order
of each department and each individual to be shared to from 5 o’clock onward in the afternoon. Since an employee
bosses and their subordinates to act together through is allowed to work overtime only by applying for permission
discussions. to his/her boss, the overtime has been decreasing.
In addition, the clarification of the requirements of human The backdrop of the reform in working conditions is the
resources required by each department has allowed the idea that “the company will not survive with the working
recruitment of outstanding human resources. For example, style of the Showa era” in which people dealt with all
the “Quality Guarantee Section” of the “Production received orders without worrying about time and will need
Engineering Department” hired a mid-career staff that was to increase input by enhancing life outside the workplace
in charge of quality management in a large company to of the company in order to create value-added products
build a system to deal with the healthcare field on which which are capable of differentiating the company from
efforts will be focused in the future. In addition, female competitors.” This is the philosophy that the management
employees account for 50% of the reorganized “Sales of the company has learned from the working style and
department” and in particular, female employees with business philosophy of small and medium companies of
sales experience in other industries are being recruited as Switzerland and Germany with which the company has
immediate assets (see below). business with. The company considers this as an
indispensable requisite in order to survive in the global
Reform in working conditions designed to competition in the future.
encourage employees to exhibit their talents and
abilities Mechanism to foster expertise and autonomy
The company is engaged in the reform in working Moreover, the company has adopted an ingenious plan for
conditions to use a variety of human resources and fostering and developing the abilities of its employees. In
provide value-added high technologies and services by particular, the research and development department
considering that the conventional working conditions dispatches a young employee to the university laboratory
cannot cope with new situations. with which the company makes a joint research for a
The implementation of the reform was triggered when the period of half a year in order to learn the leading research
company faced the situation in which several outstanding trends. In the beginning, this was intended to enable a
female employees recruited in the 2000s took maternal young employee to obtain the master degree. However,
leave all at once. In the company, the percentage of since the first employee exercised his leadership and
female employees is high, in particular in the field of made a rapid progress, the company came to the
research and development and the percentage of female recognition that the opportunity to “make a joint research
employees exceed 50% (currently 25 women) in the with an authority on plating” itself contributes to the growth
“Development department” and the “Production of the employee and the dispatch of its employee has
Engineering department.” All five members of the continued to the present day. The outcomes of the joint
“Prototype Development section” of the “Development research serve as the base for the development of new
department” are women including the manager and all the products.
six members of the “Analysis Control unit” of the
“Production Engineering department” are women. The
company has started to develop all conditions required for
experienced female employees to return to work after the
maternity leave one by one by hearing from women
concerned. For example, the aforementioned female
employee recruited in a halfway through the year was
originally working in the company as a dispatched
employee. The company employed her as a permanent
employee with shorter working hours – 20 hours a week
because of her abilities and past performance. In the wake
of this case, a new permanent employment system with
shorter working hours has been institutionalized allowing
them to work four hours a day and five days a week from
the maternity leave until the child enrolls in elementary
school. Moreover, a variety of support measures including
 An aspect of the “Prototype Development section of the
a subsidy for childcare fee, a lump-sum payment for early
Development department

33 Best Practices Collection 2015

 EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD.

In addition, in the departments other than the research and In addition, when looking for a new market for these
development department, a newly recruited employee technologies, an appropriate marketing activity is
after university graduation who learns the basis knowledge conducted based on the knowhow developed by the
during the half-year training for new employees engages in aforementioned female sales employee in the former
prototype-making with a senior employee on the job company. The product leaflet which was focused on
training (OJT) to meet the needs of each customer. Since technical specifications in the past has been renewed and
the company develops plating processing technology and redesigned to allow customers to gain a clear
plating solution for a leading material as a part of understanding and an image of the technologies. Sales
manufacturing by commission, a completely new product activities have been developed mainly by the current
or method is required to meet the needs of a customer. In general manager of the Sales department who was in the
the circumstances, under the understanding that it takes development section in the past in order to dig up the
about three years for a new employee to have a good needs of the customers and the company’s technologies
communication with a customer, the company provides a which were popular in many exhibitions are now
back-up support to him/her by providing all kinds of developed for the translation into practical use. The
opportunities as explained above. number of business negotiations increased rapidly from 4
In the meantime, persons holding a managerial position in 2013 to 32 in 2014 and the sales of the “AGXX” which
are required to acquire knowledge and skills to conduct was only a few tens of thousands of yen in 2013 increased
business in a global environment. In particular, a subsidy to about 3 million yen in 2014. The renewal of the sales
for English lesson fees is provided as a part of welfare activities is also bearing fruit.
activities with the aim to enable an employee to make a In addition, the motivation of the employees has also been
decision and conclude a business in international business increased thanks to the reform in working conditions and
negotiations. The company clearly shows the objective for the expansion of policies to support compatibility. In
the subsidy and the roles expected to be played by the particular, currently, all employees have learned to finish
employees who receive the subsidy in order to keep the their daily work within their working hours and except for
motivation for learning. some departments such as the Production department,
they leave work on time. One female employ that is
currently on maternity leave is scheduled to return to work
Outcomes of diversity shortly and business development based on outstanding
personnel is getting off the ground. In light of these
management outcomes, not only that the company now can recruit
outstanding postgraduates, but also it has been featured in
Acceleration of technology innovation and the media as a company where “Rikejo = science focused
translation into practical use as a R&D focused women” work, which has contributed to the improvement
company centered on the engineer group of the corporate brand.
The company has been gaining the speed and agility to
generate new technologies as an engineer group with the
completion of a line-up consisting of engineers that have
acquired experience since their incorporation into the
company as new university graduates and persons in
charge of the sales and quality management as immediate
assets. For example, the company has achieved new
technological innovations to explore a new market,
including the development of the color plating “Tough
Black” (low-reflection plating having a reflection index of
less than 1%) and the commercialization of the water
purification and disinfection system “AGXX” developed by
the Largentec Inc. of Germany in 2012, as well as the
introduction of the three-dimensional wiring forming
technology (3LM).  Leaflet of “AGXX” prepared by a female employee in
charge of sales

Best Practices Collection 2015 34

KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD. Manufacturing SME

The Company has engaged in transfer of skills and

technology and operational improvements and has
succeeded in shortening delivery time and acquiring new
customers.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Realization of the needs for both skilled workers and technicians
 Transfer of skilled focused on “contemporary master craftsmen” and clarification of goals to
be aimed at

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 No retirement and time-setting tailored to the situation of elderly persons
 Master/apprentice system to keep high quality and a variety of education and training
systems

Outcomes of diversity management

 Acquisition of 265 new customers in five years
 Realization of short-time delivery by the introduction of the in-house network and production
management system
 Venture into new fields by recruiting mid-career employees

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1956 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address No. 23-13, Nakaikegami 2-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Metal heat treatment
Sales 518 million yen (as of May 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of January 2015)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 46 persons (including 1 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
7 elderly persons (including 0 non-regular employees)
attribute category
Average service years for
18.0 years (15.2 years for men, 20.8 years for women)
regular employees

35 Best Practices Collection 2015

 KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD.

Transfer of skilled focused on “contemporary

Background and goals of master craftsmen” and clarification of goals to
diversity management be aimed at
The company employs a number of skilled workers of
Realization of the needs for both skilled workers national treasure level, including four “contemporary
master craftsmen” recognized by the Ministry of Health,
and technicians Labour and Welfare, one “Tokyo meister” recognized by
KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD. (hereinafter the Tokyo metropolitan government, and eight high-grade
referred to as “the company”) which is engaged in metal skilled experts in metal heat treatment. A half of the young
heat treatment and in which many elderly persons work employees are in their 20s and 30s and they are highly
has the motto “to provide performance and quality that motivated to aim for “contemporary master craftsmen” and
customers can be proud of as the customer-oriented heat “Tokyo meister” in the future.
treatment factory.”
Heat treatment to enhance the durability and toughness of
metals is essential for mold components and cutting tools Specific measures taken for
to exert superior performance. Most of the salt bath heat
treatment is manually performed. In order to perform heat promoting diversity management
treatment on metals having a variety of shapes and
materials, many years of experience are required. In the No retirement and time-setting tailored to the
circumstances, the company has developed a system situation of elderly persons
under the slogan of “Manufacturing starts from personnel Since its foundation, there is no retirement in the company.
training” where each employee can improve his/her skills The current president considers that skills and technique
and use the skilled learned fully during the period ranging are improved with age and employees can stay active so
from the time of joining the company to the time of leaving far as they are willing and thus, the company adopts the
it. system where each employee himself decides his
The current president has recruited skilled workers with retirement when he cannot perform well enough any
many years of experience as mid-career permanent longer to pride in his work for the loss of physical abilities
employees in addition to fostering young employees. and concentration. Currently, the company has a wide
Thanks to their performance, the company has advanced variety of age groups including the 82 year old factory
into new fields and achieved operational improvements manager, three employees in their 70s and six employees
including quality control and process management, in their 60s, and young employees in their 20s and 30s.
resulting in the improvement of financial results. The The working hours of elderly employees are established
mid-career recruitment started with the employment of a according to the situation of each individual through an
technician in his 50s who had worked in a large company interview.
in 1996. The workers in the company acquired the heat The company is committed to securing successors by
treatment technique through the accumulation of onsite opening the door to employment without being specific
work experience or through trainings aimed at passing the about its timing or its number. The company also uses
licensing examination so far. However, there was no official websites which include the
technician in the company that had learned academically “DREAM-MATCH-PROJECT” (MITI), “Brilliant
the theory on heat treatment in a graduate school or in a technologies, resplendent companies and world-class
university. That was the first time in which an expert in manufacturing of Tokyo” (Tokyo metropolitan government)
treatment technology on metal heat treatment joined the and “Job navigation” (Ota-ward) among others.
company. As a result, now, the company could deal with
matters independently without the need to consult with
Master/apprentice system to keep high quality
technicians of a large company.
The fostering of young employees in terms of skills and and a variety of education and training systems
technique and the mid-career employment of the skilled Under the philosophy that “more than two persons should
technician with theoretical background have not only be capable of performing one technique at the highest
contributed to the improvement in the technical levels and level of Kajima,” the company undertakes to foster a wide
the surface treatment technique leading to operational variety of human resources by age group in order to keep
improvements, but also have made the company publicly quality. This is based on the idea of the current president
known. that heat treatment technology which is a high-grade
As a result of a series of effects, the current president who technique is securely transferred and a plurality of people
became keenly aware of the importance of the presence of should be capable of dealing with it at all times.
outstanding technicians recruited 2 persons in 2006, 1 A new employee undertakes an internship of between 1
person in 2009 and 2 persons in midway through the year. week and 2 months before joining the company and
Moreover, one of the two employees on temporary attends the “course for fostering human resources for
assignment from a large company has become a metal heat treatment” organized by the Tobu Metal Heat
permanent employee of the company at the end of Treatment Association in order to learn the basic skills. In
October 2014, while the other person is expected to join order to enable him to obtain the second and the first
the company in the future. grade of skill examination, a veteran employee and a
young employee form a pair as “a master and an
apprentice” in the actual work site where the “master”

Best Practices Collection 2015 36

KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD.

provides an OJT training to the “apprentice” so that the

apprentice may acquire the basics of heat treatment in Outcomes of diversity
sufficient time regardless of academic background or
experience. This is due to the fact that many of products
management
that the company handles are single products and the
finished products need to be visually checked and judged Acquisition of 265 new customers in five years
despite the fact that heat treatment conditions of the A veteran technician with abundant knowledge and
products manufactured in the past are available on the experience is capable of explain the technologies of the
database. In this manner, the apprentice learns the company and the characteristics thereof to many people
portions which cannot be determined by data alone under concerned in addition to personally connected people in a
the guidance of its master in the actual site. variety of opportunities including business meetings and
A middle-class skilled worker with the first class skill negotiations. In addition, thanks to the activities of highly
qualification certificate is encouraged to take part in the skilled works including the “contemporary master
“Metal Heat Treatment Super Meister Program” hosted by craftsmen,” the technologies and skills of the company
the Tokyo Institute of Technology. have been widely known and the reputation of
In addition, the company is focused on employee training “Commission difficult heat treatment to Kajima” has
by conducting in-house trainings and seminars for all become established. Since its foundation, the company
employees in order to keep high quality. These expenses has never had a sales person. However, the company has
for developing human resources are borne by the been receiving orders of high difficulties. Thus, thanks to
company. the active role played by elderly skilled workers and the
mid-career recruited veteran technician, the company has
acquired a total of 265 new customers in five years.
Veteran technicians and skilled workers meet and discuss
together about orders with high difficulties in order to
provide optimum heat treatment and thus, the role played
by the veteran workers is essential for the company.
A bad reputation spreads quickly. Therefore, the company
is committed to perform its obligations carefully at all times
no matter how difficult is a commissioned order.
In addition, the number of requests for performing heat
treatment tests by universities and research institutes is
increasing. Since many of the technical team members of
these customers are doctors, only persons with
considerable knowledge and technique can deal with the
customers on equal terms. The company could never have
dealt with such a situation without the active role played by
the veteran technicians with abundant knowledge and
experience in large companies.

 Master/apprentice system Realization of short-time delivery by the

introduction of the in-house network and
production management system
The company has built the in-house network and
centralized information by the initiative of the mid-career
recruited veteran technician with abundant knowledge and
experience in a large company. It has also introduced a
new original production control system by adopting the
knowledge of the onsite leader and the short-time delivery
system has been realized.
The company which performs daily more than 150 cases
of heat treatment used paper slips for management until
the system was introduced. The real-time management of
the progress of work schedule related to heat treatment of
many items having different shapes and materials has
allowed the understanding of any delay in delivery and
shortened the average delivery time from 6.3 days to 5.0,
a reduction of 20%. In addition, there are cases in which
the identical heat treatment is newly requested for the
same product ordered half a year before. In these cases,
since it is possible to call up the past heat treatment data
from the production control system, the time required for
checking the treatment conditions is significantly reduced.

37 Best Practices Collection 2015

 KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD.

The company which performs heat treatment of single introduced for the treatment of aviation components to
items having different materials and different shapes and provide heat treatment for medical equipment, although in
needs to deliver them in a short period of time has a small amount.
achieved significant results in shortening delivery time. In As stated above, the company takes on the challenge to
addition, since heat treatment conditions performed every expand its business area by making the most of its unique
day on the work site are accumulated in aid system, it can assets including salt bath processing, vacuum furnace,
be said that the system plays a part in the “transfer of employees with outstanding skills and technique and
technologies and skills.” ownership of various certifications.

Venture into new fields by recruiting mid-career

employees
The heat treatment of the company owes to the
automotive industry to a large extent. In the circumstances
in which the production of automobiles in Japan tends to
decline, the company is looking at heat treatment in the
aviation and aerospace fields. Since the field is highly
specialized and it is difficult for the company to enter into
the field in a short term, the company recruited a
technician who had retired from an aviation parts supply
company as a permanent employee and assigned him the
post of the project team leader in order to prepare a
system to that end. As a result, the company has acquired
not only the certification of JIS Q 9100 (Quality
Management Systems - Requirements for Aviation, Space
and Defense Organizations), but also the Nadcap
certification (unified certification system in the world for
 An aspect of heat treatment
specific processes for aviation components) which is an
international qualification which allows receiving orders
from overseas manufacturers. Although the hurdle was
high for acquiring the Nadcap certification which included
many conditions such as the translation into English of all
data and the examination in English among other
requirements, the company obtained the certification in a
short period of time thanks to the active role played by the
staff that had the experience of acquiring the certification
in the former company.
The company has participated in the “AMATERAS” which
is the join body for receiving orders for aerospace
components based in the Tama area and the Ota ward by
receiving support from the Tokyo metropolitan government
and the company is in charge of heat treatment of
components for civil aviation. In addition, the company is
actively engaged in new efforts such as its participation in
the “Shitamachi Bobsleigh Project.”
In the wake of the acquisition of these certifications and
participation in the joint projects, the sales of aviation  Information and Production Management System
components have started to increase. In addition, the
company takes advantage of the vacuum furnace

Best Practices Collection 2015 38

SAKAE CO., LTD. Manufacturing SME

The Company encourages foreigners including refugees

to play an active role and develops its business in
overseas countries.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Development overseas for survival
 Employment and use of foreigners including refugees

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Change of mindset before the recruitment
 Development of the in-house environment and change of mindset of employees
 Permeation of a global vision into employees

Outcomes of diversity management

 Increase in sales overseas and request for submission of a prototype by a major US company
 Continuation of no overtime through improvement of business operations
 Serving as a model for other small and medium-sized manufacturing industries

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1953 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address 350, Shimoongata-machi, Hachioji City, Tokyo
Polyurethane foaming mold for automobiles, sand casting for prototype parts, V process modeling, sand casting
Business outline
for aluminum alloy
Sales 300 million yen (as of September 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 29 persons (including3 non-regular employees)
5 women (including 3 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
4 foreigners (1 person is a non-regular employee)
attribute category
2 elderly persons (including 1 non-regular employee)
Average service years for
6 years (7 years for men, 5 years for women)
regular employees

39 Best Practices Collection 2015

 SAKAE CO., LTD.

circumstance, the company studied the feasibility of

Background and goals of employing them and employed a refugee with a special
working permit under the cooperation of Japan Association
diversity management for Refugees.
In addition, the president gives lectures on career
Development overseas for survival education at the Kinki University to provide an opportunity
SAKAE CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the to university students to take interest in the company. In
company”) has positioned the diversity management at the April 2014, the company employed a Korean student
center of the management strategy since 2012 under the studying in Japan with an internship experience as a part
slogan of “breaking away from a subcontractor in Japan.” of the policy of employing foreigners.
The company undertakes to serve as a “survival model” for
other small and medium-sized manufacturing industries by
increasing receiving orders through the expansion of sales Specific measures taken for
channels into leading manufacturers overseas and by
securing excellent personnel capable of conducting promoting diversity management
business with overseas partners.
The current president who is the fourth generation took Change of mindset before the recruitment
charge of the company in 2001due to the sudden death of So far, the company employed a total of six refugees
the late president. The company faced with the situation under the cooperation of the NPO with trials and errors.
that orders from the domestic automotive industry which Although five of them left the company, the company
had accounted for about 90% of its sales decreased at learned various lessons from the experience for
once right after the Lehman shock. employment of foreigners. The Japanese training system
The president realized that something needed to be done consisting of training a new employee through an in-house
immediately for survival and decided to develop business training, guidance by other employees and OJT produces
overseas. While making preparations at the workplace, the a variety of conflicts including an emotional barrier,
president himself visited the ASEAN countries, Europe difference in expectations between the Japanese staff and
and the USA for inspection purposes. In the process, the foreign workers. The company realized that it was
president realized that employees had feelings of necessary to focus on making preparations for accepting
resignation, such as “we cannot do this” in face of the foreigners in addition to follow-up after the incorporation
language barrier and the emotional barrier to foreign for them to work with peace in mind.
companies and foreign people and he was convinced that In the circumstances, in order to provide assistance to the
change of mindset in employees was the urgent task for “preparatory course for refugees to work in Japan” which
developing business overseas. As the first step for solving had been launched by the NPO by making use of the
the problem, the company employed and used foreigners social welfare furtherance project of the Welfare Medical
in order to globalize the company. Service Agency (WAM), the company has wrapped up a
list that refugees should understand for working in Japan.
Employment and use of foreigners including A variety of experiences of the company is reflected in the
refugees course, which includes various points to be borne in mind
In 2008, the company accepted three foreign technical by foreigners going to work in Japan such as “be punctual
interns by the initiative of the late president in order to for the start of work,” “engage in work while working,” etc.
learn Japanese and the casting technology. However, at The course provides classroom training consisting of
the end of the three-year training period, they went back to teaching foreigners how to introduce themselves and
their country. Not only that they went back to their country helping them understand the difference in working in
with the level of knowledge to serve as immediate assets Japan and in their countries. Foreigners further learn
for the company, but also that they were employed in posts about the 5Ss (organization, tidiness, cleaning, cleanliness
not related to casting in their home country. In view of the and discipline) as well as Japanese corporate culture
situation, the company decided to employ foreigners followed by plant tours and OJT training in companies to
strategically instead of accepting technical interns be in touch with the actual technology. In the meantime,
thereafter. The knowledge of Japanese was ignored for companies participating in the course show their visions to
the employment of foreigners and foreign people who foreign workers to attract them to their companies through
were eager to work and had business mind and who could factory tours and OJT training.
settle in Japan were made eligible for employment. In the The Cameroon who joined the company through the
summer of 2012, under the vision of the president to course has adapted to the company to work as a
proactively employ foreigners, the company recruited an permanent employee. In April 2014, the company recruited
expert who had worked in a human resource dispatching a Korean student. In addition, a company in the Hachioji
agency to be in charge of recruiting foreigners. While the made use of this “preparatory course for refugees” to
recruiter was looking for human resources who could work employ two refugees. Thus, the experience of the
for the company by getting in direct contact with foreigner company is utilized by other companies.
supporting groups (NPO, etc.), the company took notice of
refugees. In addition to that refugees who are with the
status of residence can work in Japan, the risk that “they
go back home after learning the job” is small. In the

Best Practices Collection 2015 40

SAKAE CO., LTD.

Development of the in-house environment and

change of mindset of employees
In the past, most of the work in the workplace was
performed with the intuition of craftsmen. As a result, no
manual on working procedures was available. However, in
order to develop an environment where foreign workers
can work smoothly, not only a work manual was prepared
to promote the “visualization,” but also an improvement
made with respect to the manner to convey the working
procedures by using photos and providing notes in English.
It was a big change for the company that employees has
become conscious of the need to “show” and “convey” the
information required for any work to put it actually into
practice.
In particular, employees with craftsmanship who work
silently were not used to listen to others over their work
and could not accept the new situation. However, they
have started to realize the need to adapt to the new
situation in the course of working with a variety of human
resources and listen to others, resulting in the
improvement in daily work.
In addition, in order to communicate with the foreign
workers, Japanese employees needed to have a minimum
level of English. In the circumstance, the company has
established its own online English conversation lesson
system since 2013 in cooperation with a company in the
 Aspects of the online English lesson
Philippines to provide English conversation lessons.
Currently, employees reserve their lesson time at their
convenience during the working hours and learn English Permeation of a global vision into employees
conversation for 30 minutes a day approximately via It is difficult for employees to understand and share the
Skype in a room reserved for the purpose to return to work vision of “developing business overseas” by a simple
again. This forms a part of welfare benefits and these utterance of the word by the president. The president
expenses are borne by the company. considers that the idea of “developing business overseas”
Since this English learning system is specially prepared for will permeate into employees for the first time when they
small and medium manufacturing industries and is not see outcomes in terms of numbers including an increase in
commercially available, a variety of companies including overseas sales as a result of employing foreigners and
small and medium manufacturing companies that are working together with them. Since the outcomes of the
developing business overseas, companies in the Hachioji sales are the most convincing barometer, the management
area and companies in other areas recognize its including the president has consistently focused on how to
usefulness and its use is gradually spreading. increase the sales overseas in the diversity management.
The president bears in mind the necessity to explain in
words the importance of “developing business overseas”
from various points of view in daily communication with
employees and accumulate outcomes in terms of “sales”
in order to convince them both in words and in outcomes.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Increase in sales overseas and request for
submission of a prototype by a major US
company
In the wake of the implementation of the policy to
proactively employ foreign workers since 2012, the
company has taken a variety of measures, including
making preparations to accept them, introduction of
English conversation, use of direct response marketing on
the multilingual website introduced after the acceptance
and quick response in multiple languages to enquiries,
among others. As a result, there was a significant change
in the mindset of the employees towards foreign

41 Best Practices Collection 2015

 SAKAE CO., LTD.

languages and overseas companies. Orders from manufacturers, the change in the mindset of the
overseas which were non-existent in 2011 accounted for employees and the building of production management
70% of all the company’s sales in 2013. system which helps manage each worker. The ratio of
In addition, the company had received no enquiry in current profits to assets has significantly improved from
foreign languages on the website before the employment 0.25% in FY2012 to 5.23% in FY2013. In addition, the
of foreigners and any enquiry made resulting from a name company keeps the overtime at nearly zero since April
card exchange had been left untouched for the lack of the 2014. It can be said that this has been attained by the
knowledge of the language. However, the company heightened awareness of the employees to produce
receives more than one enquiry a month from countries in outcomes through the improved awareness for operational
Europe, the US and East Asia as of 2014 as a result of reform, visualization of the work process and clarification
building its website in multiple languages including the of training and instruction method.
enquiry form for the products and the description of the
processes, in addition to the introduction of direct Serving as a model for other small and
response marketing. medium-sized manufacturing industries
In addition, the company received a proposal to make a The preparatory model for acceptance of foreigners
prototype from a US major company when its employees carried out in cooperation with the NPO plays the key part
had negotiations with data written in English. for securing good talented human resources for small and
medium-sized manufacturing industries. The number of
Continuation of no overtime through enquires on the model is increasing from small and
improvement of business operations medium companies not only in the Hachioji area, but also
In the wake of the employment of foreigners in the work from companies of differ prefectures regardless of
site, the productivity has been improved due to the business category.
increase in the number of business with overseas

 A variety of human resources with different age groups and nationalities work together

Best Practices Collection 2015 42

XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. Manufacturing SME

The Company strives to develop niche markets with all

employees working together and the idea of female
employee and the knowhow of a veteran developer have
significantly contributed to the increase in business
results.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Shift to a “manufacturer” capable of growing by meeting the market needs

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Acquisition of mid-career human resources that can share the corporate philosophy and
values
 Development of a flexible system tailored to life events of female employees
 Development of creative new products by employees with a variety of experiences and
knowhow

Outcomes of diversity management

 Achievement of business expansion through development of new products by meeting the
needs of customers
 Reduction of business hours thanks to the website for overseas distributors built by a female
worker returned to work

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1996 Capital 284 million yen

Head office address 8th fl., Fuerte Kojimachi 1-7 building, No. 7-25, Kojimachi 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Development, manufacturing and sales of polishing, cutting and micro-deburring tools
Sales 1,150 million yen (as of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of August 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 19 persons (including 4 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 4 women (including 0 non-regular employees)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 60%
Average service years for
6.4 years (5.7 years for men, 7 years for women)
regular employees

43 Best Practices Collection 2015

 XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

Background and goals of

diversity management
Shift to a “manufacturer” capable of growing by
meeting the market needs
XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to
as “the company”) was founded in 1996 to develop,
manufacture and sell polishing, cutting and
micro-deburring tools for industry. The company started to
 Automated deburring tools
manufacture and sell ceramic grinding stones for mold
polishing for industrial purposes using its proprietary
material developed jointly with a chemical manufacturer
and expanded its sales network not only in Japan but also Specific measures taken for
overseas through a specialized trading company. Along promoting diversity management
with the growth of manufacturing industry in new
developing countries, the company increased sales and
the products of the company accounted for 40% of the Acquisition of mid-career human resources that
global market share of ceramic grinding stones at the can share the corporate philosophy and values
beginning of 2000s. The recruitment policy of “ignoring gender and age” and
In 2002, the Development department of the company “opening managerial positions proactively to persons of
developed an automated deburring tool using a new talent regardless of gender” was adopted in a top-down
material and commercialized in 2005. This tool having a manner. In the first place, the company recruited two
brush-like shape uses ceramic fibers as the grinding persons in charge of sales in order to strengthen the sales
material and removes burring with its tip end, and can be staff capable of conducting sales both in Japan and
mounted on existing machining tools such as a machining overseas. One of them was a woman of foreign nationality
center to perform deburring automatically. Conventionally, with overseas sales experience in an electronic parts
deburring of fine parts was manually performed and it was manufacturer and the other person came from a consulting
expected that this product would reduce the labor work. company with no sales experience. The company placed
However, since this was a typical product-oriented product more importance on the basic ability levels and the sharing
developed focused on the material without taking into of values for working than the knowledge and experience
consideration customers’ needs at this stage, the company in the industry. The company recruited human resources
faced difficulties in its sales. Due to the way the company one by one who understood and shared the philosophy of
had conducted its business so far in which it “simply sold the company “our company will try to solve 100% of the
its ceramic grinding stones,” the company had no deburring problems in the world by working together” and
knowledge of matching its development with the needs of its business goals. The company could not afford to
the market and a few employees sold the product to a few employ and train a new graduate and recruited necessarily
manufacturers. mid-career people with experience in the respective former
In the circumstances, the current president joined the position. As a result, a variety of people with different
company in 2005 at the death of the founder and was backgrounds in terms of gender, age, and nationality
entrusted with the promotion of the sales of the company’s gathered. The number of female employees doubled from
products as a person in charge of overseas sales. To start 3 in 2005 to 6 in 2014. The recruitment of elderly persons
with, as stated above, the company had not conducted its under an advisory contract increased from 2 in 2005 to 7.
own sales activities and the opportunities to understand In addition, the proportion of women in managerial posts
the needs of the market and transmit its own information has reached 60% (3 out of 5 persons) in 2012 and all
had been limited. The current president had doubts about employees are working effectively regardless of their
such a situation and considered that the company’s growth gender.
could not be achieved if the market needs could not be
reflected in the development, in addition to providing Development of a flexible system tailored to life
maintenance services. Then, the company realized that it events of female employees
would need personnel to engage in the sales of the In the meantime, although the company succeeded in
products and business expansion and started to focus on securing outstanding employees by recruitment activities,
personnel recruitment. the majority of the recruited people were in their late 20s
and there was a concern about the concentration of life
events in female employees. Despite the fact that the
number of inquiries and sales were rapidly increasing due
to the success in overseas sales, the management work
was not keeping up with the situation and was performed
in the same manner as when the amount of sales was
small. In the circumstance, in preparation for the
eventuality of a female employee taking a maternity leave

Best Practices Collection 2015 44

XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

or a childcare leave, a revision and standardization of work resulted in the development of a new “tool for hand tool”
process was undertaken since 2006 to allow smooth and the development of a new market (see below). In this
continuation of business without interruption at all times. manner, new products and new services are generated
Specifically, the task was to systematize documentation one after another in an environment where outstanding
and to use outsourcing and dispatch employees for simple human resources with a variety of experiences strive for
work. The management task including export and import the growth of the company freely without bound by fixed
which a female employee was in charge was reorganized work and deal daily with the needs of customers in a
and subdivided to allow the task to be performed by other serious manner.
people.
However, the company should avoid at all costs that
colleagues who had shared its spirit and values and grown Outcomes of diversity
together left the company for good even if their jobs could
be handled by other employees. In the circumstances, in
management
order to make compatible the household and work, the
company heard in 2009 from an employee who would be Achievement of business expansion through
taking a maternity leave soon to in order develop a development of new products by meeting the
short-time working hour system which allowed the needs of customers
company to deal with the physical state of a pregnant As stated above, what the female employee in charge of
woman, difference in acceptance time of a nursery school sales witnessed during her round of visits for sales activity
and difference in household conditions in addition to was a deburring work performed by women having their
putting into place the subsidy of nursery allowance. In nerves on edge by looking into a microscope. The number
addition, a female employee in childcare is assigned to a of female salespersons is very small in the industry. In a
different post which allows her to willfully perform in her frank conversation among women, said employee became
short-working hours including project management. In aware of the needs of the customer for deburring, resulting
order to fairly evaluate her performance despite the in the development of the “tool for hand tool” by reforming
short-working hours, the president himself judges the the company’s existing product.
outcomes and the process of her work instead of The “tool for hand tool” is used by attaching to a hand tool
considering the working hours. with the existing tool performance. Companies which were
So far, a total of 3 people in 5 occasions have taken the reluctant to perform deburring automation using a
maternity and childcare leave and all of them have machining center easily acquired the tool for its handiness.
returned to work. Thus, the company has created a Not only that this tool has made it possible to perform the
workplace where people can work after childbirth. same work with a lot less effort compared to manual work,
but also the burden on the eyes of the workers has been
Development of creative new products by reduced. In addition, the tool has contributed to the
employees with a variety of experiences and improvement in safety and the shortening of working
knowhow hours.
Since around 2012 when the sales of the existing products In the beginning, the tool was translated into practical use
have been on track, the company has started to undertake for commercialization in order to meet the potential needs
the development of new products. This was the time for of female workers. However, the tool is also popular
the company to feedback the market needs into the among male workers. In 2013, the sales of the tool
development. The company tried to recruit mid-career recorded 30 million yen since the start of its sales in 2009,
personnel with skills and experience of development in becoming one of the main products of the company.
other industries for the purpose and could employ a middle In addition, as a result of the recruitment of the
aged male employee with more than 25 years of aforementioned veteran developer and the launch of the
experience in the electric industry. development base, the product development speed to
The company launched a new development base in the meet the needs of customers has been significantly
Ota-ward in 2013 in order to take advantage of his abilities. accelerated. An example is the automation of deburring of
It was a dream come true for the company to launch the the back of a thin and long cylinder where a hand cannot
development based to verify the market needs. The reach. The automation of the deburring work which was
company has assembled abundant equipment in order to conventionally performed manually by connecting various
deal with deburring of all types of materials and shapes equipment has contributed to the shortening of working
with its own products and is conducting tests daily to hours of users. In addition, the number of patent
accumulate data. applications for new products and new technologies which
In the meantime, the female employee in charge of sales were non-existent since 2007 increased to five since 2013
witnessed a situation during her round of visits for sales thanks to the contribution of the veteran developer paving
activity of the automated deburring tool where automation the way for the realization of new ideas.
was not required but manual deburring was difficult. A
deburring work is finely performed for the work piece by Reduction of business hours thanks to the
looking into a microscope by women having their nerves website for overseas distributors built by a
on edge. The female employee started voluntarily to female worker returned to work
examine the possibility of solving the problem with the Currently, the company has customers in about 30
company’s technology. In the end, her efforts have countries and about 50 distributors in the world. With the

45 Best Practices Collection 2015

 XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

increase in the number of customers, the acquisition and employee confronted with an increase in the amount of
management of information got complicated. However, work has created a tool designed to improve work
employees were somehow handling their jobs in the efficiency has led to the improvement in productivity of the
conventional manner, that is, by mail and telephone, overall company.
individually.
Confronted with the increase in the amount of work, the
female employee who was in charge of these matters
undertook to explore an efficient way to handle the matter
in short working hours.
To start with, she developed and integrated the product
information in the mind of employees in charge of sales to
prepare a basic text on the company’s products for
“visualization” and to shorten time for dealing with
distributors. In addition, she newly launched the “Overseas
Distributor Partners’ Site” to develop a mechanism which
allowed the updating of new examples and product
information. This mechanism has enabled the provision of
information which was used to be performed one by one to
about 50 distributors by simply uploading on the site and
thus, a drastic improvement of shortening the working
hours by 98% has been achieved. As a result, the number  A professional group where small numbers of
of paid holidays taken by the employees increased by two highly-skilled people work autonomously
times in 2013 compared to that in 2012 due to the
significant productivity improvement. The fact that an

Best Practices Collection 2015 46

POLA INC. Construction Large enterprise

The Company promotes a variety of working styles

tailored to the change in lifestyle and increases the
amount of sales by developing high value-added
products and shifting into a new business model.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Support for the “women’s social advancement” in response to the generational change
through cosmetic business
 “Culture and tradition” of women playing active roles consistently developed since the
foundation of the company

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Development and operation of the system to help strike “a Good Balance of Work and
Personal Life”
 Training and development of human resources based on the career progression system
 Corporate philosophy to help support employees to strike a good balance of work and
personal life
 Active roles played by POLA ladies composed of a wide variety of age groups

Outcomes of diversity management

 Success in the development of main brands tailored to a variety of lifestyles
 Development of “POLA THE BEAUTY” designed to deal with a variety of customer needs

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1946 Capital 800 million yen

Head office address 2-2-3 Nishigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Sales of cosmetics and healthy foods
Sales 99,286 million yen (as of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 1347 persons (including 415 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 935 women (including 358 non-regular employees)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 27%
Average service years for
9.9 years (11 years for men, 9 years for women)
regular employees

47 Best Practices Collection 2015

 POLA INC.

carry out projects and to make them successful in an

Background and goals of environment where women could play an active role in a
natural manner led to outcomes and my promotion”.
diversity management
Support for the “women’s social advancement” Specific measures taken for
in response to the generational change through
cosmetic business
promoting diversity management
POLA INC. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) was
founded in 1929 and has supported working women Development and operation of the system to
through cosmetic business since its foundation. The help strike “a Good Balance of Work and
company has conducted door-to-door sales of skincare Personal Life”
products focused on aging care and skin whitening by way Although there is no distinction in terms of treatment for
of POLA ladies and has steadily evolved its business into reasons of gender, a variety of considerations need to be
the establishment of shops in which cosmetic and esthetic taken for women in their life events. To that end, the
services are administered since 2000. Currently, the company has taken various efforts step by step to create
company conducts a variety of operations including the an environment where all employees including women can
“POLA THE BEAUTY” which provides more work comfortably. For example, the company has
esthetic-focused services than the door-to-door sales and developed a system to help employees to strike “a good
shops in department stores. balance of work and personal Life” since 2006 by
Against a backdrop of the generational change including introducing measures, including (1) extension of childcare
the declining birth rate and aging population, the leave (until the child is three years old), (2) choice of short
population decline, the reduction in the rate of women working hours (until the child finishes third grade of
staying at home due to women’s social participation and elementary school) , (3) childcare flexible use (until the
the heightened awareness of security, the number of child finishes third grade of elementary school) and (4)
customers which cannot be covered by door-to-door sales nursery leave (possible extension of up to three years), in
has increased. The company that was obliged to look at order to deal with a variety of working styles.
business models other than the door-to-door sales has The understanding of the use of the system is well
increased the amount of sales by implementing a variety of advanced and considered as a matter of course. A number
measures including the expansion of contact points with of employees take the maternity and childcare leaves in all
customers, establishment of business with department the departments within the company and a total of about
stores and the development of products from the 40 to 50 people use the system at all times among the total
viewpoints of customers among others in which female number of about 1350 people and the number of
employees participate in a full-fledged manner. In order to employees who take the short working hours is nearly the
flexibly meet the needs of customers which diversify with same. All in all, about 10% of female employees use the
the change of time, female employees that can share the both systems. The number of the users has been
viewpoints of customers who use the company’s products increasing since 2014.
are playing an important role. When there is an employee who needs to take a maternity
leave or childcare leave, the department chief reviews the
“Culture and tradition” of women playing active distribution of work and develops an environment in which
roles consistently developed since the the absentee can take its leave with peace at mind. In
foundation of the company addition, when choosing candidates for the department
A number of women have played an active part in the field chief or a team leader, they are selected based on their
of sales and services since the establishment of the performance without excluding employees taking a
company because of the nature of the business – childcare leave and employees with short working hours.
Currently, the proportion of women in managerial posts is
cosmetics. The culture to respect opinions of female
employees has been cultivated naturally in an environment 27% and they number more than 30 people and there are
where women play an active part and shared by the whole four female executives accounting for 30% of the whole
company including the management. This idea is based executive staff.
on the management philosophy to “support working
women” which has been maintained since the foundation. Training and development of human resources
Since the early 1970s before the enforcement of Equal based on the career progression system
Employment Act, the company had recruited women as The company has the company policy “Step out with
candidates for managerial posts in the same manner as courage and challenge the task with passion.” As a
men and provided the same treatment not only in mechanism to embody it, the company has developed in
recruitment but also in job progression without any 2009 the “career progression system” which provides a
disadvantage or prejudice. That is, a tradition in which number of opportunities to employees for career
women can work without being excessively aware of their progression, including a case in which an employee
status as women and without feeling strange has been employed in a branch office undertakes the planning job in
developed earlier than other companies. The first female the head office for a limited period of two years based on
executive of the company reflects, “The fact that it was their career planning because it is difficult for him/her to
possible for me to engage in work with the strong desire to handle longer years.

Best Practices Collection 2015 48

POLA INC.

The company assigns either the planning post or the sales Active roles played by POLA ladies composed of
post to a new employee. The sales post mainly consists of a wide variety of age groups
the development and management of POLA ladies. A The door-to-door sales of the company are supported by
person in the sales post can use the career progression 150,000 POLA ladies. A POLA lady is a sole business
system to take on the planning post. In this manner, the proprietor that sells products of POLA under a
person who has gained an understanding of the consignment sales contract with POLA. POLA ladies
relationship between the planning and the sales is now consist of women of a variety of age groups, including
able to conduct sales activities with the understanding of women in their 80s and 90s as well as women in their 20s
both domains. The system has a positive effect on the and the 30s who are playing active parts in recent years.
business of the company, accordingly. This system has Their task mainly consists of giving advice to and selling
been developed, modeled on a case in which an employee products of the company in accordance with the needs of
transferred from the sales post to the planning post in the each customer. A variety of women work as POLA ladies
past, and institutionalized by modifying the existing content. with different work styles according to their household
The system has allowed a variety of working styles not situation and their future objectives; some of them use a
bound by a post leading to the creation of many role few hours while raising their children, others work
models. earnestly to become a shop owner, or aim to become a
manager to control multiple shops.
Corporate philosophy to help support Diverse role models are being born owing to the diffusion
employees to strike a good balance of work and of various work styles among POLA ladies consisting of
personal life women of a variety of age groups and a virtuous cycle is
In the situation in which a variety of efforts have been being created in which young POLA ladies think of their
under way as stated above, the company published the own career plans by learning from older ladies with
“AAA (Anti-Aging Alliance) Declaration” in 2011, not only to heightened motivation.
transmit its position of “helping women live a splendid life”
to the society, but also to declare to its employees its
intention to increase efforts to “improve efficiency of Outcomes of diversity
business” and “support a variety of work styles.” management
Considering that it is indispensable for the supporting party
to be splendid in order to support women’s beauty, the
company, the company links the review of work distribution
Success in the development of main brands
and productivity improvement to the departmental goals. tailored to a variety of lifestyles
Such idea is transmitted to the chief of each department as A variety of work styles have been adopted by both the
the collective opinion of the management. employees and POLA ladies and the development of new
Specifically, all the departments determine “the efforts to products and the development of new business models
improve efficiency” and prepare a list of the effort items, are made possible by the exercise of ideas and sensitivity
such as “no meeting after 18:00 hours,” “this work will be born from working with a variety of lifestyles.
specifically stopped,” etc. Every three months, it is Although the domestic market of cosmetics and skincare
checked whether there has been an improvement in products continues flat, the aging care and skin whitening
business conduction. The review of business enables the fields are expected to grow and the company will focus its
implementation of efficient work by not only helping narrow research and development resources on the fields. The
down the range of work which must be done at all costs, Apex series which are the main products of the company
but also clarify unnecessary meetings or work. In addition, are the cosmetics which can be customized and adapted
as a measure to prevent long working hours, the company to each skin after performing a thorough analysis of the
has designated every Wednesday as the “Bertha Day” (no skin of a customer and there are more than 2.56 million
overtime day) and announces to the entire floor through combinations. Planning and sales from the perspective of
in-house broadcasting system to urgent all employees to women as customers are very important for cosmetics. It
leave the company on time. In addition, the company has become possible for the company to deal with a
promotes the utilization of the flex-time work and has variety of troubles and needs of its customers by taking
introduced the system where employees can set the core advantage of the female employees with diverse lifestyles.
time according to each work. Moreover, the rule is The Apex products are hit sellers with the sales amounting
established in the Personnel department where every to 10 billion yen which account for 10% of all the sales of
person should leave the office at 16:00 hours and if only the company which amount to 100 billion yen.
this is not observed even once a month or by a person, not In addition, the BA product series renewed in 2010 were
only the evaluation of the person himself but also that of originally developed by an female employee newly
the department as a whole will be decreased. It has been appointed as the product brand manager from the
three or four years since the rule was introduced and the standpoint of customers with diverse lifestyles in order to
rule has been fully observed until the present day. The meet their precise needs. The company treasures the
efforts have not only shortened the working hours, but also quality based on senses such as sight, odor, taste and
have allowed employees to use wisdom and ingenuity to texture (perceived quality) in addition to the quality based
work efficiently by predicting and anticipating work on effect and efficacy in manufacturing. Quality which
requirements in the future. appeals to senses such as aroma and texture and gives
pleasure to customers at the time of use is very important

49 Best Practices Collection 2015

 POLA INC.

for the company. The products whose annual sales troubles and needs in the performance of the door-to-door
amount to 30 billion yen have been selected many times sales. And, it was female employees who had a good grip
as the best cosmetics by female magazines and greatly of the needs on site that encouraged and supported the
contribute to the sales and growth of the company. realization of the idea. Since the establishment of the first
shop in 2005, the “POLA THE BEAUTY” has been steadily
Development of “POLA THE BEAUTY” designed growing. Currently, the “POLA THE BEAUTY” with a total
to deal with a variety of customer needs of about 620 shops accounts for about 40% of the
In the past, the sales channels of the company consisted company’s sales and is the main sales channel.
mainly of the door-to-door sales conducted by POLA Now, products which meet the needs of customers with a
ladies. While these sales were stagnant due to the change variety of lifestyles are produced and offered. The
in work styles of women due to their social participation, development of an environment which allows a variety of
the idea of the “POLA THE BEAUTY” which provides more human resources to play an active role has led to the
esthetic-focused services was born as a result of the fact provision of products and services valued by customers
that POLA ladies with a variety of lifestyles had understood and enabled the growth of the company.
the change in the lifestyles of their customers, their

 “Apex” product series, cosmetics customized and  “POLA THE BEAUTY” product series, cosmetics
adapted the skin of a customer after a careful analysis customized and adapted the skin of a customer after a
careful analysis

Best Practices Collection 2015 50

LIXIL Group Corporation Manufacturing Large enterprise

The Company has made an extensive reform of the rigid

man-centered corporate culture and a number of new
ideas and business operations have successively
generated as a result of the active appointment of female
employees and meticulous talent management.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Birth of the new company “LIXIL” through the integration of five companies and formulation of
the management philosophy
 Review and reconsideration of the corporate culture incapable of taking advantage of the
abilities of female employees

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Implementation of positive actions encourage by the commitment of the management
 Building of a road map for the formation of female leaders through thorough talent
management
 Participation of female employees in the overall corporate improvement activities using the
Six Sigma method
 Coordinate effort to urgent and inspire awareness-raising

Outcomes of diversity management

 New challenge based on confidence and experience and success of the management to use
different ideas

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2001 Capital 34,600 million yen

Head office address Kasumigaseki Bld 36F, 3-2-5, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Manufacturing and sales of building materials and equipment and related services thereto
Sales 954,806 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of March 2014) (*)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 19,434 persons (including 2,993 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 5,993 women (including 2,139 non-regular employees)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 5.1%
Average service years for
16.9 years (17.8 years for men, 13.8 years for women)
regular employees
Remark (*) Data of LIXIL CORPORATION

51 Best Practices Collection 2015

 LIXIL Group Corporation

human resources, development of working environment

Background and goals of and fostering of culture.
diversity management
Specific measures taken for
Birth of the new company “LIXIL” through the
integration of five companies and formulation of promoting diversity management
the management philosophy
The LIXIL Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “LIXIL”) Implementation of positive actions encourage by
which is the largest business company of the LIXIL Group the commitment of the management
Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) was The company was very conscious of the need to “change
created through the integration of five companies in 2011; the culture all at once” in order to create the system and
Tostem Corporation, INAX Corporation, Shin Nikkei Co., atmosphere to promote the “appointment of outstanding
Ltd, Sun Wave Corporation and Toyo Exterior Co., Ltd. human resources” regardless of gender. In January of
The current president who is a “professional business 2013, the “LIXIL Diversity Declaration” was published
administrator” learnt the skills of the management in other inside and outside of the company in which the company
companies was asked to take the post of the president of laid out clear goals, including “converting 30% of people
the company by the current chairman in order to make use appointed in managerial posts regardless of gender in
of the experience in the business administration in the FY2015 into diversity talent,” “converting 30% of new
global environment and human resources development. employees recruited in April of 2014 regardless of gender
For the purposes of the management vision of “becoming to into diversity talent” and “converting 15% or more of
the global leader in the living and life-related industry,” the participants in the leadership training (see below)
company is engaged in creating a corporate culture regardless of gender into diversity talent” among other
capable of surviving in the global competition and goals.
increasing the vitality of employees. In the beginning, against the request of the management
In particular, from the perspective of diversity, the company to list up female candidates for managerial posts, only
focuses on three points of interest as the corporate culture negative opinions such as “no candidate was available,”
of the company; “respect of diversity,” “provision of fair and “only a handful of female employees were working” etc.
equal opportunities” and “implementation of the merit were raised by people on site. In the circumstances, the
system” by considering that the energy and creativity company took tough measures to ask each line chief in
resulting from free discussions among a diversity of POS (People & Organization Development, referred to
human resources are indispensable for the enhancement later) which is a mechanism of the talent management to
of the management. This is clearly stated in the section of list up at least 10 outstanding female employees and
“Work with Respect” in the “LIXIL VALUES (Shared promoted all 23 female employees listed up to managers
Values)” which establish the values to be shared among all at one once to convey that the management was
employees in the management philosophy of the genuinely serious about the matter to the worksite. Since
company. then, the system has been gradually developed to the
extent that the names of outstanding female employees
Review and reconsideration of the corporate are readily listed up.
culture incapable of taking advantage of the In this manner, the number of female employees in
managerial posts which was 22 in March 2012 has
abilities of female employees
increased to 119 in November 2014, an increase of 5.7
The company is engaged in efforts focused on female
times and the proportion of women in managerial posts
employees that account for about 23% of all the
has risen from 0.9% to 5.1%.
employees. There was an underlying concern that female
Incidentally, as the follow-up measures, the CEO and CHO
employs cannot play active roles in the company due to
provided opportunities such as round-table meetings to
the old-fashioned seniority-based corporate culture.
directly talk with the 23 employees promoted to managers
In 2012, the proportion of women in managerial posts in
to explain to them about their promotion to managerial
LIXIL was only 0.9% and most of the management posts
posts. As a result, they are playing an active role in their
were assigned to middle-aged and older employees with
respective posts and responding to the expectations
corporate history. In the circumstances, it was thought that
placed on them.
the building of career formation by female employees was
inhibited somehow.
In addition, the company has concluded that it was Building of a road map for the formation of
essential to allow all employees to demonstrate their female leaders through thorough talent
abilities and promote the appointment of outstanding management
human resources in managerial posts in order to survive in The appointment of female employee as mentioned above
the global competition in the future and help develop the does not necessarily work effectively in the conventional
company as a “strong and excellent company.” In the mechanism for the development of human resources. In
circumstances, in order to simultaneously foster the addition to the fact the role model is not available to serve
corporate culture and increase the vitality of employees, as a guide because the absolute number of female
the company has determined to engage in the employees is not abundant, female employees have much
enhancement of personnel management, development of less opportunities compared to male workers to play an

Best Practices Collection 2015 52

LIXIL Group Corporation

active role in a workplace where there is an unspoken has allowed the management to include them as
agreement that “a leader is a man.” candidates for promotion.
In the circumstance, the company actively promotes the
appointment of female employees in the selective Participation of female employees in the overall
“leadership training” to consciously provide opportunities corporate improvement activities using the Six
for “stretching” for talent development to them by selecting Sigma method
outstanding female employees to develop their talent. This
The president does not only include female employees in
program was initiated in 2012 for the purposes of
the leadership training above, but also gives instructions
enhancing the leadership of general manager-class
so that they play an active part in the actual business
employees who are candidates for senior management to
strategy and allocation of task force.
learn business strategy and global business over one year,
For example, the company has established the Six Sigma
and was extended to manager-class employees. In the
(a set of techniques and tools for process improvement
process of selecting participants in this program, the
systematized in the US in the 1990s) headquarters to
company is not only conscious of increasing the proportion
engage in improvement activities in a cross-functional
of female employees, but also considers it as an
manner. In the beginning, no female leader participated in
opportunity to help all candidates for senior management
this activity due partly to the fact that the number of female
to understand the importance of diversity where the CHO
employees was small and partly due to the fixed idea that
himself explains directly in detail why LIXIL promotes
a leader was a man in the area of “Kaizen=Improvement”.
diversity.
In the wake of the Diversity Declaration in 2013, the
In addition, presentations for the management are made in
management instructed that female employees should
the program designed for young candidates and in one
account for 30% of the leaders in this activity and the team
occasion, female employees occupied the first three
is now partly formed by female employees. In particular,
places to show that they are capable of playing an active
the system is in place in which when those female
part. At the sight of the situation, male employees have
employees mentioned in the POD lack practical business
become newly aware of the high potential of their
experience, they are encouraged to participate in this
counterparts and a climate is being built to improve
activity in a preferential manner.
themselves by working hard together.
Valuable experience can be obtained from the project
In parallel to the development of leaders, the company
activities in Six Sigma where human resources of various
implements the POD process mentioned earlier. In the
departments gather together and improve performance
POD which is held twice a year, leaders of each
outcomes for the attainment of the goals contributing
department discuss with the management including CEO
significantly to their development. The fact that the
and CHO for two hours about the policy for the
presentation of the final report on the outcomes of their
development of human resources, work distribution and
activities is performed by each participant in front of the
future prospect of each department for the purposes of
CEO and CHO enhances the motivation of the female
urging the placement of the right people in the right jobs
employees.
and their development.
In the first place, there is an underlying policy to “transfer
the authority to manage personnel affairs from the Coordinate effort to urgent and inspire
Personnel Affairs department to each department.” In the awareness-raising
past, a uniform assessment sheet was used for the These efforts are supported by the Diversity Promotion
evaluation of each employee and according to the Office in the Personnel Affairs department and the “LIXIL
evaluation points calculated by the head of each Women’s Network” which is a voluntary activity developed
department, the final evaluation was made in the meetings by female workers. This office which was established in
held to that end. The system has been changed, however, April 2012 (at the time, called the Promotion group)
to the so-called the “9 Box” system in which “Performance” performs a variety of enlightenment activities including the
(business outcomes) and “Actions in line with Values publication of messages of the president on the promotion
(LIXIL VALUES” are evaluated based on the classification of diversity and introduction of role models through the
of “more than the expectations,” “just as the expectations” in-house intranet and holds “Diversity Meetings” in which
and “less than the expectations.” This new system enables employees talk with the president in person. Although
each department to pick out outstanding and useful there were opportunities for employees in a small number
employees for it and use the human resources effectively to directly talk with the management, the participation in
under its responsibility. the meeting is encouraged to female employees in the
This system has actually allowed outstanding employees wake of the Diversity Declaration in 2013.
to rise gradually to the surface. Currently, there is in place To start with, it was because of the lack of understanding
such a system where when a specific employee is on the part of female employees in their 30s and 40s of the
mentioned in the POD, he/she will be promoted once promotion of diversity in the in-house survey conducted
he/she completes the leadership training programs set up previously. Actually, it was thought that the results were
for the purpose. In addition, on the contrary, those attributed more to a sense of resignation among female
employees who have performed outstanding results in the employees in their generations as a result of their past
program are nominated as candidates for promotion in the experience than to the actual lack of understanding. It was
POD. Thus, the participation of female employees at for this reason that the focus of the participation in the
above a certain level in this leadership training program “Diversity Meetings” was placed on female employees in
their 30s and in their 40s in order to eliminate the “sense of

53 Best Practices Collection 2015

 LIXIL Group Corporation

resignation” in the first place by providing a variety of products produced results by getting involved in the
measures to stimulate their motivation and lead to the planning of kitchen products in a number of countries
realization of outcomes. It has been made possible including China, Vietnam, North America, etc in ten
through their participation in the meetings together with months after the appointment and a case in which a
male employees with the management to understand female employee with short-working hours for childcare
differences of views in the career building of female made proposal for improved efficiency through the
employees (for example, the short-working hour system systematization of the order-receiving procedures of living
for childcare is whether a “consideration” or “a loss of materials, which has resulted in the shortening of more
opportunities”). than 800 working hours, among other results.
Moreover, 40 to 50% of the participants in the “LIXIL In addition, the improvement activities through Six Sigma
Women’s Network” that was initially established to build a which have been revitalized by the participation of female
network to help female employees work in a motivated employees as leaders in about 30% of its activities
manner are currently male employees. The increase in the produced results in the improvement of efficiency and cost
number of male employees is due to the fact that reductions, etc. in each project amounting to 163 million
discussions about the way work is performed and the way yen in FY 2013. The employees that played an active role
performance is managed involved male employees. There in these activities have been promoted properly and they
has been an increase in activities in a manner different are performing in due course in their respective
from that intended by the company and currently, the managerial posts.
network is working autonomously as a place for voluntary Moreover, the female employee who was awarded the
enlightenment and skill improvement regardless of gender. award of excellence in the presentation to the
management for reporting the results of the leadership
training is currently playing an active part in charge of
Outcomes of diversity Kenya in the Africa Sanitation Project after having
transferred from the Product Management department to
management the Project by applying for the job and is engaged in the
diffusion of the sanitary equipment (anhydrous toilet of
New challenge based on confidence and circulation type) in coordination with external organizations
experience and success of the management to such as UNICEF and JICA by making many round trips
use different ideas between Kenya and Japan. This effort is a first step in the
In the wake of the efforts aimed at the development of development of a market of 2.5 billion people beyond the
diverse human resources and talent, the number of cases scope of the CSR of the company and is highly valued
has increased in recent years in which female employees both inside and outside of the company.
produce results. For example, the female employ who has
become the leader of the development of the “Window
Treatment” in the interior department in a series of product
development for new markets has succeeded in the
development of a “window frame with a curtail rail” and a
“honeycomb thermo screen” which are the first products
beyond the conventional product category resulting in
accounting for 10% of the sales of window frames. These
products have been developed by looking at the possibility
of a new product to enhance the convenience of both
builders and end users by not being bound by the fixed
idea of a window frame (curtain rail). An idea which would
have been considered exorbitant in the past managed to
become reality after strenuous negotiations and
adjustments among various departs and group companies
and the products are highly appreciated by customers in
the end.  An aspect in which the female employee
In addition, diverse outcomes have been obtained explains how to use the toilet in Kenya
including a case in which a female employee newly
appointed to be in charge of the development of global

Best Practices Collection 2015 54

CALBEE, INC. Manufacturing Large enterprise

The Company has improved productivity and quality

through the reform in the work shift of its factories based
on the diversity vision that “the growth of each employee
is the growth of the company.”
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Public affirmation by the president of the indispensability of diversity for the growth of the
company
 Strong commitment to the numerical targets

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Implementation of activities focused on the diversity committee
 Transmission of information by the president himself and conduction of management by
talking directly with employees
 Reform in the work shift of the factories

Outcomes of diversity management

 Improvement in productivity and quality through a reform in work shift

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1949 Capital 11,946 million yen

Head office address Marunouchi Trust Tower main building 22F, 1-8-3, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Manufacturing and sales of confectionary and food
Sales 199,941 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 3,259 persons (including1,634 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 1,663 women (including 1,087 non-regular employees)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 14.3%
Average service years for
14.8 years (17.5 years for men, 12.1 years for women)
regular employees

55 Best Practices Collection 2015

 CALBEE, INC.

It is true that there are employees who are not concerned

Background and goals of in the least about the promotion of diversity at this moment.
However, in order to enable the company to continue, it is
diversity management the responsibility of the management to increase their
awareness to help the company grow and prosper.
Public affirmation by the president of the
indispensability of diversity for the growth of the
company Specific measures taken for
CALBEE, INC. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) promoting diversity management
was established in 1949 and manufactures and sells
confectionary and food. The current chairman also took
the post of CEO in June 2009 and the company started to Implementation of activities focused on the
promote diversity activities in earnest since April of the diversity committee
following year. In April of 2010, the Diversity Committee composed of 15
The chairman of the company recognized for the first time employees was launched to initiate activities aimed to
the importance of diversity when he was serving as the increase the employees’ awareness of diversity. In the first
president of Johnson and Johnson in Japan. When he took year, to start with, briefing sessions were held in its offices
part in a global meeting which was held regularly with a to explain the content of diversity and the objectives and
participation of 50 people around the world, he was told by meanings of its promotion. At the same time, it was
his American boss why diversity was not promoted in his emphasized that it was important for each employee with a
company in Japan despite that there was no special variety of viewpoints to set forth his/her views regarding
reason such as religion for preventing the implementation the matter in order to pick out problems and find solutions
of diversity in Japan and that it was not acceptable that to them. In addition, the first “Diversity Forum” (held every
diverse human resources and female employees were not year since then) of the Calbee Group was held in which all
allowed to play an active part in a foreign-owned company. employees took part to air their views by raising a hand. In
He felt that his boss was right. When he put into practice addition, in order to explore compelling questions on the
diversity management in the Japanese company, the promotion of diversity, other enlightenment activities were
company was revitalized and achieved a significant growth. carried out including the conduction of questionnaire
The current chairman of the company became strongly survey and the preparation of a handbook on the system
aware of the effect produced by diversity management to help strike a good balance of work and personal life for
according to this success. making known the availability of such a system.
The chairman of the company affirms that “the objective of In the second year, in order to develop further activities for
promoting diverse management is to grow the company.” the diffusion of the effort, as a means to involve not only
He stresses the point that it is essential to exploit the the head office but also manufacturing factories, a
potential of the company for its growth and one of the workshop for factories, a workshop for support women’s
challenges for the purpose is the promotion of diversity. career and a workshop for communication for encouraging
mutual understanding and sympathy were established. In
Strong commitment to the numerical targets addition, in order to revitalize the committee members,
The chairman considers that it is not sufficient to simply recruitment of new members was organized from
establish a qualitative goal in order to promote diversity employees publicly. The company made the promotion of
management without quantitative numerical targets for the diversity and promoted its understanding by developing
company management and attaches importance to grassroots activities focused on each workshop.
numerical values such as the women’s employment rate From the third year onward, the person in charge of the
and the proportion of women in managerial posts. The personnel department became the chairman of the
chairman considers that “the company management starts Diversity Committee by taking into consideration the
with the establishment of its objectives. These should be possibility of reflecting the opinions collected in the first
determined based on numbers.” When he was practicing and the second years in the personnel system. The
diversity management in his previous post, he declared increase in the number of ex-members of the Diversity
that he would achieve the women’s employment rate of Committee has allowed the development activities
35% and the proportion of women in managerial posts and designed to promote diversity through the provision of
executive posts of 25% and 25%, respectively. He has ideas under the collaboration of a number of employees.
now declared to all the employees that he would achieve In the Calbee Group, the understanding of diversity is
the proportion of women in managerial posts of 30% in the promoted in three steps of “understanding” → “conviction”
present company by the year 2020. Unlike the soaring → “action.” It is not possible for us to proceed to action
days through the convoy system in the past, the present without the process of the “understanding” → “conviction.”
era is the era of hard competition and it is essential that The degree of “understanding” varies to a great extent
each employee perform at his/her full potential in order to from one person to another and the speed of “conviction”
survive the competition. The chairman emphasizes that it also depends on the person. For this reason, it is
is impossible for an aging and uniform organization that considered important to deal with this process tirelessly.
has not changed and is composed only of elderly male Currently, the effort is in the stage of the “understanding”
employees having to survive competition and thus, it is a → “conviction.” Once this stage is cleared, the process of
matter of course to promote diversity in the circumstances. the “conviction” → “action” is achieved shortly in many
occasions. The company considers it important for

Best Practices Collection 2015 56

CALBEE, INC.

employees to understand the outcomes in a numerical working hours, but outcomes. If outcomes are obtained
manner so that the importance of diversity management is with shorter working hours, there is no problem at all.” In
understood in a convincing fashion. this manner, an executive general manager with shorter
working hours leaving the office at 16:00 hours was born.
Transmission of information by the president The management is firmly committed to promote human
himself and conduction of management by resources with talent and abilities, accordingly.
talking directly with employees
The company holds the “Town Hall Meeting” in which Reform in the work shift of the factories
employees talk directly with the management including the Thanks to the work shift reform implemented in 2013, an
president since 2009 when the current chairman/president environment and culture that encourages employees with
took its post. The “Town Hall Meeting” is held in principle shorter working hours for childcare have been developed
twice a year in about 23 offices and factories which the in the Shonan factory.
management including the president visits personally to This reform was brought about in response to requests “to
explain the management policy directly to employees and return to work as an operator” placed by multiple
conducts Q and A session for employees. This is an employees with shorter working hours for childcare. An
important opportunity for communication and the current operator performs an important task of making
chairman/president places higher importance than other adjustments of production work and machinery in the
matters and the meeting is held regularly and production line. The request of those operators who had
continuously. been engaged in the production line since the launch of
In addition, the “Matsujuku” (a cramming session) is held the line matched with the desire of their boss who also
in multiple places in which participants discuss the wished them to continue working as skeleton members.
“importance of learning” with the chairman as the head of In the factory, the production is performed in principle in
the session and the senior adviser as the honorary head. three shifts during 24 hours a day. In the circumstance,
The name “Matsujuku” has been adopted from the initials employees with shorter working hours for childcare who
of both the head of the session and the honorary head. did not come under any of the shifts were forced to transfer
Discussions are held between the head of the session and to other areas of work including indirect or auxiliary work
the honorary head and employees that have wished to and could not make use of the skills and experience
participate regardless of their departments and posts. In acquired before their maternity leave. Before the reform,
FY2013, a total of 6 sessions were held with a participation teams were formed in three shifts for each product. As a
of 112 people to exchange opinions animatedly. result, if employees with shorter working hours for
In the meantime, the view of the chairman/president that childcare were fixed for the day shift, other employees
diversity is needed is put into practice with respect to the would be assigned to other two shifts. In order to prepare a
appointment of human resources in managerial posts or in work shift schedule could be accepted and accommodated
higher posts. For example, as of 2014, the executive by all employees, the manager had an interview with each
director of operations for the central Japan passed the test of 140 employees to explain the need to distribute working
for the promotion to a section chief during her childcare staff in accordance with their skills and abilities and to
leave owing to her past records in having built the improve the work efficiency for their understanding and
marketing field of the company. Later, she was promoted acceptance.
to the post of a general manager while maintaining her Thereafter, training for acquiring the production skills was
working hours based on childcare shift (short working hour provided to enable them to perform multiple tasks. Thanks
system). When she was promoted to the post of the to this training, all employees except those with working
executive general manager, the president supported her hour restrictions could work in the production process of
promotion by saying, “the company is not looking for long any product. The multi-skill development has enabled the

 An aspect of the “Town Hall Meeting” held across the  An aspect of “Matsujuku” (right)
country (left)

57 Best Practices Collection 2015

 CALBEE, INC.

factory to deal with a sudden lack of workers and an

environment where not only employees with childcare, but
all workers can work with a peaceful mind.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Improvement in productivity and quality through
a reform in work shift
Due to the reform in the work shift, the factory could
reduce the production cost by 2.1% (compared to 2012)
and increased the annual production volume by 28%
(compared to 2012). In addition, as a result of the
productivity improvement, the overtime was reduced by
about 20%.
When highly skilled female employees who had played an
active part before a maternity leave returned to work and
the new work shift started, they found a variety of
problems using their knowledge and abilities and
implemented improvement in the raw material treatment,
processing, seasoning, packaging and production
equipment in parallel to their normal work. As a result of
performing a variety of tasks with their boss and other
employees including planning, its verification, data
analysis among others, it has been possible to reduce the
waiting hours for the assembly and testing process,
improve the capacity of the packaging machine, improve
the product quality and build a mechanism for quality
check.
The female employees themselves with shorter working
hours for childcare reported the effort of the factory in the
 An aspect of the production of potato chips in the Shonan
meeting to report progress which is held once a year and
factory
in which all the factories take part. Not only workers in
other factories, but also non-factory workers responded
favorably. In the wake of this occasion, the number of
inspection tours of the factor has increased and there are
factories who have introduced the same system. Currently,
actions are being taken to distribute personnel and build
an environment which will help improve the overall
productivity of the company.

Best Practices Collection 2015 58

DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD. Manufacturing Large enterprise

The Company does not only provides high added-value

services, but also has improved work efficiency through
the innovation of the evaluation and development system
as well as the work style that conforms to the shift of its
business model.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Increase in the necessity to make an internal reform of the organization due to the
technological innovation and change in customer needs
 Effort to prevent women from leaving the company and enable them to play an active part

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 To the second stage of the development of Development of an environment to allow female
employees to play an active role
 Introduction of a program to develop female employees for leaders
 Promotion of the “innovation in work style” beyond the “reduction in working hours”

Outcomes of diversity management

 Contribution to the reduction of 300 hours per year through work reform performed by
sales-supporting personnel with short working hours
 Acceleration of technological development by female employees from the perspective of
consumers to find and solve their problems

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1894 Capital 114,464 million yen

Head office address 1-1-1, Ichigaya Kagacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
General printing company which, with a competitive edge in printing technology and information technology,
Business outline operates a wide range of businesses including printing of printed matter, commercial printing, manufacturing of
packaging and building materials, electronics products and provides a diversity of products and services.
Sales Consolidated : 1,448,550 million yen and non-consolidated: 919,016 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of march 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 10,827 persons (including 0 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 1,813 women (including 0 non-regular employee)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 3.0%
Average service years for
14.5 years (17.2 years for men, 11.7 years for women)
regular employees

59 Best Practices Collection 2015

 DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.

10% has dropped to 3% since 2008 which is more or less

Background and goals of equivalent to that of male employees.
diversity management
Specific measures taken for
Increase in the necessity to make an internal
reform of the organization due to the promoting diversity management
technological innovation and change in
customer needs To the second stage of the development of
DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to Development of an environment to allow female
as “the company”) which was found in 1876 as a printing employees to play an active role
company sets the “P & I Solution” through the integration Following the building of an environment which allows
of “Printing Technology” and “Information Technology” as women to return to work at ease after a maternity leave, a
its corporate vision. The business of the company is variety of measures have been implemented to build an
mainly classified into three types; “Information environment to allow employees to strike a good balance
Communication,” “Living and Industry” and “Electronics” between work and family by calling their participation in
and business divisions are established for each type. company of their spouses in seminars on the return to
In the past, the business model based on build-to-order work after childcare leave and holding a “family-friendly
manufacturing in which the focus was placed on day.” The next step was the implementation of measures
manufacturing products precisely and as soon as possible to support the career building of female employees.
in accordance with orders from customers was Specifically, the system to evaluate users of the short
predominant. However, it is not possible nowadays to working hour system was modified to make evaluation
generate added value unless the company discovers based on time-based performance in 2010 so that the
problems that are not uncovered by customers themselves short working hours were not detrimental to their career.
and proposes solutions for solving them. For this reason, it Moreover, seminars are provided once a year to users of
is indispensable for employees themselves to stand on the the short working hour system and their managers,
same footing as customers and consumers for looking at respectively in order to show them how to pursue their
problems and finding solutions to them. In the career while using the system and give guidance to their
circumstances, it is difficult for a company to deal with the managers on how to allocate work to and develop those
problem with a conventional standard organizational using the e short working hour system.
structure, work style and staff deployment. Therefore, it is With the increase in the number of female employees
the key to the business in the future that all human coming back to work after life events such as childbirth
resources play their part in the right place to generate and childcare, individual differences after returning to work
ideas in a creative manner to submit them to customers in the extent of growth and speed for career formation
and consumers. Thus, the business foundation of a have become evident. It was gradually found that the type
company should be laid upon “diversity” itself. In this of work performed by each employee before the life events
sense, the company engages in changing the traditional had a large effect on this in addition to personal efforts. It
systems and mechanisms to respond to the current was discovered that there was a tendency that employees
business model as its concerted effort to focus on the use who were aware and confident that they had undertaken
of human resources. and overcome difficult tasks in their early ages engaged in
their work after their return to produce outcomes by
Effort to prevent women from leaving the exercising their ingenuity within a limited time, improving
company and enable them to play an active part efficiency and cooperating with other people in order to
The company started to actively employ female employees achieve the same work target as before leaving their work.
since late in the 1990s and there was a continued It was thought that partially the above problems is caused
by the fact that bosses (mostly men) deal with subordinate
tendency that the rate of female employees leaving their
jobs increased around after 5 year’s employment. This female employees by showing reservations towards them
was particularly significant in salespersons and until the differently from male counterparts in work distribution and
beginning of the 2000s, an expected situation continued in daily dealings. In the circumstances, nowadays, the focus
in seminars for middle management is placed on how to
which about half of them left the company after 5 year’s
employment. In order to find the reasons why, about 50 help young employees regardless of gender to acquire
female employees were interviewed in 2002 and many business experience and success experience. In addition,
said that they could not assimilate the idea of continuing to the “meetings designed to support women in their
workplace” are implemented for female employees in the
work after childbirth and childcare leave. In view of the
late 20s and their managers to support the building of a
situation, the company introduced a variety of systems and
measures including the implementation of the network network among employees.
learning program aimed to help female employees in
managerial posts to play an active role in the company and Introduction of a program to develop female
the return-to-work program which allows women to take a employees for leaders
maternity and childcare leave and return to work smoothly In addition to the aforementioned environment
with a view to enabling female employees to continue development, the “mentor system” and the “mentor
working. The labor turnover rate which stood as of 2003 at development program” are being implemented with a view

Best Practices Collection 2015 60

DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.

to developing workplace mentors (senior employees to established in each business division and group company,
consult with/role models) and next-generation executive but also employees of the ranks of general managers and
candidates and to establishing a system to support women managers were appointed in the secretariat as “dedicated
in their workplace. In the beginning of the introduction, this staff” for the effort. In this manner, the system did not only
was conducted by matching senior female employees and allow the sharing of information through the “dedicated
junior female employees in sales. However, currently, staff” on the overall movement of the group and each
mentors are in charge of developing female leader business division, but also enabled each division to carry
candidates within the mentor system. out effective measures to achieve their respective targets.
In this program, deputy-division managers and general In order to allow the implementation of a concerted effort
managers with abundant experience in management of focused on the company instead of individualized effort of
the workplace serve as “mentors for mentor candidates” each division or group, the company has positioned
(called “advisors”) for subject female employees. Subject dedicated staff from the management with consent and
female employees learn the viewpoints of both the collaboration from each business division since FY2013.
training-giving side and the training-receiving side and Through the implementation and promotion of the effort to
acquire behaviors and roles of a leader. They are improve work efficiency according to the needs of each
registered as “mentors” after the completion of the business division and group company, the reduction in
mentoring period and will be involved in the development working hours as a result of improved work process and
of young female employees from the perspective of a improvement in added value in work have been achieved
mentor. A total of 49 women were designated as “advisors” (see below). The monthly average overtime which stood at
and 63 “mentors” have been produced in the past five about 40 hours has been reduced to about 20 hours in
years. FY2013 and it is seen that change in work style has been
Mentors do not only build relationship and communicate achieved.
with young employees, but also serve themselves as a
role model. The mentors who have completed the
mentoring program are listed on the in-house website and Outcomes of diversity
any employee can contact freely with a mentor. Thanks to
the effort, the female ratio in the managerial posts which
management
was 0.3% in FY2006 has increased to 3.0% in FY2013.
Contribution to the reduction of 300 hours per
Promotion of the “innovation in work style” year through work reform performed by
beyond the “reduction in working hours” sales-supporting personnel with short working
In the meantime, an effort designed to reduce overtime hours
work has been implemented across the company from the As a result of the improvement in the quality and efficiency
early 2000s. However, due to a sense of crisis in the face of work based on the change in work style as mentioned
of the change in the business model, an effort to above, the work style and roles of female employees in
“drastically change the work style” has been implemented. charge of clerical affairs in each department have also
In 2009, the “first basic plan” focused on the effort to changed.
“create time and resources,” in 2012, the “second basic While each department has been carrying out the
plan” focused on the effort to “make an effective use of improvement in the quality and efficiency of work, the
time and resources” and in 2013, another effort to “change Information Solution Business Division has transferred the
the work style” with the aim to improve added values and work related to the preparation of invoices which was
increase the speed of innovation have been started. performed so far by personnel dedicated to the job to a
Here, the management proposes objectives, targets and team of 6 female employees including short-working hour
philosophy of the change in work style, and teams and employees who were in charge of in-house clerical affairs
individuals make an effective use of time and resources so far. However, since this simply added the burden of 32
based on them according to their respective desirable hours/month (384 hours/year) of the work related to the
work style to increase added value of work in order to meet preparation of invoices to other employees including
the needs of customers and consumers and solve social short-working hour employees, it was indispensable to
problems at high levels. The company does not only aim to improve work efficiency through the revision of work
reduce working hours, but also place a focus on the process so that the new task could be accommodated in
original objective of work to “increase added value of the current work.
products and services to provide” and the motivation of In the past, this work consisted of receiving basic data
employees for the effort has been largely enhanced. required for preparing invoices in paper form from related
However, in a company in which each business division is departments, editing the received data manually and
highly independent and the business content covers a visually checking after the preparation. On this occasion,
wide range of areas, it was impossible to propose the team of 6 female employees including short-working
“innovation” in a uniform manner. In the circumstances, the hour employees proposed an improvement in the work
company built a system which enabled each business process and after consultation with related departments,
division to achieve innovation flexibly according to its the process has been systematized including the use of
situation and problems in order to carry out the effort in an electronic data. This has minimized the time for required
effective manner. Specifically, not only that the “Committee for the preparation and verification. In addition, the work
and Secretariat to Promote the Change in Work Style” was time for the job has been significantly reduced from 32

61 Best Practices Collection 2015

 DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.

hours/month to 3 hours/month (384 hours/year to 36 of the space and is easily cooked and eaten in 2007. The
hours/year). Moreover, the new system has enabled the product was used for the Space Shuttle mission in the
sharing of work among the female team including following year. The major characteristics of this wrapping
short-working hour employees in addition to the material are the use of the IB (Innovative Barrier) Film
elimination of dedicated staff for the job. which is transparent and has high barrier performance to
“enable astronauts to enjoy food in the space”. In the past,
Acceleration of technological development by emphasis was placed on functionality, but the product
female employees from the perspective of places emphasis on the “richness in food taste”. The
consumers to find and solve their problems company received a certification of appreciation for the
development from the Japanese Society for Food Science
In the Development Department of the Packing Business
Division, their work is divided mainly into the design of and Technology and the reputation of the product both
machinery for packaging and the design of packaging inside and outside the company is increasing.
materials for packages. Especially, in the latter, there are a In addition, in respect of the latter, two female engineers
has been engaged in the translation into a product of the
number of female employees graduated from
science-based universities specialized in chemistry and biomass-derived wrapping film using plant-derived
biology with basic knowledge of plastic materials and the materials and the environmental evaluation. The amount
number of women applying for the company in order to of sales of the product has increased by about 850 million
yen compared to 2011 in addition to a successful joint
“engage in packing design” has been increasing. In recent
years, the number of food manufacturers and consumer development with a partner company based on their
goods manufacturers that consider the environment and consumer-based point of view and meticulous
improvement in convenience for use has increased and a communication. Since environmental consideration is
essential for corporate sustainability, the market of the
number of new products have been developed by female
engineers with consumer’s point of view. There is a product will be further expanded.
tendency that female employees that cook and use
detergents daily can develop more new products from the
perspective of end users than male employees to meet the
requirement of customers. In addition, with the increase in
the number of female employees in partner companies,
female engineers are expected to play an important part
from the perspective of doing business smoothly by
sharing sense and consumer’s point of view when making
communications.
Products developed mainly by female employees include
the package for space food and the plant-derived
wrapping film. The company has been engaged in the
project for manufacturing the package for space food for  (Left) Wrapping material in consideration of the
many years and has succeeded in the development of environment
packing material for the “Space Japanese Food” which (Right) Package for the Space Japanese Food
has strength and storage ability to endure the environment

Best Practices Collection 2015 62

DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd. Construction Large enterprise

The Company steadily transfers skills of “contemporary

master craftsmen” to skilled workers with an unbiased
age composition and specializes in low volume
production of a wide variety of products to gain new
customers.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Sense of crisis for the transfer of skills triggered the employment of a wide variety of human
resources.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Work style tailored to each employee
 Building of a mechanism for the smooth transfer of skills
 Development of human resources in accordance with their aptitude and support for
acquisition of qualification for multi-skill development of young employees
 Creation of opportunities for employees

Outcomes of diversity management

 Increase in the number of new customers by about 3 times and an increase in sales in new
fields by 21%
 Remarkable improvement in work efficiency and improvement in productivity due to the “IT
Improvement Activity”

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1947 Capital 11million yen

Head office address 3-5-10, Mabuchi, Ota-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Plating and surface treatment
Sales 521 million yen (as of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 38 persons (including 0 non-regular employee)
7 women (including 0 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by
Proportion of women in managerial posts: 0%
attribute category
6 elderly persons (including 0 non-regular employee)
Average service years for
8.2 years (12 years for men, 4.4 years for women)
regular employees

63 Best Practices Collection 2015

 DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd.

work efficiency through informatization (“IT Improvement”

Background and goals of (see below)), resulting in the acquisition of new customers.
Although the amount of sales temporarily dropped due to
diversity management the Lehman shock, there has been a steady recovery and
it stood in 2012 at nearly the same level as at the peak
Sense of crisis for the transfer of skills triggered time.
the employment of a wide variety of human
resources.
DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to Specific measures taken for
as “the company”) which was found in 1947 has metal promoting diversity management
surface treatment technology to provide alumite treatment
to a wide variety of components in low volume production.
An employee who has been playing a part since the Work style tailored to each employee
foundation era was awarded the award of the The labor regulations of the company only stipulate the
“contemporary master craftsman” of the Ministry of Health, working hours “from 8:00 AM till 5:00 PM in principle” and
Labour, and Welfare in 2001 and the award of Medal with the work style is flexibly adjusted according to the situation
Yellow Ribbon in 2007. In addition, a number of workers of each employee. There is a variety of work styles among
qualified as a first class technician, a second class employees including an elderly worker who sets working
technician and meisters (highly skilled technicians) are days and working hours according to his physical
working for the company. conditions and an employee who strikes a good balance
The company started to engage in the effort to promote between child-bearing and work, among others. The
diversity in 2002 under the second-generation current individual work style is frankly determined through
president. At the time, the president developed a sense of discussion at the time of recruitment or in daily
crisis for the transfer of skills due to the aging of the communications.
foundation members and lack of young human resources. The contract with elderly persons over 65 years old is
Although the company decided to start to employ a few renewed every year, but hardly any worker leaves the
young workers every year to respond to the situation, no company. The 82-year old “contemporary master
new university or high school graduates applied for the job craftsman” (awarded with the Medal with Yellow Ribbon)
and there were also difficulties in recruiting mid-career and skilled technicians in the 70s support the development
workers. In order to find a way out of the situation, the of human resources in the company. People in the 70s and
current president developed various facilities including the over can work short hours according to their physical
staff canteen and lockers and built a company dormitory conditions and they work from 8:00 AM till 4:00 PM or
for employees from rural areas by reforming his own three times a week. The female worker without her spouse
condominium. And, the company developed recruitment adjusts her working hours to the time to take her child to
activities using staff recruitment services on the web. and from the kindergarten/school. In this manner, a flexible
In 2003, the company transmitted a message “United work system is available in consideration of the situation of
effort achieves more than one man’s efforts” to employees each employee.
in order to facilitate the creation of a virtuous cycle in which
the development of the working environment and careful Building of a mechanism for the smooth transfer
training of acquired human resources heightened the of skills
sense of competition and attraction among employees and There were veteran workers who did not wish to teach
allowed the acquisition of new human resources.” technique to others considering that “skills and techniques
Through trials and errors, the company changed its policy are self-acquired assets.” In order to solve this problem,
for personnel recruitment. In the past, the company mainly the company has adopted the system in 2008 in which
employed mid-career workers in the same industry. young employees judge whether they wish an employee
However, having come to the understanding that who has reached the retirement age continue to work for
employees with no previous experience could acquire the company. In this manner, an employee who does not
more easily its own method and technology without take trouble in teaching technique to young employees will
prejudice and work effectively, the company started to find it difficult to continue working. In the meantime,
actively recruit inexperienced workers. In addition, the veteran employees judge whether a young employee has
company employed people including women in childcare acquired sufficient ability to obtain a technical qualification
who were not employed by other companies as regular or not. As a result of the introduction of a system in which
employees. As a result, currently, the company is formed veteran and young workers evaluate each other, they now
of a variety of employees regardless of age, gender and care for one another and the transfer of skills is now
experience without concentration on a specific generation, easier.
including members from the time of foundation and In addition, communication between people with a big age
mid-career employees. gap is difficult as if they use different languages. It is very
The company has not only ensured the transfer of skills difficult to fill the gap and the stability of workforce was
through the recruitment of a variety of human resources poor for this reason in the past. In the circumstances, the
and improved its technological strength in the production company recruited middle aged persons to eliminate the
site in which young and middle-age persons have grown bias in the workplace.
and are playing an active role, but also has improved the

Best Practices Collection 2015 64

DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Currently, a relatively young leader trains a newly The support for acquiring qualifications was triggered by
employed person. In one or two years, however, the new the 82-year old veteran technician of the company who
employee can directly make questions to people older has provided a distinguished service to the company. The
than the young leader, and at this point, his training is company established the plan for acquisition of
transferred to older people. For example, if the 82-year old qualifications to show him its gratitude and appreciation.
person forms a pair with a 26-year old employee, the After acquiring the first grade qualification as skilled
manager in his 40s serves as the middleman between technical, the veteran technician was nominated a
them. Once their relationship has been established, the “contemporary master craftsman” in later days and was
manager ceases to intervene to allow the 82-year old and awarded the “Medal with Yellow Ribbon” five years later for
26-year old to communicate directly. the first time as a technician in the alumite industry.
In addition, only 1 to 2 new persons are employed for each In addition to the acquisition of qualifications, the company
section in order to prevent productivity from dropping by enables young technicians to gain multiple skills through
sparing too much time for training. This allows the job rotation and tries not to stop a process even with a
provision of detailed training and prevents new employees small number of people and to enhance their motivation.
from making complaints of training time and content.
Creation of opportunities for employees
In order to increase opportunities for employees to work
effectively and to advance into a new market, the company
participates in the “AMATERAS” which is the join body for
receiving orders for aerospace components by receiving
support from the Tokyo metropolitan government and the
is actively engaged in new efforts such as its participation
in the “Shitamachi Bobsleigh Project.” This does not only
improve the motivation of employees, but also enables the
company to receive new orders (see below).

Outcomes of diversity
management
 (Left) The veteran “contemporary master craftsman” and a Increase in the number of new customers by
middle aged manager (right)
about 3 times and an increase in sales in new
fields by 21%
Development of human resources in accordance The number of new customers increased by more than
with their aptitude and support for acquisition of 100 companies every year thanks to the improvement in
services and quality with the growth of young employees in
qualification for multi-skill development of addition to older ones and active participation in various
young employees projects of local governments and regions led mainly by
The president says, “It is important to understand what the mid-career employees. The number of delivery record
each employee is good at and to give him/her a push increased by 2.6 times from 752 companies in FY2003 to
accordingly. It is important to consider what he/she can do, 1950 companies in FY2013.
not what he/she cannot do.” The president has been In addition, as mentioned earlier, the number of new
engaged in developing human resources in a ten year businesses has been increasing due to the participation in
span by bearing in mind the role they would perform in the the “AMATERAS” which is the join body for receiving
future. orders for aerospace components by receiving support
The company pays all costs to help employees to acquire from the Tokyo metropolitan government. The company
outside qualifications including national qualifications until has acquired not only the certification of JIS Q 9100 which
they acquire them. After their acquisition, not a temporary is specific to the aerospace industry to guarantee the
bonus, but an amount determined according to the type of quality of aircraft components, but also has built a network
qualifications is paid to qualified employees every month with small to medium companies which have acquired the
and there are more than twenty qualifications which are Nadcap certification which is a similar quality certification,
subject to monthly payment. resulting in the increase in the number of inquiries from
The president says, “It is not only for the company, but also large companies. As a result, the sales of products related
for employees to encourage them to acquire qualifications to aerospace and defense sector which accounted for 6%
so that when they have to leave the company and work in in 2008 over the total sales increased to 21% in 2013.
other places for any reasons, they will not have any In addition, the participation in a variety of projects
difficulty in getting a job.” The president Akimoto strongly including the “AMATERAS,” “Shitamachi Bobsleigh Project”
encourages employees to give them learning opportunities and “Lunar Dream Capsule Project” is an attraction of the
and improve their motivation in order to bring out their company at the time of recruiting personnel. This has also
potential capacity and emphasizes the point when holding a positive impact within the company leading directly to the
an interview for employment. improvement in motivation. The improvement in the

65 Best Practices Collection 2015

 DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd.

corporate image has brought about a virtuous cycle The approach to IT Improvement of the company is firstly
including securing of outstanding human resources. the “suboptimization.” The total optimization is costly and
when a trouble occurs in a place, everything stops. For the
Remarkable improvement in work efficiency and sake of steady improvement, it is preferable that a trial is
improvement in productivity due to the “IT made, and opinions of the site are checked before
Improvement Activity” introducing a total system. The female employ is still
engaged in the IT Improvement effort by looking at
The effort of the “IT Improvement” implemented by the
problems and challenges in communication with people at
initiative of a female employee has allowed unified
the site. The company has improved productivity thanks to
management of quotations, instructions and delivery notes
its efforts for the improvement of work efficiency based on
and the work efficiency has been largely enhanced,
IT. However, the company has put in place an environment
accordingly. The company received the APSOM award of
to allow each of employees to be motivated and dedicate
FY2013 of the Manufacturing APS Promotion Organization,
to work by allowing a combined use of both hand-writing
a NPO for this effort. In addition, the company was
and IT tool (Contexer) in order to not force the use of IT
selected as a “company putting IT into practice” of the
technology on veteran employees who play the core roles
“small and medium-sized enterprise IT management
in the company and make them feel alienated at times.
capability award” in 2014 hosted by Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry.
The female employee has been working in the company
for four years and adjusts her working hours and holidays
according to the schedules of the school of her child. She
was initially employed as a clerical worker. In the course of
her work, she faced the situation in which she received a
number of phone calls asking, “When the delivery-notes
will be sent?” “Why the delivery- notes is not attached to
the products?” etc. In fact, the delivery notes had fallen
behind because the many of the products were delivered
in short periods. In the circumstances, the female
employee told her boss who is the mid-career leader about
her concern over the delay in the sending of delivery-notes.
The boss suggested to her the idea of participating in the
trial project for “IT Improvement” in collaboration with
Hosei University. The leader had also in mind to improve
the efficiency in the in-house work and was entertaining
the idea of engaging in “IT Improvement” as a
collaborative project between university and industry. The
female employee took on the job as the person in charge
and engaged in the “IT Improvement” project in  Outcomes of the IT Improvement
consultation with the leader. activities (a part)
In the past, when the person who had made a slip for a
delivery was absent, it was difficult for her to find a
necessary document including quotations from a mountain
of documents. In addition, she spent all her time on
accounting affairs such as the preparation of invoices at
the month end and corporate cut-off date for invoices.
Such a situation has been radically transformed through
the introduction of the system. The system issues
quotation, work instructions to the site, delivery notes,
receipts and invoices all in combination and allows also
search for any document through a customer name, which
has resulted in a significant improvement in work efficiency.
Now, an environment has been developed where persons
in charge of sales with a tablet can input a work instruction  Workers in a variety of age groups surrounding the
at a customer’s place and both efficiency and convenience president
have been radically enhanced.

Best Practices Collection 2015 66

BAXTER LIMITED Manufacturing Large enterprise

The Company has improved motivation of employees

through “work style innovation” and strengthened the
core business through a strategic use of clinical
coordinators.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Leveling between men and women in the rate in managerial posts: “Building Talent Edge
Project” started in Asia/Pacific region.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Putting into practice the “work style innovation” through the introduction of a new system and
thorough awareness raising
 Strategic use of clinical coordinators (CC)

Outcomes of diversity management

 Improvement in the proportion of female workers and worker’s motivation through the “work
style innovation”
 Penetration of the peritoneal dialysis therapy and academic achievements brought about by
the awareness-raising by clinical coordinators (CC)

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1969 Capital 3,930 million yen

Head office address Triton Square 9F, 1-8-10, Harumi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Import, manufacturing and sales of dialysis products, plasma protein formulation and drug administration
Business outline
systems, and aftercare services
Sales 50,501 million yen (in 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 896 persons (including 84 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 352 women (including 48 non-regular employee)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 21%
Average service years for
12.2 years (13.4 years for men, 10.9 years for women)
regular employees

67 Best Practices Collection 2015

 BAXTER LIMITED

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Leveling between men and women in the rate in Putting into practice the “work style innovation”
managerial posts: “Building Talent Edge Project” through the introduction of a new system and
started in Asia and Pacific region thorough awareness raising
BAXTER LIMITED (hereinafter referred to as “the In 2011, the company started a new system called the
company”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Baxter “Work Style Innovation” to achieve a flexible work style
International Inc., USA. The Baxter Group holds bases in and an effort aimed at awareness-raising for its full
North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia/Pacific implementation. In addition to the introduction of
region to provide treatment methods for hemophilia, no-overtime day twice a week and electronic commuting
immune disorders, kidney disease and other diseases in without limitation in the number of days with the approval
more than 100 countries around the world and employs of the boss, the company developed an environment
more than 50,000 people. The Baxter Group for which which allows employees to access to e-mails and data
people with a variety of nationalities and races work regardless of time and place by handing out smart phones
started to actively engages in the use of female employees and tablet terminals. The company has also introduced a
as the key to diversity promotion in the Asia/Pacific region. system whereby female employees unable to make a
In 2005, the “Building Talent Edge Project” was started a business trip for childcare can exchange information with
project across the Asia/Pacific region. The ultimate goal of overseas bases or watch the meeting to which they could
this project is to level off the rate in managerial posts not attend in later days by making use of the web meeting
between men and women. If opportunities are given system and vide-recording system at the meeting rooms in
indifferently regardless of gender, the proportion of men addition to the decision to finish meetings before 3:00PM.
and women in managerial posts should be nearly fifty-fifty. This has not only shortened the time for meetings, but also
In the circumstances, to begin with, the company remarkably increased the speed in decision-making.
approached the project by approximating the male-female In addition, the executive in charge of personnel
ratio at the time of employment to “fifty-fifty (50:50).” In management himself distributes to all employees an e-mail
order to increase the number of women to apply for the with a message of what he is putting into practice, for
company, the company took various measures including example, “I will finish work by coming earlier in the
requesting personnel recruitment agencies to introduce morning and go to a gym for dieting purposes,” etc. This is
the same number of men and women. Once an equal aimed to encourage employees to adopt a flexible work
number of men and women have been secured, the next style by serving himself as a role model. This has
step is to implement promotion and talent development developed into two-way communication with employees
fairly and accurately. The basic philosophy in this project and he received opinions and good cases of “work style”
was that the integration of all these requirements would from employees across the country, which has resulted in
allow an effective management. the gradual shift of the “work style” of the company.
As a result, the female ratio in managerial posts in the As a consequence of the accumulation of these opinions
company in the Asia/Pacific region reached 50% in 2008 and good cases, the “Iku Boss Check List” specific to the
and the level is currently maintained. During the period, company was born. The company developed an “Iku Boss
the amount of sales in the region increased by 11.1%, Campaign” by preparing a checklist consisting of 12 items
which corresponds to nearly four times the composite that may represent an “Iku Boss,” that is, “a boss who is
annual growth rate (CAGR) in the previous four years. not only capable of considering the balance between work
Despite the achievement of the goal in the Asia/Pacific and life of subordinates/staff working together in the
region as a whole, Baxter in Japan fell behind in the effort workplace and producing outcomes of the organization
with respect to women. In the circumstance, the company while supporting their career and life, but also enjoying his
established the “Inclusion and Diversity Committee” in own work and private life” and the like. In the campaign,
2011. The company analyzed meticulously the needs for “Iku Boss seals” and “Iku Boss cards” were distributed to
work style and career formation based on in-house all employees and all people in managerial posts,
questionnaires and interviews to formulate required efforts respectively. An “Iku Boss card” is a pasteboard for “Iku
and develop a comprehensive plan for the promotion of Boss seals”. If an employee considers in light of the “Iku
diversity and inclusion before putting them into practice. Boss Check List” that his boss meets the requirements of
Specifically, seminars called “Women@work” aimed at the the check items such as “his boss evaluates fairly all his
career development and establishment of networking of subordinates based on performance including an
female employees and the “Inclusion Seminars” for all employee who cannot work overtime for reasons of
women in managerial posts were introduced for talent childcare or nursing”, “his boss enjoys both his work and
development and awareness-raising. In addition, a series his private life”, etc., he presents a seal to his boss on the
of efforts aimed at aware-raising and diversification of work spot. There is also an arrangement in place in which the
style were started in a concerted effort among employees card is attached to the entrance of the private room for a
as a whole including women. As a result, the female ratio person in managerial post to enable those employees who
in managerial posts stands at 20.6% as of January 2014. feel shy of giving the seal directly to paste it seal on the
card. This has given the opportunity to allow a boss and

Best Practices Collection 2015 68

BAXTER LIMITED

his/her subordinates to think of the balance between work Development and Promotion Program” and drafted the
and life. “job description” describing the rating points. Then, using
the assessment tool jointly developed with a third party
organization and other tools, the company conducted a
multi-faceted evaluation of each CC and formulated the
“Capacity Development Plan” by clarifying their strengths
and weaknesses. Thereafter, an opportunity was provided
in which each CC had an interview with her boss to
consider carefully her career plan. The company
attempted to standardize the skills of the CCs and
maximize their abilities in order to expand the peritoneal
dialysis business.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Improvement in the proportion of female workers
 “Iku Boss card” attached to the entrance of the and worker’s motivation through the “work style
private room of the person in managerial post
innovation”
Since the launch of the “Talent Edge Project,” the female
ratio has increased and as of January 2014, the ratio of
Strategic use of clinical coordinators (CC) female employees among all regular employees and
One of the company’s main products is a product for the among managerial posts is 36.1% and 20.6 % (15.4%
treatment of “peritoneal dialysis (PD).” When the renal equivalent to an executive post, 15.4 % equivalent to a
function is decreased and renal failure is caused, general manager post, 21.1% equivalent to a manager
unwanted waste products, water, sodium and the like post, and 27.4% equivalent to a post before ascension to a
gradually accumulate in the body without being excreted manager), respectively.
and these should be removed by dialysis. Currently, the Since 2011 onward, the “return-to-work ratio from
most widely performed dialysis therapy is “hemodialysis childcare leave” has been 100% and the number of female
(HD)” in which the blood is purified by taking blood out of employees who have returned to work from childcare
the body and passing it through the dialyzer made from leave since 2011 onward is 53 and 5 of them have been
synthetic membranes. In the meantime, the “peritoneal promoted.
dialysis” is a treatment in which a dialysis fluid is put in the In addition, regarding working hours, the overtime which
peritoneal cavity for a certain period of time to remove was 20 hours per month as an average around 2010 has
body wasters, water and the like in the blood through been shortened to 14 hours a month. Moreover, according
biological membranes called peritoneal membranes and to an attitude survey conducted to employees within the
diffuse to the dialysate side for removing the dialysate out organization, the engagement index which shows
of the body for purification. This treatment can be motivation and will to achieve is higher than other
performed at home. companies by 18%, while the inclusion index which
In order to spread the “peritoneal dialysis therapy,” it is measures work environment which allows a variety of
important that a medical team composed of doctors, human resources to work effectively has increased by 13%
nurses and others who treat patients in the hospital over the past four years. These attitude surveys are
understand the treatment method in an adequate manner. provided by a human resource consulting company
In the circumstance, the company has positioned a enabling a comparison with other companies which adopt
“clinical coordinator (CC)” that has qualification and the same survey.
experience of nurse in each business division to provide The company’s sales which had been sluggish until 2004
enlightenment on the treatment method and education on have been increasing gradually since the launch of the
the product to doctors and nurses and serve as a “Talent Edge Project” to the present day.
connection between the company’s product and the
medical front. Since people with the qualification of nurse
are mostly women, all the clinical coordinators (CC) of the
Penetration of the peritoneal dialysis therapy
company are women. and academic achievements brought about by
In the beginning, CCs worked in the sales department to the awareness-raising by clinical coordinators
assist MRs (medical representative) in their sales activities (CC)
based on the policy of the sales manager of each branch In 2014, two CCS have been promoted to managerial
office. As a result, there was a disparity in the skills of the posts. It can be said that the talent development through
CCs. Therefore, in 2011, the company transferred CCs to the implementation of the “Career Development and
the marketing department to make use of their expertise in Promotion Program,” an adequate evaluation and the fact
peritoneal dialysis which is the core business of the that female employees have started to take managerial
company. Specifically, the company defined the role and posts as their future career path marked a big change.
capacity requirements of a CC according to the “Career

69 Best Practices Collection 2015

 BAXTER LIMITED

Since it has become possible for the company to The “Nurse College” is a training program designed to
understand exactly the skills and career path, etc. of each improve knowledge and technique of nurses that get newly
CC through the “Career Development and Promotion involved in peritoneal dialysis treatment in order to provide
Program”, the company has left project based activities nursing care of patient with peritoneal dialysis. The
implemented by a plurality of working groups to CCs in program is certified by the Japan Academy of Nephrology
addition to their normal work. The planning and Nursing (JANN) and attendance to this program gives
management designed to cause the “Nurse College” which qualification points for the examination of the “Dialysis
is a part of the enlightenment activities, “CQI (Continuous Therapy Nurse.” About 4,000 nurses have attended the
Quality Improvement)” and “SDM (Shared Decision “Nurse College” and the number of hospitals participating
Making)” to become a household word have been in the CQI/SDM practice seminars which have been newly
developed as a result of such decision. added as a curriculum has reached 57 across the country.
In peritoneal dialysis, in order to safely perform dialysis at The fact that CQI/SDM has been accepted as a household
home over a long period of time, an effort to improve the word by hospitals and medical staff is seen in that four
quality of treatment including the prevention of peritonitis lectures on CQI and ADM and two lectures on SDM were
by loading and unloading dialysate in a clean manner is presented for the first time in the Japanese Society for
indispensable. The concept of CQI consists in that medical Dialysis Therapy in 2014, which is reflected as an outcome
staff engage in continuous improvements from this of a medical scientific meeting.
standpoint. In addition, SDM consists in the idea that at the The extent of acceptance of the peritoneal dialysis therapy
time of the introduction of dialysis treatment which marks a which is the core business of the company is steadily
big turning point in life for patients, medical staff and growing in the medical setting and medical circles as a
patients discuss the treatment and life after the result of the maximization of the ability and strategic use of
introduction of dialysis treatment thoroughly and make clinical coordinators.
decisions together over the dialysis method to be chosen
in order to maintain and improve their quality of life (QOL).
Here, the treatment method should be chosen together
upon submission of medical information including
complications of patients and their dialysis treatment on
the part of medical staff and the life design, future dreams,
precious things in life, etc. on the part of patients, instead
of that patients make decisions based on one-sided
information from medical staff. The company expects that
this will not only enhance the extent of satisfaction, but
also of the will to be subjected to treatment of patients and
considers indispensable for peritoneal dialysis,
accordingly.
 CQI practice seminars at hospital

Best Practices Collection 2015 70

NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION Construction Large enterprise

The Company has achieved an accurate and highly

productive process by improving the production device
in order to expand the work field for people with
disabilities.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Employment of people with disabilities based on the desire to grow with the region

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Expansion of the work field for people with disabilities through the introduction of a large
electronically-controlled automatic sewing machine
 Detailed support by the “subject member meetings” for people with disabilities
 Classification of skills and effort for multi-skill development

Outcomes of diversity management

 Process innovation brought about by the introduction of a large electronically-controlled
automatic sewing machine
 Expansion of the work field for and settlement in the workplace of people with disabilities
 High rating as a leading company for employment of people with disabilities

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1973 Capital 50 million yen

Head office address 263, Hataya, Nishigama-ku, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture
Manufacturing of clothing including underwear such as brassieres, home wear such as pajamas, sportswear
Business outline
and swimwear
Sales 1, 582 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 223 persons (including 61 non-regular employee)
201 women (including 51 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by Proportion of women in managerial posts: 40%
attribute category 9 people with disabilities (including 6 non-regular employee)
Employment rate of people with disabilities: 4.64%
Average service years for
15.7 years (11.9 years for men, 19.1 years for women)
regular employees

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 NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Employment of people with disabilities based on Expansion of the work field for people with
the desire to grow with the region disabilities through the introduction of a large
NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION (hereinafter electronically-controlled automatic sewing
referred to as “the company”) was established as a machine
subsidiary of Wacoal specialized in the manufacturing of A woman with intellectual disability who had joined the
nightwear. The company does not only manufacture company after graduating from a normal high school was
products and develops technologies, but also serves as a not good at paying attention to a plurality of work
technical center for providing technical training to overseas simultaneously and was in charge of auxiliary work such
factories of the Wacoal group. as labeling of products and inspection. However, she
Currently, the company employs a total of nine people with strongly wanted to get involved in sewing which is the
disabilities and five people of the receiving sections train main task of the company. In order to grant her request
them by having acquired the qualification of counselor for and with the desire of the president that she worked there
people with disabilities on work and life and standing close many years, the company introduced a “large
and watching. electronically-controlled automatic sewing machine” by
It was in 1981 when the company employed for the first using the “subsidy for the installation of equipment for
time a person with physical disability who was a woman people with disabilities” of the Organization in 2011. The
graduating from a local middle school through the large electronically-controlled automatic sewing machine
Hello-Work, an official recruitment agency. In 1984, the automatically performs sewing operations through
company employed a woman with intellectual disability preprogramming without the need to manually push
graduating from a local a school for children with physical forward fabric. So far, the machine was used for products
or mental disabilities (currently, special support education such as bags and shoes with certain fixed patterns, but
school) in the same manner. These two persons are still there was no precedent in the apparel industry in which
working actively as professionals in padding nightwear and patterns are diverse and trends change in a short period of
received in 2010 and 2014 an award as outstanding time. The company experienced repeated failures in
workers from the governor of the Niigata Prefecture. cooperation with a sewing manufacturer to learn by trial
In 2004, the company also employed a man with severe and error.
intellectual disability. He is engaged in work related to the In an electronically-controlled automatic sewing machine,
folding, labeling and tagging in the inspection section. A it is necessary to sandwich a cloth with a guide (clamp)
conveyor equipped with a metal detector which reads the groove along a seam from upside and downside. However,
barcode of a product was introduced to trace products and a conventional metal clamp costs 100,000 to 300,000 yen
count their number in order to allow the person with a piece. In the circumstances, the company developed a
physical disability to concentrate on his work. The two technique to manufacture plastic clamps by themselves
women with intellectual disability who are not good at using CAD and an automatic cutting machine. The
communication are engaged in technical drawing with technique allows manufacturing of clamps one after
CAD using their high concentration in a quiet place without another at a cost of 100 to 200 yen a piece by reading data
sewing-machine noise. of the sewing pattern designed by CAD into the automatic
With the “desire to grow with the region and to make cutting machine and cutting them off from a plastic board.
people with disabilities achieve self-realization,” the If a sewing pattern is programmed in an
company has been engaged in the employment of people electronically-controlled sewing machine and a cut cloth is
with disabilities in cooperation with the Hello-Work and set on the sewing machine by clamping, sewing is
special support education schools so far. The company automatically performed by simply pushing the button. Not
carefully determines their work by understanding the only that the operation is easy, but also sewing is
characteristics of each of them. If there is a need for it, it performed precisely without differences in size providing
reforms a device, or introduces a technique/apparatus to stable quality. Now, the company can deal with a product
prepare an environment to facilitate their work. The with a short life cycle due to a change in trend by
company actively makes investments by using the subsidy manufacturing cost-effective clamps. In addition, since the
system of the Japan Organization for Employment of the automatic machine allows sewing to progress without the
Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers need to manually push a cloth, the next cloth can be
(hereinafter, “the Organization”). prepared while the machine is working. The operation rate
has approached 100% and the productivity has been
improved by about 2 times.
With the establishment of the utilization method of the
electronically-controlled automatic sewing machine, the
company introduced another large machine. Since not
only people with disabilities but also employees without
skills can use it, the productivity has been further
enhanced.

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NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION

130%: capable of training other people,” “100 -129%:

capable of following the flow,” “80-99%: capable of
performing sewing, but requiring assistance” and “under
79%: needing training” and each category is marked with a
colored four-leaf clover. With an increase in skill level, a
leaf is colored and when the highest level is reached, all
the four leaves become colored, which shows the learning
level at a glance.
According to this list, an employee at the level capable of
training others teaches a plurality of skills in a planned
manner to employees who need to “learn skills” little by
little. In this manner, the company attempts to enable
 Sewing operation using the large electronically-controlled employees to acquire multiple skills with many colored
automatic sewing machine leaves. With an increase in the number of multi-skilled
employees, the company aims at achieving a strong and
women-friendly workplace in which the production line can
be maintained even if a key person is absent.

 Manufacturing of clamps with an automatic cutter from

CAD data

 The four-leaf clovers arranged vertically show the skill

Detailed support by the “subject member level of employees.
meetings” for people with disabilities
The company provides opportunities to regularly talk about
the situation of the effort of people with disabilities by Outcomes of diversity
holding subject member meetings. The meeting is management
composed of the president, the counselor on work and life
of people with disabilities and the manager of general
Process innovation brought about by the
affairs section as well as the chief of the section to which
the subject person with disabilities belong, the in-house introduction of a large electronically-controlled
job coaching staff and a professional consultant. The automatic sewing machine
meeting is held in consideration of the privacy for each of As mentioned earlier, the company has applied the
people with disabilities individually. Every three month knowhow of the large electronically-controlled automatic
approximately, employees concerned with the care of sewing machine introduced for expanding the work area
people with disabilities meet to share the progress work for people with disabilities to the existing smaller machines
and problems which need to be solved, to study work and as a result, it has become possible to provide sewing
range and to talk about daily general affairs of their daily of special buttons/appliqués which was not possible with a
life. manual machine. It was not possible for a conventional
sewing machine to sew a small button with up and down
Classification of skills and effort for multi-skill restrictions (cat-type button, etc.) in a certain direction
while holding it with a hand. However, in the same manner
development as the large machine, small plastic clamps are prepared
Women account for about 90% of all employees of the with an automatic cutting machine from the shape data of
company. Their average working years is about 20 years the actual product and by sandwiching a cloth and a button,
and many women return to work after a maternity leave they can be sewn without the need to press them down
and/or childcare leave. Although an environment which with a hand. Thanks to this process, the sewing operation
allows employees to take holidays according to their can be done easily and precisely leading to the increase in
household situation has been in place, currently, the effort productivity.
to classify skills for multi-skill development of employees is
underway.
Specifically, the level of skill or the learning level of
individual skills of all employees including people with
physical disabilities is classified into the categories of “over

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company and gives advice to people with mental

disabilities. A person with mental disability tends to reject
coming to work or work unstably when his/her condition
deteriorates. In the circumstances, the worker give advice
on how to proceed with the work and listens to his/her
private troubles that cannot be told to the company. The
company also receives support in terms of hardware such
as equipment to allow people with disabilities to work
easily from the Organization including the aforementioned
“subsidy for the installation of equipment for people with
disabilities.”

 A cat-type button and a small clamp High rating as a leading company for
employment of people with disabilities
In 2011, the company was awarded the Minister of Health,
Expansion of the work field for and settlement in Labour and Welfare Award as an “outstanding company
the workplace of people with disabilities for the employment of people with disabilities.” At the
Employees in the position to think of the work style of same time, the company received from the president of the
people with disabilities are encouraged to acquire Organization the “outstanding performance award for a
qualifications such as the counselor on work and life for good case for improving workplace for people with
people with physical disabilities and the second-type disabilities.”
workplace adaptation supporter (in-house job coach). In In the wake of this opportunity, the effort of the company
subject member meetings held around them, the work for the employment of people with disabilities has become
style of each employee with disability is considered in widely known. The company published cases as a leading
order to revise their work as necessary and find a most company for the employment of people with disabilities at
suitable work. And, the company receives support both the forum to promote the employment of people with
from inside and outside it so that people with disabilities disabilities hosted by the Hello-Work Niigata and receives
may be able to maximize their ability and work effectively, a series of interviews from a variety of media including the
and has achieved the expansion of their work area and local media, newspaper, magazine, etc. The company still
workplace settlement. The life support worker at the receives requests for giving lectures and request for
Support Center for Employment and Life of People with permission to make a workplace visit.
Disabilities in the Niigata-city regularly pays a visit to the

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FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY Manufacturing SME

The Company has newly entered into cosmetics business

and food business centered around female employees
under the annual salary system and achieved evolution
from a “sake brewery.”
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Start of cosmetics business by an old sake brewery by focusing on the “efficacy” of Japanese
sake
 Emergence of ideas through the collaboration of human resources with a variety of
background

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 “Annual salary system” that supports the active role played by mid-career workers
 Building of a system to share information among all employees and listen to on-site voices
 Development of a new beauty market through the “SAKEBROJECT” pursued by a team of
four women newly formed in a cross-departmental manner

Outcomes of diversity management

 Breakthrough into health and beauty business and shop-based business and development
thereof
 Creation of the “sake bath” market and improvement in brand name

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1949 Capital 32 million yen

Head office address 2-8-3, Ishibiki, Kanazwa City, Ishikawa Prefecture
Production and sales of Japanese sake, shochu (distilled beverage), seasonings, fermented food and
Business outline
cosmetics, among others.
Sales 2,522 million yen (as of June 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 108 persons (including 15 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 57 women (including 14 non-regular employee)
attribute category Rate of women in managerial posts:17.5%
Average service years for
13.0 years (18 years for men, 8years for women)
regular employees

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 FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY

The company succeeded in developing the fermented rice

Background and goals of solution “FRS” and the fermented rice extract “FRE” in the
process of pursing active joint research with a university
diversity management and engaged in the development of a new product group
including fermented cosmetics and functional food, etc.
Start of cosmetics business by an old sake Currently, the company has redefined itself as a “rice
brewery by focusing on the “efficacy” of fermentation company” from a “sake brewery” and
Japanese sake continues its expansion based on the three main pillars of
FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY (hereinafter referred to the sake business, cosmetics business and functional food
as “the company”) which was originally found in 1625 (the business.
current company was established in 1949) is the oldest
sake brewery in Kanazawa and the current president is the Emergence of ideas through the collaboration of
13th-generation owner. In the postwar era, coupled with human resources with a variety of background
the period of high economic growth, the company It is the thorough strategy on human resources of the
achieved a rapid growth both in production amount and company that has supported such business development
sales under the brand name of “Fukumasamune.” not restricted to the sake production. In the past,
In the meantime, the Japanese sake market which mainly employees were all experts in brewery, but the company
targeted at middle to elderly men started to gradually has built an interdisciplinary research environment by
decline and the slump in consumption became evident. In recruiting human resources graduated from science
the circumstances, the company which has the company universities and schools of graduate with a variety of
policy of “tradition is a continuation of innovation” backgrounds, such as chemistry, electricity, systems and
announced the “Junmai sake” in 2001 to engage in an biology.
innovative effort to produce sake only with rice and water In the meantime, new graduates have not been recruited
by abolishing the addition of artificial alcohol or sugar in the planning and sales departments and instead,
which had been so far the main stream. The company mid-career human resources with experience in other
intended to break away from the market dependent on companies were employed. As of July 2014, mid-career
middle to elderly men with clear conscience to shift from employees account for over 30% of all employees, of
“sake for the sake of getting drunk” to sake for tasting and which 72% are women and the proportion of women in
enjoying”. The company took a variety of measures managerial posts is about 19%. In particular, the ratio of
including not only the production method as “Junmai sake,” women in the field of new business domains such as the
but also a complete renewal of the package designs and health and beauty (cosmetics) business, functional food
corporate image and introduction of a direct sales channel business, shop business, etc., and the sales channel is
by targeting at women and from the perspective of how to high. However, the company did not recruit women for
induce them into drinking. their sake and this is as a result of having looked for a
While the number of female consumers started to variety of human resources with a focus on their skills. The
gradually increase thanks to the effort, the current company is supported by employees who have shared the
president focused on the potential of Japanese sake to company’s philosophy of continuous improvement and
“beautify women” from both inside and outside of the body innovation and wished to work for the company by fully
and started full-scale research and development on using their experience in their respective posts.
fermentation from around 2002 based on the “Health and
Beauty Business Department” which had started to pursue
activities in a small scale since the beginning of 1990s.

 Main products of Fukumitsuya (left: Junmai sake “Kagatobi” and “Kuroobi”,

center: “AminoRice”, a natural-type cosmetic with high humidity retention, and
right: “ANP71”, a fermented rice drink, and “Koji Amazake”, Junmai sweet sake.

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 FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY

a daily report on the web addressed to the management of

Specific measures taken for the company including the president for the purposes of
sharing information on the reaction of customers and the
promoting diversity management on-site situation. Since the wholly-owned shops are not
only direct sales channels, but also a place for testing new
“Annual salary system” that supports the active products and plans, opinions of shop employees are
role played by mid-career workers directly examined by the management. The company
As mentioned earlier, the company employs many values the opportunities to promote a better reciprocal
mid-career workers in so-called “humanities”-related work understanding by helping each shop staff to understand
except the production and development. In addition to the and share the corporate philosophy and direction and
fact that it was difficult to start with for small and medium engage in daily work with problem-awareness including
companies to recruit new graduates in 1980s and 90s, the involvement of the president himself in the recruitment
despite that experience and inspiration are required in of shop employees.
these works, since it takes a long time and a lot of efforts
to qualify a new graduate, the company has adopted a Development of a new beauty market through
system to recruit mid-career workers to meet the “SAKEBROJECT” pursued by a team of four
requirements.
women newly formed in a cross-departmental
The company submits the expected work content to an
applicant and makes a contract based on the “annual manner
salary system” in which the amount of remunerations for In 2009, on occasion that the “Suppin Sakeburo Senyo
the applicant is determined in consultation with the Geneki (undiluted solution for non-makeup sake bath),” a
interviewer in reference to the annual income in the product of the company, was featured in the blog of a
previous post and his/her skills. The contract is renewed celebrity, the number of inquiries and sales of the product
every year and the contents thereof including the salary rapidly increased. The product is a bathing powder
and post as well as the welfare programs, that is, the work prepared from the undiluted solution of Junmai sake for
style on the whole, are worked out between employees sake bath and it was nothing more than one product in the
and the management. cosmetics business. However, in view of the rapid
This system was introduced as a result of increasing the increase in the number of inquiries, the president decided
number of mid-career workers for starting the shop to explore the product for a new market instead of
business in 1999 and implemented in 2001 as the annual considering the phenomenon as a temporary boom and
salary system. Currently, mid-career employees which formed a team for an in-house venture in a
account for over 30% of all employees correspond to cross-departmental manner called the “SAKEBROJECT.”
employees under this contract system. Three out of four Product development and marketing activities as a project
members of the “SAKEBRPJECT” mentioned below are specially designated by the president were carried out
mid-career employees and engage in highly-specialized mainly by four female employees who are usually in
work such as advertising, design, web sales promotion, charge of research and development, planning and design,
etc. web marketing and advertising by involving also other
A mechanism has been established in which outstanding employees and departments. These members that were
people can show their ability to the fullest using their skills composed of three mid-career employees and one new
and experience thanks to the characteristics of the system graduate employee proceeded with the planning to
that the job specifications, roles and power are clearly embody the needs of women who are the product’s target
defined in advance, that applicants for a post can compare by taking advantage of each expertise area.
and adjust their own skills and experience with the The product development consisted in improving quality by
philosophy and business goals of the company and that increasing the amount of amino acid of the existing
employees newly joined in the company can claim rights product and in increasing the number of product types
and demand requests, but at the same time take available with “ginger” and “Japanese basil”, in addition to
responsibility to achieve goals. In addition, since a the existing “Junmai.” In addition, the website specific to
mismatching is less likely to occur at the time of their “sake bath” was opened to transmit information and
recruitment and they are more stable in the workplace than strengthen sales promotion. Owing to these efforts, the
new graduate employees. boom did not end as a temporary phenomenon, but the
sales of the products have been consistent for the past five
years since then.
Building of a system to share information among
all employees and listen to on-site voices
The company holds the general manager meeting twice a Outcomes of diversity
month to mutually understand the trends of each
department and an on-site level meeting is voluntarily held management
every month to solve problems occurring on each site in
cooperation with other departments. This close Breakthrough into health and beauty business
interdepartmental connection serves as a place for the and shop-based business and development
emergence of new products and planning ideas. thereof
In addition, currently the company operates four The health and beauty business which includes basic
wholly-owned shops, and employees working there upload cosmetics and functional food leveraging on the rice

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fermentation technology has grown to account for 20% of interviews annually, while publications and broadcasting
the total sales of the company. In addition, the shop’s sales continue. As a result, the company receives inquiries from
ratio has also increased and the sales of the four a variety of people concerned in the fields of winery and
wholly-owned shops account for 13% of the total sales of food, beauty and export-related business and develops its
the company. business accordingly.
The wholly-owned shops are mainly operated by female The company has firmly established the brand image of a
employees (88% of the four shops are women) and the “rice fermentation company” by taking full advantage of
company enhances the customers’ satisfaction by speedily competent female employees in the cosmetics business
reflecting the customer response in the realization of new clearly targeted at women. Currently, in light of the fact that
products and planning. For example, the company has a half of the end users of the company are women (85% of
created a new image of Japanese sake by planning and visitors to the shops are women), the company is further
holding a variety of events in collaboration with a young accelerating its business expansion.
writer, a popular expert on cooking, a famous foreign chef
and the like. Three of the wholly-owned shops are located
in Tokyo and one in Kanazawa city and each shop has
respective targets. The information on the customers’
needs acquired there is fed back to the head office and the
research and development department to allow the
company to swiftly develop its business in response to the
market trends.
In addition, the applicants for the company in the areas of
research and development, health and beauty business
and shop business are overwhelmingly women and a
 “Suppin Sakeburo Senyo Geneki (undiluted solution for
virtuous cycle has been generated in which outstanding
non-makeup sake bath)” (bathing powder)
human resources can be attracted by emphasizing the role
to be played by women.

Creation of the “sake bath” market and

improvement in brand name
Thanks to the efforts on the “SAKEBROJECT,” the sales
increased in 2009 by 460% compared to the previous year
and the company was featured by mass media both in
publications and broadcasting in 118 occasions. The sales
has been consistent since 2010 onward and even after the
end of the explosive boom, the related products play the
key role in the health and beauty business.  A wholly-owned shop “SAKE SHOP FUKUMITSUYA in
In addition, the degree of attention by the media has been Kanazawa”
increased and the company receives over 400 inquiries for

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FUJI Special Paper. Inc. Manufacturing Large enterprise

The Company has succeeded in developing the world

first aqueous gravure printing technology by taking
advantage of the skills and knowhow of highly skilled
employees motivated by the introduction of the
“retirement age of 66 years old.”
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Exploration of new technologies to improve the 3K workplace (Kitsui-hard, Kitanai=dirty,
Kiken=dangerous) and raw materials with heavy environmental load

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 “Retirement age of 66 years old” to transfer skills of highly skilled employees and lack of
human resources
 Development of aqueous gravure printing technology centered around skilled employees
 Program to transfer craftsman skills tailored to current young employees
 Flexible work style of elderly employee and development of workplace environment

Outcomes of diversity management

 Realization of transfer of skills and technological innovation in a workplace in which elderly
employees can work long and stably

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1950 Capital 280 million yen

Head office address 3-143, Akatsuki-cho, Seto City, Aichi Prefecture
Business outline Manufacturing and sales of food package through gravure printing
Sales 14,000 million yen(as of September 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (as of September 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 498 persons (including 22 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by
19 elderly people (including 13 non-regular employee) (*)
attribute category
Average service years for
12.4 years (16.4 years for men,8.4 years for women)
regular employees
Remark (*) Over 65 years old

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 FUJI Special Paper. Inc.

new factory, it was also indispensable to secure

Background and goals of employees.
In the circumstances, in 1994, the company extended its
diversity management retirement age from 60 years old to 66 years old all at once.
The president decided to introduce the “advanced system”
Exploration of new technologies to improve the not only to keep the human resources necessary for
3K workplace (Kitsui-hard, Kitanai=dirty, transfer of the new factory and the technical development
Kiken=dangerous) and raw materials with heavy of aqueous gravure printing, but also to anticipate the time
environmental load in which the retirement would be extended due to the
FUJI Special Paper. Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the declining birth rate and aging population.
company”) started its operations in 1950 by manufacturing The extension of the retirement age was made possible
“waxed paper” (paraffin paper) for wrapping food such as thanks to the company’s particular “retirement allowance”
caramels and currently manufactures mainly food system that the company had implemented so far. The
packages using cellophane and plastic. With the company had adopted the system to pay the retirement
emergence of retail business including supermarkets and allowance in three installments at the age of 35, 45 and 55
the drastic change in the way of food distribution during with the consent of employees. This was popular among
the period between the postwar era and rapid economic employees because a large amount of money to be used
growth, food packages with higher appeal to consumers for child education and house purchase was made
were required. At the same time, a variety of new materials available when it was needed and unexpectedly, it was
such as a film made of synthetic resin were developed and possible for the company to extent the retirement age
the company engaged in continuous technological without putting a squeeze on the financial situation of the
innovation of printing and packaging to suit the new company.
materials. Since the new system has allowed elderly employees to
In 1970, the current president joined the company look ahead and work with motivation and eagerness, they
managed by his father-in-law. At the time, the company have not only engaged in the development of new
was dedicated to gravure printing using organic solvents technology, but also in the teaching of skills to young
such as toluene, etc. and the workplace was filled with an employees (see below), and the innovative technology of
odor specific to organic solvents. The factory was a the company has been secured.
workplace with the so-called 3K and the stability of the
work force was low. A volatile organic solvent discharges Development of aqueous gravure printing
gas both inside and outside the workplace and adversely technology centered skilled employees
affects the global environment. It was a long-cherished As mentioned earlier, it was considered impossible to
wish of the company to reduce the use of organic solvents perform aqueous gravure printing which makes printing on
to an absolute minimum and shift to aqueous printing. a plastic film with an aqueous ink using the conventional
With the relocation of the main factory, the company technology. However, in addition to the adverse effect of
started to take on the improvement of the workplace the organic solvents not only on employees but also on the
environment of the factory by replacing all the production global environment, they were used for wrapping food
equipment. In 1993, the new factory started its operations taken by consumers even if they were not eaten directly
and three years later, the company started the and thus, it was necessary to take measures not to leave
development of aqueous gravure printing. the slightest odor for the sake of peace of mind and safety
for consumers.
In 1996, when the company had moved to the new factory
Specific measures taken for and operations had got off the ground, the current
promoting diversity management president took charge of the company and launched the
project for the development of aqueous gravure printing
technology. In this project, the company collaborated with
“Retirement age of 66 years old” to transfer manufacturers specializing in the respective fields of film,
skills of highly skilled employees and lack of ink and others to research on a variety of subjects
human resources including the remodeling of the printing machine,
The most serious problem for the management of the establishment of a new printing plate manufacturing
company when the current president took charge of the technique in order to obtain an adequate technology
company was the lack of human resources and the capable of mass-production.
transfer of skills. Printing on a package film cannot be It was the highly-skilled employees who had full
performed mechanically and in order to realize the colors knowledge of printing technologies which had been
and sharpness required by a food manufacturer that is the developed by the company since its foundation that played
main customer, a craftsmanship technique is required to the key role in this project. In order to realize aqueous
perform a fine adjustment by considering the weather gravure printing, it was necessary to find the right
conditions and the state of a film. In a situation in which combination capable of reproducing the most excellent
young employees are not stable, it was necessary for the color from infinite combinations between materials such as
time being that skilled works with a craftsman technique ink film and ink and the production and printing
played the key role. In addition, with the building of the technologies to process them. The company had
experienced twice in the past technological innovation to

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FUJI Special Paper. Inc.

deal with new materials. The first occasion was when policy for training and development. In addition to
plastic films replaced cellophane and the second occasion providing man-to-man training, the company actively gave
was when the lamination processing was started to be young employees opportunities to demonstrate their ability.
used widely. In both occasions, despite that the company As a result, young people who did not work stably in the
faced problems such as ink blurring with the conventional past under the training method of “learning craftsmanship
materials and the method, it overcame the problems by looking” gradually started to settle down in the job.
through trials and errors including the use of various Gravure printing is not a simple mechanical work, but the
materials, use and drying of ink, etc. to develop printing mixing of inks depends on the day’s weather. A high skill is
technologies capable of producing beautiful printing in indispensable for a fine adjustment. In the past, in this
both occasions. The “craftsmen” who had taken on these industry, it took 10 years for a young employee to be
technological innovations were still working in 1996 and allowed to use a printing machine after gaining training on
the management was convinced that the past experience the job. However, currently, in three to four years, a new
would serve for the third technological innovation. employee is given on-the-job training to acquire
After trials and errors, the company developed a knowledge and knowhow on the printing by learning each
technology in which instead of the conventional organic operation related to the printing machine together with a
solvent, an aqueous ink using water and alcohol was used skilled employee.
for printing by making smaller and shallower each pore In addition, the company has put in place a system in
(dot) for gravure printing. As a result, not only that ink is which young employees and people in managerial posts
dried faster (printing speed is increased), but also the hold meetings regularly to determine a range of subjects
reproduction performance of the color in minor portions including the skill development and work improvement so
has been improved in addition to the expansion of the that each employee will work to that end throughout the
range of colors to be expressed compared to the year. In addition, the company gives opportunities to
conventional printing method using organic solvents. This employees with a sense of advancement and a certain
technology has become the core technology of the knowledge level to engage in problems directly linked to
company. the company management regarding cost reduction and
quality improvement.

Flexible work style of elderly employee and

development of workplace environment
Currently, nearly all employees work until the age of 66
years old. In addition, if they choose to continue to work for
the company, they can continue to work under a
re-employment contract.
The company deals with the working hours and work
content of elderly people flexibly. For example, when
nursing is required at home or when an elder employee is
not physically well, he is removed from the shift work and
transferred to other workplace where he can adjust his
working hours. Not only elderly employees but also female
employees after a maternity leave use this system.
In addition, the packaging work which was carried out only
 Packages using the aqueous gravure printing technology
at day time corresponded in many cases to elderly people
who cannot work in the night shift. However, the packing
Moreover, after the analysis of the production data, it was
work was a hard work for elderly people because heavy
found that the amount of ink used decreased by 10 to 15%
products needed to be handled. In the circumstances, the
compared to the conventional gravure printing. In the
company implemented measures to amend the situation
circumstances, the company has use of aqueous gravure
by introducing an auxiliary tool to allow heavy products to
printing, which currently accounts for about 80% of both
be handled easily not only by elderly people, but also by
the production volume and sales amount. The company
female workers and people with disabilities.
receives also many inquiries from food manufacturers.

Program to transfer craftsman skills tailored to

current young employees
Since the package printing technology cannot be acquired
in a brief space of time or automated, it was a pressing
issue for the company to train and develop
next-generation craftsmen.
In the beginning of the 2000s, since other companies
related to automobile industry in the area increased
employment, it was difficult to recruit young human
resources. In the circumstances, the company attempted
to recruit and settle in the job young people by changing its

81 Best Practices Collection 2015

 FUJI Special Paper. Inc.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Realization of transfer of skills and technological
innovation in a workplace in which elderly
employees can work long and stably
Thanks to the technique of the skilled elderly employees,
an aqueous gravure printing technology has been
established for the first time in the world. As mentioned
earlier, this has allowed a significant improvement in the
effect on the labor environment of the employees and
global environment and a provision of safe and secure
packages for consumers. The company received a
number of awards including the “Minister of Economy,
Trade and Industry Award” of the “5th Monodzukuri Award”
for the development as “the development of a people and
environmentally-friendly aqueous gravure printing
system.”
Thanks to the establishment of the aqueous gravure
printing technology, the weight of the aqueous gravure
printing of the company has increased leading to the
reduction by 85% in the use of VOC (volatile organic
solvents) and 40% in the use of inks across the company.
In addition, the production has been stabilized due to the
fact that it is now possible to procure raw materials that are
less likely to be affected by energy derived from petroleum
resources.
Active roles played by elderly employees are not limited to
the development of the aqueous gravure printing
technology. The elderly employees who retired at the
retirement age and were re-employed were appointed the
 Aspects of an operation in which a heavy object is handled person in charge and the deputy-person in charge of the
using a tool building of the factory in a joint venture in Chine started in
October 2014. Since both of them had experience in the
launch of factory, it was possible for the company to
launch the business earlier by taking advantage of their
knowledge and experience.
Moreover, the OB/OG club is established to frequently
interact with active employees to exchange opinions over
the technologies. With the success in the development of
the aqueous gravure printing, many employees have pride
in and work for the environmentally-friendly company with
the pride of contributing to it with high skills regardless of
age. In recent years, elderly employees and young
employees form a tag tem to work together for the
realization of technical innovations.

Best Practices Collection 2015 82

STG CO., LTD. Manufacturing SME

The Company has actively employed foreign workers

since its foundation and continuously increased sales by
strengthening overseas bases.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Three brightness models constitute the company’s policy
 Active recruitment of foreigners as a result of the lack of Japanese workers
 Increase in the number of foreign employees starting from the employment of a Chinese
student studying in Japan as a part-time worker

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Desire of the president to develop business abroad
 Establishment of an organization to deal with the globalization
 Detailed consideration to help foreign employees to settle in the job
 Development of abilities through OJT without creating a barrier to foreign employees

Outcomes of diversity management

 Start up of the factory in Shenzhen, China and increase in income and profits

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1981 Capital 133 million yen

Head office address 6-82-2, Yamaga-cho, Yao City, Osaka
Business outline Manufacturing of magnesium alloy parts
Sales Consolidated : 1,205 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 48 persons (including 25 non-regular employee)
13 women (including 10 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 25 foreigners (including 18 non-regular employee)
attribute category 3 persons with physical disabilities (including 0 non-regular employee)
1 elderly person (including 0 non-regular employee)
Average service years for
11 years (10 years for men, 12 years for women)
regular employees

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 STG CO., LTD.

continued to employ foreign employees from Iran, Peru,

Background and goals of etc.
It was necessary for the company to actively recruit
diversity management foreigners in order to continue its growth by not being
particular about the recruitment of Japanese people. The
Three brightness models constitute the company started to employ foreigners from this period in
company’s policy earnest.
STG CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”)
was established in 1966 and is engaged in the Increase in the number of foreign employees
manufacturing and sales of a variety of materials focused starting from the employment of a Chinese
on magnesium alloy parts. The company does not only
student studying in Japan as a part-time worker
own equipment for manufacturing die casting machine
When the company advertised for part-time workers at the
specialized in magnesium die casting and machining
time of business expansion since 1997, a Chinese student
centers, molds and casting technology tailored to the
studying in the graduate school of Osaka University
manufacturing of respective parts, but also deals with a
applied for the post in response to the advertisement.
wide variety of processes from casting, trimming to final
Thereafter, various foreigners joined the company through
checking. The company is highly trusted by customers as
the Chinese student. For example, the male worker who
a specialist in downsized and lightweight magnesium LED
serves as the president of the STG China in Shenzhen is
heat sink products and currently has bases in Thailand,
the brother of this Chinese student. In addition, the
China and Hong Kong to conduct a global business.
Chinese student introduced his sister-in-law to the
company and thus, the company expanded the
employment of foreigners through a human network.
In addition, a community called the Aoyama Danchi in
which many people from Vietnam reside is formed in Yao
City, Osaka in which the company is located, more
foreigners lived than other areas. If a Vietnamese is
employed, other Vietnamese applied for the job through
word of mouth. There was an advantage in the point that
reliable people gathered thanks to the introduction of an
 Magnesium die casting products which are the main employee already working in the company. Therefore, it
products of the company was relatively easy to rest assured of the characteristics
and mentality of foreigners joining the company.
As the name of the company indicates, the word “brilliance
(brightness)” represents the company’s management
philosophy. The company aims to realize the “brilliance of Specific measures taken for
customers,” “brilliance of employees” and “brilliance of
society as a whole” since its establishment. The company promoting diversity management
adopts the three pillars: “use of a wide variety of human
resources,” “creation of employment opportunities for Desire of the president to develop business
socially vulnerable people” and “use of elderly people” in abroad
connection with the “brilliance of employees” as its Since 1997 onward, the company increased sales thanks
personnel management philosophy and actively makes to the adoption of magnesium alloy as the housing of
use of capable human resources regardless of gender, personal computers. However, in order to respond to the
nationality, existence of disabilities, age and the like. expansion of operations by its main customers, the
company needed to consider the direction of its new
Active recruitment of foreigners as a result of the business model. Although the president entertained the
lack of Japanese workers desire to “expand business abroad by taking advantage of
It was in 1997 that the company succeeded in downsizing the abilities of the outstanding Chinese employees and
parts, which is one of its main business and its business students,” it was difficult to promote the newly employed
started to blossom. At the time, magnesium alloy was Chinese employee without providing training in advance to
adopted as the housing of the personal computers which a higher post in light of Japanese employees having the
were launched by a leading electronics manufacturer and idea of the seniority system by length of service so that he
the sales of the company increased all at once. The might play a central role in the business expansion abroad.
president comments that “the time marked the turning In the circumstance, the president decided to prepare the
point for its business expansion.” ground both in terms of business expansion abroad and
On the other hand, the company had a problem at the time. development of human resources so as to enable the
It was the lack of human resources despite business Chinese employee to work effectively.
booming. Despite advertisement for recruitment of
necessary human resources, the company had difficulty in Establishment of an organization to deal with the
recruiting them. In the circumstances, the company took globalization
note of foreigners. As of 1988, the company employed In order to expand business abroad, the company
foreigners including a worker from Bangladesh and established the Global Strategy Promotion Section in 2002

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STG CO., LTD.

to promote business expansion abroad and development in claims. The company increases opportunities for foreign
of human resources. The female employee who had joined employees to deal with customers without giving them a
the company in 1998 was nominated the chief of the special treatment. If a problem arises in the process, the
section. It was not that she had a background for overseas company examines the situation to explore the aptitude.
strategy, but she had a strong interest in China in which That is to say, the company does not get a foreign
the company intended to develop business and studied employee on a job on the premise of his/her ability, but
Chinese language. She was also aware of the need to encourages him/her to gain experience improve skills.
take advantage of the ability of the Chinese employee that It is the policy of the company to “entrust a foreign
was studying in Japan. In the first place, she was employee with a job at which he/she may not be good at
dispatched to a Japanese company in China to acquire and check his/her ability and motivation” in order to
knowledge to take advantage of foreign people in terms of develop his/her talent. It can be said that it is the main
labor management and strategy. characteristic of the company to adopt a system in which
However, since the company has employed many foreign employees are trained and developed in the same
foreigners in the past, hardly any employee of the manner as Japanese employees without creating a barrier
company paid a special attention to foreigners. The Global to them.
Strategy Promotion Section had been also established to
further promote their use because the system to allow
foreigners to work comfortably in the company was Outcomes of diversity
already in place.
management
Detailed consideration to help foreign
Start up of the factory in Shenzhen, China and
employees to settle in the job
The company supported the active participation of foreign
increase in income and profits
employees by sharing the idea that “it has been taken for In the efforts to help foreigners to settle in the job, the
granted at the site from the beginning” and female Chinese employee that joined the company in 1998 has
employees play a big role in the effort. demonstrated his ability in the company as a whole and in
Many women having completed their child-bearing years recent years, the company has expanded its business in
have been working prior to the establishment of the Global China through him, accordingly. The launch of its
Strategy Promotion Section. Many women with subsidiary company in Shenzhen was due to the fact that
child-bearing experience take good care of foreign one of its customers was located in Shenzhen. The
employees by sensing their plight or listening attentively to company considered that this Chinese employee was the
them. For example, when a foreign employee seems to be most adequately person in the company and selected him
physically ill, they perceive immediately that something is as the person in charge of the subsidiary.
amiss and inform a male employee at the site. This allows There were two key points in the launch of the subsidiary
the male employee to provide care to the foreign employee in China. One was that the person understood the local
and as a result, an environment is created in which foreign language and life environment in the location. Since he is
employees can work comfortably. Chinese, there was no problem in this point. The other
This kind of consideration is not given due to role rotation point was the difficulty in terms of payment and collection
or role sharing such as “who takes care of which of sales amount in China. It takes easily four months or six
employee.” Not only female employees with child-bearing months for a Japanese employee to collect money due to
experience, but also some male employees notice differences in collection form and business practice from
changes in other people’s physical conditions. In most Chinese customers. In addition, unless the Chinese is not
cases, this is perceived by employees in communication capable of performing his duties, collection of payments
with foreign employees. This is not made possible by will be stalled. Not only that this Chinese employee was
simply introducing a system. Since there is a case in which well versed in the way the business was conducted and
because of the introduction of role sharing as a system, practiced there, but also he was expected to have the
the optimum work is impaired as a whole, the company potential to produce outcomes according to his
has made it possible for foreign employees settle in the job performance in Japan.
without institutionalizing it as a system. In 2006, the factory in Shenzhen was rapidly launched and
since 2007 onward, the subsidiary company has kept its
business in the black. The subsidiary increased its income
Development of abilities through OJT without and profits in FY2013 and the number of customers in
creating a barrier to foreign employees China increased from 1 at the start of business to 12. It is
In order to help develop abilities of foreign employees that expected that profits will increase by three times this fiscal
have joined company, the company provides training to year in comparison to the previous year. Particularly, for
them through onsite job shadowing by encouraging them the past 1 to 2 years, profits have been increasing with the
to deal with customers even if their command of Japanese increase in number of customers. The growth of the
is not sufficiently high. Shenzhen factory is making great contribution to the
For example, the company has entrusted a Vietnamese expansion and management stability of the company.
employee who spoke only a few words of Japanese with Since then, the company launched its subsidiary in
delivery to customers from early days after joining the Thailand in 2011 and the company has now three
company In addition, once a foreign employee was put in production bases including that in Japan. Since the
charge of dealing with customers over the phone resulting company has been adapted to adequately respond to

85 Best Practices Collection 2015

 STG CO., LTD.

overseas business development of Japanese

manufacturers and to perform optimum production within
the company including its subsidiaries, it is now able to
reduce its production cost by 20% and a strong business
management base has established.

 STG CO., LTD continues to grow by making use of

foreigners

Best Practices Collection 2015 86

NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION Manufacturing SME

The Company has expanded its overseas market by

providing many opportunities to young works including
foreigners and the president himself transmits the
company’s role.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Development of businesses related to water, energy and environment all over the world

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Recruitment of personnel with clear definition of candidate profiles
 Development of young employees through thorough on the job training (OJT)
 Transfer of skills from elderly people to young employees

Outcomes of diversity management

 Product development with the understanding of the characteristics of the Chinese market
 Building of an integrated business system by performing consolidation accounting by
combining the financial results of its Chinese subsidiary company into the combined financial
results of the parent company
 Simultaneous realization of technology transfer by OJT by elderly employees and reception
of orders for products
 Expansion of possibilities to acquire new customers

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2004 Capital 380 million yen

Head office address 6-1, Nagisa-cho, Izumiotsu City, Osaka
Manufacturing and sales of internal device for petroleum refining and petrochemical industry, screen for water
Business outline
intake, water treatment equipment, etc.
Sales 6,212 million yen (as of June 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 165 persons (including 17 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 17 foreigners (including 3 non-regular employees)
attribute category 5 elderly people (including 5 non-regular employees)
Average service years for
5.5 years (5.7 years for men, 4.3 years for women)
regular employees

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 NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

company is very low under the recent new recruitment

Background and goals of policy.
In addition, the number of foreign employees of the total
diversity management staff of 170 is 18, of which Chinese employees are 15. The
number of prospective new graduate employees in
Development of businesses related to water, FY2015 is 8 people, of which two of them are Chinese.
energy and environment all over the world The employment of many numbers of foreigners is not due
NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION to that a numerical target for recruitment has been
(hereinafter referred to as “the company”) was established established, but this is as a consequence of having
in 2004 and engages in the development and sales of recruited human resources with abilities required for the
water intake works, water treatment device and screens development of the business of the company.
without chemicals. The company contributes to the Of course, it is better that a new employee joining the
realization of a better life by providing technologies for company can speak Japanese. However, the company
efficiently producing “water” and “energy” indispensable considers it more important to “have the attitude to work.”
for human life and “environmentally-friendly” technologies. The attitude to actively speak up from a standpoint of a
Since its establishment, the company develops business person having a different background to lead the company
not only in Japan, but also all over the world and the sales strengthens the company. Many of the foreigners working
in overseas markets account for 80% of the total sales of in the company have the strong spirit and heart to lead the
the company. In particular, in environment-related business of the company in the future.
business, since not only that progress situation differs by
country but also an event which has occurred in one Development of young employees through
country has an effect on other countries, a global thorough on the job training (OJT)
perspective is required to solve problems. The size of New graduate employees joining the company receive the
overseas markets is far much larger than that in Japan and same training regardless of their academic backgrounds. It
is expected to grow in the future. Under the recognition is possible for the company to get the measure of their
that “no market is left in Japan,” since its establishment, aptitude without any preconception due to their academic
the company has continued its focus on overseas markets. background. After the completion of the training, they will
And, it considers indispensable to make use of a variety of work in a variety of work positions.
human resources including foreigners in order to survive In addition, the company gives them opportunities to work
the global competition. overseas from the early days of their incorporation.
Following the corporate policy that, “a lot of things can be
learned from failure, and failure is a shortcut for growth,”
Specific measures taken for the company takes responsibility for any failure of young
promoting diversity management employees. According to the extent of their growth, their
discretionary power is increased and the number of work
Recruitment of personnel with clear definition of to be entrusted will also be increased. The company aims
not only to help them acquire abilities to deal with the job,
candidate profiles
but also learn to plan their job and have responsibility in
The markets in which the company develops its business
addition to improving their motivation. Since the cost for
are expanding all over the world. The company recruits
the development of human resources is limited, the
people focused on “human resources capable of
company attempts to develop the abilities of employees
understanding the management philosophy and working
through on the job training.
effectively” and ignores “nationality, gender and age.” The
company conducts 6 interviews with applicants in its
recruitment process including an explanatory meeting Transfer of skills from elderly people to young
before final decision and the president attends in all of employees
them to transmit the management philosophy and the ideal The retirement age of the company is 65 years old across
candidates he is looking for. If the recruitment is left to the the board according to its working regulations. It is
personnel affairs department, the company may become premised that all employees work till 65 years old of age
aware of a mismatching after the incorporation of a worker unless there is some particular reason. After the retirement
due to a perfunctory explanation of the job. If recruitment is age onward, if wished, employees may be employed
conducted based only on academic background and under the reemployment system.
qualifications, the recruitment activity itself becomes a As of 2014, persons holding a managerial post are 20 and
dead letter. In the circumstances, the company the eldest person is 75 years old. The main role of the
unreservedly talks about the good points and the bad elderly is to transfer special skills to young employees and
points about the company from the start in the process of the core technologies and skills of the company are
recruitment and tells applicants that “they should not work transferred through the on the job training.
simply as a cog in a wheel, but get the best from
themselves to aim to become an executive.” This may be
not an efficient manner, but enables the company to recruit
human resources that truly share the company’s
philosophy by the president clarifying the ideal candidates
he is looking for. As a result, the turnover rate of the

Best Practices Collection 2015 88

NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

local production in two factories in Dalian and Shenyang

Outcomes of diversity established in a joint venture in 2013. In order that these
four subsidiary companies to work fully, it was necessary
management to cut waster by streamlining the accounting of the four
subsidiaries. It was the mid-career Chinese female
Product development with the understanding of employee that acted as driving force.
the characteristics of the Chinese market The problem at the time was “the lack of visibility in the
In recent years, the company has developed a water overall accounting of the company.” In the circumstances,
treatment device which does not use electric power or in addition to understanding the accounting methods used
chemicals and introduced in China, and succeeded in by each subsidiary, she took on the rebuilding a system
purifying the dam which had been giving off a stench due from the scratch to unify the accounting system and,
to water bloom. It was difficult for Japanese technicians accounts, accounting policy and accounting provisions
accustomed to advanced technologies to understand the related to the accounting system of all the four subsidiaries.
local environmental needs and this was made possible Moreover, the use of an internet-banking for the
through the to-the-point understanding by a young management of money has allowed an easy
Chinese employee. The Chinese employee made several understanding of the status of the balance. In addition, an
round trips between the site and Japan together with a audit company is now used for all the four companies and
Japanese veteran employee. At the site, they learned the the tax investigation of the three companies is entrusted to
way to actually operate the device and the restrictions for a company. Moreover, she took great pains to show the
its use and they studied the way to improve the device to subsidiaries the reason why “so much effort should be put
solve the problem. The company has excellent technology into accounting-related works” in addition to changing and
regarding water treatment and has succeeded in unifying the system. She thought that unless the
developing the device not in the process of innovating company’s policy on the accounting is not shared and
technology, but in the process of meeting the functional understood, the need for the effort would not be
needs required by a customer. understood and a backlash against the vast amount of
The introduction of this product into the Chinese market daily work would occur.
has enabled the company to establish its presence in The optimum management system built thanks to the
China by gaining trust from the market. The product was efforts of this Chinese employee has not only enabled the
commended by the International Water Association (IWA) company to collect exact data it is looking for and perform
which is the world’s supreme authority as an “innovative smooth management of all the subsidiaries including
technology” and its performance and effect have become financial statements, but also has contributed to the
recognized internationally. improved efficiency of the company.

Simultaneous realization of technology transfer

by OJT by elderly employees and reception of
orders for products
The active role played by elderly employees does not only
allow the transfer of skills to young employees, but also
contributes to securing orders made to the company.
Its factory in Kaiduka manufactures internal device for
petroleum industry. When the company received an inquiry
from a customer about a large internal device for
petrochemical use to be used in China, the company had
no equipment capable of manufacturing a large internal
device. However, the company would lose a rare
opportunity to get a large order.
The elderly employee in charge of the OJT (on the job
training) visited a major manufacturer for which he had
worked earlier together with a young employee and
 Schematic view of the developed water purification device requested the manufacturer for collaboration to
Henares manufacture the large internal device. In addition to
submitting the drawing for manufacturing the device to the
Building of an integrated business system by manufacturer, the company sent its technicians to explain
performing consolidation accounting by the processing procedure. In consequence, the company
combining the financial results of its Chinese has received a total of five orders for a similar product for
subsidiary company into the combined financial China from the following year onward.
results of the parent company The young employee took the lead in a series of
In order to smoothly develop business in China, it is processes including the preparation of quotations required
indispensable for the company to consolidate accounting in these work processes, negotiation on the price and
with multiple subsidiaries. The company established its delivery with the manufacturer, management of processes
subsidiary sales company in Shenyang in 2011 and in for the manufacturing, price negotiation with a packaging
Beijing in 2013 to start its sales activities China and started company for packing a large volume for export, adjustment

89 Best Practices Collection 2015

 NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

of schedules with a shipping company for shipment and Association. Since then, the company has started to
budget management, while the elderly employee provided develop water business in China by building connections
the necessary knowledge and experience. In particular, in with water utilities companies and China Construction
order to succeed in receiving orders, a bargaining power to Technology Consulting Company through academic
obtain collaboration from an outside company and conferences and exhibitions and the possibilities to further
inventiveness for solving problems were required. A team expand business in China has been increased.
formed by the young employee and the elderly did not only In order to develop water business in China, since
result in the acquisition of the orders, but also in the young comprehensive knowledge and experience not only in tap
employing acquiring a lot of knowledge and experience. water intake and purification equipment, but also in
The company is poised to create an environment which a sewage treatment are required, the company cooperated
variety of human resources can exert their abilities and with Japanese leading companies in order to expand its
opportunities to combine talents to generate synergy market. In addition, the size and achievements of a
effects in the future in order to further promote business company as well as personal connections with
overseas. decision-makers are important for doing business in China
and the company has established relationship with the
Expansion of possibilities to acquire new aforementioned governmental organizations and
customers succeeded in expanding sales by promoting technical
In 2008, the company formed part of the mission to China exchanges. In particular, thanks to the technology
led by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and recognized by the International Water Association and the
established a relationship with the Chinese central achievements of purification equipment in Japan, the
government ministries and agencies (Ministry of Water company has got a certain reputation. As a consequence
Resources and Ministry of Construction) as well as their of this situation, the company has been able to develop
extra-departmental body Chinese Water and Sewage business smoothly and expand its business in China.

Best Practices Collection 2015 90

KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD. Manufacturing Large enterprise

The company has made strenuous efforts to make people

with disabilities to not feel handicapped by their condition
by “thinking possibility” and engages in developing new
services using its knowhow.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Implementation of a significant change in the management policy in the wake of the change
of the president in response to the change in business environment

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Establishment of a “Mission Statement” based on the management philosophy
 Transfer of skills through the introduction of the quality management system and
improvement of the management
 Work distribution, effective personnel allocation and human resources development system
based on quality management system
 Implementation of the effort to “remove barriers” both in terms of software and hardware

Outcomes of diversity management

 Development of new businesses in which each employee demonstrates his/her ability
regardless of disabilities or restrictions

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1946 Capital 84 million yen

Head office address 1-12-1, Goryo, Daito City, Osaka
Manufacturing and sales of prostheses, orthoses, wheelchairs and nursing support equipment, communications
Business outline
equipment, artificial bodies and hearing aids
Sales 6,938 million yen (as of June 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of June 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 600 persons (including 117 non-regular employee)
215 women (including 84 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by Proportion of women in managerial posts: 5 %
attribute category 22 people with disabilities (including 7 non-regular employees)
Employment ratio of people with disabilities: 4.18%
Average service years for
10.9 years (14.2 years for men, 7.5 years for women)
regular employees

91 Best Practices Collection 2015

 KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD.

Despite its existence, the corporate philosophy had not

Background and goals of permeated the behavior of the employees. In order to
amend the situation, the mission statement to
diversity management communicate the purpose and overall plan of the company
to all employees was introduced to explain in detail their
Implementation of a significant change in the role. The statement serves to solve problems and
management policy in the wake of the change of situations by providing a clear guidance on how to behave
the president in response to the change in and act.
business environment
KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as
“the company”) was founded in 1946 and engages in the
manufacturing and sales of prostheses, orthoses,
wheelchairs and nursing support equipment among others.
The company aims to become “a company capable of
attracting smiling faces from all over the world” as the
KAWAMURA Group together with its wholesale company,
Pacific Supply Co., Ltd.
From the beginning of its foundation immediately after the
end of war, the company employed many people with
disabilities and has expanded its business by developing
products from users’ point of view. In addition to the
philosophy of the president that “it is important to produce
from users’ point of view and there are many things to be
learned from people with disabilities,” there were many
technicians with disabilities in a leadership position and an
atmosphere has been created in the company that it is
nothing special to work with people with disabilities as a
matter of course.
 Excerpt of the “30 guidelines for action” of the
In the era of the second-generation president, the Mission Statement
company expanded its business thanks to the high
economic growth. However, in 2000, when the current In addition, the management including the president
president took charge of the company, the social actively advocates the slogan “Think Possibility” as the
environment surrounding people with disabilities and company’s watchword. For example, the company
nursing changed in line with the enforcement of the considers it important for a person with upper limb
Long-Term Care Insurance Act and others. In the face of a deficiency to think “what can be done with one hand?” “it
rapid deterioration in business results, coupled with the may be possible to do this and that with this apparatus,”
construction of the new company building, the president etc.
decided to re-define the management philosophy and This is something that has been consciously taken into
restructure the organization and business processes consideration in particular in recent years ever since the
including the introduction of a quality management system company has started to accept people with mental
under the conviction that the company could not continue disabilities and intellectual difficulties, in addition to people
with the traditional business style. In this manner, the with physical disabilities as permanent employees and
company has been transformed from “a top-down part-time workers. Although a number of people with
president and craftsmen” to a mobile organization in which physical disabilities have been working effectively in the
each employee thinks and acts autonomously. company for many years, there has been hardly any
opportunity to be in contact with people with mental
disabilities and intellectual difficulties. As a result, there
Specific measures taken for was a worry in accepting them. However, people with
promoting diversity management mental disabilities and intellectual difficulties who had
started with a simple work like scanning learned gradually
Establishment of a “Mission Statement” based to perform more complicated task. In the face of their
progress, employees have become aware of their
on the management philosophy
prejudice against them. In addition, in the process of
The company has established its mission statement
working together and learning from each other based on
consisting of thirty statements in line with its corporate
mutual respect, people with disabilities have also learned
philosophy of “never giving up improving the QOL of our
to live in harmony with the community and they are also
soul partners and customers”. The wording of the
changing gradually, as seen in the improvement in their
“improvement of QOL” embraces the corporate policy of
appearance, for example.
providing “products to improve the life and livelihood of
Under the recognition that “nobody is perfect,” the
each person” on top of manufacturing prostheses,
management of the company considers the “altruist
orthoses and other products.
management” focused on others as the ideal the company
aims for in the future. To think “what can be done and how

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KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD.

should be done” has led to the development of work content of each department, and contributes to the
employment support services (see below). improvement in work efficiency of the department as a
whole and the development of abilities of each employee.
Transfer of skills through the introduction of the On the other hand, the “work distribution table” in which
quality management system and improvement of future work and an employee are mapped and the “training
the management progress planning” which connects the “current time” and
The company puts effort into the quality management of the “time in the future” have been developed in relation to
their products. In the past, it was considered that the “ability table.” The “work distribution table” allows the
prostheses and orthoses were made to order and company to considers the role to be assigned to an
standardization or mechanization was not possible. employee in the future in accordance with the needs and
However, the current president concluded that it was function of the organization on the whole and as a
inevitable to introduce a mechanism of standardization in consequence of the consideration, the training plan of
order to improve work performance and took the top-down each employee is specifically established individually in
resolution to perform quality management as an overall the “training progress planning,” such as “the employee A
effort including the manufacturing department in view of will be trained by the employee B in this manner and
cases in which companies in the same industry were during this period,” etc. This paves the way for the
forced to cease operations due to difficulties in the transfer provision of training based on an objective evaluation of
of skills. abilities and skills at that point in time.
The project team under the president was launched The company has been improving this system for the past
centered on the quality warranty section to develop a ten years and from a certain time, the attachment of the
mechanism to document the work process of each “ability table” for a recruitment request from each
department and the company acquired the quality department and for a replenishment request for a retired
management system ISO9001 in 2005. employee has become compulsory. Since a glance at the
In the beginning, “craftsmen” in the manufacturing table allows the company to gain an understanding of the
department opposed to the introduction of the quality situation and arrange personnel in an adequate manner
management system by arguing that “skills are in one’s accordingly. For example, when a part-time worker in
head”. In the circumstances, the president persuaded charge of sewing leaves, the company checks the worker
them by classifying skills into “skills that can be acquired in the ability table and makes a new personnel
by anybody in 3 to 4 years training” and “skills that are arrangement by clearly understanding the needs.
performed only by a craftsman” and standardizing the Since this system clarifies the requirements demanded
former alone. The company subdivided the work from each employee, the company does not need to be
processes of all departments into segments and particular about the employment/arrangement of a
succeeded in “visualization” in the standardization “permanent employee” that “can do everything” and “can
process. work all times.” If a person has a certain skill set, he/she
The improvement in the overall work process has can perform in a department in which the skill set is
contributed to a great extent to the active employment of required. As a result, it has become possible for the
people with disabilities of the company in the future (see company to accurately match the characteristics and
below). abilities of a person with mental or intellectual difficulties
with the work. Currently, regardless of the presence or
Work distribution, effective personnel allocation absence of disabilities, the company can evaluate all
employees under the same criteria.
and human resources development system
based on quality management system Implementation of the effort to “remove barriers”
The progress in the documentation and “visualization” of
both in terms of software and hardware
the aforementioned work process has enabled the
The company holds interviews with applicants with
matching between the work content of a department and
disabilities or difficulties in a normal recruitment process
the required skills for the performance of the work. For
“without considering their disabilities” for the posts of sales,
example, the work of “company visiting tour” is divided into
manufacturing and marketing. The company attaches
the segments of “acceptance of visit,” “communication with
weight to the personal characters and the
the company reception,” “guide on the day,” etc. Each
understanding/sharing of the company’s philosophy for
work is evaluated from the perspective of the degree of
employment and does not discriminate them in work
performance including whether a certain task is performed
allocation, either.
by one person, or an assistance is required, etc. The
The company is “a professional” in prosthetic legs,
extent of subdivisions of work varies according to each
wheelchairs and living environment development and all
department. For example, in the manufacturing
employees pride on their knowledge of these equipment.
department, a work is subdivided by individual skill such as
Many cases are seen within the company in which
“drilling a hole using a drilling machine.”
in-house manufactured products are effectively used to
All the works of all the departments have been put in a list
make work easier and improve the QOL. For example, an
in which the work items and the names of employees
employee with a lower limb disability in the walking was
corresponding to each work are listed up vertically and
recommended to use an electric wheelchair within the
horizontally, respectively. This list is called the “ability table”
workplace and his action range as well as the field of work
which allows an integrated management of the “current”
has been significantly increased, accordingly.
degree of acquisition of the skill of an employee and the

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This kind of improvement in the working environment is (about 500 million yen at the end-user price) are sold
carried out according to the needs of each employee in a annually and has become the standard product of the
flexible manner. For example, the height of the desk is brace industry.
adjusted and the layout of the workplace is changed for an In the meantime, the company has promoted a variety of
employee in a wheelchair, while the in-house work styles regardless of the presence or absence of
manufactured communication equipment is used for an disabilities or of time constraint to allow female employees
employee with dysarthria (speech disorder-impossibility of with childcare to continue working. In addition, the
pronunciation). In addition, this is applied not only to the company actively engages people with disabilities in work
workplace environment, but also to the work process and a in contact with customers, such as a showroom as an
process which is detrimental for people with disabilities is attempt to expand their working opportunities. Such an
eliminated or simplified in order to tailor a work to suit a effort serves as a place publicize that the company
person”. For example, in the past, there was a case in embodies its corporate philosophy.
which a totally blind employee drew up the minutes of a All employees of the PR department in charge of the
meeting. Due to the complicacy of the traditional in-house company tour are women, and for their kind guidance,
document format in which input columns were subdivided about 2000 people visit the company annually including
into many segments, the format was changed into a local elementary and middle schools, students on a school
simpler form to enable the employee to draw up the trip, etc. Inspection tours for a fee in combination with a
minutes with easy input work. Thanks to the clarification of professional seminar on prostheses and orthoses have
the work process based on the quality management started since 2012, which results in sales of 700,000 yen
system, it is possible for the company to take measures in a year.
flexibly in order to adapt to the moment and meet the In addition, an effort to summarize the know-how
needs of an employee at the site. developed in the company to work together with people
In the meantime, in terms of work style, an effort is with disabilities and transmit it to other companies is
underway to flexibly deal with time and place. An underway in response to the proposal of an employee. It is
employee is allowed to stagger commuting hours and expected that this may serve as a new business base in
move the 7.5 working hours forward and backward with combination with consulting services in the future.
the permission of the section chief. In addition, employees
can work for shortened hours for childcare or nursing care.
There is an underlying strong desire on the part of the
management to “expect irreplaceable employees to work
for many years” and there is its corporate philosophy of
“never giving up improving the QOL of our soul partners
and customers”. The company continues its efforts to
remove physical and psychological barriers step by step.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Development of new businesses in which each
employee demonstrates his/her ability
regardless of disabilities or restrictions
As mentioned above, many technicians with disabilities
using prosthetics and orthotics in a leadership position got
engaged in the transfer of skills, development of
successors, and product development and created the
foundation of “KAWAMURA and Technology.” The transfer
of skills is now smoothly conducted from older employees
to young employees through the quality management
mechanism to support the manufacturing of the company.  An aspect in which a person with disabilities
The representative product of such an effort is the short performs as a normal worker
leg brace “ORTOP AFO series” and about 14,000 units

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SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD. Manufacturing Large enterprise

The Company has expanded the environment in which

women can work effectively in combination with the
development of system and work environment, realized
the translation into business of research results and
created a friendly workplace.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Development of “a friendly environment for everyone” in anticipation of the decrease in the
number of working population
 Shift from the personnel organization focused on men

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Support to help strike a good balance between work and family in excess of legal stipulations
 Development of working environment in pursuit of “friendliness of work”
 Change in “work system” and expansion of “work field” in addition to the system
enhancement
 Increase in the proportion of female employees for the realization of the target in 2028

Outcomes of diversity management

 Development of a user-friendly alloy powder for surface reform
 Expansion of opportunities for recruitment of outstanding human resources through the
strengthening of recruitment activities

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1935 Capital 20,182 million yen

Head office address 3007, Aza Ichimonji, Shikamakunakashima, Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture
Business outline Steel Industry
Sales 151,750 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of march 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 1,691 persons (including 122 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 171 women (including 8 non-regular employee)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 3.0%
Average service years for
17.6 years (18.5 years for men, 13.1 years for women)
regular employees

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the manufacturing of products. The target of 2028 can be

Background and goals of achieved only if the women account for the half of the new
recruitment of the company every year. It is the
diversity management manifestation of a strong will of the company to engage in
the effort with a unified voice in addition to showing its
Development of “a friendly environment for strong determination to the outside world by deliberately
everyone” in anticipation of the decrease in the setting a high target.
number of working population
SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred
to as “the company”) was established in 1935 and has Specific measures taken for
been growing through the provision of “high reliability steel” promoting diversity management
based on high credibility gained from customers. The
company provides essential elements for a variety of
industries including automobile, railway and construction Support to help strike a good balance between
machinery among others through the manufacturing and work and family in excess of legal stipulations
sales of a wide range of special steel and special materials In the first place, the company took on the review of the
including steel for bearing, structural steel, tool steel, system. The law stipulates six weeks of a maternity leave
stainless steel, and formed and fabricated materials. before birth, but it is possible to use the prenatal maternity
In the midst of the progress in aging population and a leave system from the early stage of pregnancy
decrease in the labor force population, there was a (immediately after the confirmation of pregnancy) in the
growing sense of crisis that it would be difficult to secure company. Since the physical condition of a pregnant
the required number of human resources in the steel woman is unstable in the early stage of pregnancy,
industry which has been considered the “workplace for pregnant women are allowed to take a maternity leave
men” in the past. In a situation in which a wider variety of during an unstable period and choose the work style that
human resources need to work effectively, the company best fits the physical condition and situation of each
has started an effort earlier than other companies in the employee. In addition, when an employee returns to work
same industry to develop a workplace environment in before the completion of childcare period, she receives a
which a variety of human resources focused on female subsidy (up to 20,000 yen per month) for the cost of
employees can play an active role and to recruit women. providing care to a child at a nursery house and this is also
very popular among the users.
Shift from the personnel organization focused on In addition, a system has been introduced in which if an
men employee who left her job for reasons of childbirth and
childcare wishes to return to work, she can work again as
The steel industry is exposed to a severe international
a permanent employee with the same treatment before her
competition. In 2007 when the president at the time took
leave if certain requirements are met. In this manner, a
charge of the company, the company declared a strong
variety of measures have been taken so as to enable
message to “support female employees to play an active
outstanding human resources to continue working after a
role” in the understanding that in order to survive in the
life event.
severe environment and continue to grow, it was
necessary to secure outstanding human resources. Such
a message was declared in rather an early stage
Development of working environment in pursuit
compared to other companies in the same industry. There of “friendliness of work”
was an underlying conviction of the president that (1) it Since the workplace was basically for men, there was no
was very important for the company to secure human facility that paid attention to female workers particularly in
resources in a long-term perspective and the company many factory facilities in which technical specialists
needed to “develop a women-friendly working environment” worked. Owing to the characteristics of the work of the
as a part of the effort and that (2) it would be possible to company, employees worked in many different sites, but
maintain and increase the competitiveness of the company facilities for women were very limited. To start with, the
by creating a company in which outstanding human company has developed a variety of basic facilities for
resources can play a role regardless of gender. For many female employees including toilets, locker rooms, bath,
years in the past, recruitment had been focused on men. space for relaxation without worrying about the presence
In the understanding that a variety of human resources of men and others.
need to play a part in order for the company to maintain In addition, a maternity uniform to allow a pregnant woman
and increase the competitive edge in the future, the to work comfortably was developed in response to the
company started to develop an environment to allow on-site voices. The maternity uniform is very popular also
women that account for the half of the population to work outside the company and many inquiries are received.
effectively.
In order to promote the effort, the specific target of
“increasing the percentage of female employees to 25%
by the end of March 2028, 20 years later from now” was
established. At the time in 2007 when the effort was
started, female employees accounted for 7% of all
employees and only 2% in the technical jobs that deal with

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SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Development of a user-friendly alloy powder for
surface reform
The company has succeeded in the recruitment and
settlement of outstanding human resources and in the
building of an environment that allows them to play a role,
which has resulted in outcomes in research and
development.
The representative outcome was the development of the
alloy powder for surface reform. The female employee
who joined the company when it had started to recruit and
allocate women and develop the environment actively has
played a significant part in the development of the product.
She visited customers actively together with a person in
charge of sales two to three years after joining the
company and listened to their requests for the product.
 Maternity uniform to allow a pregnant woman to work Following the requests, she looked into the problem to
comfortably
analyze carefully and theoretically the cause of the
deficiency which occurred at the time of use and
Change in “work system” and expansion of the concluded that not only the mixing of the materials, but
“field of work” in addition to the system also the in-house manufacturing process should be
enhancement changed. Upon her earnest persuasion, the company has
In line with the improvement in systems and facilities, the improved the manufacturing process leading to the
company has allocated women to shift work and jobs development of the “alloy powder for surface reform.”
conventionally reserved for men. In the past, female The product is positioned by the company as the main
technical specialists nearly exclusively worked at day time. item of the alloy powder for surface reform which provides
However, since the labor environment has been developed heat resistance and wear resistance to steel-making
for women with the aforementioned improvement in equipment and die cast equipment. Its sales amounted to
systems and facilities, women are allocated to workplaces about 40 million yen in FY2012 and 2013. The product
with a 3-shift work/2-shift work. Currently, 21 women work recorded the sales of 23 million yen in the first half of
in workplaces with a shift work. Pregnant technical FY2014 and has become the number one product as a
specialist continues working by making use of the material for surface reform. She was commended by the
maternity/childcare leave system or the short-working hour company in 2012.
system. In addition, their field of work has been expanded
in recent years: Conventionally, women mainly worked as
auxiliary staff in tests and researches, but now they are
also allocated in intermediate processes and final
production lines.

Increase in the proportion of female employees

for the realization of the target in 2028
In the beginning when the company started the effort, the
ratio of female employees was 7 % (98 out of 1352). As of
April 2014, however, the ratio of female employees is 11 %
(159 out of 1359) and both the ratio and the number have
0.1mm
increased. The promotion to managerial posts has
increased. As of the end of March 2007, only three women
were in managerial posts including one manager who held
the highest post for women, while as of April 2014, there
are eight women in managerial posts including 7  Alloy powder for surface reform
managers and 1 general manager who holds the highest
post for women. This has been achieved as a result of the This female employ is the first woman to experience
effort for the past seven years. pregnancy and birth in the research department. Having
come back to work after a childcare leave, she continues
working using the short-time work system. When an
employee returns to work, an interview is conducted to
discuss working hours to allow her to strike a good
balance between work and childcare.

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Expansion of opportunities for recruitment of increase in the number of both applicants and recruits, it
outstanding human resources through the has opportunities for recruitment of outstanding human
strengthening of recruitment activities resources.
In recognition of a variety of efforts for supporting a good
balance between work and family, the company was
commended by the government of Hyogo Prefecture as a
company that strikes a good balance between work and
family. The company has been featured in many occasions
in mass media and its recognition as a work-friendly
company has increased.
In the recruitment for posts with prospects of a managerial
post, the number of female students who had cited the
company’s effort to provide opportunities for women to
play a key role as the motive for their application increased
by 19 in 2014 compared to 2006, which accounted for
29 % of all female applicants. Two women out of seven for
posts with prospects of a managerial post and two women
out of five for technical posts were recruited in April 2014.
Moreover, the company actively participated in events
organized by a local university including the “Rikejo
(female science students)” symposium and open campus  An aspect of an event for “Rikejo (female science
among other events in 2014. students)”
Thanks to a variety of measures including PR and
advertising activities, the company is now widely known as
a workplace in which women can play a role, and with the

Best Practices Collection 2015 98

FP CORPORATION Manufacturing Large enterprise

The company considers people with disabilities as a

potential workforce and eliminates misunderstanding and
prejudice caused by the lack of knowledge through the
“inclusion” of all employees.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Positioning of people with disabilities as a potential workforce

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Manufacturing of trays for many types of high-value added food
 Hand sorting by people with disabilities unique in the industry to support the manufacturing of
ecological trays
 “Inclusion” of FP Corporation realized by the “floor hockey”

Outcomes of diversity management

 Formation of the market for “ecological trays” and the development of “ECO-APET”
 Transmission of the active role played by people with intellectual disabilities that supports
good business performance

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1962 Capital 13,150 million yen

Head office address 1-13-15, Akebono-cho, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture
Manufacturing and sales of polystyrene paper and other simple food containers made of synthetic resin, and
Business outline
sales of related packaging materials
Sales 131,322 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of march 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 748 persons (including 2 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 372 people with disabilities (including 0 non-regular employee)
attribute category Employment ratio of people with disabilities: 16.0% (*)
Average service years for
11.8 years (14.6 years for men, 9 years for women)
regular employees
(*) The number and the employment ratio of people with disabilities are the numerical values of a total of 33
Remark
companies in the group based on the “Special exceptions for the calculation of a corporate group”

99 Best Practices Collection 2015

 FP CORPORATION

with a view to allowing them to play a part in the main

Background and goals of business of the Group for profit-making.
diversity management
Specific measures taken for
Positioning of people with disabilities as a
potential workforce promoting diversity management
FP CORPORATION (FPCO) Group engages in the
manufacturing, distribution and sales of food trays as well Manufacturing of trays for many types of
as sales of related materials. People with disabilities high-value added food
employed by the Group are allocated in its main business, Since physical distribution costs of food trays are very high,
the manufacturing of trays and the recycling operations unless the business is conducted under the principle of
(sorting of recovered trays) in four subsidiaries with a local production for local consumption by having
special status in terms of employment of people with production bases in various areas, the transportation costs
disabilities (hereinafter referred to as “Ducks Group”) pile up. In the circumstance, the FPCO Group holds
including Ducks Company (hereinafter referred to as production bases across Japan.
“Duck Co.”) and FPCO International Package Co., Ltd. One of them is the Ducks Shikoku Co. (hereinafter referred
(hereinafter referred to as “FPCO I Package Co.”) which is to as “Ducks Shikoku Co.”) in which the ratio between
recognized as a company of A type to support people with people with disabilities and healthy people is 2 to 1. A
disabilities to continue working. person with disabilities has been working for 19 years
The Ducks Co. was established in 1986 in the wake of an since the establishment of the company. The company
encounter with the “Ahiruno-kai (Ducks Association)” engages in the molding of lids for fast food containers and
which is an association of parents with children with people with disabilities are in charge of the inspection,
intellectual disabilities. In order to provide places of work packaging and casing. However, healthy people are not
for people with disabilities, the “Ahiruno-kai” was making a beside them to give instructions. With experience, a
tour of various parts of Japan to look for companies that person with disabilities does not only take care of own
would agree with its gist. The president of FPCO (the work, but also oversees the whole production line. When
current chairman) established the Ducks Co. to he/she becomes capable of deciding by him/herself what
manufacture trays under the cooperation of the to do next, the person will be promoted to the chief or
association and started to employ people with disabilities. assistant-chief of a line to teach other people. Many
Thereafter, although the company was approved as a people with disabilities work in the Ducks Shikoku Co. as
subsidiary with a special status in terms of employment of “a workforce” not in a welfare business, but “in a profit
people with disabilities, at the time of its establishment, the corporation.”
employment of people with disabilities was not compulsory The evaluation criteria of the Ducks Shikoku Co. play a
and the number of subsidiaries with a special status was key part in the effort to support the system. The evaluation
limited and in particular, the Ducks Co. was the first criteria of the company of people with disabilities are not
subsidiary with a special status focused on people with different at all from those for healthy people. An increase in
intellectual disabilities. pay is determined in combination of a variety of elements
Trays were manufactured at the Ducks Co. by a special including the attendance rate, attitude toward work,
method called “vacuum molding” which consists in forming cooperativeness with people around, etc. In addition, all
a shape by adhering resin to a mold in a near vacuum people with disabilities make presentations in front of all
state and it was difficult to change the production line for employees of their own annual target once a year and a
the operation by people with disabilities. Therefore, there specific target regarding quality and efficiency once in a
was no other alternative than using the normal production quarter.
line in an efficient manner. The Ducks Co started to think
of how to enable people with disabilities to engage in the Hand sorting by people with disabilities unique
production and make a profit. A variety of measures were in the industry to support the manufacturing of
taken including the attachment of buttons to call a leader in ecological trays
an emergency and the installation of double safety device, In the FPCO Group, “ecological trays” are manufactured
among others and the business of the Ducks Co. got off by the processes of classifying trays recovered from
the ground in about one year. supermarkets and others into white trays, colored trays
In the meantime, the FPCO I Package Co. was approved and unsuitable trays accurately, carefully cleaning
as a company of type to provide support for continuous selected trays after crushing to melt and pelletize, and
employment support to people with disabilities under the putting them back into raw materials for attaching new
Act to Support Independence of Disabled People for the films on the surface thereof.
first time in Japan for a profit corporation. The company is The company has been engaged in the tray recycling
engaged in the sorting of used trays which serve as raw since 1990 and in the beginning, trays were sorted by a
materials for the manufacturing of recycled trays machine. However, the degree of sorting was not good
(ecological trays) and the manufacturing of foldable enough and it was decided to introduce hand sorting by
containers. people with disabilities.
FPCO Group consistently considers that the Group In 2007, the company introduced tentatively a belt
employs people with disabilities not as a welfare work, but conveyor to introduce the process of hand sorting by
as a workforce in order to fully enhance their abilities and

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FP CORPORATION

people with disabilities in parallel to mechanical sorting. organization “Special Olympics” that supports the
After trials and errors in terms of the speed of the belt participation in sports of people with intellectual
conveyor, composition of the device, distribution of work, disabilities.
positioning of workers and the like for the optimization of The floor hockey of the FPCO is played as a “universal”
the process, it was made possible for people with match by both people with intellectual disabilities and
disabilities to manually sort trays flowing in quantities very healthy people together. A team is composed of 11 to 16
rapidly and accurately. people and at least six of them are people with intellectual
A total of six people with disabilities are in charge of disabilities. All people participate in a match by turns. The
processes in a line ranging from putting trays recovered 9th “All Japan Floor Hockey Games” hosted by the Japan
from supermarkets into the line, through eliminating Floor Hockey Federation based on this “universal” rule
dangerous goods and unsuitable trays and separating was held in 2014.
white trays from colored trays to making the final selection. Since the FPCO Group holds bases across Japan, for
Speed and accuracy are required in each work so as not to example, the Ducks Co. and the FPCO Tokyo head office
stop the belt conveyor running at a high speed. It is not in Tokyo, and the FPCO I Package Nishinomiya Co. and
that there is a special training program for people with the FPCO Osaka branch in Kansai form a tag team
disabilities to learn this technique. They acquire this composed of people with disabilities and healthy people,
technique through on the job training (OJT). respectively. The floor hockey activities are part of the
In principle, each person with disability is arranged in a welfare program and all the tools and uniforms have been
position most suitable to him/her according to their donated by the chairman.
aptitude. However, the leader at the site changes their Regardless of the presence or absence of disabilities,
positions flexibly according to their physical condition on a good or bad, age or gender, all participate in the game and
particular day. there is no “substitute player”. The participating teams are
The company makes the most of the characteristics of classified by the level and games are played according to
people with intellectual abilities that they can concentrate the level of the teams by “division.” All participants are
on a work and perform it accurately, but the effort is not awarded with a medal in honor of having triumphed over
limited to it. The screening and sorting process needs to the past.
be performed as a team where a person performs his/her The passing of the puck between people with disabilities
own duty while placing trust on persons before and after and healthy people who have hardly any opportunity to
him/her. Inherent concentration and consideration towards meet with each other eliminates misunderstand and
other people cultivated through teamwork are essential in prejudice caused by the lack of knowledge. The floor
this work, including caring for other people not in good hockey is the source for “inclusion” that FPCO Group aims
physical condition, picking up immediately a tray dropped at.
by the person in front, etc.
The FPCO I Package Co. prepares an “individual support
plan” (A type plan to provide support for continuous
employment) based on the “law to provide a
comprehensive support to the daily life and social life of
persons with disabilities” and gains an understanding
(monitoring) of the implementation status, and revises the
plan every time the company holds individual interviews
twice a year. In addition, each employee makes it a rule to
set at least one specific target in the work without fail, such
as “to improve accuracy in inspection.” In most workplaces,
a person with intellectual disabilities presents the  Teams of the FPCO at the “FPCO Cup All Japan Floor
performance of the day before and points to be improved Hockey Games”
as well as the targets of the day at the morning assembly.
It is possible to achieve a sense of accomplishment by
clearly setting a target. Outcomes of diversity
“Inclusion” of FP Corporation realized by the
management
“floor hockey”
The FPCO Group on the whole actively engages in floor Formation of the market for “ecological trays”
hockey and as of November 2014, there are 17 teams with and the development of “ECO-APET”
a participation of a total of 501 employees across Japan. Against the backdrop of the remarkable improvement in
Companies mainly formed by people with disabilities such both the sorting errors and sorted discharge thanks to
as the Ducks Co. and FPCO I Package Co. and other hand sorting by people with intellectual disabilities
companies in the FPCO Group have hardly any compared to the period (2007) in which sorting was
opportunity to get in touch. With a view to fostering a performed automatically by a machine, the sales amount
sense of community supporting and forming part of the of the “ecological trays” have continued to increase since
FPCO Group, the effort of floor hockey was started. March 1992 and as the end of March 2014, its sales
The floor hockey is a hockey played indoors and an official reached 18.9 billion yen, which account for over 10% of all
winter event organized by the international sports the sales of the FPCO. The success of the ecological tray
business has not only contributed to the increase in the

101 Best Practices Collection 2015

 FP CORPORATION

overall sales of the FPCO, but also formed a new market

called ecological trays.
The EPCO Group newly launched the ECO-APET which is
a recycled transparent container in 2010 by taking
advantage of the technology and knowhow accumulated in
the ecological trays. In the past, cloudy styrofoam (PSP)
was used as the raw material for ecological trays. The
ECO-APET was a challenge for the recycling of
transparent containers. There were a wide range of
transparent materials, such as polypropylene (PP) and
OPS (biaxially oriented polystyrene sheet) among others
and they should be separated by material for recycling.
Since it was difficult to distinguish their difference, the
EPCO developed a sorting device specific to transparent  The overall sales of the FPCO has increased in line with
the increase in sales of the ecological products
materials in cooperation with a machine manufacture in
2008. Optical sensors are mounted on the device and
materials of transparent trays fed by the belt conveyor are Transmission of the active role played by people
optically distinguished and classified. It was taken into with intellectual disabilities that supports good
consideration to make use careful hand sorting by people business performance to the society
with intellectual disabilities developed in the ecological A total of 12 companies and branches and 11 people in the
trays from the moment of designing the sorting device. FPCO Group have been commended for the effort for the
Before feeding containers into the sorting device, it was employment of people with disabilities in the main
necessary to remove impurities such as rubber bands, business of the manufacturing and recycling of trays.
non-transparent containers, etc and people with In addition, the recycling plants are open to the public and
intellectual disabilities are in charge of this step. In addition, accept inspection tours. The company does not only ask
it is indispensable to put containers on the belt conveyor in for cooperation in putting out recyclables for collection in
such a manner that they are not overlapped with each as clean a state as possible by promoting the
other in order to allow the sensors to accurately distinguish understanding that people with disabilities are engaged in
them, and arrange them in a vertical direction without a hand sorting and by deepening the reliance on the recycle
gap, and these steps are also handled by them. As a system of the company, but also raises awareness of the
consequence of achieving an increase in speed and society about the recycling. A concerted effort by the
efficiency, the sales of the ECO-APET has reached 9.9 Group has made it possible to realize the recycling of trays
billion yen at the end of March 2014. The manufacturing of in the industry. The number of visitors to the plants
the ecological trays could not have been achieved without increased from 12,379 (FY2006) to 18,662 (FY2013) by
the active part played people with disabilities. 50%, resulting in the improvement of recognition of the
FPCO and the transmission of the potential of people with
disabilities in business development.

Best Practices Collection 2015 102

SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD. Manufacturing SME

The company has changed its organizational culture to

take advantage of techniques and skills of foreign
employees, and its business development overseas has
contributed to a significant increase in sales.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Business development overseas with its core technology essential for energy-saving and
environment-related apparatuses
 Review of the corporate culture which prevented foreign new graduates from settling in the
company.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Promotion of innovative “work style” in parallel to the formulation of the management plan
 Shift to the implementation of more efficient work through reform of both the evaluation
system and work style
 Positioning of foreigners in the sales and accounting departments and support for their
playing a part

Outcomes of diversity management

 Realization of steady global development by taking advantage of the skills of each foreign
employee
 Development of creativity through communication among a variety of employees

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1965 Capital 100 million yen

Head office address 3108-3, Aoyagi, Koga City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Business outline Manufacturing and sales of energy-saving and environment-related apparatuses
Sales 4,887 million yen (as of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 252 persons (including 34 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by
4 foreigners (including 0 non-regular employee)
attribute category
Average service years for
9.6 years (12.2 years for men, 6.9 years for women)
regular employees

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 SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD.

the company concluded that it was indispensable to

Background and goals of develop a training system, an appropriate evaluation
system and an environment easy to work for foreign
diversity management employees so that they functioned as a workforce and
undertook an overall reform of the company.
Business development overseas with its core
technology essential for energy-saving and
environment-related apparatuses Specific measures taken for
SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the promoting diversity management
company”) was founded in 1965 as a “pioneer of
university-originated ventures.” The founder of the
company who is the father of the current president started Promotion of innovative “work style” in parallel
to conduct a contract research for a company while he was to the formulation of the management plan
working as a teacher of the Engineering Faculty at Kyushu The company started to clarify its corporate philosophy
University in order to realize his wish to “produce an and direction of the management. It would celebrate its
unmatched product using his original ideas and technology 50th anniversary of the foundation in July 2015. At the end
to contribute to the society. The company expanded its of 2013, the company formulated the “New 5 Year
business through the manufacturing and sales of Management Plan (2014-2018)” which embodied the
energy-saving and environment-related apparatuses, such vision in 10 year’s time and in which the target of “creating
as total heat exchanger, desiccant dehumidifier and VOC a company capable of subsisting for 100 years” based on
concentration apparatus using “honeycomb laminates” a sustained growth was established. In addition to
which is its core technology essential for these establishing its vision as of 2023 and the business
apparatuses. direction, the corporate climate and culture were stipulated.
Due to its small size, it was difficult for the company to find Moreover, the “8 Rules for the New Work Style” were
an outlet in leading companies in Japan and on the established. The company’s codes of conduct had been in
contrary, foreign manufacturers rated fairly the technology place. However, they were expressed in terms of
of the company. From the beginning of the 1970s, the ideological words and difficult to understand. Thus, in line
company advanced into Korea, Europe, USA and Taiwan with the formulation of the new management plan, the “8
to sell the essential parts of mechanical devices to local Rules for the New Work Style” was established to show
air-conditioner manufactures, and developed its overseas the specific codes of conduct to facilitate the
business. understanding of the employees.
In the late 1990s, the company started to sell to the device These “8 rules” embody the belief of the president that “it is
as a whole as a system. However, since it was difficult for indispensable for the management of the company that
the company to deal with the needs using the facilities in each employee continues to hold the desire to grow as a
Japan alone, the company decided to establish professional” and in addition to having time for
manufacturing and sales bases overseas as well. In 2001, self-improvement, the importance of realizing an
it established a subsidiary in the USA and a subsidiary for unambiguous and lively work style is emphasized. It can
manufacturing and sales in 2007 in China after be said that these rules do not aim to improve the work
establishing a base there in 2005. In the new business style superficially including the reduction in working hours,
development, the company recognized the need to employ but to improve the work style of each employee in
a Chinese employee as a person to deal with inquiries conformity with his/her role and responsibilities by
from overseas including China and understand the reviewing his/her work. Moreover, there is described for
situation of the subsidiaries and it started to recruit fair and equitable evaluation of all employees that “1.
Chinese and Korean people, accordingly. Understand the objective value of the work that an
employee performs” and “6. Show off own achievements
Review of the corporate culture which prevented to his/her boss and people around.”
foreign new graduates from settling in the In the time in which the company was engaged in
company manufacturing apparatuses and devices to suit the needs
A Chinese technician was the first foreigner employed by of customers, it was recommended and considered
the company in 2000. He had taken the degree of doctor at valuable to work late. However, currently, the company has
the Kumamoto University and published his papers both in shifted to a business model where it solves problems of
Japan and China. He had excellent academic customers using its core technologies and where each
achievements as an engineer and a researcher and employee is required to think and act autonomously. In the
employed as an immediate asset. circumstances, it is stipulated in the “8 Rules for the New
Since a Chinese technician known in the world of research Work Style” that “7. Create consciously a connection
and development, it was only a matter of time to employ between own work and hobby” and “8. Enlighten yourself
new foreigners. However, two Chinese new female by making use of an increased spare time” under the
graduates employed with the launch of its subsidiary in recognition that each employee needs to improve
China around 2007 left the job in 1 to 2 years for family him/herself in order to create a more innovative
reasons such as marriage. The situation was different from organization.
the case of the Chinese technician who was evaluated
according to this abilities and skills. In view of the situation,

Best Practices Collection 2015 104

SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD.

8 Rules for the New Work Style

1. Understand the objective value of the work that an employee performs.
2. Do your best to increase the density of work within the regular work time to start with, despite the need
for some overtime
3. Take care not only of yourself but also of others so that all may leave office on time.
4. Improve both the quantity and quality of your output (outcomes).
5. Be conscious of time (schedule, deadline, delivery time) at all times.
6. Show off own achievements to his/her boss and people around.
7. Create consciously a connection between own work and hobby.
8. Enlighten yourself by making use of an increased spare time.

Shift to the implementation of more efficient minutes. The purpose and the time required must be
work through reform of both the evaluation included in the application to reduce overtime. In the
system and work style beginning, many complained about the system alleging the
In order to promote the change in work style as mentioned lack of time, but all employees have started to adapt
above, the company has also undertaken the reform of its themselves to the new work style gradually. The
evaluation system. In the past, evaluation was based on introduction of a new evaluation system based on work
the seniority system by length of time and its criteria and content and its output and of a complicated system for
results were ambiguous. However, the company has newly overtime, employees are more motivated to leave office on
introduced the management by objectives (MBO) and time.
work skills evaluation in recent years. The former is used
to measure the status of achievement of the target set by Positioning of foreigners in the sales and
an employee for the year by interviewing him/her once a accounting departments and support for their
month in principle. The latter is designed to clarify the roles playing a part
required from each department and measure the extent of Since around 2012, the company has started to employ
its accomplishments to determine promotions. foreigners in other positions than the development
The mechanism to measure employees based on positions. Currently, in addition to the Chinese technician
outcomes and business performance instead of the length who works as the top of the technical department, two
of working hours is related to the increase in the number of Chinese and one Korean are working and another Korean
female employees. In light of the situation in which it is is expected to join in the next fiscal year.
difficult for a female employee to strike a good balance The foreign employee in charge of accounting joined the
between work and family life including household and company after completing his master course of the
childcare despite the development of maternity leave and Department of Economic Engineering of Kyushu
childcare leave, it has become indispensable to introduce University School of Economics. He compiles data on the
a flexible work style regardless of age and gender. management situation of the Chinese subsidiary by
The company also addresses the issue of correcting the keeping a close contact with his counterpart in the
long hours working culture in a top-down manner. It started subsidiary to gather information which was not accessible
with the establishment of the “concentration time” and to the Japanese accountant.
obligation of to apply for overtime. In addition, foreign employees in charge of sales form a
The “concentration time” is a system originally introduced pair with a veteran Japanese salesman are building their
in the design department around 2011, which “prohibits in relationship with customers while learning knowhow and
principle all telephones, meetings and private skills on the job training.
conversations during one and a half hours both in the In 2000, when the Chinese technician joined the company,
morning and in the afternoon. The design work requires it was difficult for the Chinese employee and Japanese
concentration and the system was introduced to allow employees to understand each other due to cultural
employees to concentrate in their work. Currently, the differences. Now, they share the view, however, that
system has been adopted by other departments and the mutual understanding is enhanced as they speak to each
“concentration time” is implemented between 10 and 11:30 other frankly, and the removal of a barrier between them
in the morning (in the design department, the system is has improved the team ability, accordingly. In addition, in
also introduced in the afternoon) to allow all employees to order to allow Japanese employees to smoothly conduct
efficiently engage in their work. business with the Chinese subsidiary, the company
In addition, although each employee did overtime at provides a course of Chinese language with the Chinese
his/her discretion, in order to press home the point of employee serving as the teacher in which employees of
“leaving office on time whenever it is possible,” it was the administrative department can also take part to learn
made compulsory to apply for overtime by units of 30 daily conversation.

105 Best Practices Collection 2015

 SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Realization of steady global development by
taking advantage of the skills of each foreign
employee
The Chinese technician joined the company that joined the
company in 2000 has become the chief of the
development department and has published so far more
than 60 papers on the company products in academic
meetings held both in Japan and China. In addition, the
number of applications for patent centered on him is more
than 30 and half of them have been registered. These
academic publications contributed to the marketing to  An aspect of the presentation of the Chinese technician
understand customers’ needs in China and the at an international meeting
development of business strategy to meet the needs of the
overseas market as well as proposal of new products. development of the company. In addition, thanks to the
In addition, the compilation of monthly reports of the successful enhancement of awareness-raising through
Chinese subsidiary by the Chinese employee of the work style innovation for improving the quality of work, a
accounting department allows employees to immediately corporate culture to work together by accepting differences
ask questions to root out problems and provide information in culture and values has been created in the company.
required for business judgment to the management. In the VC activity (cross-sectoral technology innovation
As a consequence of the activities of the Chinese activity), now employees listen to and accept a variety of
employees, the amount of sales in China which was about views and opinions and actively discuss with each other
200 million yen in 2006 has significantly increased. The based on a variety of knowledge and experience. In
amount of sales to China in FY2013 after the particular, the “Ultra-low dew point energy-saving
establishment of the Chinese subsidiary was about 225 dehumidifier” has been developed in a cross-sectoral
million yen. In addition, the amount of sales by the manner between the sales department and development
Chinese subsidiary itself is expected to increase from department in order to meet the needs of a customer. A
about 128 million yen at the time of establishment to about cross-sectoral development team was formed around the
1,040 million yen in FY2014. As a result, the company’s aforementioned Chinese technician as the leader and the
strategy in China is going on smoothly. idea obtained from users’ perspectives was looked at from
In the meantime, in the overseas sales department, the a variety of angles to produce this new product different
Korean employee is in contact directly with Korean from products of other companies. As a consequence, the
companies, which allows the company to deal with sales in this field have increased of 200 million yen in 2012
detailed needs and conduct sales promotion in to 700 million yen in 2007. Along with the expansion of the
accordance with the Korean market. As a result, the main business, there has been created an atmosphere in
amount of sales in Korea of the VOC concentration the company in which new and diverse ideas are
apparatus is expected to increase from 150 million yen in generated, shared, developed by employees.
2009 to 638 million yen in FY2014.

Development of creativity through

communication among a variety of employees
Innovation in work style focused on efficiency and
productivity and the introduction of a fair evaluation system
have allowed not only foreign employees but also female
employees to stably settle in the company in recent years.
In addition, there has been created an atmosphere in
which both foreign employees and Japanese employees
cooperate with each other to contribute for the
 New product developed in a cross-sectoral manner

Best Practices Collection 2015 106

 Electricity, Gas,

CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. Heat supply and

Water
Large enterprise

The company has shifted into an organization which

allows each employee to exert his/her ability and produce
outcomes backed up by the strong will of the
management and strong support from the “Diverse
Human Resources Active Support Office.”
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Promotion of “individual ability improvement” in response to the intensification of competition
due to electricity deregulation

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Stipulation of diversity promotion in the management vision and the strong commitment by
the president
 Effort of the “Chubu Diversity Net” that drives diversity promotion in Chubu area
 Establishment of a subsidiary with a special status in terms of employment of people with
disabilities to actively promote employment of people with severe disabilities
 Exploration of new businesses to take care of people with mental disabilities centered on the
“Diverse Human Resources Active Support Office.”

Outcomes of diversity management

 Progress of empowerment of women and reform of work style
 Contribution to the improvement in efficiency and promotion of corporate understanding by
people with disabilities playing an active part

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1951 Capital 430,777 million yen

Head office address 1, Higashishinmachi, Higashi-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Business outline Electricity business
Sales 2,485,675 million yen (as of March 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of August 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 19,407 persons (including 1,497 non-regular employee)
2,726 women (including 824 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by Proportion of women in managerial posts: 1.8 %
attribute category 312 people with disabilities (including 116 non-regular employee)
Employment ratio of people with disabilities: 2.1 % (*)
Average service years for
21.6 years (22.1 years for men, 17.2 years for women)
regular employees
(*) The number and the employment ratio of people with disabilities include the Chuden Wing Co., Ltd, its
Remark
subsidiary with a special status in terms of employment of people with disabilities

107 Best Practices Collection 2015

 CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Promotion of “individual ability improvement” in Stipulation of diversity promotion in the
response to the intensification of competition management vision and the strong commitment
due to electricity deregulation by the president
It was in 2007 that CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. In the “Management Vision 2030 of Chubu Electric Power
(hereinafter referred to as “the company”) that supplies Group” formulated in February 2011, it was clearly
power to mainly to the five prefectures in the Chubu region stipulated stated that it was necessary to promote diversity
has started to undertake in earnest the effort to encourage in order to “establish the business base to realize growth”.
a variety of human resources to play an active part in the Under the understanding that it was essential to allow
company. In addition to the increased need to respond to a each employ to fully exert his/her abilities and activate the
variety of customers’ needs to strengthen the company’s organization to support their efforts, the team transmits the
competitiveness due to the significant change in work message using various means including the annual report.
environment including the electricity deregulation, it has In 2013, the “Office for the Promotion of Empowerment of
become necessary for the company to respond to the Women” was developed into the “Office to Support
shortage of labor force due to the aging population Success of a Variety of Human Resources” in order to
combined with the diminishing number of children and promote not only women but also a variety of human
change in values of workers. In the circumstances, the resources including elderly people and people with
company has put forth the policy to encourage a variety of disabilities in an integrated manner. In addition, the
human resources to play an active part in the company by company set the numerical target of “doubling the number
considering that it is important that each employee of women in managerial posts (over section chiefs) by
performs at his/her full potential to strengthen the 2020 compared to 2014” in line with the commitment of the
company’s competitiveness. president.
As the first step, the company decided to undertake the The current president took office some five years ago. He
effort to encourage women to play an active part in the has the experience of having worked temporarily on loan
company and launched a cross-sectoral project to that end. under a foreign female boss at the World Bank and
The team was composed of a total of 20 members recognizes that there is no difference in abilities by men
including two dedicated staff and 18 employees including and women”. The management is convinced that women
section chief and discussed the meaning and necessity of can play an active part in the company if only opportunities
encouraging female employees to play an active part in are given. The atmosphere in the company is gradually
the company in consultation with relevant departments changing due to the fact that the management has made it
and sections. In the process, it was considered necessary clear to drive the promotion of the empowerment of
to establish a dedicated organization to take on the task in women.
earnest and upon approval of the management meeting, To convey the message of the president, the company
the “Office for the Promotion of Empowerment of Women” provides the opportunities for female section chiefs just a
was established in 2007. The Office was composed of a step before a managerial post to directly talk with the
male chief, 1 male employee and 2 female employees and president. A total of about 100 female chiefs out of 400
the activity aimed to promote the empowerment of women actually had an interview and this has served as an appeal
“not only for women” was started. that the president is serious about the effort.
In the beginning, the adverse reaction against changing In addition, apart from providing various seminars to
the current situation was strong and the team was asked women by age and by class and at the time of childcare,
why it was necessary to engage in such an effort. In the seminars are also provided to women in managerial posts
circumstances, in order to kick off its activities, the team before they are promoted. When compared to 2007 when
started to explain the meaning of promoting the the dedicated organization was created, the number of
empowerment of women in front of all female employees women in managerial posts and chiefs just a step before a
and persons in managerial posts thereof in the branches in managerial post has increased by 1.6 times and 2.3 times
each area (18 meetings in total). Starting with these “kick in 2014.
off seminars”, the team conducted a variety of activities for Moreover, the company is planning to provide seminars to
the promotion of striking a good balance between work all over 5000 people in managerial posts in the future to
and life, including the awareness-raising through the raise their awareness about the effort. In addition, it is
in-house website and in-house magazine, implementation planned to clearly indicate the inclusion of “the provision of
of various seminars for women and others. Thanks to guidance, training and support to subordinates regardless
these activities, employees gradually became conscious of of their gender, age and the presence or absence of
the need to positively address the issue of the promotion disabilities” in the role of people in managerial posts, and
of empowerment of women. to enhance the personnel management system to allow
the training plan and main guidance contents to be traced
with a view to effectively supporting subordinate training
and development.

Best Practices Collection 2015 108

CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.

Effort of the “Chubu Diversity Net” that drives executive for personnel coordination including the
diversity promotion in Chubu area vice-president” and “the executive is served by the group
At about the same time as when the “Office for the business promotion director or the personnel director” to
Promotion of Empowerment of Women” was established in allow the management of the head office to look at the
2007, the company established the “Chubu Diversity Net” effort of the subsidiary company.
in cooperation with companies that were engaged in In addition, the company lays emphasis on the talent
promotion of diversity in the Chubu region. The company development of people with disabilities, and actively
is playing a leading role in coordination with other three provides support for their skill development. For example,
lead managers in leading 87 member companies in the three people with hearing difficulties in the printing
Chubu region. The network which focuses its efforts on the department have voluntarily obtained the national
promotion of empowerment of women plans and organizes qualification for offset printing work (one of them obtained
a variety of events, including forums for person in charge the first grade qualification) and the company sent a sign
of the effort promotion, joint seminars among different language interpreter for the licensing examination.
industries for female employees as well as lecture meeting The company also takes various measures for people with
for company presidents. disabilities including their assignment based on their
Member companies do not only widen the network among aptitude and management of their physical condition
persons in charge of the promotion, but also learn efforts through counseling. The turnover rate is also at a low
of other company to put them into practice in own level.
companies. In addition, they send working mothers and
people in managerial posts to joint seminars for training Exploration of new businesses to take care of
and development purposes. people with mental disabilities centered on the
“Diverse Human Resources Active Support
Establishment of a subsidiary with a special Office”
status in terms of employment of people with In 2013, the company has launched the “Business Support
disabilities to actively promote employment of Team (BST)” in which eight people with disabilities
people with severe disabilities including people with developmental disorder are widely
In order to encourage people with disabilities (referred to in engaged in routine tasks such as data input, calculation,
the company as “challenged”) to play an active part in the etc. In the beginning, their work was focused on clerical
company, the company established the “Chuden Wing Co., tasks related to salaries and employee services such as
Ltd”, a wholly-owned subsidiary company, to promote the welfare benefits of the personnel department and currently,
employment of people with severe disabilities and they also deal with tasks of other departments.
intellectual disabilities. The subsidiary engages in printing, Hardly any employee in the head office has been in
sales of gift products and horticulture, and currently 35 contact with a person with developmental disorder and in
people with intellectual disabilities (7 severely disabled), some occasions, employees moved about in confusion to
15 people with physical disabilities (12 severely disabled) deal with a person with developmental disorder that had
and 1 person with mental disability are out of 76 fallen in panic. To respond to such a situation, an outside
employees are working. job coach and an employee with qualifications to deal with
In 2000 when the company started to consider the the situation in the Chuden Wing were consulted about the
possibility of the establishment of the subsidiary, it was instruction method and work contents for smooth progress
difficult for it to increase employment including people with of work.
disabilities due to the fact that the deregulation of Since the BST in the head office has got off the ground,
electricity had forced the company to implement a variety the company has started to extend the same mechanism
of measures including personnel reduction, business to each branch. To start with, tasks that can be performed
restructuring, outsourcing and others. In addition, at the effectively by people with disabilities must be looked at.
time, the development of barrier-free facilities was not However, since it is difficult for a branch office to deal with
advanced and it was thought that it would take time to the situation for lack of precedent, a member of the “Office
refurbish the head office and branches. In the to Support Success of a Variety of Human Resources”
circumstances, the company adopted the form of a visits each branch to provide advice by showing examples
subsidiary with a special status in terms of employment of of the head office.
people with disabilities to provide a place for people with
disabilities to work and install new barrier-free facilities to
promote their employment. Outcomes of diversity
The most peculiar feature of the relationship between the management
Chubu Electric Power and the Chuden Wing Co., Ltd. is
the fact that the vice-president of the former serves as the
president of the latter. In general terms, a subsidiary with a
Progress of empowerment of women and reform
special status in terms of employment of people with of work style
disabilities is often separated from the management and So far, the company has been engaged in awareness
business of the head office and is placed in an “isolated” change in male employees including those in managerial
environment, so to speak. However, from the post from the perspective of the promotion of
establishment of the subsidiary, the company stipulated empowerment of women. This has contributed to the
that “the president of the subsidiary is served by an promotion of striking a good balance between work and life

109 Best Practices Collection 2015

 CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.

resulting in the reduction of long-hour working practice. belongs the overtime per employee in FY2013 was
The overtime work per employee of the company as a reduced by 37% compared to the previous year. In
whole in FY2013 was reduced by 13% compared to 2007 addition, by assigning work related to the forwarding of
when the dedicated organization was established. In ledger sheets to the BST, a cost reduction has been
addition, although no male employee had taken childcare realized.
leave until FY2007, 56 employees have taken it to the On the other hand, the operation of the “Chuden Wing Co.,
present day and it can be see that the attitude and Ltd.” established based on the spirit of “Coexistence and
consciousness toward work have been gradually changing. Respect for Man’s Life and Dignity” attracts much attention
With the backdrop that 70% of married female employees and so far more than 26,000 people including those of
in the company have been married to people who work in administrative organizations and companies, students of
the same place, there is a corporate culture that allows special support education schools and the general public
male employees to actively take part in childcare and have visited the place, contributing to the improvement in
female employees to play an active part as a result. the understanding of the effort for diversity promotion. In
In addition, the company also engages in expanding the addition, potted plants cultured through the horticulture
fields of work of female employees and they work business are very popular among people in the
effectively in fields that have been reserved for male neighborhood and there is an atmosphere to support the
employees in the past such as the operation of a power place in which people with disabilities work in earnest by
plant, or a dam, negotiation to acquire a land, etc. Since the local community as a whole.
the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, female
employees with expert knowledge have been present in
meetings to explain to local residents about nuclear power
generation to provide a careful explanation from viewpoint
of ordinary people and to facilitate the understanding of
housewives. In this manner, outcomes are emerging both
inside and outside the company.

Contribution to the improvement in efficiency

and promotion of corporate understanding by
people with disabilities playing an active part
Owing to the effort to allocate work to the BST, several
works such as filing and data classification which used to
be put off are performed at an adequate timing allowing
employees to search for documents and data as
necessary. This has contributed to the reduction in working  An aspect in which employees of the Chuden Wing work
hours of employees and in the department where the BST

Best Practices Collection 2015 110

 Electricity, Gas,

OSAKA GAS CO., LTD. Heat supply and

Water
Large enterprise

The company supports empowerment of women by

urging reconsideration of views on gender through the
stipulation of LGBT and changes the workplace climate in
parallel to the change in work style.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 “Securing of diversity” in order to respond to changes in business environment

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Preparation of grounds for promoting empowerment of women that started 20 years ago
 Launch of the “Diversity Promotion Team” and clarification of problems
 Effort to improve management skills through seminars for all people in managerial posts
 Effort to urge changes in the old values through the acceptance of LGBT (sexual minority)

Outcomes of diversity management

 Encouragement for female employees to play an active part through effective posting to take
advantage of their abilities
 Improvement in significant productivity achieved through work style innovation

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1897 Capital 132,267 million yen

Head office address 4-1-2, Hirano-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Production, supply and sales of gas, generation, supply and sales of electricity, sales of gas appliances,
Business outline
acceptance of order for gas work, etc
Sales 1,221,846 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 5,861 persons
Number of employees by 803 women
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 2.2%
Average service years for
22.2 years (21.4 years for men, 23 years for women)
regular employees

111 Best Practices Collection 2015

 OSAKA GAS CO., LTD.

knowledge had played an active role in the development of

Background and goals of gas cookers. At the time, women mainly cooked at home
and female points of view were indispensable for the
diversity management development of cooking appliances.
In addition, the company started to operate cooking
“Securing of diversity” in order to respond to schools since the 1930s and female employees majored in
changes in business environment domestic science in a university or college played an
OSAKA GAS CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the active part here. Women had the advantage of
company”) has been engaged in the expansion of the understanding opinions and views of the participants in
fields of work for women and enhancement of measures to cooking schools and users of cooking appliances and in
support the balance between childcare/nursing with work particular, female women with planning abilities were
since the 1980s and published the “Osaka Gas Group engaged in product development.
Diversity Promotion Policy” in line with the new mid-term There was the background that cooking was recognized at
management plan formulated in March 2014 to newly the time as “the area where women played the main part”.
position the diversity promotion exceeding the promotion With the increase in the number of female employees, the
of empowerment of women as a management strategy. expansion of their work fields started to become an issue.
Behind the decision, there is an underlying idea of the In the circumstances, the company did not only provide
management that not only the expansion of business opportunities in accordance with their abilities through the
areas, but also diversification of human resources are “opposition system (in-house application) and training and
indispensable in order to respond to the change in development system, but also enhanced the system to
business environment including the intensification of support the balance between work and life. For example,
competition due to the deregulation of energy and others. since the introduction in 1992 of the childcare leave
The company is not only engaged in energy business, but system and nursing leave system, the company has
also in a wide range of businesses including real estate developed work-family balance support systems beyond
business focused on condominiums/apartments and office the bounds prescribed by the law, including the childcare
buildings for sale and let, information related business to leave for a maximum of three years and short working
provide a wide range of IT services including system hours until the child becomes the third grade at elementary
design/development and operation and maintenance, and school, among others. Thanks to the development of these
materials related business for the development of new systems, the turnover of female employees for reasons of
materials in the fields of carbon materials and chemical nursing or maternity/childcare which was about 10% ten
materials and creation of new use thereof, and they years ago dropped to 1.5% as of 2014.
account for a significant portion of the total sales of the In addition, in terms of the expansion of their work fields,
company. The company considers that “it is essential that the maintenance and supply of town gas was performed
each employee has a full of curiosity and creative ideas, almost by male employees 20 years ago. However, the
interacts with people with different points of view, values company has promoted women with abilities and will
and ideas and flexibly accepts opinions of other without through the “opposition system”, and currently about 50
prejudice” in order to produce new values in a variety of female employees, about 6% of all female employees, are
businesses. engaged in the job including shift works.
The “Osaka Gas Group Diversity Promotion Policy” has In the meantime, the company promoted the effort to
been launched to state explicitly the idea of the improve work efficiency and productivity of all employees
management and further accelerate the promotion of a including men. Since 2008, it has promoted the activity for
variety of human resources. To begin with, it features the “Work Style Innovation” (Smart Work Activity from
promotion of empowerment of women and sets three FY2013), which consisted in the elimination of papers
consisting in keeping the employment rate of women in through digitalization of in-house documents, improvement
positions with career track at 30% or more, to raising the of efficiency in the preparation of monthly reposts and
proportion of women in managerial posts to 5% by 2020 meeting materials through visualization base
and promoting women to an executive soon. (systemization), implementation of remote conferences
with a plurality of bases through the web conference
system and introduction of shared office (office system
Specific measures taken for where employees are free to change desk).
promoting diversity management From FY2013, with a view to further improving productivity,
awareness-raising seminars on work style were conducted
for employees in managerial posts, while other employees
Preparation of grounds for promoting were provided with workshops designed to raise their
empowerment of women that started 20 years awareness about time management for its enhancement.
ago Moreover, the company encourages employees to take
The company has been steadily engaged in the effort to inventory of their work to eliminate busywork in order to
promote empowerment of women for the past 20 years. It reduce working hours by improving work efficiency.
started to employ women for positions with career track in
line with the enforcement in 1986 of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Law. However, female
employees had been working effectively before that time,
and, in particular, female employees with expert

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OSAKA GAS CO., LTD.

and e-learning for all people in managerial posts. These

seminars include not only lectures, but also group
discussions and role playing with a view to enabling
people in managerial posts to understand the feelings of
women. For example, there were not a few cases in which
some managerial people felt hesitant or reluctant to
communicate with female subordinates for reasons of
privacy. However, they came to understand that it is
 Effort to improve work efficiency precisely this attitude that robbed them of the opportunity
(Left: an aspect of a web conference, right: information to think seriously of the career formation of female
sharing IT tool (Web Colo)) subordinates and their career formation was obstructed,
accordingly. As stated above, the team lays stress on the
Launch of the “Diversity Promotion Team” and fact in the seminars that it is effective to consciously
clarification of problems “convey expectations, provide opportunities and train
As stated above, the company has provided support for through work” to female subordinates.
the promotion of empowerment of women and the On the other hand, the team has newly introduced a
promotion of life-work balance represented by the “Smart mentoring program as a measure to support young female
Work Activity” under labor-management cooperation. In employees for their career development in the future by
order to further accelerate the effort on diversity promotion, nominating a total of 14 people in managerial posts who
a dedicated team was established at the Personnel are popular for their high skills to train subordinates. In
Department in April of 2013. In the past, the work of the FY2014, 23 chief-class women are covered under the
department was divided vertically into recruitment, training program and it is being studied to extend the coverage to
and development, transfer and promotion, welfare, candidates to managerial posts in the future. An interview
institutional design, etc. Therefore, in order to develop a month or a total of eight interviews a year are expected
measures for a consistent utilization of human resources, to be held with a mentor in whom “diagonal or dyadic
an organization which could act in a cross-sectoral manner relationship” is encouraged for consultation. In addition to
was necessary. In the circumstance, the company the fact that the building of personal connections based on
established the “Diversity Promotion Team” to enhance the trust relationship with a mentor is beneficial to female
internal communication and cooperation at the Personnel employees in work, it serves as a message to announce
Department and to perform activities freely to deal publicly this system within the company that “the company
effectively with the management problems of the company. is serious about promoting outstanding female employees”
The “Diversity Promotion Team” positions the and “the workplace has a positive atmosphere where
empowerment of women as the touchstone of diversity veteran employees of other organizations can be used for
and sets the policy of “convey expectations, provide consultation”.
opportunities and train through work” to engage in the
effort to develop female employees, raise awareness of Effort to urge changes in the old values through
employees in managerial posts and visualize women who the acceptance of LGBT (sexual minority)
work effectively. In particular, the team has focused on the The diversity promotion by the company is characterized
low proportion of women in managerial posts and started in that “a diversity of human resources” includes not only
to gain an understanding of the current situation of female “gender” and “age,” but also “sexual orientation/gender
employees with keen awareness about the corporate identity” in the “Osaka Gas Group Diversity Promotion
culture and gender vies. Policy” referred to above.
Specifically, the team had an interview with about 100 In anticipation of a growing social request following the
female employees in positions with career track under 45 promulgation of the revision of the guidelines of the Equal
years old of age and it was found that fewer women Employment Opportunity Law at the end of 2013 which
compared to men had a mid-to-long term career included that speech and conduct among people of the
perspective and that many of them found difficulties in same sex may become a cause of sexual harassment, the
communicating with their bosses. In addition, it was management decided its inclusion despite the fact that it
discovered that their work experience, in particular, their was considered premature to refer to LGBT (“Lesbian, Gay,
tasks assigned by their bosses at an early stage had a Bisexual and Transgender”) which is hardly exposed,
large impact on the career formation of female employees. while the focus is laid on empowerment of women.
In the circumstances, in the understanding that provision The effort on LGBT consists mainly of awareness-raising
of support to female employees alone is not sufficient and activities based on a specified nonprofit corporation that
in recognition of the urgency of awareness-raising of aims to create a LGBT-friendly workplace including the
people in managerial posts, the team is developing addition of the related matter on the sexual harassment
measures to that end. prevention manual/recruitment interview manual,
implementation of seminars on human rights for
Effort to improve management skills through employees by group and in addition to the Diversity
seminars for all people in managerial posts Promotion Team, the Compliance department and the
In order to correct old gender views such as division of Center for Human Rights Education and Training
labor by gender role, the team started to implement cooperate.
awareness-raising seminars including classroom lecture

113 Best Practices Collection 2015

 OSAKA GAS CO., LTD.

There is an underlying expectation that consideration sustained attention and flexible response in an emergency.
toward LGBT not exposed does not only lead to the In 2014, a female employee was promoted to a chief for
consideration of the human rights of people with the first time in this work for her abilities as a result of the
disabilities that cannot be perceived in appearance, but application of the policy of the right man in the right place.
also to the review of the old-fashioned gender views such Currently, the proportion of women in managerial posts
as “like a man” and “like a women.” has increased from 0.3% in 2004 to 2.2% in the company
In the seminars for people in managerial posts, it is as a whole.
pointed out that they should provide opportunities of work Moreover, the social evaluation of the company has
regardless of gender and communicate with subordinates increased due to the publication of the numerical target for
with interest in their private matters. The empowerment of women and referral to LGBT including its
awareness-raising about LGBT serves as reinforcement of exposure in the media.
the effort.
Improvement in significant productivity achieved
through work style innovation
Outcomes of diversity The working hours have also been reduced thanks to the
management introduction of a variety of tools designed to improve work
efficiency. For example, the number of the users of the
Encouragement for female employees to play an original bulletin board system “Web Colo” (a tool for
sharing meeting materials, etc.) of the company has
active part through effective posting to take increased by 4.3 times compared to 4 years ago, the
advantage of their abilities number of digitalized in-house approval applications by 2.4
The number of female employees playing an active part in times compared to 4 years ago, the number of the users of
a variety of posts has increased along with the recruitment the visualization base (systemization) by 2.3 time
of women for posts with career track started in 1966 and compared to 3 years ago, and the number of attendants to
the expansion of work fields for women in the 1990s. data utilization education (lectures on how to operate
As mentioned above, a number of female employees Excel data, training on how to improve work efficiency
contributed to the development of cooking appliances including “skills to shorten working hours”, etc.) by 1.8
since before the enforcement of the Equal Employment times compared to a year ago. In addition, the inclusion of
Opportunity Law, and there was the contribution of a the smart work target (effort to improve productivity and
female employee that was engaged in the development labor management) in the performance evaluation of
immediately after joining the company to the launch in employees in managerial posts has not only enhanced its
2012 of the new gas rice cooker “Jikabi-Takumi.” The effectiveness, but also has contributed to their
product is a new model of the rice cooker launched in 1991 awareness-raising.
in whose development many partners outside the As a result, the working hours which had been increasing
company had participated and a series of complicated were reduced. For example, the overtime per person in
negotiations were required for the new development. FY2013 has decreased by about 10% compared to
Under proper management of her boss, she was FY2012. As a consequence of all these efforts, the
successful in handling the matter. A total of 15,000 units of company has successfully prepared the ground for
the product have been sold as of October 2014. supporting the promotion of the use of a diversity of human
In addition, the number of female employees is increasing resources.
in the workplace under a shift work system, which is in
charge of maintenance and supply of city gas that requires

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 Information and
HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD. communications
Large enterprise

The Company promotes multi-faceted diversity

management focused on the promotion of women to
managerial posts based on the target of “2020 – 10% -
20% - 30%”.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Promotion of women to managerial posts based on the target of “2020 – 10% - 20% - 30%”.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Formulation of training and development plan for female employees for their promotion to
managerial posts
 Establishment of the working group for the promotion of empowerment of women
 Active part played by foreign employees for the development of overseas business
 Effort to encourage people with disabilities to play a part

Outcomes of diversity management

 Certification of the product of the company as “the First Kanagawa Nadeshiko Brand”
 New solution created by the team of Iku-boss and Iku-men
 Implementation of proposals of people with disabilities

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1970 Capital 38,758 million yen

Head office address 4-12-7, Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Provision of software and services, sales of information processing apparatuses
Sales 285,457 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of September 30, 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 9,524 persons (including 159 non-regular employee)
1,258 women (including 19 non-regular employee)
Proportion of women in managerial posts: 3.2%
Number of employees by
113 foreigners (including 0 non-regular employee)
attribute category
113 people with disabilities (including 2 non-regular employee)
Employment rate of people with disabilities: 2.0 % (*)
Average service years for
About 16 years
regular employees
(*) The employment rate of people with disabilities is the numerical value of the Hitachi Group based on the
Remark
“Exceptions in Method for Calculating Corporate Groups”

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 HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Promotion of women to managerial posts based Formulation of training and development plan for
on the target of “2020 – 10% - 20% - 30%” female employees for their promotion to
HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD. (hereinafter referred to as managerial posts
“the company”) was established as a result of a merger The company has in place a training and development
between Hitachi Soft Engineering, Ltd. and Hitachi System plan for female employees. In the past, a training and
and Services, Ltd. in October 2010. There is the idea in the development plan covered employees above general
IT industry that human resources are all of the managers, that is, the majority was men. Since the number
management resources. These two companies had of women in managerial posts was limited, hardly any role
started the effort to take advantage of a variety of human model is available. In the circumstance, the company has
resources including the establishment of a working group formulated a meticulous training and development plan for
to look into the working style of female employees based female employees from an early stage bearing in mind
on this idea nearly at the same time (around 2006). In their promotion to managerial posts.
2009, the Diversity Promotion Center was established The training and development plan specifies job
within Hitachi System and Services, Ltd and the Center assignment and training attendance program and bosses
has survived the merger in 2010 and is further and the personnel department follow the progress
strengthening its activities. regularly. In a case where necessary skills have not been
The Action Guidelines for Employees of the company acquired, the training and development plan is revised
stipulate that “employees must place a high regard on from time to time.
diversity and make a concerted effort to toward the goal.” In terms of their involvement in projects, the company is
The company has distributed the “Action Card” in which all committed to widen their career scope by allowing them to
the guidelines are listed to all employees to take with them gain experience both in large projects and small projects
at all times. In addition, the company raises the awareness as necessary.
about the “Diversity Management” by including “use of a
diversity of human resources” in the evaluation columns of Establishment of the working group for the
people in managerial posts and “acceptance of diversity” promotion of empowerment of women
in the evaluation columns of employees.
Since 2013, the company has established a working group
Currently, the company aims to achieve the three
for the promotion of empowerment of women for each
objectives of “acceleration of training of female leaders,”
business department to review work style and raise
“awareness-raising about women’s career development”
awareness of managerial people. The members of the
and “awareness-raising of people in managerial posts” to
working groups are elected regardless of gender, not by
“practice diversity management.” Because of the nature of
appointment from the chief of the department, but through
the business of IT industry, the ratio of the number of
application by voluntary employees, and a working group
female employees of the company was as low as about
is formed by about 20 persons.
15% of all employees since before the merger, which is
The working group of the Sales Management department
low within the Hitachi Group, and that there was a long
is pursuing its activities under the name of the “We” Project
period without a female managerial employee. Following
based on the desire that “We wish take advantage of
the government’s target of “202030” (to increase the ratio
Woman Energy and create a project in which not only
of women in leading positions to 30% by 2020), the
women but also men participate.” In light of the results of
company has set its KPI (key performance indicator) as
the questionnaire conducted in advance, the team is
“2020-10%-20%-30%,” that is, “to increase the ratio of the
engaged in three efforts. One is the promotion of “life-work
number of female employees in all the managerial posts to
balance”. For example, in order to create an environment
10%, the ratio of the number of female employees in the
friendly to female employees returned to work after a
managerial posts below 45 years old of age to 20% and
maternity leave or a childcare leave, the team looks at
the ratio of the number of female employees in the
systems of other companies to implement them if
managerial posts below 40 years old of age to 30%.” The
appropriate in the company. Second one is the activation
two companies before the merger have started to increase
of the in-house network”. Since there was hardly any
the recruitment of female employees since around 2006.
intersectional communication within the Sales
Since those new employees at the time will approach the
Management department itself in the past, the working
age to be eligible for managerial posts in 2020, the
group holds periodically meetings by theme to enable
company has set a feasible goal to steadily provide
employees to exchange information and opinions in a
empowerment of women. As a consequence of the effort,
cross-sectoral manner and discuss their worries and
the employment ratio of women has increased from 25.9%
problems. Third one is the “in-house awareness-raising
in 2011 to 31.3% in 2013, while the proportion of women in
about diversity”. This effort is aimed to share the on-site
managerial posts from 2.4% in 2011 to 2.8% in 2013,
voices among the department and create a better
respectively.
organization by hearing from female employees and
managerial people about their career in the future.

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HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD.

Active part played by foreign employees for the were the problem in order to think of the future career of
development of overseas business people with disabilities. Now, however, an environment
The company has started to increase the employment of has been developed in which people with disabilities can
foreign students studying in Japan since 2008 and they interact with each other easily through the use of the
account for about 5% of all new graduate employees. An in-house SNS and allow them to think of their career.
employee with career counselor’s qualification is assigned In addition, the company provides them with opportunities
to take care of foreign employees by getting into contact to think of their own work style by entrusting a person with
with them regularly to find any problems regarding their disabilities with attending an inspection tour of an outside
career and private life so that the company has a grip on organization on the working status of people with
them. disabilities and by sending him to other companies to
Since 2011, the company has started to focus on business make an inspection tour of their effort to promote the
overseas. In the same year, a male Turkish was promoted activities of people with disabilities. The company also
for the first time as a foreigner to the post of manager and encourages them to actively tell someone whatever they
he plays a leading role in overseas business including notice in the workplace in order to improve the work
businesses with turkey, India and Vietnam. Each project environment and provide new services.
team is composed of Japanese employees and foreign
employees and the company aims to establish a system in
which not only foreign employees but also Japanese Outcomes of diversity
employees participate actively in overseas business. management
Through these efforts, the company is expected to get an
overseas project.
This Turkish employee is also actively engaged in
Certification of the product of the company as
developing an environment in which foreign employees “the First Kanagawa Nadeshiko Brand”
can work comfortably. He attempts to create an in-house Four products of the company were awarded with the
community which provides an environment for foreign “First Kanagawa Nadeshiko Brand” of FY2013 (selected
employees to talk easily and unreservedly with each other. among products (objects and services) of companies
Since the company has in place a system to respond to a located in the Kanagawa Prefecture) to whose
request placed by a foreign employee, for example, the development women had contributed) in the field of
introduction of a system to “send automatically documents information and communication equipment. The certified
necessary for the renewal of the visa from the company,” products are: the built-in database “Entier” that allows an
the motivation of foreign employees has been enhanced. easy operation of car navigation system and household
equipment; the content operation software “Means”
developed by a team centered on 3 women; the finger vein
Effort to encourage people with disabilities to
authentication “Yubimon JS1” in which women participated
play a part in the development from the design and which achieves a
The company has a long-standing history of employment high recognition rate even with an artificial nail; and the
of people with disabilities. It is also the company that electronic blackboard “StarBoard” which can be easily
established a sports team formed by people with used by women because of its height and positions of the
disabilities for the first time in Japan. The sight of people function buttons.
with disabilities engaged in sports is impressive and
eliminates the barrier between them and healthy
employees.
New solution created by the team of Iku-boss
The company has been employing people with disabilities and Iku-men
since its establishment and in-house barrier-free facilities In 2013, the team formed voluntarily by Iku-boss and
are well distributed. In recent years, the company is Iku-men developed a total CRM solution for fan-based
strengthening its effort to create an environment which is business such as a pro-sports team. This effort was
friendly to people with intellectual disabilities, mental featured by media and evaluated as “men for creating
disabilities and hearing disabilities. innovation in an organization using their childcare
For example, in the past, a person with hearing difficulties experience”, that is, a real case of “Iku-men 2.0”.
was provided with assistance of communication in writing Both the managerial person and his subordinate who had
or sign-language interpretation according to the judgment played a leading role in the development were male
of his superior. Now, the company has made it a rule to employees having experienced a childcare leave, that is,
provide sign-language interpretation for a conference “Iku-boss” and “Iku-men”, respectively. In the wake of the
covering all employees, personal interview for evaluation, launch of the policy for promoting diversity as a concerted
etc. The company makes it clear all employees through effort by the company, male employees are also
the introduction of the system that not only healthy people encouraged to take a childcare leave. It is expected that
but also people with disabilities work for the company. In the participation of male employees in childcare will
addition, following their suggestion, a sign-language deepen their understanding toward the new work style of
workshop is held regularly. women and life-work balance and result in new business
With respect to their career plans in the future, they hold proposals from new points of view.
an interview with their bosses once in half a year to Both male employees who spent more time with their
discuss their vision in 3 to 5 years. The shortage of role children as a result of the childcare leave coached and
models and lack of sharing of employees as role models watched baseball or soccer and enjoyed the sports with

117 Best Practices Collection 2015

 HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD.

their children. As a result of an awareness derived from the

occasion, the two employees proposed the
commercialization of total CRM solution for fan-based
business to the management. Iku-boss and Iku-men that
agreed with the idea participated in the development and
in August 2013, the “marketing platform for increasing and
developing fans” was released. Already, some
professional baseball teams and J-1 teams have
introduced the product. In the example of a professional
baseball team, once registered as a member, the member
is granted benefits such as the opening of “my page,”
viewing of a digital guidebook reserved for members. On
the other hand, the professional baseball team benefits
from inducing fans to its fan club and can improve its
services by analyzing their behaviors.  Development of new services based on new awareness
The B to B business accounts for the majority of the through the “Iku boss” and “Iku men”
business of the company. However, the creation of the
solution focused on end users is expected to lead to other Implementation of proposals of people with
developments. disabilities
People with disabilities are encouraged to actively tell
someone what they have noticed in the course of their
work. Actually, some of their proposals have been
translated into practice in the form of the installation of the
“Communication Service in Writing” at the reception and
the implementation of “Sign Language Interpretation
Service” in a large form, among others, in order to provide
adequate services to people with disabilities. The person
with disabilities took photo of the “Communication Service
in Writing” available at a public institution to specifically
explain his proposal in earnest.

Best Practices Collection 2015 118

 Information and
PROASSIST, LTD. communications
SME

The company considers employees as friends who work

together.
Close communication and understanding of needs have
allowed the company to expand its field of business.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 “Human resources” are the most important pillar in the management policy.
 Make friends who share the basic principles and grow with the company.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Development of a system to re-employ female employees who left the job and an
environment to play an active role
 Various mechanisms to create close personal relationship
 Employment of human resources that share the basic principles through a variety of
encounters and opportunities

Outcomes of diversity management

 Expansion of trading area as a result of the transfer of an employee
 Development of a girth sensor and a brainwave sensor from the standpoint of a user
 Foundations for overseas development

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1994 Capital 50 million yen

Head office address 2-3-9, Koraibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Business outline Software development and hardware development
Sales 1,179 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 138 persons (including 26 non-regular employee)
34 women (including 3 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by
Proportion of women in managerial posts: 21%
attribute category
4 foreigners (including 0 non-regular employee)
Average service years for
6.8 years (6.8 years for men, 6.7 years for women)
regular employees

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 PROASSIST, LTD.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
“Human resources” are the most important pillar Development of a system to re-employ female
in the management policy. employees who left the job and an environment
PROASSIST, LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the to play an active role
company”) was established in 1994 by the founder who The company had in place from before a childcare leave
had worked as an engineer in the past, focused on the system and a short-hours working system which were
proposal and building of systems by taking advantage of available for both men and women. However, with the
his knowledge, experience and technique of hardware. understanding that the existing systems alone were not
The current number of employees is about 140. In the enough to provide a workplace and corporate culture to
beginning of the establishment, the company engaged allow all employees to strike a good balance between work
only in the development of built-in systems to be built in and life, the company has developed a system not only to
machines and household electrical appliances, but promote temporary workers or contract workers to
currently its business has been expanded into a wide permanent employees, but also to re-employ female
range of IT businesses including the development of employees who left the job for family reasons. A total of
business application systems, provision of Web solutions, five women have returned to work so far and one of them
etc. has been promoted to the deputy general manager, one to
The company has placed “human resources” as the most the assistant-manager and one to a leader. They were
important pillar in the management policy from its promoted to the current posts for their work after their
establishment. Under the philosophy that “all employees return and strongly support the company.
are families” and “the company exists for employees,” the In addition, since its establishment, the company conducts
company employs human resources regardless of gender, business aimed at dispatching engineers to a customer
nationality or age, and focuses on developing an company in addition to commissioned/contracted
environment which allows employees to work comfortably development of systems, and if an employee needs to
and effectively. On its intranet, the company lays emphasis move for reasons of his/her spouse or marriage, the
on the importance of “striking a good balance between company finds a workplace to dispatch him/her to at the
work and life” all the time, and expands its business size new place to allow him/her to continue working for the
year by year through the increase in the number of friends company. Actually, the company has an experience of
who share the basic principles of the company which having found a dispatch destination (work place) in
consists in “becoming happy together with working Shonan, Kanagawa Prefecture, in which it had no
friends.” connection. When its employee moved there, the company
looked for a work place for him and concluded a dispatch
Make friends who share the basic principles and contract with the work place. This effort is not established
grow with the company. as a system, but on an as needed basis. It is a great loss
The current president who was a house wife before the for the company to lose an employee who shares its
establishment of the company had no specific philosophy and the company makes all the efforts to
management strategy and had difficulties in gathering maintain and keep capable employees settled in the
outstanding friends for starting the business. In the company by meeting their situation and supporting their
circumstances, the president had concluded to “conduct desired work style.
business together with friends to live with instead of
starting with capable people.” The company has actively Various mechanisms to create close personal
employed not only people engineering skills, but also relationship
human resources who share the basic principles of the As stated in its management policy, the company provides
company and have a will to grow with the company. a variety of opportunities to allow employees to
It takes time and patience to find friends to live with and communicate with and understand one another and
grow with them. The company focuses on acquiring three “become happy together with working friends.” One of the
skills: “technical skill,” “conceptual skill” and “human most representative efforts is the regular holding of the
resource skill.” In particular, the president considers the “CommAssist Meeting.” The considers that the most
“human resource skill” as the most important of all and important thing for the creation of a friendly working
lays emphasis on its development. All employees as one environment and a teamwork is “to know each other” and
team with the skill support the company to sustain its once a month, a buffet style meeting is held in which
continued growth. employees exchange opinions frankly with each other
about any subjects except business regardless of their
positions. The main subject of the day is decided by the
personnel department and the content discussed is
recorded in the minute. A glimpse of the part of an
employee that cannot be seen in daily work allows other
employees to gain an understanding of the character and
ideas of the employee and to smoothly conduct work with

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PROASSIST, LTD.

him/her because he/she thinks and behaves in this or that company. The company did nothing special for the
fashion. In addition, this allows interdepartmental recruitment of the foreigners, but adopted the policy to
communication. employ people that share the basic principles of the
In addition, the company organizes every year a company company, which resulted in the acquisition of a variety of
trip. The number of the trips organized so far exceeds human resources.
twenty and its enthusiasm is well known by travel agencies
in the Kansai area. The company does not position the trip
simply as a part of welfare activities. Through a series of Outcomes of diversity
processes required for the preparation of the trip, a young
employee entrusted with its organization does not only
management
acquire knowledge and experience, but also forms his
personal connections within the company in the process of Expansion of trading area as a result of the
organizing the trip which includes getting in contact with transfer of an employee
people of different departments for adjustments and As a consequence of having made efforts to allow its
discussing related matters with a travel agency. The employees to continue working for the company, including
company trip serves to promote closer communication the search for a workplace for an employee forced to move
among employees and understanding of a diversity of to live in other area, the company receives requests to
ideas and forms of thinking. dispatch an additional employee or contract work for the
quality of the dispatched employee.
The company has the slogan that “the company follows its
employees.” A new connection was created through the
search for a workplace for its employee in his/her new
location, which led to the acquisition of new customers and
expansion of business. That is, owing to the fact that the
company followed the employee instead of that he/she
followed the company, the company acquired a new
customer. Through this experience, the company has
learned that it is possible to acquire new customers in
other areas in which it had no business connection.

Development of a girth sensor and a brainwave

 A group photo on a company trip to the Ise Shrine sensor from the standpoint of a user
As a consequence of having established a system that
allows women to continue working without being affected
by life events, a variety of results have been obtained in
Employment of human resources that share the which women played an active role. The company
basic principles through a variety of encounters developed a girth with a built-in sensor in 2011 and a
and opportunities brainwave of the world’s smallest class in 2012. Behind
The company has continued to recruit new graduates the success, outstanding female employees played a key
since the second year of its establishment. It is a normal role.
practice for a venture company just established to focus on The girth with a built-in sensor allows the measurement of
recruiting mid-career people in order to acquire immediate the heart rate that could be conventionally performed only
assets and recruit new graduates once the management at obstetrics and gynecology or clinics at home. In the
of the company gets off the ground. However, the development process of the product, the company focused
company lays emphasis on whether “a new employee is not only on enhancing technical novelty and precision, but
poised to grow and progress with the company” and also on an appropriate feeling of use and shape from the
whether “a new employee understand the basic principles perspective of women who would be eventually its users.
of the company and is willing to work together” for The product will be translated into practical use shortly.
recruiting new graduates. In addition, the brainwave sensor is a product that
In line with the recruitment of new graduates, the company measures brainwave data during sleep and allows its
acquires human resources that share the philosophy of the measurement at home without the need to go to a hospital.
company through a variety of opportunities. For example, The development of the product was carried out with the
the first foreigner that the company recruited was a New collaboration of an elderly employee and a university
Zealander that the president had met during her skiing trip. professor as the technical advisor. While various people
The president explained to him about the basic principles got involved in the development, a female employee did
of the company and business content in their conversation not only serve as its coordinator, but also participated
and he got interested. Although basic knowledge of partly in the development. The product is expected to
Japanese is required, the president places more contribute to the improvement of the QOL of the users.
importance on whether a candidate for the job shares the
basic principles or philosophy.
Later, foreigners of a variety of nationalities including a
Mongolian, a Chinese, a Korean, etc. have joined the

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that we would develop business overseas sometime in the

future and they felt no resistance to business development
overseas, accordingly.”
The business partnership with the Tata Co. started in April
2008. When Tata Co. was considering its business
expansion in the Kansai area, they heard that the
company was providing a variety of business support to
major companies and approached the company. In June of
the same year, the joint development center was
established within Tata Co. The cooperation with Tata Co
with its about 3,500 employees allows the company to
receive orders of the size that it would not cope with its
own staff alone.
 The brainwave sensor developed by the company The past experience of the company was very useful for
the negotiation before the conclusion of the agreement.
Foundations for overseas development The company had employed multiple foreigners and could
In 2008, the company concluded a business partnership negotiate boldly with the counterpart. Therefore, when the
agreement with the Tata Elxsi (a part of the Tata Group, company received an enquiry about the partnership with
the largest company conglomerate in India, hereinafter the foreign company, its employees actively took on the
referred to as “Tata Co.”) and has started its overseas negotiations positively for the conclusion of the partnership
operations in earnest. There is an underlying reason for agreement. The company plans to establish its base in
this. The company has constantly employed foreigners India in the future and will receive a full backup from Tata
and it was not so difficult for the company to develop Elxsi.
business overseas. The president looks back and says The company is poised to grow further in the future by
that “the company has employed a number of foreign gathering “employees = friends” and valuing them.
employees so far and all employees have come to think

Best Practices Collection 2015 122

 Transport and
HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD. postal services
Large enterprise

The company aims to develop an “effective workforce”

regardless of gender or career by exploiting abilities of
outstanding human resources.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Development of “comprehensive effective workforce” regardless of gender or career to be
competitive

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Measures to expand women’s work fields since 2000 onward
 Participation of male managerial employees in the training of female managerial employees
for awareness-raising
 Active provision of opportunities and transparent personnel evaluation
 Sharing of values and awareness irrespective of companies or nationalities

Outcomes of diversity management

 Contribution to repeat orders overseas due to an active role played by female employees

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1959 Capital 16,802 million yen

Head office address 7-2-18, Toyo, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Domestic logistics business and international logistics business with a focus on comprehensive contract of
Business outline
corporate logistics business
Sales Consolidated : 624,504 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of June 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 2,130 persons (including 151 non-regular employee)
Number of employees by 304 women (including 26 non-regular employee)
attribute category Proportion of women in managerial posts: 1.7%
Average service years for
15.6 years (16.9 years for men, 14.3 years for women)
regular employees

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 HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD.

development of empowerment, the company has strongly

Background and goals of promoted diversity promotion to encourage all employees
to become “an effective workforce.”
diversity management
Development of “comprehensive effective Specific measures taken for
workforce” regardless of gender or career to be
competitive
promoting diversity management
HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD. (hereinafter
referred to as “the company”) was established in 1950 as a Measures to expand women’s work fields since
subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd to be in charge of its 2000 onward
transportation operations. Currently, the company focuses It was the intention of the company to promote
on the system logistics (3PL: Comprehensive contract of empowerment of outstanding female employees. There
corporate logistics business) designed to comprehensively was no precedent, however, that a female employee
support corporate logistics business including engaged in onsite job, and in the beginning, their work
transportation, storage, information system and others. consisted mainly of clerical work, accordingly. However,
The company started its effort for diversity promotion in the management concluded that the company should
line with the Hitachi Group in 2009 and established the promote empowerment of outstanding personnel in order
“Diversity Promotion Center” in July 2012. Currently, under to provide a wide range of services to its customers, the
the order of the president of “development of effort to expand women’s work fields was started.
comprehensive effective workforce”, an effort led by the For example, the Power Infrastructure System Department
Center is underway to create an environment to allow a within the Social Infrastructure Development Center
diversity of human resources including female employees, transports valuable products such as generators and
foreign employees and others to play a role. transformers of a power plant and female employees
There is an underlying reason that the number of diverse worked effectively in shipment preparation work which
employees with different backgrounds both in Japan and required detailed clerical work from the past. In addition to
overseas has increased due to the M&A that the company their current work, the company took the decision to
has actively undertaken in recent years, in addition to delegate the control of the site to female employees. There
changes in macro environment, such as overseas are a plurality of interested parties in the transportation of
development of its customers in recent years, reduction of goods, such as a trading company, an end user, a partner
the domestic market due to the decreasing birthrate and company and others. In the circumstances, in order to
aging population, lack of human resources in the logistics deliver goods on time, sensitive response to customers,
industry as a whole, etc. In an environment in which the close communication with people at the site, schedule
number of opportunities for the company to conduct control and exchange of documents are indispensable. It
business overseas, it is essential to respect diversity. If the was considered that their abilities developed in clerical
company is particular about the conventional distinction work such as shipment preparation work could be made
such as “a man or a woman,” “a new graduate or a use of for the performance of the job.
mid-career employee,” “the head office or a group However, in order to work at the site, considerable
company” in addition to the distinction between “Japanese experience is required. For this reason, a on the job (OJT)
or a foreigner,” it may lose the chance to provide training program was prepared for female employees
opportunities for outstanding human resources to play an wishing to work at the site. To begin with, trainees will
active role. In the circumstance, the company has decided engage in the process from loading to shipment in a plant
to engage in the effort to promote diversity to allow the in Japan for two years. Next, they will work actually at the
company to develop business “as a whole in a concerted shipment site in Japan. Here, they will learn how to
manner.” coordinate with customers and how to provide instructions
Particularly, although a number of outstanding female to workers at the site. Finally, based on their experience in
employees with a good command of language gathered in Japan, they will work at the site overseas and will engage
the area of trade affairs since the 1980s, their work and in the same job as in Japan. The onsite training takes
career were tacitly differentiated from those of male about 2 to 3 years and a total of 4 to 5 years are required
employees. Not only a few but many female employees for the completion of the training. The termination of the
who were not provided with the same education as male training means the completion of a series of practices and
employees and had no opportunities within the company qualifies them to work at overseas site as a standalone
left the company to move to foreign companies looking for worker.
opportunities. At the time, the effort to promote This process was reserved for new male graduates in the
empowerment of women had been already in progress in past, but the process has been made available also for
overseas companies. At the sight of the situation that a female employees. There was no culture in the logistics
person was “judged” only according to his/her talent and industry as a whole that women work at the site and there
abilities regardless of his/her nationality and gender, the was confusion at the site in the beginning. At the sight of
current present felt that with opportunities, a woman could competent female employees in a careful follow-up system,
play an active part in the company. a feeling of “you can do it if you try” is building up at the
Since 2000, along with the increase in the number of site.
female employees and expansion of opportunities for

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HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD.

There are many male employees have never had a

subordinate in regional branches and this provides a good
opportunity to discuss a variety of topics including the
awareness and work style of women among others.
Through comparing and adjusting awareness and views,
the occasion provides not only good stimulus to both, but
also a good experience for male managerial people to
consider themselves as a minority among the participants.
There have been men in managerial posts that wished to
have a female employee among their staff by being able to
visualize her working at the site during the training. It can
be said that this kind of opportunities to interact with each
other serve as a place for forming grounds to allow
employees to play a part in the company regardless of
gender.

Active provision of opportunities and

transparent personnel evaluation
Generally speaking, it is difficult for women to develop a
long-term career plan due to life events. However, the
company adopts the policy of providing opportunities to all
employees regardless of gender despite some differences
in timing and speed and has introduced measures so that
gender differences may not make a decisive difference in
career development.
In the past, female employees were not provided the
opportunities to build their career in foreign countries. In
recent years, however, the company makes it a rule to
gain an understanding of each employee in terms of their
desires and career prospects by urging them to discuss
the matter with their boss. Based on such understanding, a
female employee wishing to work abroad will be provided
opportunities gradually including business trips abroad.
 Handling of valuable goods at the site (up: on-site In addition, with the increase in the number of people with
witnessing on board, down: on-site witnessing in the
different backgrounds, it has become necessary to change
Philippines)
the conventional personnel evaluation based on seniority
into a fair and equitable evaluation system based on
results.
Participation of male managerial employees in In particular, with respect to the results obtained in the
the training of female managerial employees for position and work acquired through the aforementioned
awareness-raising opportunities, it is necessary to set a clear target and
The “Diversity Promotion Center” conducts training for make evaluation based on whether “the target has been
female managerial employees twice a year since 2012. achieved or not”. In order to motive employees and
Currently, the number of women in managerial posts is generate a synergy effect among them, such as “as he is
only ten and they work in different departments and doing well, I need do more”, etc., it is necessary to give
different locations. As a result, there was hardly any transparency to evaluation by measuring performance of
opportunity to know about other women in managerial the set target, degree of achievement of the expected role,
posts. This training is focused primarily on network instead of such an ambiguous evaluation as that based on
building of women in managerial posts, information a subjective view of a boss.
sharing and awareness-raising, while it is expected that Currently, the company has in place a new system
employees gain an understanding that the company is designed to evaluate a person from 360 degrees. This
serious about the promotion of empowerment of women system incorporates not only the viewpoint of the boss, but
through the holding of this kind of efforts across the also different points of view of other people and it is
company. expected that objectivity is guaranteed through a
The training takes two days. In addition to network building multi-faceted evaluation.
of women in managerial posts, female employees at the
chief level participate to exchange opinions and views with Sharing of values and awareness irrespective of
women in managerial posts on the first day. The initiative companies or nationalities
aims to build a pipeline leading to the next generation by In addition to problems such as the expansion of women’s
directly bringing women in managerial posts that serve as work fields and promotion of empowerment of female
the role models into contact with them. On the second day, employees, it was necessary for the company to make
male employees in managerial posts also participate. employees with a variety of careers to become an effective

125 Best Practices Collection 2015

 HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD.

workforce. With the globalization of logistics, it was

essential for the company to get a partner to allow an Outcomes of diversity
increase in the quantity/range of logistics to be handled
and smooth performance of work overseas, the company
management
actively implemented M&A since the mid 2000s. With the
incorporation of human resources with different Contribution to repeat orders overseas due to an
backgrounds into the company, the conventional active role played by female employees
Japanese personnel management based on seniority With the increase in the number of female employees both
system has become ineffective. With the aim to give a fair in Japan and overseas, the results of their work are
evaluation of outstanding human resources that have gradually emerging. For example, a female employee of
accumulated career so far in different companies and the first class of the aforementioned training program has
arrange them in the right position, it was necessary for the been working since then in many countries around the
company to review and adjust the conventional world. At the kick-off meeting of a project in which about 20
stereotyped values and evaluation system. people from Japanese and foreign trading companies and
In the circumstances, in 2008, the company started to call the end user took part in the United Arab Emirates to
outstanding managerial persons of overseas group which she was dispatched for the first time after the
companies to Japan and conduct a MDP (management completion of the training, she handled a wide range of
development program) jointly with the head office. In the matters, ranging from preparation of data to progress of
training program during 4 nights and 5 days, issues related the proceedings. It was a general consensus at the time
to management are discussed based on case study and that Japanese companies lagged behind in terms of
five to six Japanese group companies send employees at empowerment of women. She was dispatched in such
general manager level to the program. circumstances. A Japanese woman playing an active role
This training is intended not only to develop simply at the site of logistics in which men had played a primary
management abilities, but also to abandon the role was impressive for overseas people. For her careful
conventional values such as “Japanese advantage” and and accurate work, the company received words of
“head office advantage” lurking in the company and share appreciation praising her from people present in the
attitude and values with a diversity of employees. meeting after some years of it.
Participants in the training are employees that will play a Moreover, owing to the success of the project, the
key role in the company in 10 years. These opportunities company received a new order for the same project in the
to discuss management on an equal footing with second stage from the customer three years later,
outstanding human resources of group companies both in contributing to sales of 270 million yen. With the practical
Japan and abroad allow them to work together based on experience during her office work, she learned to negotiate
mutual respect. There is an underlying desire of the at the actual site with customers and acquired skilled to
current president that they will look at the future direction manage work. She is now playing an active part in the
of the company on the whole through these opportunities company. The results of the employee dos not only give a
by ignoring the conventional wisdom and values. positive impact on young female employees, but also on
male employees.
In addition, in line with the increase in the number of
people capable of working effectively overseas, the ratio of
overseas sales has gradually increased and currently they
account for about 40% of total sales. The ratio is expected
to exceed 50% in 3 to 4 years and the company is looking
forward to that various human resources will further play a
key part.

Best Practices Collection 2015 126

 Transport and
East Japan Railway Company postal services
Large enterprise

The company constructed the system by taking 20 years

to ensure women’s active participation, and created new
added-values by developing individual employees’ skills
and abilities.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Correct the bias of mono-cultural, male-centered workplace and build a system for individual
employees to play active roles
 Recruit more women and expand their work fields

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Promotion of “the work & life program” not only for women’s success and continued
employment but also for all employees
 Realization of a short time work system for all employees; this project was proposed by
various employees
 Adoption of a multiple-track personnel promotion system and support of employees’
career-plans
 Construction of a system for persons with disabilities to participate actively in each
community
 Compatibility of business and CSR by building “nursery schools near stations” under the
“HAPPY CHILD PROJECT”

Outcomes of diversity management

 Success in the “HAPPY CHILD PROJECT” and employees’ awareness-raising

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1987 Capital 200,000 million yen

Head office address 2-2-2 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Railway operation, living service (“Ekinaka”, real estate rental, etc.), IT “Suica” operation, rolling stock
Business outline
manufacturing
Sales 1,932,599 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 67,278 (including 8,041 non-regular employees)
6,925 women (including 1,367 non-regular employees), Women’s share of managerial jobs: 3%
Number of employees by
792 persons with disabilities (including 0 non-regular employees), employment rate of persons with
attribute category
disabilities: 2.37%
Average service years for
17.4 years (18.4 years for men, 8 years for women)
regular employees

127 Best Practices Collection 2015

 East Japan Railway Company

plans, thus the women’s work fields having been gradually

Background and goals of expanded.
However, five years after the initiative, the number of
diversity management women employees remained about 3%, their job
assignments were biased, and their service years were
Correct the bias of mono-cultural organization shorter than men, thus more efforts were needed.
and develop individual employees’ active role
Since its foundation in 1987 following the breakup and
privatization of Japanese National Railways, the East Specific measures taken for
Japan Railway Company (hereinafter referred to as “the
company”) was a typical male-centered mono-cultural
promoting diversity management
organization, with 680 women employees of all 82,500
employees, as small as 0.8%, and most of them engaged “A work & life program” targeted women’s active
in health occupations in the JR hospitals. The role applies to all employees
management thought that such homogenous organization Based on the management strategy that “various workers
could not keep up with the changes in the world and activity can indeed strengthen the corporate
worried about the survival of the company, thus, competitiveness,” the company started in 2004 a positive
embarking on proactive recruitment of women for their action “F Program,” which was aimed to “streamline the
active participation. environment where women can maximize their ability.”
In 2012, the company formulated “a group management In 2005 the “F Program” set up numerical targets to
plan V” under a concept of “Living in communities. increase the percentage of women to more than 20% of all
Developing in the world,” and set up a goal in annual recruitments, which has been achieved every year until
business plans that “Corporate culture for various now. The company also extended the maternity leave
employees to lively play important roles should be created.” period to 2 years after childbirth (now 3 years), and
The current president explains the importance of diversity introduced “a reemployment support system” for women
promotion, saying “Without mobilizing various human who retired for reasons of “marriage,” “childrearing,” and
resources including subcontractors, neither can trains run “husband’s transfer” (now including “long-term care”), thus
nor can train operation schedules be observed. The preventing early retirement and supporting continuous
railroad business is indeed diversity itself.” The employees employment.
also recognize strongly the importance of diversity in order As a result, women’s turnovers were reduced and their
to provide services for an average of 16.8 million daily managerial jobs were increased, but some employees
passengers and an unspecified large number of users. thought of these measures that “men do not concern” or
Because the company stopped new recruitment since “merely support women’s childrearing.” Therefore, in 2009
seven years before the privatization, the age distribution of the company started a new program, “a work & life
employees disperses in an uneven structure; the number program,” for diversity promotion and a work & life balance
of the employees in their 40’s, a pillar of work, is very few. (WLB). From 2010, all the branches started to study “the
Therefore, it is a pressing issue to fill the shortage of work & life program” through networking activities.
workers who inherit the field techniques, such as track Currently in all 12 branches, the head is designated as a
maintenance, civil engineering, and electric signal systems. diversity promotor, and the personal section head is
To bridge this gap, keep safety and security, and operate designated as a work & life program promotor, thus each
the business effectively, it is essential that individual branch has been fully supporting the activities.
employees play active roles and that “women’s active
participation” is promoted. Realization of a short-time work system for all
employees, which is based on the proposal of
Initiatives for recruitment of women and the working group consisting of representative
expansion of their work fields employees from each branch
The company started recruitment of university-educated In early 2004, the work & childcare balance support
women in 1988 and expanded it to high school-, college-, measures for working mothers were thought among men
and vocational school-educated women in 1991. However workers that these are only for women, which caused the
their work fields were limited to the tourism and planning stagnation in the efforts for promotion of women’s
divisions under the Labor Standards Act, which prohibited participation.
them to work on holidays and late at nights. But the Act So, in 2009, 12 employees of different age brackets,
amended in 1999 abolished such regulations, so the gender and type of jobs, who were gathered from among
company increased the number of women assigned to applicants, formed a working group, and spent one year
railroad jobs (at stations and as crews), and promoted seeking a new system available for all employees. They
them to a train crew from 2000. The ticket gates and proposed to the management that “short-time work and
crew's rooms, where there had been only men, were the short number of work days” should be introduced into
equipped with women’s toilets and accommodations. the night and day shifts (at stations and for crews). The
Though the equipment investment cost was large, the idea was disapproved by the night and day shifts division
message, “women’s participation is mandatory regardless and the personnel divisions because it seemed to be
of the cost,” was included in the management targets and difficult in fair management and to reduce work efficiency,
but the then president (current chairman) approved the

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East Japan Railway Company

idea, saying “The wall should be overcome even if the avoiding metropolitan areas where clerical work is
efficiency is reduced,” thus “the short-time work and the accumulated, the 12 branches offer jobs to persons with
short number of work days system” started in 2010. disabilities, showing that their skills can fully be exhibited
The system has been understood across the company and in the communities. They are not discriminated in
utilized by many employees, because it is innovative not evaluations and encouraged to apply for the opportunity
only among the planning division but also among all types announcement system. In the overseas training (study
of job divisions, and because it was proposed with a abroad) program, which has a more than 10 times
bottom-up approach and accepted by the management. competition rate and about 100 persons are approved
The system has been studied in each workplace through upon interviews, five persons with disabilities were
seminars held by the abovementioned work & life program selected among 103 in 2013. They were selected by
promotors. In 2010, this system was utilized by 60 interviews, documentary eliminations and motivations, and
employees (including 4 men), and in 2014 by 268 all of whom were recommended by each branch.
employees (including 11 men), thus the system has taken Their experience of overseas railroad services can give
hold as favorable. This is seen as a pioneering case by the company good opportunities to reconsider services
industries, and may other manufacturers, who are and hospitalities. Although barrier-free facilities have been
hesitating the introduction, often ask us about it. increased and less people seem to extend a helping hand
to persons with disabilities in Japan, their feedback from
Introduction of the multiple-track personnel overseas training can contribute to the company.
promotion system for fair and equal By nurturing such good service spirits, the company, as an
opportunities and the career-plans support infrastructure-based service business, will get extremely
powerful capability needed for its growth.
While streamlining the work & life support system and the
WLB, the company thoroughly reviewed in 2012 the
personnel management and wage systems, with the aim Compatibility of business and CSR by building
of promoting ambitious employees’ activities. The “nursery schools near stations” under the
company abolished the rating test, and instead introduced “HAPPY CHILD PROJECT”
the multiple-track personnel promotion system, and newly Based on a women employees’ idea, the company opened
established the positions of “Operation Chief” as a in 1996 “nursery schools near stations” as one of the new
manager’s assistant and “Engineering Specialist” as a projects. In the hope of women’s active participation, the
human resources development professional. company has currently been running 80 childcare facilities
Because the company currently faces massive retirements including nursery schools by utilizing unused land.
of employees in their 50’s, the objective is that their As for employer-provided childcare facilities, the company
techniques and skills are smoothly handed over to talented opened three facilities in Tokyo and one in Sendai in 2010,
employees. To achieve the reform, the company also supporting working mothers. One of them in Tokyo with the
intends to abolish the seniority system, make the area of 360 m2 was renewed in 2013 as “a diversity-type
personnel management system flexible and efficient, and employer-provided childcare facility,” which is open on
develop human resources. holidays for community use. The company has contracted
For this purpose, the company is encouraging not only with several corporations on this facility; each corporation
fresh graduates but also mid-career workers (about 5,000 has to purchase necessary spaces according to the
in total) to play an active role, and providing them with a number of users.
fair opportunity by establishing new systems, such as an In addition, the company built in 2013 composite facilities
accelerated promotion system and a skipping a grade annexed by a daycare center in Kichijoji, which have
system. become a multiple generations’ exchange place, a core of
The company has also expanded training courses to the community.
provide skill-up opportunities for motivated applicants. For Our living service business is an important income source.
example, the company sends every year about 100 Despite that there were wide options for usage,
employees to overseas branches for improving their skills, commercial facilities or offices, the childcare support
and about 600 employees to study abroad for a short- and project has been promoted with the strong hope of the
long-term period, so that they can play active roles in the management. We believe that providing an environment,
global markets. Also, the overseas dispatching system for where children can play at ease, will bring increased
OJT training, regardless of the division, is being applied for roadside land prices and enrich the communities.
by most of excellent young workers.

Introduction of a system for persons with

disabilities to play active roles in their
communities
In the past, the company thought that persons with
disabilities might be difficult working in the railroad
company and hesitated to employ them. However, the
company reconsidered that as far as users are diversified,
services are also needed to be diversified, and started to
positively employ persons with disabilities from around
2003. They are mainly assigned to branch offices. By

129 Best Practices Collection 2015

 East Japan Railway Company

The problems of costs and enrolling kindergarteners in

such facilities were resolved by formulating a scheme to
allow low cost use for communities (citizens and
neighboring corporations) and unlimited use (extended
childcare hours at the same cost). By introducing such a
scheme, the maintaining cost of the facilities is reduced,
and the company can bear the outsourcing childcare cost
alone, which enables the company to open more facilities
in the future.
Through the development of these facilities, which can
resolve certain social problems, both the company and
employees are closely involved in local communities, and
can directly experience work & life balance and diversity.
In addition, as more employees are involved in the
establishment of such facilities and engage in a practice of
work & life balance, their understanding and stability as
 Multiple generations’ exchange facilities under the JR workforce have been improved. Recently, more train and
railway viaduct station crews are making plans, such as “workshops for
children’s riding manners,” by using their experiences in
“Life.” For example, their guidance on baby-car-using
Outcomes of diversity manners contributes to improving the quality of our
management services.

Success in “HAPPY CHILD PROJECT” and

employees’ awareness-raising
Our childcare support projects, such as building “nursery
schools near stations,” are a pioneering scheme, the
accumulated know-hows of which are disclosed to other
private railway companies and childcare providers. The
company was also involved in the establishment of the
certificated childcare system in Tokyo, and has taking the
initiative for developing the “nursery schools near stations.”
The company has been cooperating with municipalities
along the railroad lines to help with their measures for
“children on waiting list” and “balance of work & life.”
At the beginning of our project in 2008, the number of
facilities was 20, which was increased to 80 in 2014. The
company devised, as a new resolution of social problems,  The Series E235 trains equipped with a “free space” is
“a diversity-type employer-provided childcare facility,” scheduled to run from autumn in 2015
whose accommodation was increased from 15 to 30
children within one year.

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 Wholesale and
SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD. retail trade
SME

The company restored and revitalized after the disaster

with the dynamic force of women employees who
sympathized with the corporate philosophy, “contribution
to global environmental conservation.”
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 “Fresh start” in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake
 Redefinition of the corporate philosophy, “contribution to global environmental conservation”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Proposal of a flexible work style under “a 5-day week and 3-hour-or-more/day system”
 Preparation of guidelines for jobs to enhance field workers’ independency
 Personnel management system enabling employees to promote by “deciding own wages”
 Employees’ skill-up through qualification acquisition support and enhancement of work
efficiency

Outcomes of diversity management

 Improved recycling rates and customers satisfaction through employees’ skill-up and work
efficiency
 Highly improved stability of workforce with awareness and motivation

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1973 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address 34-48 Nakanobaba, Shimonogo, Iwanuma City, Miyagi Prefecture
Business outline Wholesale of raw metallic materials, industrial waste disposal
Sales 162 million yen (as of August 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 14 (including 7 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
8 women (including 6 non-regular employees)
attribute category
Average service years for
3.3 years (2.3 years for men, 4.3 years for women)
regular employees

131 Best Practices Collection 2015

 SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD.

So, the company set up a motto, “the company should

Background and goals of sustain a zero-waste society through metallic resources
recycling to coexist in the rich global environment”, and
diversity management changed the policy so as to employ people who can share
the same philosophy and work together.
“Fresh start” in the wake of the Great East Japan
Earthquake
SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the Specific measures taken for
company”), located in the industrial complex near Sendai
Airport, runs special metal recycling and industrial metallic
promoting diversity management
waste intermediate disposal business. In general, this
business is called ‘a venous industry’ (an industry that Proposal of the flexible work style, “a 5-day week
re-inputs scraps discharged by industries into the cyclic and 3-hour-or-more/day system”
process of society and nature), a so-called 3K (dirty, The company established a human resource development
dangerous and demeaning) business. In such workplace, team, and recruited part-time workers working for 3 hours
dismantling work is usually carried out by using heavy or more/day between 9:00 and 17.30 (depending on
machines, but the company sorts out meticulously by hand requests) and 3-days/week from Monday to Friday (except
industrial wastes, such as electronic office equipment, and holidays), with a catch copy of “Will you contribute a little to
recycling them, not just discarding. an environment?” by targeting childrearing mothers who
In this business, securing of manpower is traditionally “wish to participate in society without compromising
difficult. The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 childrearing.” As a result some mothers, who want to stay
made an already difficult situation even more difficult, at home when their children return to home from school,
because a lot of employees left the company, endangering accepted these conditions, because there were few
its survival. The first floor of our offices was heavily flooded companies satisfying their needs.
by the tsunami and the restoration seemed hopeless. In Upon recruitment, the company explained carefully about
the midst of difficulty, the company was helped and jobs and decided working conditions depending on their
encouraged by women employees and customers who request for working days and hours during the contract
trusted our careful work. So the company started toward period of three months. The working conditions can be
restoration together with the president, three regular changed upon contract renewals, and some employees
workers, and two non-regular workers. wish to prolong working hours after becoming accustomed
to jobs.

Preparation of guidelines for jobs to enhance

field workers’ independency
Newly recruited part-time working mothers must be
instructed man-to-man by the senior staff. Because OA
equipment dismantling and sorting jobs vary according to
the levels and degrees requested by customers, an
instruction manual, if any, will overwhelm unskilled workers.
So, the staff prepared job guidelines for the minimum
necessary methods and procedures, showing the degrees
and portions to be dismantled. As a result, unskilled
employees became effective working power.
Currently, two regular women workers (promoted from
part-timers after the disaster; later discussed) are playing
 Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake important roles: one adjusts between the sales and field
(a white building on the top right is the company) divisions and makes plans for jobs by referring to various
contracts with customers, and the other supervises
Redefinition of the company’s philosophy part-time field workers to assign daily jobs according to
“contribution to global environmental work schedules. Since women regular workers, who were
conservation” former part-timers, can perform jobs most effectively and
At first the company sought job-seekers at a recruiting speak for other workers, the sales and field divisions are
center and employed several people, but they left soon well-communicated, resulting in effective business
without understanding the company’s philosophy or performance.
importance of business.
In such situations, it was part-time working mothers who
were performing unexpectedly careful work. They
exhibited skills while talking each other during the rest time
about concerns on childrearing in the wake of the disaster.
The president thought that corporations should support
society and employees and reconsider the raison d’etre of
corporations more positively.

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SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD.

few men because there was a fixed idea that forklift driving
is men’s job, which lowered job efficiency. Therefore, the
company decided to bear qualification obtaining costs and
to treat favorably those who contribute to the company
with high performance. The president urged women
regular workers to get a license, and the first forklift driver
debuted in the company.
Her agile steering of a forklift can speed up OA equipment
dismantling and sorting jobs and finish within the OA
equipment division alone, thus improving job efficiency,
enhancing autonomy in the field, and bringing challenging
spirits among employees. The past idea of “forklift = men’s
 Workers are dismantling OS equipment with a power work” disappeared. Seeing a woman driving a small pink
tool forklift, employees have come to take it for granted.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Improved recycling rates and customers
satisfaction through employees’ skill-up and
work efficiency
The company has overcome stereotypical ideas one by
one that “recycling business = 3K,” “employment = fulltime”
and “forklift = men,” dug up human resources and their
buried talents, and begun to create new values more than
 Weekly meeting of all members who work on OA before the disaster.
equipment dismantling As a result, the recycling rates of OA equipment increased
by 12 percentage points and the annual sales of OA
Personnel management system enabling equipment (including metallic material scrap) disposal ran
employees to promote by “deciding own wages” up to 113.9 percent from the previous year.
In addition to part-timers, regular workers are also By realizing work efficiency through the development of
employed/promoted. To avoid mismatch with jobs, the women employees’ skills, expanding their work fields, and
company has established an evaluation system, in which active roles being played by part-timers in the shift system,
new employees can discuss with a recruitment staff to the disposal amount and quality have been increased and
demonstrate how well they can cope with jobs and to appreciated by customers (manufacturers). In the past, the
decide own wages corresponding to the skills. This is company sometimes received complaints because of
advantageous for both sides because new employees can delayed work due to shortage of hands. But now
start working with their specific knowledge, while the complaints have been drastically decreased by women
company can expect their quick and versatile performance. employees’ positive negotiations to smooth the
Thus, the company can obtain excellent human resources relationship between the field and customers, effective
who can smoothly negotiate with customers. planning of work schedules, and averaged workload.
Workers’ ranks and wages are decided according to the
abilities through discussions with their boss. Poor Highly improved stability of workforce with
performance is resulted in a lower position, but they are awareness and motivation
given an opportunity to feedback and reflect on poor By redefining the corporate philosophy “contribution to
performance. For example, the company evaluates global environmental conservation,” the company has
section chiefs on the basis of management skills, rather been able to obtain human resources with the same idea
than their own workload, thereby raising the awareness as and to gain great unifying power. Also, consideration for
a leader. individual employees and transparent evaluations and
feedback greatly raise employees’ motivations; the
Employees’ skill-up through qualification qualification acquisition support is helpful to encourage
acquisition support to enhance work efficiency workers’ new challenges; thus a vivid atmosphere has
The company newly established “qualification acquisition been emerged.
support rules” in 2012. The objective is to encourage The company, which restarted with three regular
women employees to obtain a driving license of small employees and two part-timers just after the disaster, has
forklifts. now 14 employees, who work with high motivation to
Around that time, OA equipment dismantling and sorting support a smooth growth of the business.
jobs were manually performed by women, but the
remaining wastes had to be transported by forklift by men
every time sorting was finished. This job was relied upon a

133 Best Practices Collection 2015

 SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD.

 A woman worker driving a small forklift

Best Practices Collection 2015 134

 Wholesale and
AEON CO., LTD. retail trade
Large enterprise

To become a “Top Retailor in Asia,” Group CEO declared

that “the overall ratio of female managers should be 50
percent.”
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Group CEO’s declaration, “the ratio of female managers should be 50 percent in 2020”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 “Yukata Magic” project across the company led by women buyers
 Stabilization of foreign workforce and localization of management
 Establishment of a diversity promotion office and implementation of “Great Satisfaction
Activity”

Outcomes of diversity management

 Development of new markets by successful “Yukata Magic” projects and creation of new
challenges
 Increased foreign customers visiting our stores in Japan through tie-up with foreign workers in
the overseas core office

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1926 Capital 220,007 million yen

Head office address 5-1, 1-chome, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
Business outline Retail, developer, banking and financing, management of servicing companies as their shareholder
Sales 6,395,142 million yen (as of February 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (as of February 2014) (*)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 127,952 (including 108,468 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by 95,691 women (including 89,837 non-regular employees); Ratio of female managers: 11.1%;
attribute category 183 foreigners (including 4 non-regular employees)
Average service years for
17.7 years (20.1 years for men, 15.3 years for women)
regular employees
Remarks (*) Consolidated with AEON RETAIL CO., LTD.

135 Best Practices Collection 2015

 AEON CO., LTD.

days AEON Retail was gradually increasing women

Background and goals of buyers to introduce consumers’ viewpoint, but its sales
was sluggish.
diversity management The cause lied in the target setting. Yukata is usually worn
by young girls, such as high school & college students and
Group CEO’s declaration, “the ratio of female OLs, but AEON Retail’s had limited the target to
managers should be 50 percent in 2020” housewives in their 40’s to 50’s and their children. Its
AEON CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “the policy had been to sell conservative goods that were not
company”) is a shareholding company of AEON Group. influenced by trends, and AEON Retail had dealt with only
The group engages in retailing, baking and financing, orthodox-designed Yukatas. That is to say, its concept
service business, etc. in all 14 countries including Japan, mismatched with consumers’ need for Yukata. To develop
China and ASEAN countries, with its operating revenue of the sales of Yukata, it needed to attract young girls. The
approx. 6.4 trillion yen. Aiming at “becoming a top retailor new leader wished that young girls would think “When it
in Asia in 2020,” the company set up a “Four Shifts comes to Yukata, let’s buy at AEON Retail.” Persuaded by
Strategy” as a mid-term business plan beginning from her belief, AEON Retail decided to leverage Yukata
2011, which was shared by the group. According to the business targeting young women. It launched a project
plan, in January 2014, it opened No.1 store in Vietnam team that could deal with a whole process from planning to
(Asia-shift); in 2013, achieved a surplus in the urban-type sales, and appointed the woman as a project leader. It was
supermarket (“MY Basket”); in the same year, opened a the first attempt for AEON Retail to tackle such a product
store for active seniors “G.G. (Grand Generation) mall” development project across the division.
(Senior-shift); and in 2012, initiated a comprehensive First of all, the team members visited fireworks displays to
portal site “AEON Square” (Digital-shift), all of which have study what kind of Yukatas young girls wore, and carefully
been making considerable achievements. analyzed the trends: white color Yukatas were considered
To accelerate the “Four-shift strategy,” all employees’ taboo in the past because of see-through, but recently they
cooperation is needed regardless of gender or nationality, are likely to be accepted; large motifs are more likely loved
so a human resources development strategy was added to than traditional designs; what colors and designs women
these “Shifts.” Currently the AEON group controls more prefer, etc.
than 100 companies, including Jusco Co., Ltd., which was The project team seriously thought of the result of analysis,
established in 1970 by three local companies, Okadaya, “Why young girls wear Yukata at all?” “maybe they want to
Futagi, and Shiro. The company’s consistent principle is be more attractive as a female,” etc. The team finally came
that “there should be no discrimination on the basis of up with “Yukata Magic,” and highlighted a concept that
gender, nationality, education, career, age. etc.,” but “wearing Yukata makes you look like a different person as
diversification was yet to be promoted. For example, the if enchanted, and you feel like becoming someone else.”
ratio of women managers remained 10% in 2013. The team proceeded with PRs and developed Yukatas as
Therefore, the company reviewed the diversity promotion a total fashion including accessories, footwear, etc.
management system which had been tackled since long The product development was carried out together with
before. Based on the management’s consensus that suppliers (textile manufacturers). They dyed textile in the
diversified human resources are essential to strengthen traditional way, but such a way was not suitable for
the company, the Group CEO declared in the shareholders mass-production and could not change designs quickly. So,
meeting in 2013 that “the ratio of female managers should the team requested the dyers to use the latest printing
be 50 percent in 2020,” and explicitly stated that diversity technology, which was disliked by them as saying “it is a
promotion should be incorporated in management wrong way,” but finally reached the consensus through
strategies. tenacious negotiations.
First the company targets women’s success as a The sales persons behind the counter also had to change
touchstone, then spreads to people with disabilities, a way of selling. Generally, the sales policy of AEON Retail
foreigners and elderly employees. was self-service, in which customers were left to their own
choice to buy articles. So the sales persons were
instructed to explain to customers face-to-face in the store
Specific measures taken for and to advise each customer about fashionable colors and
promoting diversity management color-combinations, etc. They were fully trained so that
they could advise about a suitable assortment of Yukata.
They did not like such a burden first, but as the sales was
“Yukata Magic” project across the company led growing, they came to think it worthwhile and enjoyable.
by women buyers The success of the “Yukata Magic” project increased the
One of the successful cases achieved by women’s sales of Yukata in AEON Retail to 113.5% (2007-to-2006
participation is a “Yukata Magic” project, Yukata Brand, comparison).
initiated in the store of AEON Retail Co., Ltd. (hereinafter
referred to as “AEON Retail”), one of the major Stabilization of foreign workforce and
subsidiaries of the company.
localization of management
In 2005, a woman employee (current executive officer and
AEON Group consists of three headquarters located in
head of the H&BC Product Planning Department) became
Japan, China and ASEAN. To promote the “Asia-shift,” one
Yukata buyers’ leader. Until then, male buyers had been
of the company’s four-shift strategies, it is important to
responsible for procurement of almost all products. Those

Best Practices Collection 2015 136

AEON CO., LTD.

nurture domestic/overseas foreign employees to become

the management. Outcomes of diversity
For that purpose, the company started management
nurturing seminars (already done in Japan) in Chinese and
management
ASEAN headquarters. The seminar consists of three
stages: “Basic Management Program (BMP: basic),” “New Development of new markets by the successful
Management Program (NMP: intermediate),” and “Yukata Magic” project and creation of new
“Advanced Management Program (AMP: advanced).” The challenges
company also runs “AEON Business School (former The successful “Yukata Magic” project gained popularity
JUSCO College),” where training courses are provided on among young women customers. Next, AEON Retail
human affairs, finance, development of shops, etc. A targeted young men to promote the sales of Yukata by
similar school will be built in China to nurture and secure investigating their tastes and trends, in the same way that
core human resources. young girls were targeted. In 2009 the sales of men’s
Further, the company is training some executive Yukatas started increasing.
candidates among foreign employees in the overseas As sales persons accumulate more experiences of
headquarters, by inviting them to the Management customer services, they willingly show customers how to
Division and stores in Japan. wear a kimono, how to tie an obi, etc. Each company’s
Currently, there are 179 foreign employees working in successful cases are published by Weekly News to the
AEON Group in Japan. They are interviewed at the other companies, which stimulates competition among
personnel affairs division in order to help with career plans them. Because sales persons can propose coordination of
and to secure continued employment. Yukata according to customers’ desire, the sales of
coordinated Yukatas and obis sell more briskly than
Establishment of diversity promotion office and inexpensive ready-made sets, thus the unit price of Yukata
implementation of “Great Satisfaction Activity” increased to 110.3% from the previous year of 2007, when
In July 2013, the company installed a diversity promotion the Yukata Magic was initiated.
office directly under the Group CEO, and assigned three Since 2007, the “Yukata Magic” has been steadily
women employees there. In April 2014, each of 65 expanding, and the sales of Yukata recorded 2.7 billion
companies in the Group also assigned one responsible yen in 2013, winning a top market share of 19.5%, thus
person and two women for diversity promotion, thus Yukata becoming a major summer sale item in AEON
improving the diversity promotion system. Retail.
The office names the diversity promotion activity as “Great In addition to the “Yukata Magic,” successful cases are
Satisfaction,” which means “satisfactions of employees increasing due to women’s efforts. One example is “AEON
and their families, customers and the company created by Lake Town” with an eco-system, the largest facilities as
diversification,” and prepared a logo. commercial ones, where a three-woman team guides in
The male-to-female ratio is roughly 1:1 at the time of the eco-facility in the hall, and makes eco-experience
recruitment, but it changes to 7:3 and 9:1 for managerial plans for customers, thus dispatching the company’s
jobs after 5 to 10 years. The Office investigated the message of environmental initiatives. Since the opening,
reasons of women’s retirement, and found that women the consumer-oriented facilities gained about 2,000
have concern about careers, not about life events, saying visitors to guided tours, including planting acorns, and
“If I continue working here, what my future career will be?” about 5,000 visitors participating in the eco-classroom.
So, the company started measures for women to find role This contributes to raising the company’s environmental
models and to draw their future career plans. brand value.
The company holds “a great satisfaction college: career Kajitaku Co., Ltd. in the AEON Group providing
design course” everywhere in Japan for women housekeeping services has a woman COO. It employs
employees, who are about 5 years after joining. This is women part-timers in their 50’s and 60’s, who have
intended that women employees can visualize a desirable experienced childcare and housekeeping and passed a
future course, and that they can fill inadequate skills to skill examination of Level 3 of HPAA (Home Products &
break a negative cycle of concerns about the future and Attendants Association). It has made Internet reservations
earlier retirement. Also, the company holds panel available for the first time in such a business, providing
discussions for women workers by inviting married women new housekeeping services used freely by customers.
who keep a balance of work and life and those who are
playing active roles in managerial posts. Increased foreign customers visiting our stores
Each company in the Group holds once a quarter of the in Japan through tie-up with foreign workers in
year a “Great Satisfaction Summit” participated by the overseas core office
promotion members to share good cases of diversity To promote the sales, the company is making the stores
management. Further, a “Great Satisfaction Award” is more easily accessible for foreign customers who visit
given once a year for the best practice in the Group. Japan, by taking opinions of foreign employees in the
The Office publishes a pamphlet showing good cases as a domestic AEON Group. Based on their ideas, the Japan’s
result of the “Great Satisfaction Activity,” and announces headquarters have been promoting available measures in
them in the seminars as Group’s common property, thus cooperation with Chinese and ASEAN headquarters and
accelerating diversification across the whole Group. overseas subsidiaries: such as introductions of tax-exempt
procedures, installation of ATMs from which Japanese Yen

137 Best Practices Collection 2015

 AEON CO., LTD.

can be withdrawn with foreign credit cards, improvement

of multilingual signboards, within stores. As a result,
customers’ satisfaction has increased, and also the
settlement with a China UnionPay card (the most
prevalent card in China) soared to 200% in 2013
compared with the previous year.

 Scene of coordination of “Yukata Magic”

Best Practices Collection 2015 138

Fracoco Co., Ltd. Wholesale and
retail trade SME

Production increased to 8 times and product return

decreased to near zero, by concentrating women
employees’ love to hina dolls and by defying the common
wisdom in the hina doll industry that production and
sales are separated
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Foundation of the market-oriented company that defies the common wisdom in the hina doll
industry
 Establishment of market superiority by modern designs and intensive product inspections

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Recruitment of women “who have the most similar sense to customers” and work sharing
 Business expansion by work sharing and training of new recruits
 Flexible working system based on employees’ family situation, such as flexible break time
and bringing children to workplace

Outcomes of diversity management

 Increased production to 8 times and decreased return products to near zero by careful
customer services and product planning ability
 Greatly increased turnover by improved sales promotion in response to customers’ needs

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2008 Capital 5 million yen

Head office address 2F, Maruhiko bldg., 1-6-5, Nihonbashi-horidome-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Manufacture and retail of dolls for seasonal festival (hina dolls & Boys' May Festival dolls)
Sales 219 million yen (as of September 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 13 (including 7 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
11 women (including 6 non-regular employees)
attribute category
Average service years for
2.8 years (0.2 years for men, 2.8 years for women)
regular employees

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 Fracoco Co., Ltd.

The company’s strategy for manufacturing, distribution,

Background and goals of and sales in response to customers’ needs has been
successful, and all dolls manufactured are sold out by
diversity management mainly the reservation sales method alone.

Foundation of the market-oriented company that

defies the common wisdom in the hina doll Specific measures taken for
industry promoting diversity management
Fracoco Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the
company”), founded in 2008, manufactures and sells
seasonal festival dolls (hina dolls & Boys’ May Festival Recruitment of women “who have the most
dolls). The founder (current president) was born in the similar sense to customers” and work sharing
family of a puppeteer, and he himself was making and To realize a business model described as above, it is
selling dolls as a puppeteer. But he thought that needed to streamline systems, including inspections, and
manufacturing sites were too far apart from customers’ respond to individual customers’ requests. So, the
needs.” So, he founded a company to manufacture and company recruits women with the most similar sense to
sell seasonal festival dolls (hina dolls & Boy’s May Festival customers to utilize their senses. In 2011, two most
dolls) that sincerely respond to customers’ voices. The motivated and excellent part-timers were employed. One
dolls are only sold via Internet mail orders. The company year later, they were promoted to regulars, and currently
conducts every activity from manufacturing to retailing in supervise other part-timers who engage in inspections.
the highly specific market, by breaking the industry’s Unlike other makers, because reservation sales is
common wisdom of separation between production and centered, inspections are carried out throughout a year
sales. according the plans. Even childrearing employees under
In the Japanese doll market, manufacturing and sale are time pressure can work without problems under the
completely separated. Doll shops usually combine various mid-long term management system.
dolls individually made by doll makers and sell under their Because women workers who have children cannot
own brands. So, the voices of a selling side rarely reach overtime work or quick response to customers, the
the production sites. company also recruited young women without time
Unlike daily products, hina dolls are expensive and rarely constraint. Currently, there are seven employees in their
repurchased, so, repeaters are few. Therefore, such dolls 30’s to 50’s with children and six in their 20’s.
must be sold out during the season, and after-sales and Of the six, three regular workers are in charge of planning
follow-up services are less provided. Though such dolls for product catalogs, website, as well as production and
are expensive, customer satisfaction is not so high, and as sales management and product planning (described later).
a matter of fact, the claim rate reaches near 10 percent In the recruitment, the company focuses on persons’
and product return rates are as high as 4% to 5% in doll humanity and sincerity toward jobs rather than past
shops. experiences and skills. Skills can be trained after joining,
Customers who decide to buy dolls have gradually so, the company focuses on how they can support
changed from ‘grandparents’ to ‘mothers’ since around 10 customers’ requests rather than immediately helpful
years ago, and the demand for traditional slender-face workforce. The most emphasis is placed on persons who
dolls and gorgeous tiered doll stands is decreasing. have mother-like feeling that wishes her children’s growth,
Therefore, the president decided to found an own love dolls, take responsibility when facing unexpected
company to manufacture and sell self-designed and problems, and have a strong challenge sprit. The company
self-planned dolls in cooperation with puppeteers, doll uses an assessment tool to value human resources
head craftsmen, and tool craftsmen. whether they have a sense of responsibility and
motivation.
Establishment of superiority by modern designs
and intensive product inspections Business expansion by work sharing and
Unlike clear-cut “adult face” dolls, the company’s dolls are training of new recruits
characterized with a “baby face,” and compact-sized Even though the company does not demand experiences
designs and colors, which are harmonized with modern or skills of new recruits, the contents of jobs are at high
housing situations. The company inspects them levels. New regular workers are requested soon to
intensively before shipment. produce catalogs, output ideas, make designs and plan for
The baby face dolls and compact size tiered stands are products. They are requested to provide ideas and
made in cooperation with the employees with the same opinions from the viewpoints of “young mothers.”
concept, based on the needs of president’s mother’s Although full-fledged design and system construction of
generation inherited by his family’ shop. Inspection work is websites are left to professionals, management of pages
carried out carefully by checking fine portions, such as and basic system designs are left to employees along with
stray hair and “Kimekomi” parts to finish them perfectly, routine jobs. They are given time and opportunity to
because the president thought that the high claim rates lie master most jobs within about three months.
in the way of traditional selling, in which “dolls are sold After about half a year they participate in workshops to
immediately after the shipment from doll makers just learn know-hows and involve in full-scale product planning.
before each season ends.” Various jobs, which were carried out by the president

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Fracoco Co., Ltd.

before, are gradually taken over by them to cope with

increasing orders. Outcomes of diversity
management
Increased production to 8 times and decreased
return products to near zero by careful customer
services and product planning ability
As described above, the company has been able to
develop its original products, polite customer services, and
after-sales services, owing to the development of various
human resources and streamlined work environment. With
an excellent achievement, our hina dolls sell out as early
as in every January. Six years after the foundation, the
 Renewed product catalogue production has increased to more than eight times. Around
November when reservations start, the company receives
endless inquiries and manufactures all orders. If
customers cannot get our dolls within a year due to sellout,
their orders are accepted early in the next year, thus
realizing planned manufacture and sales.
With intensive inspections and careful response to
customers, the company has received almost no claim.
Although the company accepts return products with
defects or image difference under the motto of
“Satisfaction First, Return Guarantee,” there was only one
return so far in six years.

Greatly increased turnover by improved sales

promotion in response to customers’ needs
In 2014, the company completely renewed its website by
 New hina dolls designed by employees with two-year women employees’ idea to appeal strongly to young
career mothers, highlighting the course of “website→catalog
request→purchase.” The website and catalog also add a
page, “You can enjoy additional hina dolls,” so that
Flexible work system based on employees’ customers can buy more decorations, such as “Shinno
family situations, such as flexible break time and (prince) ornaments,” “five-doll ornaments” and “10-doll
bringing children to workplace ornaments,” thus flexibly responding to customers various
needs.
As for the inspections, final finishing process and
As a result, the number of catalog requests increased to
packaging of products, the company has a flexible work
2,986 from 2,357, about 1.26 times, the sales of hina dolls
system so that employees, who are busy for childrearing,
increased to 146 million yen from 116 million yen, about
can bring their children to the workplace. The company
126 times, and the sales of Boy’s May Festival dolls
also provides recreation events three times a year,
increased to 68 million yen from 59 million yen, 1.15 times,
including dinner parties, one-day bus tours, etc.
as compared with the previous year. Because the sales
participated with their children.
are carried out through mail orders with the Internet and
In 2014, the company made a rule book to clarify working
catalogs, employees work sincerely to give a nice surprise
time. If employees need to be tardy, early leave, or
to customers when they receive dolls.
absence, they can fill lost hours later. For example, they
In the future the company will make further efforts to
need to leave for two hours earlier for their children’s
satisfy customers and increase production through work
school event, they can fill by overtime work for one hour
division and development of human resources.
the next day and one hour for the day after. They can
apply for a leave/holiday so as not to impact the work
progress. This increases their freedom and
self-management, resulting in improved teamwork and a
zero retirement rate since the foundation.

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 Fracoco Co., Ltd.

 Website: “You can enjoy additional hina dolls”

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ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD. Wholesale and
retail trade Large enterprise

Increased work efficiency by the personnel section’s and

selling sites’ supports for promoting women’s activity
and by utilizing persons with disabilities
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 “Group’s Personnel Management Vision” to maximize employees’ performance

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Personnel section’s awareness change in the first place to support company’s reform in
cooperation with the selling sites
 Expansion of women’s work fields through promoting temporary workers to regulars
 Job assignment to use capacity of persons with mental disabilities

Outcomes of diversity management

 Introduction of systems to promote excellent temporary workers to regulars and to raise
awareness
 Young women buyers’ success in “NIPPONISTA” and its spillover effect across the company
 Realization of work efficiency by assigning incidental jobs
 Securing excellent human resources by increased reputation among outside

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2011 Capital 1,000 million yen

Head office address 3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Department store
Sales 675,315 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of April 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 12,190 (including 6,586 non-regular employees)
8,592 women (including 5,749 non-regular employees);
Number of employees by women’s share of managerial jobs: 20%;
attribute category 236 persons with disabilities (including 198 non-regular employees);
percentage of persons with disabilities: 2.1% (*)
Average service years for
21.0 years (21.5years for men, 20.5 years for women)
regular employees
(*) The number of persons with disabilities and the percentage derive from Group 10 companies, based on
Remark “the employment rate for the business group” (the total number of employees of the Group 10
companies is 16,180)

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 ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
“Group’s Personnel Management Vision” to Personnel section’s awareness change in the
maximize employees’ performance first place to support company’s reform in
ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD. (hereinafter referred to as cooperation with the selling sites
“the company”), a core company of Isetan Mitsukoshi In 2012, based on the corporate philosophy and the
Group, run department stores in the Tokyo metropolitan message of the president, “human resources are most
area. Group’s vision is that “Mitsukoshi becomes ‘my valuable for the department stores,” the company set out
department store’ for individual customers over their entire reconstruction of the personnel section.
life.” Group’s mission is to give them deep impressions. First, it started to hear employees’ opinions, because a
Nowadays, when a variety of business categories, top-down approach from the personnel section would
including the Internet sales, have emerged in place of produce a completely different result in employees’
over-the-counter sales, the company has begun to awareness raising. The interviews were carried out over
recognize more than ever that it needs to strengthen sales three years by the head of the personnel section, all
and services by returning to the starting line, not relying on managers of Isetan Mitsukoshi, and domestic and
“products attractiveness alone.” Therefore, the company overseas proper officers in the overseas subsidiaries, thus
considered it the most important to raise sales persons’ employees’ opinions being picked up. The personnel
and other employees’ motivations and challenging sprits. section, the task of which tended to become a mannerism,
The management has also sent clear message that was positioned as a comprehensive planning division, so
“human resources are most valuable for the department that the section staff can consider creatively in the
stores.” changes of situations, and proceed with an awareness
So, the company has redefined the role of the personnel reform as a leader of management strategy.
section as a management strategy section, and broadly The personnel section is proactively proceeding with
changed in these several years the personnel section’s operational reforms, and raising employees’ awareness by
task, personnel evaluation method, and way of thinking. hearing on-site voices. For example, if there is an
The company reviewed about “what the personnel affairs employee with an ability satisfying the requirements of
are” and “what the real role of the personnel section is,” promotion, but he/she does not expect to be promoted, the
based on the fundamental principles and rules. Especially, personnel section positively backs up the person to
in 2012, the company set up a Group vision that “the challenge various chances and the future. As such cases
company shall establish systems, under which individual come outs, other employees begin to think, “I will be able
employees’ potentials are developed to the fullest,” and to do,” and “I want to challenge,” the passion of which
has been tackling to build an environment where various spreads among other employees and produces a ripple
employees can work actively and exhibit their skills effect.
regardless of gender or employment patterns.
Expansion of women’s work fields through
promoting temporary workers to regulars
Toward the realization of human affairs vision, the
company has been accelerating various measures for
these several years. In 2010, toward making an
environment where employees can work at ease, the
company promoted monthly-paid temporary workers
called “Mate-Employees” to permanent workers, if their
service years are more than four years, ahead of the
Amendment of the Worker Dispatching Act; also reduced
from 5 to 4 years for taking examination for promoting to
regular-workers. Most of the Mate-Employees are women.
Because of successful measures by the personnel section,
about such 300 employees were so far promoted to
regulars, demonstrating various role models of women.
As support measures for women’s active participation, the
company has established a childcare support system
excellent than law, and assigned persons in charge of the
system in the personnel section. In 2014, the number of
users, who are childrearing part-timers (including
Mate-Employees), increased by 180 compared with that of
2011, and the rate of retirement for reasons of childbirth
and childcare is declining.

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ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD.

Job assignment to use capacity of persons with

mental disabilities Outcomes of diversity
Isetan Mitsukoshi Soleil, Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to management
“Soleil, Co.”), Group’s special subsidiary company, takes
the initiative to employ and support persons with
disabilities. Soleil Co. positively employs persons with
Introduction of systems to promote excellent
severe intellectual disabilities with few opportunities for temporary workers to regulars and to raise
employment, and provides them with more than 100 kinds awareness
of jobs derived from the department stores’ incidental The company has succeeded in retaining excellent
sales work, such as making ribbons for gifts, gift boxes, workers by promoting monthly paid Mate-Employees to
affixing seals on order slips, etc. regulars. One woman employee, who was working in the
Soleil Co. was founded in 2005 with 10 employees in the institutional customer department, proposed an idea in
area of 85 m2. Around the beginning of the foundation, its response to customers’ voices and changes of the times,
work was mainly creating flyers in newspaper and sorting and developed multiple free gifts that come with
out of order slips, but soon the instructors of Soleil Co. magazines as a tool for sales promotion of major
noticed that persons with intellectual disabilities had a high magazine publishers. These earned a great reputation,
capacity to concentrate in meticulous repetitive work. In resulting in 1.6 billion yen in the 2011 magazine sales,
those days, the stores’ sales sites had a problem that contributing to the large profit growth of the institutional
stylists in charge of customer services could not take customer department. She was backed by the personnel
enough time for the main service because of a pile of section and promoted to a regular employee by taking
incidental jobs. Soleil Co. thought that this could be solved promotion examination 5 years after joining.
with high capacity of persons with intellectual disabilities, She is still working with high motivation and becomes a
and came up with sorting jobs, thus current types of model of other Mate-Employees’ target. Thus, such
contracting business started. Such persons with speedy measures to achieve the personnel affairs vision
disabilities’ “high quality of job performance” has been lead to maintaining motivation and expanding active work
appreciated above all, and the outsourcing from the stores fields.
has been expanded.
Soleil Co., which accepts more than 100 kinds of jobs, Young women buyers’ success in “NIPPONISTA”
hopes that every employee will become an all-round and its spillover effect across the company
player to cope with every job, feel his/her self-growth, and One of the successful cases can be seen in a
“NIPPONISTA” Pop-up Store, which was opened in
February 2012 in New York, U.S. under the Cool Japan
Strategy Promotion Project of the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry. This event was very important for the
company to advance its future overseas business,
because it was related to the company’s Japan Senses
program that started in 2011 (the program to introduce
Japan’s excellence in manufacturing techniques to
domestic customers and to link among the production
areas, workers, techniques and customers).
The development of a Pop-up Store was the company’s
first experience. Based on the management’s strong
 Various patterns used in contracting work in message, “young women employees should become
Soleil Co. strong workforce,” the project was defined under the
policy: “women should play active roles.” Accordingly,
maintain motivations. For example, Soleil Co. has devised young eight buyers and assistant buyers were selected.
own ribbon-making patterns so that employees with They had a strong will to “participate in planning for this
various degrees of disabilities can work easily to make a event and send messages from overseas.” Since 2012 the
uniform quality of products. Also, it plans work shifts to personnel section has been promoting to establish
equally give jobs to employees, and lets them make own systems, under which individual employees’ potentials are
manuals to check and confirm job performance. developed to the fullest.” As such, this event reflects the
Currently, 65 persons with disabilities are working in the personnel affairs vision toward its penetration and
2
company with the workplace of 1,300 m while hearing the realization through backing up women employees, who
same background announcement as in Isetan Shinjuku want to challenge something new.
main store, so they can be proud as members of the The eight buyers were requested to be responsible for the
department store. The sales of Soleil Co. increased to whole process from planning, arrangement and exhibitions,
roughly 10 times in 10 years. Thus they play important which was a new process different from the conventional
roles of Isetan Mitsukoshi Group. way. In the “NIPPONISTA,” a variety of fashionable clothes,
arts and general goods were assorted and displayed
through careful preparation according to various market
needs. The number of visitors ran to more than 2,000 and

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 ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD.

the number of purchasers reached 108%, exceeding the

target percentage. Securing excellent human resources by
The event raised other employees’ motivation. They say increased reputation among outside
“We have a chance. If we keep trying hard, we can do, Because the company has carefully been hearing
too”; while superiors say “Let’s leave things to young individual employees’ opinions to take various measures
people,” thus creating a new values of work in the since 2012, it has obtaining favorable reputation among
company. outside. According to a survey conducted in 2014 by
Diamond Weekly magazine, the popularity rank of the
Realization of work efficiency by assigning company among job-seeking arts-related women students
incidental jobs was in the 29th place, largely up from the previous years’
Since persons with disabilities accepted incidental jobs, 42nd. Also, according to a survey in 2014 by Nikkei Inc.,
stylists in the sales-counters have been able to devote to the popularity rank of the company among job-seekers
customer services more than ever. Because of a largely was in the first place in the retailor category, the number of
increased stylists’ work efficiency, their overtime has entries running to 27,000, thus the company has strong
reduced by about 5,000 hours per month. popularity among students.
They can devote to essential sales work, while the In job interviews with new graduates, the company talks
performance of incidental jobs has been highly with individual applicants, and offers polite follow-up to
appreciated at the sales sites. those who get the company’s tentative job offer. The
Soleil Co. estimates that if these incidental jobs were number of those who decline the company’s tentative job
outsourced, it would cost 70 million yen an year. The offers has been decreasing in these three consecutive
capacity and characteristics of employees with intellectual years, thus the company can obtain excellent human
disabilities engaging in such incidental jobs contribute to resources.
the profits and work efficiency of Isetan Mitsukoshi.

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 Wholesale and
Lawson, Inc. retail trade
Large enterprise

Established the base by which foreign students can

positively act during 5 years and horizontally deploying
know-how in the whole company.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Management strategy making “the promotion of diversity” the starting point of strength.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 30% of newly employed college graduates are foreign students.
 Start is to arrange “equal condition”.
 Transmitting “equal opportunity”.

Outcomes of diversity management

 Deploying the tackling for foreign employees in the whole company.
 Foreign employees positively act in cross-sectional projects of the whole company.
 Starting foreign supervisors’ positive activities.

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1975 Capital 58,566 million yen

Head office address Gate City Ohsakai East Tower, 1-11-2, Ohsaki, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo.
Business outline Deploying the franchise chain of the convenience store “Lawson”.
Sales 1,758,656 million yen (in February 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of February 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 7,799 (out of which 4,255 employees are non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
[Foreigners] 337 persons (out of which 235 persons are non-regular employees)
attribute category
Average service years for
10.4 years (Male: 13.8 years; Female: 7 years)
regular employees

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 Lawson, Inc.

For some time after starting the employment of the foreign

Background and goals of students, the figure goal of 30% could not be easily
attained, and the company staff in charge of employment
diversity management frequented the employment events for the foreign students
and colleges, running around the country seeking for
Management strategy making “the promotion of excellent human resources. Now, however, the company’s
diversity” the starting point of strength reputation spread by verbal information by seniors and the
Lawson, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) company’s image that the foreign students can positively
has a corporate philosophy of “We will make “towns living act has been settled. The company’s reputation is high at
together with everybody” happy.” In 2013, the company the booths of events such as joint employment invitation
clearly launched “the policy concerning the promotion of meetings rows of the foreign students are formed and
diversity” and positively disclosed through websites etc. there are lots of applicants for the employment.
information concerning diversity such as the ratio of In 2011, the company attained the goal of 30% and in
female managers, that of working mothers and that of 2014 and later, it did not set the goal of 30%, adopting a
foreign employees. Amidst the accelerated globalization, policy to employ excellent human resources regardless of
the company judged that corporate management will their nationalities. As a result, the ratio of the foreign
become impossible by the decision of will under a students among prospective employees became about
stereotypical view of value. Accordingly, the company 30% of the total prospective employees similarly with the
switched to the management strategy making diversity the time when the company set the goal. The company has a
starting point of strength by thinking by itself and acting policy to continue the positive employment of the foreign
how the company should do for not simple gain measures students in the future too.
of human resources but for accepting and respecting for The evaluation standard and salary level for the foreign
diversity and different points. The strong will and the sense student are quite the same as those for other newly
of crisis of the top of the management that “We wish to be employed college graduates. This simple policy has been
agile to the response to the change as an enterprise”, consistent since the employment of the foreign students
“Otherwise, we will not be able to survive” are pushing the started, but in reality, the company encountered various
diversity management. aspects which it had not experienced. For example, when
In the company, “directors in charge of diversity promotion” the result of evaluation is not satisfactory, foreign
headed by the president are set, and correlating with “the employees clearly complain. In order that they are
Human Resource Station” directly supervised by the satisfactory, it is important that the evaluating side and the
Human Resource Section, the design, operation and evaluated side share a goal and the standard of how to
adopting of required systems are being done. Further, as evaluate the achievement of the goal. Therefore, an
to the promotion of positive activities of female employees, evaluation system in accordance with PDCA cycle of
“the Smart Woman Promotion Project” was set under the objective evaluation according to the degree of
directors in charge of diversity promotion, thereby, the achievement has been adopted thoroughgoing within the
assignment of employees who returned to work from company.
childcare leaves and the marketing with the ideas of Prudently facing the above aspects, the company
women were done. overcame difficulties in a few years and established the
Currently, the number of foreign employees is about 340 base for the positive activities of the foreign students (to be
out of which two thirds are supporting the operation of described later). In this way, the diversity of the company
each shop as part-timers. The rest some 100 employees is advancing to the next stage such as horizontally
are regular employees and most of them are newly deploying the “secrets” nourished in the process in the
employed college graduated foreign students employees. personnel system within the company.
The company is expecting from the foreign employees to
innovate the corporate culture by new ideas and activities Start is to arrange “equal condition”
and to create innovative business, products and services. As described above, no special treatment is done for the
foreign students. However, as they do not have cultural
background which the Japanese naturally understand
Specific measures taken for such as “culture of foods prepared for New Year’s”, it
promoting diversity management happens that they cannot understand Japanese purchase
acts which they should know as those engaged in retail
trade. In a state that this “handicap” exists, the company
30% percent of newly employed college cannot execute fair evaluation of the foreign students if the
graduates are foreign students same standard as that for Japanese employees is applied.
In the company, the employment of newly employed Accordingly, what the company aimed is to make the
college graduates of foreign students (hereinafter referred Japanese and foreigners stand on the same ground of
to as “the foreign students”) started in 2008 and from 2009, “equal condition” at the starting stage. By investing fund,
it set a goal of 30% of newly employed college graduates the company has been training for the foreign students
to be the foreign students. The number of the foreign before they enter the company about different culture
students in the employment in the spring of 2013 counted communication and commercial practice of Japan, paying
50 and exceeded 100 employees together with the attention to that they can smoothly set to work after they
employees up to that time. The ratio of the settlement in
the company is being kept at a high standard of 75%.

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Lawson, Inc.

There are chances equally for the foregoing employees.

But it is not sufficient. By making a step to easily and
exactly transmitting to the foreign employees that “equal
opportunity” is ready for everybody, the company aims at
their settlement to the company and has a system that
their future visions thought by them can be realized.

Outcomes of diversity
management
 Positive activities of foreign employees
Deploying the tackling for foreign employees in
the whole company.
enter the company. In 2015 and later, it is scheduled that It is the same for both Japanese employees and foreign
the new employees will learn each other. employees to be allotted to shops sometime after they
Evaluating the foreign students and the Japanese enter the company. However, many Japanese employees
employees by the same standard is not to treat both of did not speak the anxiety about their future careers if they
them utterly equally. The company needs the felt it up to the present. By the fact that the foreign
extra-training for the foreign students and remove the employees spoke straightly to their circles, the “training to
handicap. This is a conclusion which the company think to change the difference to a value” was created.
reached after actually employing the foreign students. Thanks to the success of this training, now, the foreign
employees rather than the Japanese employees became
Transmitting “equal opportunity” to be highly evaluated that they understand the
About 90% of the foreign employees have been entering significance of the work which they are engaged in.
the company, feeling attraction in the business kind of Accordingly at present, the company adopted a similar
convenience store (CVS). There are a number of various training to the Japanese employees. It is the same for the
business kinds in the world such as large-scale general Japanese employees to have anxiety about their future
supermarket (GMS) and department store. The foreign careers. The company first executed the training for
employees have been admitting a high value that “CVS is female employees whose role model is limited and whose
a strong business kind common to the world because it future careers are hard to imagine. Up to the present, the
can tackle by itself a series of movements of training at the time of the promotion to ASV has been
manufacturing process and logistics division and the like technical matters many times but now the training sets the
when shops will become smaller in the future”. They also time to think about their careers.
have wishes to have this business kind spread in the world The existence of foreign employees brought a significant
and bring it back to their countries. The key work done at change to the communication of will at working places. As
CVS is supervisors (SV: Supervisor of shop management), the foreign employees cannot understand by ambiguous
and the future image that foreigners have is SV in many expressions, when superiors execute work directions and
cases. Of course, whether they can become SV or not is the feed-back of evaluation, the communication became
coming from fair competitions including the Japanese. logical and concrete. By clearly showing who does what
After some time from entering the company, newly how and by when, communication without
employed college graduates are allotted to each shop to misunderstanding has been done thoroughgoing within the
practice franchise business (FC). At that time, many company and the work became to be executed for sure.
foreign employees feel doubt. They think that though they
entered the company wishing to become SV but why they Foreign employees positively act in
are allotted to shops, also, they are not used to work cross-sectional projects of the whole company
together with part-timers. There were many foreign In September 2014, foreseeing the Tokyo Olympic Games
employees who resigned the work feeling the anxiety on in 2020, a meeting to think the plan to take foreign visitors
how the work currently engaged will lead to their future as customers was held by gathering the foreign
careers. employees. Gathering 30 foreign employees with various
Accordingly, the company introduced “the training to think ages and nationalities from the head office and Kansai
to change the difference to a value.” This training has been branch, the company had them express their opinions
exercised for the foreign employees in the 3rd or 4th year which the Japanese employees cannot actually know
after they enter the company in principle. The company about with what purposes foreign tourists come to Japan,
explains in detail and makes them understand at the time why they chose Japan rather than other countries and
of assistant supervisor (ASV) after their graduating of what information they had before visiting Japan. After
shops about fully thinking again on their future visions and then, the employees were divided to 6 teams and sorted
what significance is made by their routine work toward out their ideas about the means of tourists’ visits to the
them. Piling this method, foreign employees re-recognize shops. The teams were divided to those for China, South
their future visions, actually feel that their routine work is East Asia and Islamic sphere. Rather than choosing
connected to them and become to be able to work with excellent ideas finally, the company thought that each of
high motivation. their proposals would become a precious hint to take

149 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Lawson, Inc.

foreign tourists and carefully advanced the process of “products’ innovation” by the foreign employees in the
discussions. future.
In the discussions only by the Japanese employees up to
that time, the entering of foreign tourists into the shops Starting foreign supervisors’ positive activities
was premised focusing on “what goods should we place in Five years have passed since 2009 when the employment
the shop?” However, as there was a problem that actually of the foreign students became significant and the number
foreign tourists do not know what goods are placed in the of the foreign employees who positively act as SV has
shops, it was found that it is important to how to induce been increasing.
them to the shops first. In addition, it became clear that, at A male Vietnamese employee who became SV at a timing
ATM of the shops of the company, Japanese yen could not a bit earlier than his colleagues had a very high
be drawn by foreign credit cards, which is one of the consciousness of problem since he was ASV and had a
factors to keep foreign tourists away. The company is now clear image of SV that he hoped to become. For example,
discussing the improvement on this point. Further, the he thoroughly sought what he doubted, and when he could
handling of halal foods is being discussed too. not well communicate his hopes to the owners of franchise
Up to the present, the effects started to have been shops, he took them to the shop as a sample shop and
revealed that the foreign employees bring in the part of the had them view the site actually. Though the members of
“process” within the company such as the establishment of the branch were bewildered at first, they became to be
junior employees nourishing process that think about their influenced by his zeal gradually, and the Vietnamese
careers and the improvement of communication at working employee has been acquiring confidence by the owner.
places. In the future, the company aims at attaining the A Chinese woman who is in charge of the training of the
results in the “products”. Though, when the company owners of franchise and part-timers clearly communicated
discusses the new products’ development, it is discussed and directed what Japanese trainer hesitated and could
by cross-sectional projects in the whole company, the not sternly direct. Though it was thought hard to train by an
foreign employees cannot currently participate in the employee who is not fluent in Japanese, by her direction
discussion yet. with zeal, the trainees could clearly understand required
At the final stage of the training toward the taking of foreign matters without doubt.
tourists meeting, presentation was held as a conclusion The cases of the foreign employees who are positively
before the top management of branches who are acting have been introduced in the company and
managing the shops. Though it was a training this time, it horizontal deployment referring to these cases has been
was the first example of the time when the foreign advancing. Also, by transmitting to outside the company, it
employees participated in the cross-sectional tackling is connected to the securing of arduous and excellent
within the company. The company is expecting that the foreign students.
training of this time will be a chance for the foreign The positive activities of the foreign employees in the
employees to participate in cross-sectional projects in the company got on track and are stepping up steadily to the
whole company. The company aims at positively deploying next stage.
this tackling and the contribution to the company’s

Best Practices Collection 2015 150

The Chiba Bank, Ltd. Finance and
insurance
Large enterprise

Realized the promotion of positive activities of women

focusing on the enlargement of work areas by the strong
commitment of the top management and contributed to
the efficient work.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Wording of “further fulfilment of the nourishment of human resources” in the 12th Mid-Term
Management Plan and its strong consciousness as a challenge of management.
 Promotion by the positive commitment of the president

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Unified deployment of “enlargement of work areas”, “nourishment of human resources” and
“arrangement of environment” toward the promotion of positive activities by women.
 Tackling that can lead to detailed interviews and measures by the support team of women’s
positive activities.
 Activities of Diversity Promotion Committee, Diversity Promotion Department and Human
Resources Nourishment Department as one composed of three organs.
 Creation of a special subsidiary, the Chibagin Heartful, Ltd.

Outcomes of diversity management

 The sales results of women in charge of external affairs exceeded those of men.
 As a result of the tackling for the efficient work by the whole company, average overwork time
was reduced by 3.5 hours a month.
 Persons with disabilities are positively acting playing an important role of the work of the
Headquarters.

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1943 Capital 145,069 million yen

Head office address 1-2, Chiba-Minato, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
Business outline Ordinary bank work
Sales 149,163million yen (March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 6,770 (2,394 non-regular employees)
[Women] 3,771persons (2,075 non-regular employees), the ratio of female managers: 6.1%
Number of employees by
[Persons with disabilities] 71 persons (42 non-regular employees),the ratio of the employment of persons
attribute category
with disabilities: 2.7 %(*)
Average service years for
17.3 years (Male: 18.8 years; Female: 15.8 years)
regular employees
(*) The number of persons with disabilities and the ratio of the employment of persons with disabilities
Remark include those of the special subsidiary The Chibagin Heartful, Ltd. (Number of employees: 30; persons
with disabilities: 24 persons).

151 Best Practices Collection 2015

 The Chiba Bank, Ltd.

president himself, it is shown inside and outside the

Background and goals of company that the management are seriously tackling the
promotion of the positive activities of women.
diversity management
Wording of “further fulfilment of the nourishment Specific measures taken for
of human resources” in the 12th Mid-Term promoting diversity management
Management Plan and its strong consciousness
as a challenge of management
The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the
Unified deployment of “enlargement of work
company”) is a local bank having the main business areas”, “nourishment of human resources” and
ground in Chiba Prefecture created by the merger of 3 “arrangement of environment” toward the
banks in the Prefecture in 1943. In the current 12th promotion of positive activities by women
Mid-Term Management Plan (for 2014 to 2017), the Like assigning a woman as a branch’s head for the first
“further fulfilment of the nourishment of human resources” time among the banks in the country in 1986, the company
is written as one of its challenges. has been conventionally tackling the promotion of the
In addition to the diversification of consumers due to positive activities of women, and in 2005, “The Declaration
globalization and amidst the advancement of de-regulation of Vigorous Career Advancement of Women” was made
of banks, thinking new things by itself and positively acting and publicized. In the Declaration, three goals of “the
have been requested. Under the idea that the company support of the exploration of abilities and career formation,”
needs to secure the diversity of employees in response to “the respect for personality” and “the promotion of work life
the diversification of customers, in the 12th Mid-Term balance” were listed, and based on this, the company has
Management Plan, the company aimed at “the been making action plans every two years that include
nourishment of human resources with high specialties,” concreted measures. Meantime, in the deployment of
“utilization of human resources that draws out volition and measures, “enlarge work areas (create work)”, “nourish
abilities of personnel such as the support of positive human resources (nourish persons)” and “arrangement of
activities of women” and “the formation of corporate environment (create work places)” have been
culture that creates new ideas”. Adding to the promotion of implemented as three viewpoints.
positive activities of women, middle-aged and senior In the “enlarge work areas,” regular service was abolished
people, foreigners and part-timers etc., the company is first and it became to be the basis that all employees
listing the nourishment of human resources through the would work at front line. Further, as to specific regular
dispatch to different industries and foreign countries as an service without moving accompanying the moving of
item to be executed. residence, various contrivances are made such as the
positive assignment to managers and employees in
Promotion by the positive commitment of the charge of external affairs.
president In the “nourish human resources,” seminars have been
After “the Conference for the Support of Shining Women” executed by the company so that employees can image
which was held at the official residence of the prime their future careers such as holding the step-up training
minister in March 2014, “the Meeting of Men Leaders Who and evening seminars for the employees one step inferior
Accelerate the Positive Activities of Shining Women” to managers and gathering female employees with a large
started with the secretariat at the Cabinet Office and as a band of ages for opinion exchange meetings. In addition,
member for the making of “The Action Declaration,” the for the employees who deliver births and who are after
company’s president participated in the meeting. In the child care leaves, “the return to work support seminar” and
Declaration which was sorted out in June, 3 pillars (“think “the mothers’ meeting of Chibagin” are executed. At “the
by oneself,” “break through the current state” and return to work support seminar”, the employees who are in
“advance networking”) are axis of tackling, and in the the child care leaves and their spouses participate and
company too, in line with these pillars, the tackling for the lectures are given on what should be prepared for the
promotion of positive activities of women has been being return to work. At “the mothers’ meeting of Chibagin,”
done. Further, in November 2014, with the participation of against the time of “the wall of 1st grade of elementary
the presidents of total 64 member banks of the National school” when their children advance to elementary schools
Local Banks Association, “the Meeting of the Presidents of and the time of “the wall of 4th grade of elementary school”
Local Banks Who Accelerate the Positive Activities of when the mothers are restricted to enter child club after
Shining Women” started and “The Action Declaration” was work, information exchange is being done on how to
made and publicized. This Meeting started with the respond to such walls.
purposes to advance the positive employment of In “the arrangement of environment”, tackling is being
motivated women, to transmit the statements for the done such as extending the child care leave period up to
positive activities of women from the world of local banks maximum 3 years old when children could not enter
having a broad network nationwide and to aim at the preschools and part of child care leave is paid (for 2
nourishment and the establishment of the network of weeks) from the viewpoint of men’s participation in child
female leaders. As a member of founders of the Meeting, care. In addition, from September 2014, “The Declaration
the president of the company participated in the making of of Wonderful Papa for Both Work and Child Care” has
“The Action Declaration.” been executed. It is a tackling that male employees
In this way, by positively tackling the activities toward the declare at their work places how they will be engaged in
promotion of the positive activities of women by the child care including during the acquired period of child care

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The Chiba Bank, Ltd.

leaves. Other than these, various tackling such as the advanced to aim at the change of consciousness not only
campaign for early return to home named “the campaign of female employees but also of male employees. And, to
for visualizing careing men, caring mothers and return” are advance a step further, at Diversity Promotion Committee,
being done. director and executive director of the company was
appointed as the head of the commissioners, and the head
of Diversity Promotion Department and the head of Human
Resource Nourishment Department were assigned as
deputy heads of commissioners. 6 female employees
among 15 commissioners (12 females and 3 males) were
selected as commissioners by public recruiting. The 12
female commissioners are composed of various female
employees differing in work locations, work, married or
non-married etc., whereby, it was aimed to hear their
opinions from the standpoint of each of them. Further, as
sub-organs of the Committee, “Goals Setting Meeting” to
set figure goals and to extract challenges, “Communication
Meeting” which executes the enlightenment of
consciousness of diversity and the thorough knowing of
 Return to work support seminar the support system of work and child care, and “Career-up
Meeting” to support the formation of careers and create
Tackling that can lead to detailed interviews and role models were set. Mainly by Diversity Promotion
measures by the support team of women’s Commission, Diversity Promotion Department, Human
positive activities. Resources Nourishment Department are positively
In deploying the above measures, a support team of advancing their activities as one composed of three
women’s positive activities was launched in October 2011. organs.
This team was created in the Human Resources
Nourishing Department to do enlightenment activities deep
Creation of a special subsidiary, the Chibagin
in the level of consciousness of female employees and to
strongly promote the renovation of the culture of the whole Heartful, Ltd.
bank for further positive activities of female employees, Though the company had been trying the promotion of the
headed by a team leader of a female manager who employment of persons with disabilities conventionally and
successfully performed both her work and child care. The achieved statutory employment ratio at an early stage, the
team leader is visiting each branch and is executing career company established a special subsidiary, The Chibagin
interview individually. She is following up the mental Heartful, Ltd. in 2006 aiming at the promotion of positive
problems such as doing hearings from not only the activities of human resources which were not advanced for
employees after child care but also female employees employment such as persons with severe disabilities and
before their birth leaves and female employees assigned persons with intellectual disabilities (hereinafter referred to
in charge of external affairs as well as from their heads of as “The Heartful, Ltd.”). The Heartful, Ltd. is located in the
belonging divisions. Part of the support measure for the same building with the Masago Branch in Chiba Prefecture.
work and child care as described above was introduced by Initially, 10 persons with disabilities were employed and it
grasping the needs of employees through such hearings. started its business by making name cards etc. (as
Currently, for the early return to work of the employees described later). Further, when persons with disabilities
who take child care leaves, the installation of child use the office, the company is gathering from the persons
development center within the company is being with disabilities themselves opinions about what kind of
discussed due to high need of the installation, and in attention is required, and based on it, it is advancing the
March 2015, it is scheduled to open a child development tackling the improvement of hardware such as facilities
center in work office jointly with Chiba Institute of and fixtures and the improvement of service as software
Technology in the campus of the Institute. At this child such as the attitude of employees who treat customers. In
development center in work office, children of the these measures, the company urged its employees to
personnel of the company, the company’s group and the acquire the qualification of service helper. Lobby
Institute are scheduled to be recruited. assistants who work as guides in lobbies and employees
who work inside the bank were recommended to acquire
the qualification, and currently more or equal to 400
Activities of Diversity Promotion Committee, persons acquired the qualification of service helper in the
Diversity Promotion Department and Human whole company. By thinking the treatment of customers
Resources Nourishment Department as one who are not only persons with disabilities but also ill
composed of three organs people, the inside of the bank can be changed to a place
After the declaration of “The Meeting of Men Leaders Who of service with very easy use and high hospitality for
Accelerate the Positive Activities of Shining Women” as everybody, which, the company thinks, will lead to the
described above, in July 2014 Diversity Promotion management too.
Committee was created and in October 2014, the support In addition, by putting the visiting The Heartful, Ltd. in the
team of positive activities of women was promoted to a curriculum of the training of newly employed employees,
Department, thereby, Diversity Promotion Department was the company is giving an opportunity of working together
newly founded. Up to that time, mainly by the support team with persons with disabilities, and at the same time, a hint
of positive activities of women, various tackling were to think about how to utilize it in their own business and the

153 Best Practices Collection 2015

 The Chiba Bank, Ltd.

services of banks. Further, to spread this tackling started such measures, the company has been tackling the
from Masago Branch to whole of the company, the softening of work form and introduced work start system
company is positively tackling by distributing video news with time difference by which work starting hour and work
and the company’s internal newsletters etc. ending hour can be flexibly changed. The company also
introduced the system of transfer holiday by the unit of a
half day. As a result, average overwork was reduced,
Outcomes of diversity revealing gradually the effects of the systems.
Further, currently too, the company is gathering the
management proposals for efficient work from the whole company and
400 proposals are submitted by half a business year. As to
The sales results of women in charge of external this, the company is tackling with the posture to positively
affairs exceeded those of men respond other than the cases where the company cannot
Matching the management policy of the company to clearly explain the reasons of unable responses, thereby,
strengthen the sales with corporations, a flow that the the consciousness of the whole company toward efficient
company has been assigning the employees who had work has been changing.
asset management experience in external affairs as well
as the results of them for the sales with corporations has Persons with disabilities are positively acting
been proceeding. Further, to aim to strengthen the system playing an important role of the work of the
of the employees in charge of external affairs, from 2009, Headquarters
the company decided to positively assign female Referencing to the tackling by Masago Branch where The
employees to the work specialized in the asset Chibagin Heartful, Ltd. is located as described above,
management in external affairs. other branches advanced the tackling by contrivances of
From the middle of 1990s, in the company, female hardware so that persons with disabilities can easily visit
employees who had been engaged in the counter work the bank such as the securing of flow line, the installment
became to be committed to the sales of investment-type of write message machines when they sit at the counter,
financial products, and, after this, a culture that female thereby, the provision of high hospitality service in the
employees started to spontaneously study finance has whole company has been realized.
been formed. By starting the handling of investment-type In addition, the tackling to utilize versatile skills and
financial products, female employees who had been abilities held by the employees of The Chibagin Heartful,
engaged only in deposit work up to that time had Ltd. to the work other than standard work. For example,
confidence that they pleased customers and contributed to the skill and design power of an employee who is engaged
the bank and their skill developed with motivation. in the preparation and edition of “internal newsletters” at
In 2008 and later, the company installed separate room The Heartful, Ltd. other than regular work were adopted
consulting boothes for proposing carefully investment-type and the employee became to be in charge of the design of
financial products to customers and assigned female character of internal poster for the promotion of “early
employees there as dedicated persons in charge. By this, return” in the whole company. Currently, that poster is
not only polite hospitality to customers and the figures of listed in all branches of the company. Through this
much study of female employees but also their detailed connection, consciousness that The Heartful, Ltd. and its
follow-up after sale dedicating to customers created a employees are members of The Chiba Bank, Ltd. has
difference of service quality with conventional been burgeoning among the employees of both
business-like employees in charge of sales and gained the companies, and, which is leading to the fermentation of
appreciation by customers. Meantime, in terms of the organizational culture where communication can be
sales results of employees in charge of external affairs exchanged regardless of the existence or non-existence of
who sell investment-type financial products, those of disabilities.
female employees largely exceeded those of male
employees. In terms of sales results of half business year
per head, female employees from the 1st year to 5 th after
entering the company exceeded the results of male
employees by about 1.5 times and from 16th year to 20th
year after entering the company the sales results of female
employees exceeded those of male employees by about
1.8 times, thereby, the results of women enlarged largely,
and which is contributing to the improvement of earning
capacity.

As a result of the tackling for the efficient work

by the whole company, average overwork time
was reduced by 3.5 hours a month.
In September 2013, in order to review the work
fundamentally and to reduce overwork, the company
set ”Promotion Committee for Efficient Work and Early
Return.” To respond to 881 proposals for efficient work
submitted by the whole company, the company launched a  Promotion Poster of Early Return of the Company
(prepared by the employee of The Chibagin Heartful, Ltd.
project team and has been executing measures. As one of

Best Practices Collection 2015 154

Aflac Japan Finance and
insurance Large enterprise

(American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus)

An advanced company where multiple female directors

are positively acting and the company set to the support
of career formation aiming at higher career
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Finding out the challenges in the rear side of “a society where women can positively act”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Set the promotion of diversity in line with the management philosophy as a challenge of
management.
 Deployment of compatibility support measures matching the actual circumstance
 Fulfilment of the support system of career formation of female employees
 Mechanism of nourishing leaders thorough improvement activities

Outcomes of diversity management

 Products’ development targeting women and the sales increase of cancer insurance for
women by promotional activities.
 Achieved the improvement of satisfaction by the manual for aged people that was created by
the improvement activities of junior female employees.

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1974 Capital 467 million yen

Head office address Shinjuku Mitsui Building, 2-1-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo
Business outline Life insurance (Japanese branch of a foreign insurance company)
Sales 1,675,768 million yen (March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 4,521 (239 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
[Women] 2,358 employees (239 non-regular employees). Ratio of female managers: 9.7%
attribute category
Average service years for
10.3 years (Men: 11.5 years; Women 9.1 years)
regular employees

155 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Aflac Japan (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus)

In order to survive in the environment of insurance industry

Background and goals of where competition is intensified, products and services
which match various customers are sought, and an
diversity management organization in which only men have deciding rights
concerning management as conventionally cannot
Finding out the challenges in the rear side of “a respond to changes. Accordingly, the company grasped
society where women can positively act” the promotion of positive activities of female employees as
Aflac (American Family Life Assurance Company of the first step of diversity management and showed its
Columbus) (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) consistency with the management policy of all the
established in 1974 has been positively promoting the company. In the company, as a management philosophy
positive activities of female employees since its the practice of “CSV management” (“corporate
establishment. At that time, in an age when it was not management to steadily perform social responsibilities to
general that women work like men in companies, half of all stakeholders and to create value shared with the
the founders of the company were female employees, and society”) is listed, and as its core, “diversity promotion to
at the time of employment, the company did not distinguish aim at the corporate continuous growth by respecting for
women from men but equally treated and nourished men the diversity of all “employees” and creating the
and women without the job classification of environment where their abilities can be revealed to the
“comprehensive work” and “regular service.” In 1997, the maximum” is positioned.
company appointed a female director for the first time in At the same time, the company launched the Diversity
the life insurance industry, and in 1984, 2 female heads of Promotion Room in the Personnel Department. Up to that
braches (out of 64 branches nationwide) were born at the time, in the responses to customers at sites and social
sales sites where male employees mainly worked up to contribution activities, female employees had tackled very
that time. At present, after the elapse of 40 years since the ardently and it looked that there was no problem
establishment, the number of female directors counts 4 everywhere at sight. However, picking out voices of female
(including those who are coming from inside the company) employees in detail, many opinions like “I have no courage
and the ratio of female directors counts 10.5%, thereby, a to aim at the leading standpoint,” “I wish to elevate my
pipeline of female employees who positively act in the specialty in the job at site as it is now” were heard. It was
center of management was formed. found that there is no “desire” though they had abilities and
Under the circumstance, the recognition that “positive the consciousness to stand by the side of management
activities of women are advanced” was shared in the was not naturally fermented, and creating the mechanism
company up to the present. Although the company was and environment to “push the back” as a company was a
sometimes urged the promotion of further positive challenge.
activities of women by the head office in the U.S., there After such circumstance, the company set a goal to
have been “conspicuous female employees” at the major elevate the ratio of women occupying employees with
posts of directors and heads of departments, and the leading standpoints (deputy section chiefs and superiors)
recognition that “a company where women are positively in 2020 to 30% and became to tackle the nourishment of
acting like in the U.S.” penetrated into the company. female employees and the renovation of the way of
However, in 2013, by the momentum that the Government working.
of Japan clearly launched its policy of the promotion of
positive activities of women, the company calculated again Deployment of compatibility support measures
the ratios of female employees of the company by classes, matching the actual circumstance
and found that female department heads counted 7.6%, As described above, the company has a history that
section chiefs 10.3% and deputy section chiefs 25.1%, female employees have been continuing to work since
which were largely below the half number. Counting the 1970s and the arrangement of systems has been done
statistic of employees with posts of deputy section chiefs prior to the enactment of laws and regulations. For
and superiors as 17.6% which exceeded other companies example, short time work system was already introduced
of the industry, from the fact that the ratios of male in 1992. Based on questionnaires to employees, the
employees and female employees of the company were system was introduced by the reason that higher
nearly half by half, it was a situation that female convenient and flexible way of working would be possible
employees “cannot positively act sufficiently.” Recognizing than childcare center within office.
this fact, the company abruptly hit the pedal toward the In recent years, improvements to make the system easier
promotion of positive activities of women. to use have been implemented. In 2006, the usable period
of the system was enlarged from the pregnant period until
the time of child’s graduation of elementary school, and, as
Specific measures taken for of 2014, the number of users of the system counts 915
promoting diversity management persons accumulatively. In addition, when the short time
work system is not used, the softening of work shift is
Set the promotion of diversity in line with the being implemented “to be able to see child at the childcare
center.” In a form to take up the needs gained from the
management philosophy as a challenge of
hearings from employees, choice is possible out of 4 kinds
management such as changing the work hour from regular hours from
9:00 to 17:00 to from 8:00 to 16:00.

Best Practices Collection 2015 156

Aflac Japan (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus)

By introducing the short time work system from early time, compose groups, set themes and analyze challenges, and
many female employees are playing the role of leaders at perform presentations. The presentations are in a form of
working places, making childcare and work compatible. contest, and if they continue to win the contest, finally, the
Also, by seeing their figures closely, a culture that junior place of announcement before the management is given.
female employees think the childcare and work as quite This tackling has been continuously implemented since
natural has been formed. 1983.
Not the themes given by superiors, but the points to
Fulfilment of the support system of career improve with the consciousness of problem of themselves
formation of female employees in daily work are fixed, and excellent activities are
As to the employees employed restrictively in regions, the introduced at the sites of actual work. In this way, by
system of work place change was introduced. When setting a place where employees can reveal their power to
moving is required by the relocation of spouse, the moving think and leadership at separate place from regular work,
to the area of the relocation is possible and female they can experience the amusement to lead their teams as
employees can continue to work in the company making leaders. Among the current female directors and the
use of the skill which they nourished up to then. On the female management starting from female heads of
other hand, if work area is changed, there was no change departments, there are many who experienced leaders
that the work relating to the sales activities within the area through “C&C activities” when they were young. These
was main. In this way, mid-term and long-term career improvement activities which had been continuously
plans were hard to imagine, looking through the movement deployed as the place of the nourishing of not fully
of the whole of the company. experienced junior employees are made now as a
Accordingly, so that the employees employed in regions corporate culture of the company and are largely
restrictively can experience broad work, “temporary contributing to the elevation of motivation and skills of
relocation system” which admits the moving in limited junior employees including female employees.
period was introduced in 2004. From before that time, the
employees employed in regions restrictively who aimed at
career-up had been respectively relocated as “job posting,” Outcomes of diversity
it was systematized and opportunity was presented openly management
to the total employees.
The objective employees are assigned to the divisions of Products’ development targeting women and the
either Tokyo or Osaka and they experience there various
work which they cannot usually experience. After some
sales increase of cancer insurance for women by
years, most of the employees return to their original work promotional activities
areas, but some of them widen their experience to the Up to now, by nourishing and adopting able human
work other than sales activities and continue to stay in resources regardless of the difference of genders by the
Tokyo or Osaka after the end of the period of temporary company, female employees have been positively acting in
relocation, and were promoted and are positively acting. various areas. Particularly, in the fields of advertisement,
By 2014, accumulative 34 employees are using this public relations and the promotion of social and public
system. activities that support the brand of the company, the
Meanwhile, as to the female employees who were not positive acts of female employees are outstanding more
employed in regions restrictively, from 2012, the operation than conventionally.
of “3 places in 10 years” (move 3 divisions during 10 years The Advertisement Department is composed of 19
after entering the company in principle) started. Before the employees, out of which 14 employees are females, and
life events such as child delivery and childcare, there is a they are in charge of the making and promotion of
system by which they pile up versatile experiences advertisement aiming at the sales support of agents, and
including the line work of sales activities. making and promotion of strategies for the improvement of
In this way, in addition to the work continuance support by corporate brand from the long-term viewpoint. In order to
the compatibility support measures up to now, by the deploy public relations strategy to appeal to 20s through
system to institutionally strengthen the support of 40s years old who are main customers of the company,
career-up, an environment where they can feel the making plans utilizing the tool of Web communication is
amusement and fulfilment of work early was arranged. being done.
The number of new contracts in the fields of cancer
insurance and medical insurance tends to be more for
Mechanism of nourishing leaders thorough
female employees than for male employees. It is expected
improvement activities that the viewpoint of livers and detailed compassions to
The arrangement of systems as described above was patients and their families are made use of in the sales
done mainly in 2000s, but before then, there was a promotion. For example, among juniors of 20s and 30s
situation where female leaders positively acted. What years old, women are fragile to cancers than men, and
contributed to it was “C&C (Change & Create) activities.” more than half of the cancers are “cancers peculiar to
The “C&C activities” are a tackling to do voluntary women”, but the cancer check ratio of Japanese women
improvement activities mainly for junior employees before was low as less than 30%. Matching the above situation,
they become managers and managers are committed to under the female head of the Product Development
the activities only as supporters. Junior employees whose Department, a cross-sectional project within the company
years of entering the company differ one after another

157 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Aflac Japan (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus)

which covers from product development to sales

promotion and advertisement was composed mainly by
female employees and in 2010 a product dedicated to
women called “Cancer Insurance “Cosage”” that includes
the warranty for the re-building of breasts was released for
sale. At the time of sales promotion activities, marketing
making the most of the contacts with women such as the
deployment of advertisement in cabs dedicated to women
and the implementation of breast cancer seminars for
customers by female employees is done.
In addition, in the fields of public relations and the
promotion of social and public activities, a team composed
mainly of female employees was formed and
enlightenment events to make general livers know cancers
at localities nationwide are held. The company is doing
enlightenment of cancer check for young women and
activities to widen the circle of support to children with
child cancer with which the company has been tackling for
many years.
In this way, as a result of deploying products’ promotion
and enlightenment activities with the purposes not only
selling products but also grasping cancer peculiar to
women as “my case”, the number of new contracts of
insurance to women is leading to the increase of 8.2%
compared with the same period of the previous year.

Achieved the improvement of satisfaction by the

manual for aged people that were created by the
improvement activities of junior female
employees.
Further, in the “C&C activities” as described above, many
female employees are positively acting. Particularly, in the
contract management administrative work division, out of
 Female employees are positively acting in product
2,300 employees including dispatched employees women development, sales promotion activities and
occupy 70% and it was a work place with high ratio of enlightenment activities
women originally. Here, some competent female superiors
continued to promote and are positively acting as directors,
phone to aged people, communication of will was difficult.
which shows that a culture to aim at higher career naturally
Piling up the discussions from the viewpoint of having
is rooted. There are many cases where young female
exact and compassionate communication over the phone
employees are positively polishing their leadership through
by what oral explanation, they sorted out detailed concrete
“C&C activities.”
methods such as “when your voice is hard to catch, speak
In 2013, out of 38 teams which participated, at 17 teams
not loudly but in low tone,” “use easy expression of “put it
nearly as a half number, female leaders piled experiences
into envelope and return it to us” and not use written word
of leaders. Amidst it, female employees at call centers
like “please attach.”” This manual was actually introduced
revealed their leadership and prepared a telephone
at call centers and is still used currently in daily work. As a
response guide for aged people. At the contacts of
result, many voices of thanks were gathered from aged
responses to customers such as the procedure of
people and it led to the improvement of the quality of
hospitalization, change of name and cancellation, there
response to customers.
was a problem that when employees explain over the

Best Practices Collection 2015 158

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Finance and
insurance
Large enterprise

Focusing on corporate sales in a top-down manner and

promoting the active roles of female career-track
positions with the aim of taking a lead in organizational
culture reform.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Specifying in the company’s medium-term management plan that the promotion of diversity is
essential as a basis for the achievement of business objectives

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Aggressive efforts of women’s career up support
 Diversity Committee by the strong commitment of the President
 Work style reform in the Wholesale (WS) Banking Unit

Outcomes of diversity management

 Success of women in the Wholesale (WS) Banking Unit
 Support of the Quality Management Department for the management training of business
career (BC) positions

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1996 Capital 1,770,996 million yen

Head office address 1-1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Banking
Sales 2,342,582 million yen (End of March 31, 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of September 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 34,762 persons (including 8,959 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by [Women] 20,519 persons (including 7,962 non-regular employees), women’s share of managerial jobs:
attribute category 12.08% (*1)
Average service years for
14.0 years (16.6 years for men and 11.4 years for women) (*2)
regular employees
Remark (*1) As of October 2014 (*2) As of March 2014

159 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

male workers, who accounted for 90% of the company’s

Background and goals of managerial personnel.
As for (1), the company revised its conventional system of
diversity management regular service employees to a system of business career
positions (hereinafter referred to as “BC positions”) in 2008,
Specifying in the company’s medium-term and enabled their promotion up to management positions.
management plan that the promotion of diversity The company started the Childcare Leave Return Support
is essential as a basis for the achievement of Course in 2006 to support the return of employees on
business objectives childcare leave and the Pre-mama Training in 2008 for
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (hereinafter referred employees expected to take maternity leave before and
to as “the company”) is a city bank with 439 domestic after giving birth, and established the New Career Support
branches and 15 overseas branches. The company has Training for employees returning back after their childcare
been working continuously on the promotion of the active leave, which 300 people in total have attended.
roles of women since the company established the Next Furthermore, the company conducted the Women’s
W-ing Project Office in 2005. The company was in a Leader Program Training for the purpose of enabling
situation where it was not able to make full use of the female career-track workers and career-track retail course
capabilities of talented female employees in those days. workers to acquire a wide range of view and a managerial
The playing field of female employees in the company was viewpoint beyond the expertise of its own. The company
still limited. There were many female employees engaged established the Women’s Leader Program Next Training
in personal customer business, but the management ratio for female workers in the intermediate layer who will play
as an indicator of showing women’s business activity active roles for the next generation. Furthermore, the
remained at 1.9% as of 2006. Furthermore, there were few company established the Mentor System, and the
female employees playing active roles in the company has been working on a variety of career support
headquarters. initiatives for women.
The turnover rate of female employees in those days was With the consideration of expanding the job range of
higher than that of today. While the environment of women, the company participated in a project called
personal customer business was expected to demand Shinsedai (“new generation”) Eijo College in June 2014.
higher proficiency and experience from employees, the This project is a cross-industry joint business project to
management would suffer great loss if the turnover rate of think about women’s activities in business areas where the
female employees playing major roles in personal promotion of female workers is not making progress. This
customer business remained high. Staffing was in urgent project was established by seven major enterprises,
need with consideration of a reduction in the recruiting including the company, with the aim of making
market as a result of Japan’s aging population in the cross-industrial efforts toward the promotion of female
future. salespersons, which remains as a common challenge of
In response to the situation, the company established the enterprises making progress in the promotion of female
Diversity Promotion Office in the Human Resources workers. Approximately 30 female employees in their 20s
Department in 2008, following the establishment of the and 30s in sales positions from the participating
Next W-ing Project Office. Furthermore, the mid-term enterprises gathered, and summarized and reported
management plan of 2014 clearly stated the essentiality of recommendations for women in business to success in the
diversity promotion for the achievement of all management final meeting. In the report, they recommended that the
goals, and the company established the Diversity evaluation items of managerial positions should include
Promotion Committee, which was chaired by the President. the reduction rate of working time as well as the
Then the management was committed to work more achievement rate of sales.
proactively than ever before on diversity promotion. In the With regard to the change of the awareness of managerial
background, there was a strong belief of the management male workers, the company explained the significance of
that human resources was the greatest property of the diversity during managerial training that started in 2008,
banking industry and that it was indispensable to make while implementing similar initiatives in rookie training and
use of diverse human resources for the enhancement of rank-based training. In 2014, the company held diversity
the company’s competitiveness. management seminars for branch managers on a
branch-by-branch basis and a common seminar for all
branch managers with external expert committees invited
Specific measures taken for as lecturers in order to enable all branch managers to
share the direction of the Diversity Committee, which will
promoting diversity management be explained later. The company has been promoting the
understanding of all employees, including male managers,
Aggressive efforts of women’s career up support the change of their awareness and behavior, and the
The company’s work and home support system was reinforcement of management capabilities.
making progress in the past. In view of a low ratio of
female managers, however, the company worked on the
following matters after it established the Diversity
Promotion Office in 2008: (1) Providing career support and
proactively promoting female workers with high motivation
and ability and (2) Changing the awareness of managerial

Best Practices Collection 2015 160

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

as committee members are holding a series of discussions.

In addition to hearing on-site opinions, each department
has been hearing opinions of other companies
implementing innovative initiatives, and the departments
have been extracting challenges and studying
countermeasures.

Work style reform in Wholesale (WS) Banking

Unit
The Wholesale (WS) Banking Unit, which is mainly
responsible for mainly corporate sales, has started
initiatives focusing on reviewing the work style of its
employees. The percentage of female employees in
career-track positions at the WS Banking Unit is low, the
background of which is their work style that is obliged to
respond to the time requirement of customers. They work
 Women’s Leaders Program Next Training all day and entertain customers after work usually at a time
convenient to customers, and many female workers
thinking it difficult to continue working left the company
upon marriage or childbirth. In fact, the WS Banking Unit
has 180 business department managers, out of which
Diversity Committee by the strong commitment
there is only one female business department manager,
of the President and female managerial staff members as their successors
The strong leadership of the President has been can be counted on one hand. While the number of young
demonstrated in the Diversity Committee as well. In the female employees in their 20s is increasing as a result of
past, the Human Resources Department has been taking the recruitment of female employees, the WS Banking Unit
the initiative. The company, however with more than has started studying a reform of the working style in order
20,000 employees and a variety of departments at home to facilitate the retention of female workers in the
and aboard, and each department significantly varies in workplace.
challenge. Therefore, under the strong top commitment of Specifically, the WS Banking Unit has decided on making
the President, the company established the Diversity a work environment where working mothers with a time
Committee in 2014, in which four departments (i.e., Sales, constraint can demonstrate their capacity as efficiently as
Retail, Wholesale, and International Banking Units) other career-track employees with the aim of rectifying
participated. The Diversity Committee with the career-track employees’ working style that requires long
participation of the Corporate Planning Department and working hours as a premise. First, some field offices
the Human Resources Department has been extracting started a trial of letting employees leave work early by
and analyzing department-specific challenges and reviewing the operation of service management and
studying concrete measures. Department-specific efforts combining normal working hours with early morning work
have been resulting in measures meeting the actual and working at home in order to enable employees to work
situation of each department at increasing speed. more flexibly. In addition, the WS Banking Unit reviewed
The Diversity Committee is held once every six months. the roles of BC positions the main force of which consists
The President and the Vice President serve as Chair and of women for an outlook of a workplace where women can
Vice Chair, respectively, and three external experts attend play active roles with a challenging spirit. Therefore, the
as committee members to give frank opinions and advice. WS Banking Unit has been working on organization
Furthermore, a subcommittee meeting attended by the making that will enable career-track employees to shift
secretariats of the four departments and external experts their focus on sales activities for productivity
improvements by expanding the scope of BC employees’
duties from traditional routine work to that with advanced
contents to include a part of work conventionally done by
track-career employees. The WS Banking Unit has started
thrashing out insufficient on-site and headquarters’ work
and studying business system revisions and reviewing the
existing rules in order to enable career-track employees
and BC employees to perform work that is more productive
within a limited time.
The Diversity Committee has been continuing trial and
error in these initiatives while receiving opinions and
information from external experts as committee members.
In the first place, there was no climate to enable
employees to look back on their way of working. It can be
said that the transformation has become possible as a
 Diversity Committee result of the steady consciousness reform that started in

161 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

2005. The conversion of the conventional workplace to a Support of the Quality Management Department
new workplace where everyone can continue working for the management training of business career
efficiently is regarded as beneficial not only from the sense (BC) positions
of enabling female workers to play more active roles but In the past, regular service employees were positioned as
also from the viewpoint of male workers who have been employees supporting track-career employees. In order to
tied to a long period of time working in the past. have female employees aim at positions with certain
responsibilities, the company revised the conventional
system of regular service employees to a system of BC
Outcomes of diversity positions and enabled their promotion up to management
management positions in 2008. This system revision has widened the
ranges of duties and roles of BC, career-track retail course
Success of women in the Wholesale (WS) workers, and career-track workers with the aim of enabling
them to take charge of jobs with higher added value as
Banking Unit one of the goals of the revision. For example, it is expected
The background of the WS Banking Unit’s efforts to that BC employees are expected to widen their
promote women to play active roles include the progress responsibility for personal business, and career-track retail
of the diversification of the human resources, working course workers, who were in charge of personal business
styles, and values of society including the company’s will expand the range of their responsibility to small and
business partners and customers. Conventionally, it is medium-sized enterprise business. Meanwhile,
pioneering for the corporate sales field in the banking carrier-track employees will expand the range of their
industry, which has been a “male-dominated society” to duties in order to provide domestic and overseas
advance diversity promotion efforts centered on the reform customers with high value-added services.
of the working style. In comparison with other banks, this is BC employees who are appointed to be managerial staff
expected to be the company’s strength. members will be more responsible, and BC employees are
The efforts to promote women to play active roles have considered to hesitate to aim for being managers.
been producing results little by little. Few female winners Therefore, the Quality Management Department has made
were recognized in the individual awards program of the efforts to dispel BC employees’ anxiety.
WS Banking Unit to commend employees who have made More specifically, the Quality Management Department
noteworthy achievements in the past. Recently, mainly created a DVD on customer complaints, which many BC
young female workers have been constantly awarded. employees feel difficult to handle, and had a study meeting
Furthermore, female workers have been receiving the implemented. In addition, the Quality Management
SMBC Award, which recognizes employees achieving Department conducted a training of mid-level BC
particularly excellent results. In addition, a number of case employees who were anxious about working as managers.
examples have been reported in the stage of application, BC staff took charge of scenario making with elaborate
in which female employees’ tenacious communication with interviews on site, and finished a story with consideration
customers resulted in winning contracts. The WS Banking of cases that were likely to occur on site. This resulted in
Unit is completing a climate to where female employees good achievements, and employees who watched the
can play active roles, which was considered difficult for DVD gave positive opinions that their anxieties were
wholesale departments in the past. dispelled. Furthermore, Quality Management Department
explained in the training that not only branches but also
the entire organization should solve complaints, including
the headquarters. This has relieved employees who have
been trapped by their consciousness that complains
should be handled by themselves or their branches only.
Such efforts have paid off, and resulted in an increase in
BC employees to be appointed as managers, thus leading
to level improvements in their customer response.

Best Practices Collection 2015 162

GE Japan Inc. Finance and
insurance
Large enterprise

Promoted talented human resource to play active role

through provision of fair chances and impartial
evaluation system, and by high quality management
system which converts various voices to business
chances
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Expanded diversity worldwide recognizing that “diversity is a growth strategy”
 Promoted large number of excellent female employees, and now their goal has shifted to
realization of work-life balance.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Management system that facilitates the best allocation of human resources worldwide.
 Network that supports career formation of female employees
 System of HR development and effort to promote female employees

Outcomes of diversity management

 Great expansion of business through evaluation system that evaluates one’s abilities
regardless of sex or nationality

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1999 Capital 30 billion yen

Head office address Akasaka Park Bld. 5-2-20 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Corporate loans, real-estate investment
Sales 295,684 million yen (As of December 2013)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (As of May 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 1,515 (including 199 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by [Female] 520 (including 173 non-regular employees); ratio of female managers: 17.5%
attribute category [Foreigner] 18 (including 0 non-regular employees)
Average service years for
8.5 yrs (Male: 9 yrs; female: 8 yrs)
regular employees

163 Best Practices Collection 2015

 GE Japan Inc.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Expanded diversity worldwide recognizing that Management system that facilitates the best
“diversity is a growth strategy” allocation of human resources worldwide.
GE, since its establishment by Thomas Edison in 1878, The company evaluates personnel on two standards,
has always put focus on innovation in parallel with strategy “Performance and Growth Value (code of conduct)”. And
evolution ahead of changing times. Investment for human at annual organizational planning, the top managers of HR
resource development has been a key factor for its division share and grasp what type of personnel is in which
sustainable business operation for 130 years, and current country, and discuss on career path of each employee. For
Chairman of the Board and CEO positions diversity as “the recruitment also, there are no distinctions between
source of innovation, and a strategy for growth”. The “headquarter hiring” and “local hiring”, and their allocation
company promotes projects under Chief Diversity Officer will be decided taking into account their capabilities and
in a global scale. career plan.
GE Japan Inc. GE’s Japanese corporation (hereinafter Such personnel system is practicable because it is clearly
referred to as “the company”) has established “Women’s defined that planning subordinates’ career is their
Network” in 2001 to provide a network for female manager’s role. Two themes, “run the business” and
employees and to support their career formation and to “develop human resource” are assigned on managers, and
develop female managers. In management meeting in July they are evaluated in regard to these themes. The
2014, the company had set a new goal to “increase the company’s “Growth Value” consists of five elements;
ratio of female manager to 20% by 2016”. The company External focus, Clear thinker, Imagination & courage,
also gives powerful support for active utilization of foreign Inclusiveness, and Expertise. Inclusiveness means a
employees who are to travel globally back and forth capacity to cooperate with other departments, and respect
between Japan and overseas. Goal for diversity individual and cultural differences. And no matter how
management is to have employees with various successful his/her performance may be, they will be
backgrounds create innovative ideas by speaking out the assessed low when their Growth Value is unsatisfactory.
thoughts from his/her own standpoint, and they also focus To assist in improving performances of managers, HR
on development of managers who are capable of division is providing seminars and trainings to improve
conducting such management. skills, as well as consultations. Particularly with
Inclusiveness, training is given with focus on specific
Promoted large number of excellent female management measures to be taken, and it is clarified that
employees, and now their goal has shifted to evaluation is made much on how managers could
realization of work-life balance. maximize the capability of each personnel having different
personalities and backgrounds and fostered it into
The company started to make effort on diversity
company’s competence.
management by sharing awareness to the need of
In this way, the system is established where leaders at
diversity among employees of whom 95% were Japanese.
each level is committed to strengthen his/her team, and
Traditionally, they had been working on system
strive for better management. Leaders think and practice
development and network building actively, and thus the
how the human resource management should be and how
active participation of female employees had been
to maximize the strength of his/her team, and HR division
promoted to some extent. Ratio of female managers was
side-by-side assists. In addition, HR division grasps the
already over 20%, and management was confident of the
performance of teams and individuals to check the
efforts they had taken.
fairness and equality from objective point of view when the
In 2014, they conducted survey on employees’
actual evaluation is elevated from each office.
consciousness and found that while about 60% of male
employees answered “YES” to the question “Do you want
to take managerial positions?”, only 30% of females gave Network that supports career formation of
positive answer. The most prominent reason was not that female employees
they lack in confidence, nor the work environment being When “Women’s Network” was initiated in 2001, many of
unprepared, nor even uncertainty in gaining understanding the members were executives and senior leaders or
of male directors, but “My work-life balance may be prospective executives, composing “a team of female
disturbed”. While development of female employees or elites”, who had dedicated her life to her career. With
improvement of motivations were accomplished to some increase in number of female managers, the role model
extent by the measures already taken, it became clear that had varied, and the target of Women’s Network has
there was a margin for improvement regarding work style. gradually broadened.
In order to build more effective work style, the company Currently, the network set the theme as management of
planned to improve and extend the personnel system working mothers and energetically working on the theme
including remote working (telecommuting), flexible working, with participation of male personnel and management as
and nursing care leave. well. For example, they hosted discussion meetings with
working mothers and their directors as panelists, and
opportunities to discuss on working style of mothers

Best Practices Collection 2015 164

GE Japan Inc.

together with executives. They broadly share example 2001 to 17% in 2014, and of department managers and
cases of sales personnel who effectively uses remote executive to 27% in 2014.
working system to work at home while leaving the office
early, and her director introducing how they support her as
a team. Having executives committed to such efforts, the
value and effectiveness of management that includes
female employees are being shared broadly across the
company leading male personnel to involve more in
virtuous cycle. The company calls such meetings “Men in
Women’s Network”, and a certain number of men are
participating continuously at bases in each regions.
At the same time, in order to foster a sense of familiarity to
executives and see them as a role model, study meetings
and training on project management were held in recent
years among female executives and female employees.
 Participants of global leadership-development
By building a relationship with female leaders in different program for next generation (HR division)
departments and working actively as the management,
positive effect has been made on female personnel’s
career consciousness. Outcomes of diversity
“Women in Technology” and “Women in Commercial”
have been established as sectional meetings of “Women’s management
Network”, and they are working on development of female
leaders in technology/manufacturing field and in sales field. Great expansion of business through evaluation
Female leaders in technology and sales field being small system that evaluates one’s abilities regardless
in number is an issue common in overseas also, and in of sex or nationality
collaboration with overseas corporation, they are hosting Female leaders born from efforts mentioned above and
events for career formation and their enlightenment foreign employees are achieving excellent business
performances. Especially teams with females and
System of HR development and effort to promote foreigners tend to have highly ability of questioning
female employees “accustomed” business procedures and “common sense”
GE Group invests about $10 billion for human resource of the industry, and to explore if there is a business chance
investment annually, and in Japan, over 1,000 days of or a margin for improvement. They scrutinize what has
training was given to 463 employees last year. In the past been “common sense,” and to those who are persistent to
10 years, 140 Japanese female employees participated in their accustomed procedures and values, they talk over
“Leadership-development program for next generation” what would bring the most advantages for customers on
jointly hosted by worldwide GE Group, and 3 are promoted the basis of our policy, “Customer determines our success,”
to board members and 17 are currently working as and try to find the best way among all people involved to
department managers. Having a chance to improve carry on the business.
themselves among first-class rivals in Japan and from For example, Quality Department Manager of Indian
overseas and to actually experience GE’s business policy nationality led a reformation of estimate creation
shared among the group expands their horizon further. procedures in Car Lease Department. They used to
In addition, GE Japan provides “Support program for request multi number of suppliers for an estimate, one by
career development” and “Development training for one whenever they received an inquiry. For better
department managers” to further support career formation efficiency, he proposed to have a year-round contract with
of female employees. The former is a program which a single supplier, and eliminate confirmation process if the
supports mid-/long-term career formation of female contract with a customer was with standard terms and
employees (non-managerial), and 17 have participated in conditions to make the estimate available to the customer
2014. The program aims to develop employees through more quickly. Overall procedures were streamlined by
career and management training, and mentoring by 75% by reviewing the operational processes including the
managers, and it also provides an opportunity to build change in contract flow, and consequent improvement in
in-house network. The latter targets female chiefs and 16 service quality had brought improvement in customer
have participated. Those who seem capable of taking satisfaction also.
position as a department manager are selected from Commercial Facilities Team with a female Sales
female chiefs to participate in the 6 months program. Department Manager 4-fold increased the ratio of female
During the 6 months they participate in members in one year, to focus on acquiring new
leadership-development training and projects customers in service industry, such as apparel and beauty
implemented across the departments to learn from female services, which is expected to grow in the future. The
executives who are assigned as their mentor the company has ample experience in facility investment
leadership and broad perspective required for department mainly in manufacturing industry, and to create new clients
managers. As a fruitful result of these measures, ratio of in service industry, even male personnel with expertise in
female manager has significantly increased from 2% in manufacturing industry had to start from a scratch. On the
other hand, fashion oriented female personnel made sales

165 Best Practices Collection 2015

 GE Japan Inc.

approaches to little known apparel brands that attract their Such human resource strategy, where capable personnel
attention, in a way that middle aged male personnel would is collected, promoted, and supported to match the
never come up with. The result was an achievement of required role and function, underpins the company’s
140% increase in creation of new clients in comparison growth.
with the previous year.
In other cases, a female executive promoted to CFO led
streamlining of internal procedures, prioritizing the budget
under standards with high transparency, except for
investments on human resource development, and
accomplished cost reduction obtaining understanding from
each department. She was not a financial professional, but
had sufficient ability and experience required for CFO, and
accomplished her task with help from other executives. As
a result, in 0% growth market under economic stagnation
in Japan, the volume of new transactions had increased by
5% every year from 2011 to 2013, and productivity by  Team with Quality Department Manager of
more than 15% annually, contributing significantly to the Indian nationality
increase of net profit.

Best Practices Collection 2015 166

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. Finance and
insurance
Large enterprise

Phased, company-wide implementation of “Role

Innovation” has increased employees’ motivation and job
satisfaction, and contributed to performance growth.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Aim to reform management to re-earn the trust of customers
 Raise awareness of the need for “Role” innovation in every aspects

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Aim to break away from stereotypes by “Role Innovation” involving every employees in the
company
 Drastically reform the system through well-prepared “Role Innovation Plus”
 Employees with disabilities to broaden their work field and develop themselves through “Role
Innovation”

Outcomes of diversity management

 Business performance improved by streamlining operational works and higher service quality
 Built organization where every member is capable of taking action for the goal at his own
initiative beyond his role

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1918 Capital 139,595 million yen

Head office address 3-9 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Non-Life Insurance
Sales 1,386,533 million yen (As of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (As of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 19,722 (including 5,534 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by [Female] 11,971 (including 4,973 non-regular employees); ratio of female managers: 2.9%
attribute category [Person with disabilities]273 (including 33 non-regular employees); ratio of person with disabilities: 2.12%
Average service years for
13.4 yrs (Male: 15.4 yrs; female: 11.4 yrs)
regular employees

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 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Management reformation to re-earn the trust of Aim to break away from stereotypes by “Role
customers Innovation” involving every employees in the
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred company
to as “the company”) is a non-life insurance company Following the failure of Promoting Active Women Team,
which was established in 2001 when Mitsui Marine and they set their primary goal as to have every employees to
Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Marine and Fire renovate and expand their roles, not female employees
Insurance Co., Ltd. merged. Its management vision is alone. The ultimate goal was to have employees break
“creating a world class insurance/financial group that away from stereotypes that limit the scope of their job, and
consistently pursues sustainable growth and corporate think and act for themselves knowing their capabilities and
value increase”, and now works on “promotion of diversity” how they should utilize them for organizational objective.
as its most important theme in “HR strategy” for its The company calls this conceptual change the “Role
mid-term management plan. Accordingly, the company Innovation”. In this innovative movement, the organization
aims to appoint 480 female managers by 2020 which is management itself needed to be innovated into the one
4-fold of the current number. where capabilities and personality of each employee is
After the non-payment of claims issue that rocked the maximized to advance towards organization’s objective,
industry in 2006, the company was in urgent need to not merely apportioning works as it has been, and
develop products/services which reflects market needs eventually the build a system that fulfills the objective as a
and enables everlasting business operation. The whole.
management were alarmed that they must reform The movement was initiated in 2011, and at first, there
organizational framework and renovate its management, were objections in work-sites that it would disrupt the
and because of increase in percentage of women as a balance of accustomed organization set up. Especially,
decision maker in purchase of insurance product, they female employees on General-track, who themselves also
were in need to promptly develop and offer products that thought to be hired to engage in clerical work, opposed
has focus on women’s viewpoint, or the company would be saying they were upset to be suddenly in charge of sales
left behind in the industry. or product development where they have poor skill and
In addition, scope of works which had been categorized as enthusiasm.
“Career-track” and “General-track” was in need to be Regarding such opposition, HR division gave thorough
reformed to make full use of each employee’s capabilities support, explained how the company should be now and in
in order to maintain the quality of service while working on the future, and convinced them to make a challenge
streamlining and to sustain the profitability. together. They focused on obtaining job satisfaction and a
It was a common recognition among the management that sense of achievement to mitigate the burdens the
conversion to diversity management was prerequisite to employees would feel by increase of work load or by
seize market needs and to re-earn customer’s loyalty, and change in the contents of work. They thought, for example,
lead them to initiate efforts for organizational reform if an employee with only experience in clerical work on
sales support directly receives favorable evaluation from
Raise awareness of the need for “Role” dealers and sees improvement in her performance, the job
innovation in every aspect satisfaction would increase and the motivation be
The first step they took in the start was “active participation strengthened. In order to realize such situation, HR
of female employees”, and the company established division in head office repeatedly gave trainings to line
Promoting Active Women Team in HR division in 2006. managers and supervised them with tips to let personnel
However, the effort was not successful as there were no gather successful experience, such as setting the target
supportive bases, and their calls for women to do their slightly lower according to personnel’s experience and
best did not motivat employees to take action. his/her level of development. They also had made clear
Recognizing the reason of insufficient effort as narrowing that the ability of management is an element to be
the target to “women” alone, and as forcing to change the evaluated, and that even if his sales performance was
“consciousness” alone while works were still conventional, excellent, he would not be promoted to a chief of line
they realized that what they need is to target every manager when he is not capable of leading and managing
employee, and to renovate the “role”, not the a group. Meanwhile, the lectures to communicate and
consciousness, including work apportionment and instill the core concept of “Roll Innovation” were conducted
evaluation. Thus they were to carry out sweeping reform sufficiently according to the purpose together with training
through phased approach, of personnel and organizational on additional knowledge and know-hows required in actual
system (as described below). practice.

Drastically reform the system through

well-prepared “Role Innovation Plus”
Now that the reformation of employees’ consciousness
and actions has been carried forward, “Roll Innovation

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Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.

Plus” which includes systemic reforms was initiated in

2013. New employee categorization was introduced where
they were categorized not by the roles but by with/without
transfer requiring relocation (“Nationwide personnel” and
“Regional personnel”), followed by performance
assessment/objective management system, career
formation support, educational and training system, and
streamlining of operational works on site to be
implemented simultaneously.
As for employee categorization, the system was reformed
into the one where every employee could try out a new
work field and/or a new way of practicing work without
limitation by eliminating a segmentation of “Career-track”  Conduct evaluation based on the same
personnel management system regardless of
and “General-track”. And in addition, the company
sex, age, or nationality
standardized the criteria for performance assessment
between the nationwide and regional personnel, and
shifted to the system where the achievement and the level Employees with disabilities to broaden their
of contribution are evaluated without variance. Here, work field and develop themselves through
performance assessment is conducted on exactly the “Role Innovation”
same criteria regardless of sex, nationality or with/without The company’s “Role Innovation” initiated in 2011 also
disabilities. includes personnel with disabilities. The company has
As for personnel evaluation, training is given regularly been positive in employing and supporting persons with
every year. In the early stage, HR Division visited each disabilities since in 1980’s, and has initiated
offices nationwide to thoroughly explain what and how to company-wide support activity for personnel with
evaluate presenting manuals and examples, and now, the disabilities under the name of “Team WITH” in 2001 at the
training is given to line managers each year. Since a goal time of merger. At presently, about 300 persons with
setting is an essential process with the new system, line physical and partially mental disabilities are employed, and
managers need to identify what goals need to be set for they are allocated to different departments and engage in
his base, division, and team within the whole company. the same work just as other employees.
Therefore, for sales for example, the company presents Traditionally, persons with disabilities most often worked
managers the criteria that can be converted into quantity as fully in-house staff or engaged in work that does not
such as the number of contracts and newly developed have contact with the outside world. However, in the
dealers, and supervises them to set goals taking into stream of participative “Role Innovation,” there were quite
account their local conditions. For the company as a whole, a few employees who were inspired to take on a challenge.
HR division at head office had prepared examples of goals For example, sales clerical work personnel with hearing
and criteria on a position-by-position basis for a disability volunteered to be a training instructor of clerical
company-wide standardization of criteria, and because in work for part-time workers under supervision of the leader
actual practice, the evaluation would be conducted fairly with disability, and participated in a negotiation meeting
and impartially based on the goals set and the degree of with Sales division for the first time, with support on
its achievement in a practical point of view, it also helps to communication by writing, and deepened the
increase motivation of employees. understanding of comprehensive business operations and
As for a specific example of broadening the scope of work, directions.
an employee who had been engaged in desk works such In such way, everyone gradually started to commit in “Role
as accounting and expense settlement had become an Innovation” that had been implemented simultaneously
outside sale representative to take care of her own dealers across the company, regardless of with or without
and budget. And female regional personnel are providing disabilities, and the challenges they had taken on had
detailed assistance in settlement negotiations of bodily caused a significant change in the company as a whole.
injury liability which used to be a role of male personnel,
taking advantage of their effective communication skills. A
tense situation would fix with female personnel’s sincere
words like “Everything will be fine”, not by perfunctory
response from a manual, and in fact the positive feedback
on improved service is increasing.

 “Training with sign language

interpretation/summery support by writing”
for personnel with hearing disability

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 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.

the monthly average number of claims from 37 to 10 in

Outcomes of diversity Kansai area since 2013. Before the innovation, regional
employees would never be assigned to plan a project, but
management “Role Innovation” brought a situation where female
employees would make finding on her own, propose her
Business performance improved by streamlining idea, and stimulate the project team to activate.
operational works and higher service quality Similarly, foreign employees and employees with
The result of Roll Innovation targeting every employee disabilities, as well as female employees, are now
firstly fruited as improved efficiency of operational works. engaged in development of various tools and services
In addition to streamlining and systematizing some including smart phone applications such as “Suma-Ho” for
operational procedures, the services each employees offer drivers and “Anshin Cycle” for bicycle riders, and in
came to have higher added-value while they gradually development and operation of promotion tool to improve
expanded their roles, and the premium income per profitability.
personnel had increased by apx. 25% (22million yen) in In-house questionnaire shows that about 90% of
three years, achieving increased revenue for 55 employees answered “I feel actual change in my
consecutive months as of June 2014. Operating expense consciousness and work compared to 3 years ago”, and it
ratio has reduced by apx. 2% (26.3billion yen) in three verifies the fruition of “Role Innovation”.
years, also.

Built organization where every member is

capable of taking action for the goal at his own
initiative beyond his role
Breaking away from stereotypes, some female employees,
who used to engage in assigned desk work as a
General-track, have come to embody the ideas they came
up from their findings.
For example, a personnel in claims payment department
made thorough investigation on occurrence mechanism of
stone chipping, and created excellent DVD. To reasonably
refuse the false insurance claims on a radial crack
intentionally made and alleged as a result of stone
chipping, she collected huge amount of data from over 400
km of test drives and more than 200 re-occurrence tests to
create DVD using self-created computer graphics and with
her own narrations. The training using this DVD had  DVD on “stone chipping mechanism”
increased expertise and skills of personnel and dealers in
handling “stone chipping claims”, and helped to prevent
false claims in amount of over 30 million yen, and reduced

Best Practices Collection 2015 170

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company Finance and
insurance
Large enterprise

The company has shifted cultivation of the culture of

diversity promotion to its enhancement to speedily carry
forward the development and active utilization of female
employees.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Shift from cultivation to enhancement of the culture of diversity promotion

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Enhancement of career development/support system for females
 Drastic overhaul of clerical services; “Clerical Service Reformation”
 System to utilize “Customer’s Voice” to improve business operations

Outcomes of diversity management

 Contributed to expand the market through promotions, efficiently applying female employee’s
insights that come from their sense of involvement
 Build career of office personnel with time gained by “Clerical Service Reformation”
 Newly created functions for employees with working constraints
 Increase in improvement proposals/efforts based on “Customer’s Voice”

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1881 Capital 670 billion yen

Head office address 2-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Business outline Life insurance business
Sales 3,616.2 billion yen (As of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (As of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 38,784 (including 3,986 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
[Female] 32,841 (including 3,335 contractual employees); ratio of female managers: apx. 9%
attribute category
Average service years for
17.9 yrs (Male: 19.9 yrs, female: 15.9yrs)
regular employees

171 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Shift from cultivation to enhancement of the Enhancement of career development/support
culture of diversity promotion system for females
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company (hereinafter Although about 80% of employees were women, their
referred to as “the company”) was established in 2004, participation in business operation was limited. With most
when Japan’s first life insurance company, Meiji Life of female employees being sales persons and the ratio of
Insurance Company and Yasuda Life Insurance Company female managers only around 9%, the company lacked an
merged. The company has been working on “Mid-term adequate role model for women who were ambitious to
Management Plan” and “Meiji Yasuda NEXT Challenge become a manager. They were also uncertain how to work
Program” composed of “Kando Jitsugen (delivering for a female manager with few examples to follow. Women
heart-moving experience) Project” for three years since were assigned to less job positions compared to men,
2014. The program aims, based on a long-term leaving them greatly lacking in job experiences, an critical
perspective, to pass on/further develop their thorough disadvantage to be promoted. The company decided to
pursuit in customer satisfaction, move forward to be a “life give women opportunities to become leaders by providing
insurance company that creates heart-moving moments”, them training program to compensate the disadvantage.
and to challenge growth areas and move into a new stage. The company then implemented three measures to
Under Mid-term Management Plan, the company works on speedily carry forward the development and active
“Human Resources Innovation” as one of the policies for utilization of female employees.
advanced management bases that underpins “Branding The first one is the “Enhancement of career
Strategy” and “Growth Strategy”, and identifies development/support system for females” Prospective
“enhancement of diversity management” as one of its female managers are selected/registered as “future female
pillar. leaders” and being developed systematically. Each future
The first three years from 2010, the company made effort manager is provided with “Development Chart” in which
to improve awareness to diversity and establish foundation she is to write in her career visions, and to share with HR
to cultivate diversity promoting culture. Since non-payment division and their division manager. Qualifications required
of claims has become a social issue in 2005, the company and skills needed to be acquired for intended career are
concentrated on cultivating organizational culture to databased and managed. In the future, this “Development
uncompromisingly ensure compliance. It was in the Chart” will be provided to every employee across the
context that even internal system reformation will not company, and be databased for the purpose of talent
completely deter fraud, and cultivation of organizational management. Currently, about 500 are registered as the
culture is essential where employees faithfully perform “future female leader”, and target-job-specific trainings are
their work with sense of ethics. Since 2014, it aims to step conducted as well as short-term hands-on trainings open
into a new stage where human resource capability is to every employees. 350 ambitious young employees are
enhanced through diversity management. selected for “NEXT Leaders Club”, who would put herself
Particularly for women, three measures are implemented; up as a female leader in the future, and the company
“Enhancement of career development/support system for provides them with informations helpful for career-building
females (continuous development of future managers)” and consultation on career. In addition,for about 30
which ensures opportunities to make full use of their candidates of executive officers (e.g. department director,
abilities, and puts more weight on the improvement of branch manager, corporate division manager), mentoring
human resource capability rather than achieving the meeting was held in December 2014 to communicate with
targets for the appointment of women in managerial executives with such promotion in mind.
positions; “Revision of personnel affairs/treatment system The second measure is implementation of “Revision of
to promote active participation of women (enhanced personnel affairs/treatment system to promote active
promotion of females by broadening their scope of activity, participation of women”. This measure in specific,
and correction of treatment gap among job types)”; stremlines step-by-step by April 2017, the current job
“Expanding the field where women can take active rolls types(i.e. “Career-track”, “Specified career-track” with work
(newly establish/revision of corporate position). location specified, and “Associate track” where most of
The company has been working on “Human Resources personnels engage in customer service and
Innovation”, and now advanced forward towards enhanced comprehensive clerical works) into “Career-track
promotion of diversity on well-developed basis. (nationwide)” and “Career-track (regional)” where career
tracks are differentiated simply by with/without relocation
as a result of a transfer. This reformation will enable
employees on specified career-track and associate track,
where women account for the majority of members, to
participate in business more actively in broader job
position/type including executive officers, according to
their aptitudes and abilities. At the same time, the
treatment system will be reformed into the one driven by
“equal pay for equal work” policy by standardizing the

Best Practices Collection 2015 172

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company

treatment between the nationwide and regional questionnaires, the company has introduced “MoT
career-tracks based on employee’s role (job position/type), Proposal System”. It is a system where employees in sales
and that ensures high persuasiveness and transparency. branches, who serve the customers face-to-face, make
proposals, on behalf of customers, on matters they
became aware of from their routine work. The system is
positioned as one of the “MoT Campaigns” that helps
bringing “Kando Jitsugen Project” in “Meiji Yasuda NEXT
Challenge Program” to fruition. “MoT” is an abbreviation of
“Moment of Truth” and the campaign aims to create as
many “heart-moving moments” as possible, where
customers are convinced that the company was the best
choice.
“MoT Proposal System” allows employees to access from
in-house intranet and easily enter the proposal and its
background. The number of proposals made are scored
 Step-by step reformation of corporate positions
for each sales branch, and with awards system to further
encourage the campaign, they get large number of
proposals from branches. Because the majority of
Since April 2015 under the “Expanding the field where
employees who serve the customers are women, about
women can take active rolls” policy, as the third measure,
80% of proponents via the system are females.
corporate positions were newly established/revised where
women can fully utilize their career and experience, and
the transition of non-regular workers to regular
employment will be further promoted.
Outcomes of diversity
Through these measures, the company aims to increase management
the ratio of female managers from 8.6% as of April 2014 to
20% by April 2017 when the “NEXT Challenge Program” Contributed to expand the market through
ends, and to around 30% by 2020. promotions, efficiently applying female
In effort to support the measures, “Person in charge of
employee’s insights that come from their sense
promoting diversity” and “Diversity promotion leader
(female)” is allocated in each affiliation (head of involvement
office/branch/corporate division), and together with Person “Best Style”, a comprehensive erection insurance, sold
in charge of promoting HR innovation, these three parties 300,000 by November 2014 since its release in June in the
are to promote diversity. To facilitate self-sustaining same year, and has become a big hit.
promotion of diversity in respective functions and to The company’s insurance products target various ages
mutually deepen the understanding, “Diversity Forum” was regardless of gender, but in the past, their target was
held in September 2014. And “Diversity Handbook” is males who were the main income producer. With “Best
provided to every employee to deliver messages from Style”, they promoted female employee for development of
executives and introduce corporate system related to concept and implementation of promotions, in attempt to
work-life balance and role models within the company. include young women in the target, as they could examine
the matters in target’s viewpoint.
Drastic overhaul of clerical services; “Clerical The female employees planned and developed sales
materials including a supplementary material that shows
Service Reformation”
how to combine insurance according to life-styles such as
“Clerical Service Reformation” was initiated in 2011 as a “Single”, “Full-time housewife”, “Working mom”, and
five-year plan, and 2014 is the fourth year. The program “Women who have finished raising children”, and a
aims the office personnels to share the clerical work that pamphlet in collaboration with female fashion magazine
needs to be improved in their sales branches, and to offer “AneCan”, introducing the product along with fashions and
standardized service throughout the company. The office model interviews. They also developed “Healthy Women’s
personnels are composed of non-regular and associate Power Check List” as a promotion tool to motivate women
track employees, and all of them are females. They are the to think about their health and then about life insurance. In
front line of offering the clerical service on site in face to addition, seminars for women on diseases peculiar to
face with customers, and are the ones who actually knows women are held at 40 venues nationwide since September
what to be improved. “Leader for promotion of clerical 2014, and all lecturers are company’s female personnels.
service reformation” is appointed annually in each branch,
and they are invited in rotation to the head office to
Build career of office personnels with time
participate in two-day nationwide discussion, being held
four times a year. gained by “Clerical Service Reformation”
Regarding “Clerical Service Reformation”, a proposal
common across the company was a demand for
System to utilize “Customer’s Voice” to improve
“paperless” and “cashless” system. In September 2014,
business operations paperless system using tablets was introduced, and by
To make full use of customer’s feedback, in addition to November 2014, 80% of the target office work became
direct feedbacks acquired at front desk and by paperless. And while the number of premium receipt by

173 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company

cash was 82,000 as of April 2011, it reduced to 500 in Newly created functions for employees with
November 2014. The questionnaire shows that the working constraints
majority of office personnels actually realize the mitigation The company newly established “Corporate Marketing
of clerical burden in paperless/cashless system. Staff” in 2013, a function to enable working mothers with
Time generated by such streamlining is used to improve working constraints to continue to play their roles, so far as
skills and for career formation of office personnels. They circumstances permit, as a front line of corporate
clarify necessary education/training program for marketing, and expanded job categories for women.
personnels as well as how they should be after five years Firstly, they promoted female employee on regional
of employment and after their sixth year, and the career-tracks for corporate marketing targeting local
personnels would experience every clerical work in governments. Traditionally, males mostly engaged in such
rotation as OJT, have study meetings and self-studies and job and in-house female staff had supported them with
take monthly tests as Off-JT in aim to develop clerical works including subscription of insurance.
“multi-players” who have thorough familiarity with overall Because the customers working at the local government
clerical service practiced in sales branches. Becoming would seldom leave the region, it is important to maintain
aware of the quality of the work, the number of clerical long term relationship with the customer, and it make a
lapses had reduced as well as processing days. After their great deal of sense to promote employees who were
sixth year in the company, they are expected to be a regionally limited. Currently, male-female ratio at
clerical service manager or chief of general affairs. Corporate Marketing is 6:4, and the company is promoting
women at 8 locations in intention to revert the ratio by
2017.
The number of female employees who engage in
shortened working hours due to child caring but continue
to work as a sales staff is increasing across the company.
There are also many of those who have finished their
child-care leave and work, while child caring, as efficient
as employees without constraints, and they have become
a valuable role model for young female employees.

Increase in improvement proposals/efforts

based on “Customer’s Voice”
Proposal of improvement based on “Customer’s Voice”
including “MoT Proposal System” has counted as much as
4,875 in 2013, and about 20% of the proposals are getting
off the mark or being examined for improvement.
 Pamphlet of the product developed in collaboration with
female fashion magazine “AneCan”

Best Practices Collection 2015 174

Nippon Life Insurance Company Finance and
insurance
Large enterprise

Accelerating approaches to female employees’ positive

action through newly introducing a base management
position in limited areas and promoting a 100% childcare
leave acquisition rate among male employees
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Full-scale launch of the expansion of job categories for female employees as a pioneer of a
company in which female salespersons are playing an active part

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Companywide project by junior and female employees, “Future Creation Proposal Campaign”
 Business process improvement measures based on “customer feedback”
 Expansion of job areas of sales personnel through newly introducing the “base management
position”
 “Promotion of a 100% childcare leave acquisition rate among male employees” aiming to
change the awareness of male employees and managers

Outcomes of diversity management

 Success of “Child-raising Advice Hotline” originated with a female employee project team
 Effect produced by awareness-based business operation improvement measures
 Diversification of the management of Marketing Dept. through the appointment of base
managers who are not required to change their residence
 Improvement of business process efficiency and activation of workplace led by the childcare
leave acquisition among male employees

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1889 Capital 1,250,000 million yen

Head office address Imabashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 541-8501, Japan
Business outline Life insurance business
Sales 6,714,089 million yen (Term ended March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Nonconsolidated (as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 70,806 (including 9,135 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
62,226 female employees (including 8,466 non-regular employees), Ratio of female managers: 12.3%
attribute category
Average service years for
13.5 years (Male employees: 17.1 years, Female empolyees:9.8 years)
regular employees

175 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Nippon Life Insurance Company

“Organizations having many human resources with

Background and goals of diverse values and ideas enhance “capabilities to meet
changes” and “capabilities to create a new value”, and
diversity management lead that to increase the corporate potential abilities for
development and competitiveness, thus making it possible
Full-scale launch of the expansion of job to meet diversifying needs of customers”, to transmit the
categories for female employees as a pioneer of significance of the use of a variety of different human
a company in which female salespersons are resources in terms of management strategies to the
playing an active part employees.
Nippon Life Insurance Company (hereinafter referred to as
the “Company”) has set a goal of “really becoming the
greatest and best, and exceptionally reliable life insurance Specific measures taken for
company in the Three-year Management Plan known as promoting diversity management
the “Future Creation Project” embarked in fiscal 2012. The
Company positions the “greatest and best services”,
“greatest and best soundness”, and “greatest and best Companywide project by junior and female
human resources” as the pillars toward the achievement of employees, “Future Creation Proposal
the Plan, and states in the Plan that “a broad-minded Campaign”
corporate culture” that takes advantage of diverse In fiscal 2012, the Company started the “Future Creation
ingenuity” should be fostered” to develop “human Proposal Campaign” as part of the “Future Creation
resources.” Project.” This measure is intended to form internal
In the Company, women have been playing an active part cross-departmental project teams of approximately 10
in the marketing field shortly after World War II, and now members per team chosen mainly from younger and
make up approximately about 90% of the Company’s female employees wishing to participate in the teams and
workforce. The Company has a long history in the success to take from them innovative ideas that lead to the
of women in the workplace. However, most of them took a development of new products and solutions of internal
marketing position and the planning and development problems.
activities of the Headquarters were taken almost only by In fiscal 2012, 41 project teams were formed and 523
male employees. To change such a situation, in 2008, the employees (316 male and 207 female employees)
Company established “Kagayaki Promotion Office” having participated in the teams. In fiscal 2013, 58 project teams
a principal mission to promote women’s empowerment were formed and 689 employees (368 male and 321
and work-life balance to start taking measures on a full female employees) participated in the teams. In these two
scale. The Office took measures in phases, including the fiscal years, 50 or more proposals were realized and some
enhancement of the support system for balance of work projects are still being examined. The projects realized
and childcare, and the widespread of understanding of the include “Child-raising Advice Hotline” that is the ancillary
system (in fiscal 2008) and the expansion of job categories service of life insurance originated with a female employee
for female employees and the widespread of project team (to be hereinafter described) and education
understanding of work-life balance including women and on insurance at schools by instructors chosen through the
men (in fiscal 2009 to 2011). In fiscal 2012 to 2014, with opportunity announcement system.
the “Future Creation Project” as a trigger, the Company
positioned the “Women’s Empowerment Promotion” as a Business process improvement measures based
management strategy to accelerate taking measures. on “customer feedback”
In February 2013, the Company made a “Positive Action Approximately 10,000 out of approximately 70,000
Declaration” stating that the Company would implement employees of the Company work in the offices, and
the “expansion of job categories for women”, approximately 60% of these employees are female
“development of potential abilities of women”, “support for employees. The employees working in branch offices
women’s continuous employment”, and “improvement of throughout Japan of which female employees make up
workplace culture” as the Company’s ideal goal for the most are in a position to grasp “customer feedback”
women’s empowerment promotion. In February 2013, the through the contact persons of branch offices or marketing
Company signed the “Women’s Empowerment Principles employees. As measures intended to improve customer
(WEPs); international seven principles to promote services by extracting problems from “customer feedback”
women’s empowerment for business that was the result of and examining and taking countermeasures against them,
a collaboration the United Nations Global Compact (GC) the Company implements “improvement activities based
(framework for a voluntary initiative between the United on “customer feedback” and “awareness” in daily business
Nations and enterprises) and the United Nations operations. Branch offices report “day-to-day awareness”
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, current UN once every two months to Headquarters, and the
Women). In July 2014, the Company formulated and Headquarters examine countermeasures against the said
announced the “Action Plan for Appointment of Female awareness. Branch offices also examine and implement
Employees to Managerial Positions.” This Plan is posted “ingenuity” for themselves, and then report that effect to
on the Website of Keidanren (Japan Business Association). the Headquarters. The countermeasures with the
In the Handbook for Balance of Work and Childcare, ingenuity are put before the meeting of General Managers
President of the Company stated in the Preface, and the Committee consisting of cross-departmental

Best Practices Collection 2015 176

Nippon Life Insurance Company

members to achieve improvement in clerical service, thus The intention of having set this goal was to encourage
aiming to improve customer service. male employees to work more efficiently through their
participation in childrearing, deepen their understanding of
Expansion of job areas of sales personnel female employees’ ways of working, and cultivate culture
through newly introducing the “base that would promote women’s empowerment. The Basic
management position” Plan for Gender Equality set a KPI for the percentage of
male employees who took childcare leave to 13% in 2020.
Base managers assigned to take control of regional
However, the Company aimed to achieve “100%” of that
marketing departments throughout Japan were previously
as a transparently clear goal. The Company provided that
a post subject to transfer to anywhere in Japan, and
employees could take childcare leave during a period from
thereby most of the base managers were male employees.
the day following the day on which the child reaches the
Under these circumstances, the Company revised the
age of 1 year and 6 months after the child’s date of birth to
base management position system in 2010 to newly
the 31st day of March the child reaches for the first time.
establish the “position of base manager” that would not be
The Company decided to treat the first 7 days of childcare
required to change the residence. This system allowed
leave as paid holidays with the intention for encouraging
career development without changing residence and
all employees to take 1 week of childcare leave first.
enabled many female marketing employees in Marketing
The management continued to deliver messages to
Department to aim to be a base manager. As a result, the
promote the acquisition of childcare leave, Personnel
number of female base managers showed an increase
Department individually followed up target employees and
from 192 in 2010 to 280 in 2014.
the childcare leave acquisition plan formulated by their
Since fiscal 2013, the Company has planned to develop
manager, and Kagayaki Promotion Office posted stories of
candidates for female marketing managers from a
experience of employees who took childcare leave, “Start
medium-to-long term perspective and held “Kirameki
of the Child-raising Fathers”, on the internal portal. As the
Training School” at the Headquarters for female
result of these companywide approaches, all of 279 target
employees chosen by recommendation of the head of their
department. The “Kirameki Training School” runs male employees (male employees whose childcare leave
would expire on March 31, 2014) acquired their childcare
programs to motivate them to be appointed to a
leave accordingly in fiscal 2013. The Company achieved a
management position and foster their mind as the
100% acquisition rate (with the average number of days
management position as well as has directors provide
taken of 5.2 days).
encouragement for them.
In addition, for female base managers from marketing
position, the Headquarters host periodical training on
enhancement of their skills to deal with corporations and
Outcomes of diversity
handle personal computers for the further demonstration management
of their functionality.
Success of “Child-raising Advice Hotline”
originated with a female employee project team
In the “Future Creation Proposal Campaign”, a project
team formed only by female employees having a child or
children made a proposal of adding child-raising service to
insurance products. Female employees made an appeal
for a great need for around-the-clock child-raising advice
service particularly for families with a small child from their
own experience such that they wanted someone to whom
 Scenes of skill enhancement training of female base they could go for advice when their child got sick or child
managers fell sick at any time. In 2013, the Company released
educational endowment insurance with “Child-raising
“Promotion of a 100% childcare leave acquisition Advice Hotline” added and the sales numbers for the first
rate among male employees” aiming to change fiscal year after release exceeded 100,000. The
the awareness of male employees and managers child-raising advice service is Nissay’s unique service and
Kagayaki Promotion Office has come to know, through the serves as a factor to differentiate from competitors’
Mama & Papa Networking Event with a lunch break, that products.
male employees who have children want to participate in The project teams formed in the “Future Creation Proposal
childrearing even though they are busy, and thereby Campaign” finish their activities after a lapse of one year
prepared the “Handbook for Child-raising Fathers” to and dissolve themselves, but make a presentation on the
provide information for the said male employees. The contents of final proposal to directors and general
Company worked to promote the understanding of male managers. This provides valuable opportunities for
employees toward working women through the foregoing younger and female employees to be able to experience
approaches, but still had a low childcare leave acquisition the series of activities from planning through making a
rate among male employees compared with that in other proposal. The contents of proposals are posted on the
companies. Thereupon, the Company set a goal of “100% internal Intranet, to which all employees are able to gain
childcare leave acquisition rate among male employees.” access. Some of the proposals have been passed onto
and realized by other department. Cases where members

177 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Nippon Life Insurance Company

involved in the said proposals ask to be transferred to the Thanks to the effect of the foregoing measures, the results
relevant department have been shown. Furthermore, the of Customer Satisfaction Survey showed an increase in
Campaign serves as an opportunity to build internal the answers of “Satisfied” and “Moderately Satisfied” from
networks. 80.7% in fiscal 2010 to 88.3% in fiscal 2013.
The Company has a policy to continue this sort of proposal
campaign, make use of novel ideas created through the Diversification of the management of Marketing
campaign for product development and corporate Dept. through the appointment of base managers
management, and eventually show new career paths to who are not required to change their residence
employees.
Appointing employees from a marketing position not
required to change their residence to base managers
made it possible to conduct accurate and detailed
management, such as drawing on their rich experience in
the territory to positively share the features of customers in
the territory with their subordinates and drawing on their
own experience to provide support and guidance for
employees in a marketing position. A branch office has
approximately 14 marketing departments and the policy of
the branch office is determined through discussions by
base managers. Appointing female base managers
prepared the way for diversifying the management
perspectives and styles of base managers as well as
stimulating discussions. The ratio of female base
managers in fiscal 2013 reached 79.7%.
With regard to the status of base managers’ operating
performance in fiscal 2013, female base managers
achieved a higher goal attainment rate than that male base
managers achieved. This indicates that female base
managers are now the driving force behind the whole
company.

Improvement of business process efficiency and

activation of workplace led by the childcare
leave acquisition among male employees
The acquisition of childcare leave by male employees not
only grew their understanding of female employees who
had children, but also made them review and improve the
efficiency of their business operations, and further
facilitated their sharing business operations that they had
on their hands with employees around and assigning them
to subordinates.
 New Ancillary Service “Child-raising Advice Hotline” It produced significant effect that base managers who
were particularly busy and difficult to take a leave took a
batch of leaves. In order for a base manager to take
Effect produced by awareness-based business
childcare leave, a support system was arranged by all of
operation improvement measures the branch office by allocating members in rotation and
The Headquarters receive approximately 300 cases of sending alternative support members from branch office
“awareness” and 50 cases of “ingenuity” per time at and other marketing departments. Visits of other marketing
intervals of two months. This indicates that the measures departments’ base managers and deputy base managers
have been established as a system to continually improve with whom the relevant base manage did not come into
business operations. The Headquarters put the contact, and occasional visit of the general manager of
“awareness” and “ingenuity” before the meeting of General branch office led to the activation of the workplace and
Managers and the Committee consisting of provided a valuable opportunity for managers to
cross-departmental members on a quarterly basis, and experience the management of other marketing
achieved improvement in 75 cases of clerical operations departments.
and services in fiscal 2013.

Best Practices Collection 2015 178

Hulic Co. Ltd. Property and
leasing
SME

Having vision of “Transformation and Speed”,

management innovation is executed. With limited number
of employees but by having excellent human resources,
making into new businesses and growing by creating
high profits.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Transformation to “Aggressive management strategy” to survive in the next era.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Transformation of organizational system and securing of driving force of people by authority
transfer.
 Approach to recruit excellent personnel and the way of people development
 Better working environment and enhancement of benefit

Outcomes of diversity management

 Achieving increase in income, profit and dividend for 9 consecutive terms and gaining
excellent personnel.
 The company’s first hotel business; the opening of “THE GATE HOTEL KAMINALIMON by
HULIC”

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1957 Capital 22,290 million yen

Head office address 7-3, Nihonbashi Oodenmacho, Nihonbashi, Chuoku, Tokyo.
Business outline Owing, leasing and selling of property and mediation.
Sales 191,600 million yen (as of Dec 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (As of Dec 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 116
Number of employees by
31 women, women’s share of managerial jobs: 7%
attribute category
Average service years for
5.5 years (5.8 years for men, 5.0 years for women)
regular employees

179 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Hulic Co. Ltd.

Stock Exchange and their growth is continuing.

Background and goals of
diversity management Specific measures taken for
Transformation to “Aggressive management promoting diversity management
strategy” to survive in the next era.
Hulic Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) Transformation of organizational system and
has run the property business and insurance agent since securing of driving force of people by authority
its foundation in 1957. At the time of the current president transfer.
became the top of this company from a bank vice Since the current president has taken up office as the top,
president in 2006, many of the employees were from those “A President Questionaire” has been carried out regularly
from bank industry, therefore the center of their business twice a year. President himself draws up the requests or
was the bank related business, so to speak a “defensive opinions for the company directly from them and make
management” situation. improvements overall. In the questionnaires, naked
When the current president assumed his office, he opinions and requests were stated, they took actions to
proceeded the organizational transformation, aiming the respond each items arose from there with respect. They
progression of “speed-up and transformation”, stating the thought doing so would bring the establishment of
establishment of environment where women can continue relationship with trust between employees and the
working as the required condition for a corporation to management.
survive in a society of decreasing of productive-age At the same time, the flattening of the organization and
population, in addition to the increase of productivity giving the authority onto the site were preceded.
meaning the growth of profits per person. It was decided that the president approval was limited to
Since his taking office, he declared the listing of the Tokyo the items, which should be discussed at the board of
Stock Exchange(The first section of the market); together directors or management meetings, and managing
with its aim, drawing the growth scenario for the next directors in principle can handle other items. This made it
decade, creating goals respectively to fit such scenario, possible to make quick judgment of yes or no, the decision
executing the actions in order to achieve them. The first making speed were risen remarkably, resulting in the
goal was “Let’s become a standard company” and the next higher on-site efficiency on the site.
was “Let’s become a company which may be small but a At the time of decision making, instead of taking safe
distinctive one.” and the third one was “Let’s become a strategy to avoid risk, they rather take proactive business
company which all the employees can be proud of”. With development by accepting small “mistakes”, thus
these goals in hand, the transformation of employees’ cultivating culture with capacity of making challenges. For
consciousness was preceded. At the same time, instance, when considering the entry to a new business, in
prioritizing compliance, in order to conduct a balanced each section, employees with various career backgrounds
management, they started hiring the professionals such as such as lawyers or qualified accountans will make precise
qualified lawyers or licensed certified public accountants. risk analysis and make judgements, the management can
They have constructed a rock-solid system where these take agressive decision making. At the time of entry to the
special groups composed of professionals from various hotel industry for the first time, some saw it as risky
fields could tackle the management tasks. insisting to play safe, however, in the end the top
At the same time, for the further business development concluded to make a go, by judging the risk as acceptable
making use of the company’s strength, the president as one from the perspective of the overall sales or profits that
the management top, created vision for 10 years ahead; might create. As the result, they succeeded more than
based on the vision, abundant opportunities were given to they expected. (The details will stated later)
employees in a manner that they can actively work with In terms of flattering of the organization, the company had
free-thinking, that means that each employee can a “Japanese personnel management system” that was
proactively proceed their task by their own judgment. For fragmented into many layers of job classifications, with
example, under their current long-term plan “Hulic after 10 strong emphasis of seniority rule. This was considered to
years”, they have three pillars of strategies bring difficulty of collecting capable personnel, thus they
“Koreika”(Aging of population), “Kanko”(Tourism) and implemented qualification based class system; that was to
“Kankyo”(Environment); and it is called as “3 K” business make their evaluation and decide their salary by individual
strategy taking the initial of these pillars. As future growth capacity or skills. For employees with high motivation and
(demand increase) is expected in these three, they put performance, skipping of ranks have been made,
them as their strategic investment areas. They now have executing evaluation which real capacity is reflected on.
the attitude that they will challenge and take up bravely Also, employees in the retail department are managing
any business area even if they have not experienced several projects at the same time as the result of making
before, but if it will follow their business direction as stated cross-sectional grouping by each project. There, members
above. with diverse backgrounds and experiences can cooperate
Under such policy, the company’s organization was each other and make good results. The continual process
transformed to a flexible one with driving employees with of such has created a bigger business and expanding as
excellence and high motivation, that led the current system new business pillars. The organization is not layered or
of high revenues. In 2008, as the president had declared, strictly categorized, and this makes “innovational idea”
the company was listed to the first section of the Tokyo

Best Practices Collection 2015 180

Hulic Co. Ltd.

becoming a real business as they are not tied up by Such a work environment is given to the employees in this
standardized idea or formerly practiced business company.
instances. This organizational characteristic has also
contributied to the expansion to their new businesses. Better working environment and enhancement of
benefit
Approach to recruit excellent personnel and the In the aspect of benefit or providing working conditions
way of people development conducive to employees caring for children, they are
Amongst of the current 116 employees, about 80 of them improving by considering to reflect employees request to
came from other companies. By recruiting people with the systems. For instance, an expectant employee asked
variouls back grounds of experiecnes from diverse for the flextime in the previously stated president
indusries, some are from the same industry, property questionnaire, and as its response, the company improved
company, or some are from a design company or a the supporting system for employees with children. In
general construction company. With this clear motivation other occasion, there were voices that some wanted to
of hiring diverse personnel, various ideas are becoming a improve their English ability, and the company offered
real solid bisuenss, which may not have been realized by English speaking classes with the company’s expenses.
other companies. As to the health care, the company covers complete
Also, when they have started the recruit of new graduates medical checkups. Such items stated as above are not so
since 2008, they considered the need of having originality common in big companies, however, due to of this
as a company to attract exellent students, as the company company’s characteristic in terms of their size, such
was still unknown. At their recruting orientation, the environment with full of welfare support that answers
president himself participated the session. As of today, closely to the needs of employees is possible in this
their orientation begins with the president’s overview of the company.
company folowed by the young employees sessions; and In this company, they have created a team called “JOSEI
in the end they also offer Q & A sessions, where the KATSUYAKU SUISHIN PT”: meaning project of promotion
president will answer to their questions thoroughly. By of active working women. Lunch meetings are held and
direct talk by the top, they believe this will give the opportunities to make their voices heard are given. Some
students to deepen their understanding of the company’s requsts or opinions flung out from there have lead some
passion towards their businesses. This session is highly improvments of the systems. Some voices from female
regarded by students. At the Q& A session, students are employees with caring children created the child care
told that they do not need to inform of their names or support system; instead of using short-time working
universities, they are assured any question will have no system, to obtain expense support for baby sitters or
impact on their decision of selection. Accepting direct and extention of nursury care. Also, in fall of 2014, using one
honest opinions or questions of students has given good floor of the headquarter building, nurcery care center was
impressions to the students on the company; it has led opeoned. In this center, neighbours in the company can
acquisition of good personnel. also utilise it. As of November 2014, employee’s 2 children
Furthermore, the new employees are given goals, which is (the parent of one of them is male) and 8 children from the
to obtain two qualifications by the age of 30 as the neighbourhood have been cared there. The company has
stepping-stone for them to pursue their own nurished the supporting environment for women’s active
professionalism. If they are successfully qualified for the working career promotion.
items the company recommends (around 40 qualifications),
the company covers the expenses for the examination. For
instance, in case of becoming a first-class registered
architect, the fee of the preparation school for the exam is
around 700,000yen. The company offer financial loan with
no interest up till 1 million yen. The environment where
everyone including new employees can learn and
challenge to grow as professional proactively exists.
In addtion to that, the company polcy is to let even young
employees to take up an important assignment and it is
not a rare thing for new employees to give presentations in
front of the president. Therefore, within one or two years,
they sometimes get in charge of projects worth of a few
billion yen. The number of employees are about 116 and
this is not many, due to this, the company encourages new
employees to learn and grow on the job through the actual
work. The campany clearly states that in case of failure the  Appearance of the nurcery center inside office in the
mangement will take the responsibility. This makes young headquarters building
employees to bravely challeng their work without fears.

181 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Hulic Co. Ltd.

where comfortable space and services are offered to

Outcomes of diversity customers. Various original ideas were implemented into
the actual services and facilities. Taking amenities as its
management example, they collected female employee’s opinions and
selected items carefully and sensitively by taking up their
Achieving increase in income, profit and voices.
dividend for 9 consecutive terms and gaining At the same time the employee as the center member for
excellent personnel. the project for foundation of creating subsidiary for the
With the aim to become a “distinctive company”, they hotel management, she took charge of the main works
developed their business and they have kept strikingly regarding the hotel operation and personnel training for
high growth in the property industry. The company’s the staff. The role of the hotel staff was not fixed to one
consolidated ordinary profit has been increasing by more place such as a front desk or cooking place, they
than 20 percent on average in every term since its listing to implemented the mutitask operation, that means any staff
the Tokyo Stock Exchange. 34.4 billion yen in 2014, and can handle any work at the hotel from the check-in to the
this is coming close to the area of their goal of the current check-out. Now they have been improving the satisfaction
mid-term plan (38billion to 40billion yen). As the result, of customers.
operating profit per head in 2014 marked about 270million In three months after its opening of the hotel, the hotel
yen (non-consolidated), this indicates the top class gained one pavilion from Michelin Guide. They are also
productivity among all the listed companies. ranked as 25 as the best hotel in Japan. The evaluation
By keeping such performance, the company has the from users at home and abroad is high. Furthermore, in
culture of challenge to the new businesses; this has been the second year, it became profitable and in 2014, they are
attracting many good employees from other companies expanding its profit margin. The growth speed is much
and new graduates. In recent years, the number for entry higher than they expected.
applications from new graduates has been doubled and The female employee was promoted to the managerial
many young passionate students are gathering to the position in 2011, now she takes plural roles, one as a
sessions by being inspired by the company’s policy or part-time executive director of Hulic Hotel Management
working environment Ltd and the other as a councilor for tourism business
development which was established in February 2014 as
The company’s first hotel business; the opening one of main new business divisions, where she is in
of “THE GATE HOTEL KAMINALIMON by HULIC” charge of development of tourism business strategy.
On rebuilding of the fomer bank building in Kaminarimon, Expanding the successful hotel business stated as above
the company decided to challenge and take up their very horizontally, they aim to put tourism business on track,
first hotel business which is directly managed by them. which is one of their visions.
This was realised by a strong motivation and ideas of a
female employee who were hired from other company.
The company had making profits mainly by rebuilding the
office buildings; thus, it was a big decision for the company
to proceed hotel business which is called “mizumono”
water item; meaning changeable item depending on its
condition and times. The management judged that the
hotel business was the best option to make the most use
of its surrounding of the place, which was in the main
street of Kaminarimon. They made a go ahead for the
preparation.
In the company, they did not have the nowhow for the
develpment of the hotel business, thus, utilising knowledge
from outside specialists, the project member led by the
stated employee proceeded the preparation. With their  The company’s hotel; “THE GATE HOTEL KAMINARIMON
hotel concept of “Intimate Hotel”, namely a friendly hotel, BY HULIC” and the key player of its commercialization.
at the same time, cherishing appropriate proximity with
users; they try to realize such concept and create a hotel

Best Practices Collection 2015 182

First Collaboration Property and
leasing
SME

Based on the company policy of achieving employee’s

happiness and the business performance together,
employees are inspired and motivated, resulting in the
expansion of the business performance.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Management transformation from priority of business performance to the vision “Each
employee is the main key player” and the establishment of good working environment

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Recruiting personnel who can understand and have empathy with the company’s corporate
and management policy.
 Creating the discussion place where each employee can think voluntarily about their
contribution to the development of the company.
 “Working mum plan” created by suggestion of a potential problem by some employee.

Outcomes of diversity management

 Achieving remarkable success ratio of 98% by their service with high consideration towards
their customers.
 Expansion of business performance achieved by teamwork is contributing the reproduction of
working environment where individual can feel happiness.

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2002 Capital 10,000,000 yen

Head office address 8-17, Minamikawazoe, Kochi, Kochi.
Business outline Leasing real estate, real estate brokage and property mangement.
Sales 256,000,000 yen (As of Sep 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (As of Dec, 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 34 (12 contractors are included)
Number of employees by
19 women (8 contractors are included) women’s share of managerial jobs: 50%
attribute category
Average service years for
6.4 years (6.8 years for men, 6 years for women)
regular employees

183 Best Practices Collection 2015

 First Collaboration

At the actual process of recuruits, as they put importance

Background and goals of on personality and their values, they conduct 5 sessions
and one of this includes at least one week internship, and
diversity management this makes it possible for all employees to communicate
the candidate, so that they can make the right decision in
Management transformation from priority of their recruit.
business performance to the vision “Each
employee is the main key player” and the Creating a discussion place where each
establishment of good working environment employee can think voluntarily about their
First Collaboration Ltd, (here after referred to as “the contribution to the development of the company.
company”) was founded in 2002 by the current president For the framework for “Matching the company’s
succeeded his friend’s business as the franchised development and individual’s happiness”, they have a
company of Able of property business and mediation summer camp annually and this is attended by all the
mainly in Kochi. Currently they have 4 branches, doing employees. There, all the employees will share their
property leasing and management. The president, who personal future dreams in the followig year, 3 to 5 years
had been experienced in property business, established and 10 years respectively and also discuss how these
the culture of producing high profits by good sales dreams can get along with the company’s develpment and
capability, expanding the business performance. goals. They talk about their personal dreams such as
However, they had culture of competitive principles, that having their own homes or having family. This helps
was creating some cracks among employees, against its employees to deepen the mutual understanding, and thus
good business performance. That deteriorated the results in the avoidance of possible occurence of
company’s working environment, and this resulted in the miscommunication in their daily work
leaving of some employees. To tackle with such issue, This gives good opportunity of sharing individuals’s
new management principles were created by all the dreasm by all members at the same time. One time in the
employees as below; session, one employee presented a potential problem, that
“To match the development of the company with the was about how his/her team member who is coming back
happiness of each individual employee”, “Sharing from the maternity can keep working without feeling any
happiness with customers”. burden trying to make a good balance of child care and her
They created the corporate cuture to put importance on career. This became a stepping-stone and it led a reform
the communication and teamwork. By practiicing of policy of the working system including the readjustment of the
of having “No assingment of quota, no business order nor childcare system (This will be introduced later in this
no commision”, the company realised the management paper.) Every individual can embody the company’s policy
with flat and good communication, this has led acquiring of by having thourough discussion opportunity of the way
new employees and the holding of employees without how the development of the company and the individual
leave. happiness can be realised together.
Regarding the company’s business target, their individual
goals for the next one year is set by taking into account the
Specific measures taken for company’s target and his or her own personal goals for the
promoting diversity management future. Furthermore, the annual targets are reflected on
their short-term targets of every 3 months. For example,
the sales person in the branch sets concrete figurative
Recruiting personnel who can understand and
goal such as “the number of registration of management
have empathy with the company’s corporate and property” or “ratio of customer visit by good resonance”
management policy. and also the evaluation is done by its achievement.
However excellent at their job, if the employee disrespect The voluntary short-term targets are matched with the
teamwork, based on the company’s management policy, company’s target, they inevitablly live up to the company’s
he or she will be isolated. Thus, since they created the development. Each employee takes the charge of their
management policy in 2004, the first standard at the time own targets and shares their achievement with other
of recruit is weather the person can have empathy with employees and they are linked to the next action. By
such policy and can become a good team member. practicing such PDCA; plan-do-check-act, their
Presidient believes that “personality “ becomes a key achievement of their own goals contribute to “development
factor for doing business in the property business, as it of the company”. The voluntary movement of employees
offers service in a distinctive way, compared with tackling with their goals which was set by themselves is
manufacturing industry which deal with products. He thinks different in essence from the action occurred by the given
the employees should be able to work freely in a good and quota or work command. Even if the company no longer
open environment and work, learn and develop tobether. has the competitive principle, they have a system which
By doing so, their skills shall be brushed up and as the bring the performance improvement of better service. For
result of it, the good performance will come out. instance, branch heads are admitting each other as good
President’s such belief and attitude are naturally spreading rivals.
to the employees and imfluencing the orgnisation in a
good manner.
“Working mum plan” created by suggestion of a
potential problem by some employee.

Best Practices Collection 2015 184

First Collaboration

Around 2005, consecutively female employees left the

company at the time of their child births. And this became Outcomes of diversity
a driving force to create the working environment where
women can keep working by doing parental care. At the
management
time, a female branch head who was a leading employee
in the company was starting to feel anxious about her Achieving remarkable success ratio of 98% by
career in balancing with her marriage and child birth, her their service with high consideration towards
coworkers sensed it and presented “Working mum plan” in their customers.
the previously introduced summer camp. This opened up Their attitude of offering good service to every customer
the way to the creation of system where women can give instead of focusing on the figurative results such as sales
births and can return work without worry. or contract success ratio brought good effects; the
The system was implemented in 2006 and innovative average contract success ratio of the industry is around
items were realized. These are below: 50%, however, for instance, they marked success ratio of
“Individual freedom in chosing their working hours and 98% in the recent busiest timing in Nangoku branch:(100
days”, “Decision of allocation by their home, nursery or contracts of 100 visited customers ) (All 3 employees are
their parent’s homes”, “Installing a place for female including the head in the branch). Furthermore,
breast-feeding”, “Recommendation of naps”, “Exemption they raised the overall performance, which was led by
of overtime or meetings”, ”Free outing, Early leaving, female employees who have good communication skill
Allowed missed workday”, “Acceptance of baby sitting through visits to the contract property owners or to their
requests, Allowing work with kids in office”, “Information reporting. The number of managing properties has been
sharing during their maternity leave”. quintuple what they were 10 years ago. The consideration
This effort led no turnover due to the child bearing or towards customers are creating repeat customers and
parenteral care. Since 2006, there has been 7 childbirths cases of these customers introducing other potential
in total, and the women’s share of managerial jobs is 50% users.
(3 out 6), and the ratio of female branch head is 75% (3 out Also by delegating the responsibility of reforming the lease
of 4). The system is applied to male employees. For property to the female employees, dynamic design reforms
instance, 30 minutes outing for pick up their children from with full of creativity started to be born. The construction
nursery is allowed. Not only for employees who are in the sales was increased by 3million yen, compared to the
middle of parenting, consideration for all the employee’s result 3 years ago. The average entry ratio of property in
work and life balance is being paid. the company was raised from 88% to 96%. The increased
Also, “working mum plan” created unexpected outcome. yield of the management fee was 19 million yen.
Initially it was a strategy to offer easy and comfortable
return to the work place for the applicable female
employees, but this also had good impact on other
employees. Their junior fellows started to see their work
above their responsibility and grow through taking an
inventory of work or work sharing. They began considerig
what they should do if they want her to come back after
her childbirth, instead of having attitude of “I will be in
trouble without her”. Such movement has created good
opportunity for junior fellows to grow and contributed to the
better collaborative working environment.

 The presentation in the summer camp, which created the

“Working mum plan”
 Appealing their sales attitude of each employee taking
responsibility for their work (From their homepage.)

185 Best Practices Collection 2015

 First Collaboration

Expansion of business performance achieved by New graduates who feel the company’s such culture now
teamwork is contributing the reproduction of wish to join the company. In recent years, every year, they
working environment where individual can feel receive the number of entries which is several more times
happiness. of the actual take in numbers, thus resulting in the
acquiring the excellent personnel who sympathize the
As the result of creating working environment where all the
company’s corporate policy.
employees can keep working, the turnover ratio, which
was 30% in 2003, was decreased to around 5 to 10%. The
ratio in the last 3 years was zero, excluding the cases of
employees who left because of their family issues.
The management which esteem employees created the
affection toward the company in employees and reinforced
the fellowship. At the same time, the service offered by the
employees who have passion in executing their work,
achieved top ranks in the customer satisfaction survey by
Able Network. They have gained number one in the
branch category for the fourth consecutive year. In the
individual category, they have produced some top ranking
employees, including a female employee who won the
th
number one in Japan for the 7 time. This represents their
outcome in an objective manner.
The feedback system of hearing the joyful voices from
customers in the satisfaction survey is creating a positive  Secrets of smiles of employees and organisational power
cycle, which is bringing to the creation of high motivation with strong fellowship.
and happiness in employees.

Best Practices Collection 2015 186

Takushin Sangyo Company Property and
leasing
SME

Achievement of complete five-day workweek and zero

overtime and its transformation to become an attractive
company by unshakable decision by the top
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Transformation to a company with “ideal working environment” and reinforcement of
improvements in the company’s attractiveness driven by the failure of recruits of new
graduates.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Establishment of system: to achieve “complete five-day workweek, zero overtime and 100%
ratio of taking maternity leave and work sharing.
 Increasing awareness about active participation of employees and creation of management
plans by all employees that encourage the voluntary actions in the work force.
 “Committee activity” and “Award recognition activity” which are taken in parallel with the daily
work.
 Special project realizing cost reduction and contributing the increase of profitability

Outcomes of diversity management

 Company philosophy and management policy achieved by the participation of employees.

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1977 Capital 45,000,000 yen

Head office address 2-10-6, Sawara, Sawara, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Business outline Leasing of building material and equipment (Items in related to scaffold)
Sales 736,000,000yen (As of September 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (As of January 2015)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 75 (17 contractors are included)
Number of employees by
27 women (7 contractors are included), women’s share of managerial jobs:11.1%
attribute category
Average service years for
19.1 years (19.1 years for men, 18.9 years for women)
regular employees

187 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Takushin Sangyo Company

in ahead so that occurances of urgent delivery requests

Background and goals of could be avoided. There were cases to give up the deal
with some companies who asked for difficult requests.
diversity management However, gradually they increased the number of
customers who would be cooperative with such sales style
Transformation to a company with “ideal of the company.
working environment” and reinforcement of At the same time, they promoted improvement of working
improvements in the company’s attractiveness environment where female employees can keep working
driven by the failure of recruits of new graduates. longer. By strategically relocating female staff to different
Takushin Sangyo Company (hereinafter referred to as “the divisions in every 2 to 3 years, they accumulate the
company”) was founded in 1977, they deal with rental and experiences. Meanwhile, this strategy made it possible for
lease of building material and equipment. In the mid 80’s, other employees to handle the work when there are
they tried to recruit new graduates for the first time and maternity leave in their section. As the result, the ratio of
they attended the recruiting fair in Fukuoka city. However acquisition of maternity leave became 100%. In addition to
for the half day, no student visited their booth and it was this, “A guide book for child care and family care leave”
humiliating incident. This made them think if we are not has been issued and efforts have been made to spread
attractive for students as a company, we may not be the information of the system to employees. They intend to
attractive for our employees either”. This incident made run the system in a flexible manner, so that they can meet
the company to pursue the way to become an attractive the need of each individual. For instance, after they return
company for students. to office from maternity leave, they are eligible to decide
Until then, the company focused on the expansion of their their shortened working hours by 15 minutes.
business and did not pay much attention to the Especially, for the female employees who were in charge
management philosophy. However after that incident, they of the job requiring product knowledge or special skills
created the following company policies: “High satisfaction such as material management or sales, the company
of our customers, gratitude and contribution to the strategically transferred them to design section (the work
community, happiness of employees,” in order to become includes creating quotation of materials by drawing the
“the first rate small and medium sized company”. Also, in scaffolding), as they can utilize their previous career and
those times, their working rules were only limited to the experiences. By this transfer of the female staff who has
minimum necessary items. By exerting efforts to create specialism, the male employee who was in charge of the
ideal working environment, they came up with a policy of work was moved to Administrative section. By such shuffle
“complete five-day workweek system and using all of roles, the company tried to make each individual
paid-leave days.” capable with multi-tasks. With this reallocation of
In the industry, it is a common practice to deliver the personnel, they constructed system where all employees
material if it is requested by customers even if it is can support each other and can take other roles smoothly.
non-working hours or days. This was followed by the Currently the roles in the design section are taken by three
company too. Under such condition, practicing “complete female employees and some are in the middle of
five-day workweek system” meant to fail in responding to child-raising years.
the needs of customers or missing out of sales opportunity. Such efforts for improving the working environment
Naturally, some sales staff were against it, however the including such working hour system is leading to the
top followed his decision to put priority on employee’s higher satisfaction of the employees.
satisfaction over customer satisfaction; he changed the
sales strategy such as conducting distribution to the small Increasing awareness about active participation
deals, and by doing so, he pursued the way of of employees and creation of management plans
transformation of the company’s working style of as well as by all employees that encourage the voluntary
keeping its profitability. actions in the work force.
When they created the company policies, they had
difficulty in communicating them to employees in the
Specific measures taken for beginning, from these experiences, “The Management
promoting diversity management Plan Presentation Meeting” has been held from 25 years
ago, with participation by all employees including
Establishment of system: to achieve “complete contractors. This has given the opportunity for all
employees to deepen their understanding of the company
five-day workweek, zero overtime and 100% ratio
philosophy and management policies that can be their
of taking maternity leave and work sharing. good judgement tool in their daily work. Not only the
First of all, to show the will of the top management, the presentation of the management is given, there are
president talked about the new policy at their morning sessions where all the employees can discuss
meetings, until this became widespread in the company. management, adjustment of working environment or
Sometimes some personnel who had bad ratio of supporting systems.
consuming paid leave were named. The top management Not only the top management but all employees are
made efforts to create the atmosphere where employees involved in committee activity (the details shall be stated
can feel free to take holidays. Regarding the responding to later) and this is linked to the presentation meeting. In
customers, they were advised to make appropriate plans committees, they reflect on their activities and make the

Best Practices Collection 2015 188

Takushin Sangyo Company

next term plans. In the “presentation meeting” the task Their activities are contributing in promotion of awareness
forces or their activities are shared and all the employees of employees. In “Training committee,” they manage
can learn the on-going activities and evaluate them. Now planning of internal training. They offer workshop or
that, voluntary evaluation sessions are held by committee debate sessions and tacking with people development as
in every 3 months. As such, their PDCA well as offering the problem solution opportunities. The
(plan-do-check-act) cycle is working appropriately. differences of the sales person and the administrative
By having the cross sectional checking activities, the person previously stated were revealed through
differences in understanding among sections became discussions in the trainings offered by the committee and
clear and this gave a clue for problem solving. For by this actions were born for solving such issues.
instance, sales person and administrative person have In “Circle committee,” they plan and offer events or
different priority in their works, this often caused some recreational activities. These activities include a sport fair
misunderstanding or battles. To solve this issue, they which is held neighborhood sports facility, or rice making
started to report how they approach their section specific gathering in the year end. Such events where all
challenges to match with management policy to each other. employees can attend freely and casually, have promoted
“Sales section people are angered by our customers in the active communication across all the sections in the
such away?” or “Acceptance of urgent order forces the company.
administrative section such hard work processes?” This These activities are not interfered by the management, to
deepened the mutual understanding across the sections. cherish employee’s initiative, instead, regular activity
This not only brought smooth communication but also the report or evaluations are required. This has made
problems solving in their actual work. employees to take initiative in their work with higher sense
of responsibility, and this is bringing actual profits (this will
be stated later)
The company also offers “12 recognition award system,”
as one of their ways to establish stronger ties and relation
among employees. The themes of awards are for instance,
“greeting” or “efforts.” All the employees including
contractors vote the award winners; this has nurtured the
culture to recognize the employee’s individual towards
their daily works.

 Presentation meeting for the management plans

“Committee activity” and “Award recognition

activity” which are taken in parallel with the daily
work.
In the “management presentation meeting,” every
employee becomes the main key player and gives the
presentation about his/her committee activity.
The company set “Committees” as a place employees can
 The committee activity
voluntarily take actions. It was started more than 20 years
ago, as one of their ways to become an “attractive
company.” They considered that such a place would be Special project realizing cost reduction and
important, where employees could actively participate and contributing the increase of profitability
take actions, which have the similar feel of university’s The good example of the “actual profitability” previously
group activities, in order to make young employees stated, is reduction of cost. To realize the company’s
proactive to the work force. The company selected areas management policy, one of the most important elements is
which require the cross sectional cooperation, and raising the profitability. To do this, it needs the thorough
organized committees that take up these areas. The cost reduction. However, tightening of budgets only is
committees are run in parallel with their daily works. considered to be ineffective. By keeping the theme of
Currently, “PR committee,” “Training committee” and “reducing the waste” in their daily work or in their activity,
“Circle committee” are strikingly active. Some of the this makes the employees conscious of the reduction.
activities of “PR committee” are below: Female employees who are transferred to control
Issuing of the result report for cost reduction campaign, department such as general affairs section, they take roles
promotion of awareness of holiday system, which has such as negotiation of purchase, deduction of consumable
been implemented by the company, or execution of survey goods or business meal cost, or reducing power. Also,
of various themes such as sexual harassment or maternity regarding the previously mentioned committees, PR or
harassment. Training committees produce their materials by

189 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Takushin Sangyo Company

themselves. For instance, shooting or editing of moving

images or video making for safety trainings are made by Outcomes of diversity
employees across the divisions. By doing so, they have
achieved both cost deduction and employee’s
management
involvements to activities.
Company philosophy and management policy
achieved by the participation of employees.
The activity to improve working environment to become an
attractive company for employees has created a good
cycle. First of all the management policy was transformed
and the places for the penetration of their company
philosophy and the execution were created and this has
brought the cost reduction. By reforming the working
system; such as accomplishing complete five-day
workweek, or zero overtime, the employees started to
simplify their work and voluntarily tackled with improving
their business operation to complete their task with the
predetermined time and this has resulted in the
optimization of work and the reduction of overtime.
Furthermore, execution of cost reduction, work
improvement or optimization of work process by all
 The page of the company introduction created by employees, have brought good business results. The
employees. operating profit was increased by 30% compared to the
period of 17 years ago, when they just started the reform
of working style and working environment. In addition, the
company’s business has been kept in black since its
foundation 37 years ago.
On the other hand, starting with registration to “Fukuoka
prefecture’s; “Child care support” declaring company” as
the third company which started in 2003, they also won the
prefecture’s award as a company for ensuring gender
equality in 2004. This has made them to be known by the
public as a company with culture of pleasant working
environment, and this has increased the number of
applicants to the company. Every year they employ 2 or 3
new graduates, and now around 200 new graduates
attend the company’s entry orientation in their head office.
In recent years, they accept 3 or 4 new graduates every
year. Gaining such attention from new graduates as one of
their potential companies they wish to join has made
employees proud and given higher motivation to them.

Best Practices Collection 2015 190

 Hotel and

Resorttrust Inc. drinking and

eating services
Large enterprise

Realizing work efficiency and the improvement of

productivity with the employees with various disabilities.
Toward the improvement of service quality by the
fermentation of hospitality.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Tackling the employment of persons with disabilities in line with the management philosophy
which lays emphasis on hospitality

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Launching of “the Administrative Work Support Centers” and the establishment of detailed
support system
 Contrivance of employment to prevent mismatching
 Creation of work in charge by the employees with disabilities and work efficiency as the whole
company

Outcomes of diversity management

 Cost cutting and reduction of work hour
 Fermentation of hospitality and the realization of management philosophy

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1973 Capital 14,258 million yen

Head office address 2-18-31, Higashisakura, Naka-Ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Business outline Membership right sales, hotels and restaurants, golf business, medical business and other business
Sales 116,824 million yen (March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (as of the end of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 7,489 (2,892 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by [Persons with disabilities] 99 (84 non-regular employees).
attribute category Ratio of the employment of persons with disabilities: 2.28% (*)
Average service years for
6.8 years (Male: 8.8 years; Female: 4.8 years)
regular employees
(*) The number of person with disabilities and the ratio of the employment of persons with disabilities are
Remark
data of non-consolidated.

191 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Resorttrust Co., Ltd.

to data input and filing requested by the divisions of the

Background and goals of company (to be described later). The company thought to
have persons with disabilities bear administrative work in
diversity management the Centers, and arranged the environment to be able to
accept persons with mental disabilities and persons with
Tackling the employment of persons with intellectual abilities, first employing the holders of
disabilities in line with the management professional qualification (psychiatric social worker). Also,
philosophy which lays emphasis on hospitality the company urged its employees working at the Centers
Resorttrust Inc. which was founded in 1973 (hereinafter to acquire the qualification of No.2 job coach as one of the
referred to as “the company”) is deploying a membership professional qualifications of the employment of persons
resort club, golf business, hotels and restaurants as well with disabilities. Currently, 6 employees who experienced
as medical business. As the company’s facilities are administrative work for o 3 years or longer are the holders
scattered not in urban areas but in resort areas where of the qualification.
commutation is inconvenient and a lot of its business are Although the persons with disabilities to be allotted to the
interpersonal service work as the features of business, it Centers are employed basically as part-time employees, it
was once thought to be difficult to positively advance the is possible for them to promote to semi-regular employees
employment of persons with disabilities. In addition, as the and regular employees according to their abilities and the
number of employees abruptly increases by some work attitudes, and actually there are several employees
hundreds when a large-scale hotel is opened, the number with disabilities who became regular employees.
of persons with disabilities to be employed that was In the daily work, the company has been contriving
calculated from the statutory employment ratio tended to variously so that the persons with disabilities may work
continue to increase. Under the circumstance, years easily. Firstly, the company is allotting the dedicated
continued when the statutory employment ratio could not employees in Nagoya and Tokyo that are in charge of
be achieved and the company paid levies, but from the employees with disabilities and checking their health
idea to perform social responsibility as one of listed conditions carefully. Taking the contents of work requested
companies in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock by the divisions of the company and the health conditions
Exchange, the company started to review the full-blown of the persons with disabilities into account, these
advancement of the employment of persons with dedicated employees allot daily work to the person with
disabilities since around 2006. disabilities. In order that work is performed without
The company lists “excellent hospitality” in its problem when an employee suddenly becomes unable to
management philosophy and has been offering high attend the work, the company is contriving so that each
quality services to customers, but when viewed inside the employee can respond to various work by increasing the
company, there was a situation where the hospitality to live kinds of work little by little.
together with persons with disabilities could not be said to In addition, the company is adopting staggered working
have been fermented. Although employees with light hours, and paying attention so that employees with
disabilities were working in the head office, other disabilities can commute not at rush hours. Further, as to
employees did not well understand them, and in order to the employees with intellectual disabilities, dedicated
advance in earnest the employment of persons with employees are writing their situations at work places in
disabilities, the company was required to abruptly change daily reports every day and are sharing information with
the internal culture with the help of experts. their homes. In work rooms, sofa beds are equipped to
So as to realize the employment of persons with prepare for sickness, and when disorder occurs, an
disabilities in line with the management philosophy, the earmark card of “Under disorder” is raised and the sick
company has deployed the employment of persons with person can leave his/her desk. In this way, detailed
disabilities as a tackling by the whole of Resorttrust Group attentions are paid, adopting the opinions of experts. In the
at its Nagoya head office and Tokyo head office with the Centers, employees are aware each other about the
advices by the experts. mutual situations of disabilities, and a system is arranged
that when someone is not in good condition, others follow
him/her up.
Specific measures taken for Meantime, in arranging the responsive environment of
persons with mental disabilities, re-work (return to work)
promoting diversity management program for the employees who got mental disorder was
arranged. Thanks to the easiness of access to experts of
Launching of “the Administrative Work Support both inside and outside the company, it is listed as one of
Centers” and the establishment of detailed the effects that the company became an organization
support system gentle to all employees collaterally. Actually, the number of
The company established “the Administrative Work employees who returned to their work places by receiving
Support Centers” in 2007 where administrative work are re-work support counts 16 and a system is established that
concentrated and processed among the whole company employees can work again if they fell ill.
work in Nagoya and Tokyo. The Centers are playing the
role to be in charge of administrative work in the divisions
of the company, and their contents of work are various,
counting about 80 kinds from the enveloping of direct mails

Best Practices Collection 2015 192

Resorttrust Inc.

for work if there was administrative work among whole

work that could be handled by persons with disabilities.
When the persons in charge actually visited each division
of the company and consulted there about the work to be
done by persons with disabilities, various work came up
more than what was first expected. The amenity setting of
the hotels which had been conventionally done by all
employees of the company including part-timers, is one of
such work. By doing the work by the employees in the
Centers, the creation of the work to be borne by persons
with disabilities and work efficiency of division in charge
were realized at the same time.
As to the kinds of work, they enlarged little by little, but as
to daily volume of work, dedicated employees are
adjusting, considering the burden of persons with
disabilities. For example, if there was 100 of work volume
 Working at “the Administrative Work Support Center”
left to the persons with disabilities, all of 100 was not left to
them from first but 40 or 50 out of them was to be started.
In addition, work which requires a sudden response was
Contrivance of employment to prevent
avoided as far as possible. For example, as to the printing
mismatching of name cards of employees, the Centers respond to all of
As to the methods of employment of persons with it at the time of periodical movement of head offices, but
disabilities, currently, many of them are introductions by when voluminous printing is required in a short time,
employment support organizations and joint interview maximums of period and volume are set in advance and
meetings with other companies. As the company’s “the the printing is done together with normal sub-contracting,
Administrative Work Support Center” has a wide range of whereby, the equalization of work to be done by the
work contents as described above, employees are not Centers is aimed.
shuffled according to their abilities and skills. Rather than In addition, among the work at the Centers, what is
abilities, personality is focused, and the company is especially concerned is the management of personal
deciding the employment by laying emphasis on whether information. At the sales division of the company,
persons with disabilities to be employed will be able to be voluminous customers’ information is handled and
on good terms with existing employees. efficiency such as cost cutting and personnel cutting was
After interviews several times, before they enter the requested, the input to personal computers and the
company, a training for a certain period is being preparation for sending of direct mails had been executed
implemented. At this stage, the company looks through the by each person in charge of sales by himself/herself. This
adequacy of each employee, does feed- back in the end of work was proper to entrust to the Centers as it is simple
the training, whereby, contrives to get rid of mismatching. work, but as it included personal information of customers,
There are cases where there is a distance between what persons in charge of sales were reluctant at first to entrust
employees think to be able to do and what they can the work to persons with disabilities. Accordingly,
actually do, and this training is an opportunity for them to dedicated employees went in-between and set in detail as
recognize it. Further, when a person who roughly speaks to the delivery of data and deadline of input, whereby,
comes to the training, existing employees feel weaker and persons with disabilities performed the work for sure by a
forget themselves. On such an occasion, the company decided method. The Centers adopted this work and as a
politely explains at the time of final feed-back, saying “You result, overwork hour at the Sales Department was
have this character, so it is hard for you to work in a team” significantly reduced and work efficiency is being realized.
and decides the future of the person together with person
in charge of employment support. As it is fairly hard to
learn in the school “What will come when one enters the Outcomes of diversity
society”, this feed-back has been enjoying reputation from
the support organizations. management
Creation of work in charge by the employees Cost cutting and reduction of work hour
with disabilities and work efficiency as the whole Thanks to work inventory and entrusting of work at each
company division of the company, work hour at the divisions that
At first, it was thought that the work to be done by persons were very busy has been visually reduced. For example, at
with disabilities is only the preparation for sending direct a sales division, work hour was reduced by 20% by
mails, but as they offer administrative work of the whole entrusting the sending work of direct mails to “the
company after the launching of “the Administrative Work Administrative Work Support Center”. During the saved
Support Centers”, their scope of work enlarged little by work hour, employees at the division became to be able to
little. be dedicated to sales activities, which are largely
Initially after the launching of the Centers, persons in contributing to the elevation of productivity. Other results
charge directly visited each division and requested there are seen such as time efficiency is aimed by doing quickly

193 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Resorttrust Inc.

and exactly the setting of amenity offered at hotels by the In addition, the tackling of the employment of persons with
employees with disabilities. disabilities of the company was evaluated by
In this way, by doing work internally that had been administrative organs and so forth, and the company was
conventionally sub-contracted to outside the company, if awarded various prizes such as the most excellent prize of
calculated in money, such work led to a large amount of “Cases of Work Place Improvement for the Employment of
cost cutting worth about 80 million yen in 2013. Persons with Disabilities in 2013” by Japan Organization
for Employment of the Elder Persons with Disabilities and
Job Seekers. Further, the number of visiting inspections as
A. Transition of average work hour in the model case of the employment of persons with
April at the Sales Department
disabilities has been increasing, and these evaluations
from outside the company are elevating the motivation of
the employees and are leading to their pride to work for the
company. By working together with employees with
(hour)
disabilities at work places, hospitality became to be
naturally nourished, and internally in the company, steps
are taken toward the realization of “Excellent Hospitality
Group” aimed by the company.
2011 2012 2013 2014

 Reduction of work hour by order placement to “the

Administrative Work Support Center” where persons with
disabilities are working

Fermentation of hospitality and the realization of

management philosophy
Since the company started to tackle the employment of
persons with disabilities in earnest, the atmosphere of
work places has been changing. While working on the
same floor with persons with disabilities, understanding of
disabilities has been deepened gradually, partiality
disappeared, and currently a culture to recognize them as
members of the same company to each other and to
mutually thank has been fermented. Originally, numbers of
 Awarded the “Minister’s Prize of Health, Labour and
employees who enter the service industry are human Welfare, Ministry for the Cases of Work Place
resources who are full of volition to have other people be Improvement for the Employment of Persons with
pleased. Currently, we can say that the company became Disabilities”
an organization where such a background can be fully
revealed.

Best Practices Collection 2015 194

 Living-related and
personal services
JTB Corp. and amusement Large enterprise
services

Aims at making of “Diversity INDEX” to attract the all

companies of the Group and continuous offering of high
quality services by the improvement of the way of work at
sites.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Toward the promotion of diversity by the whole Group companies composed of 172
companies
 Aiming at the nourishing and settlement of “human resources” who are the key for the quality
of services

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Operation and setting of “Diversity INDEX” to all companies of the Group to be in line
 Tackling the improvement of quality of human resources and management including the
making and support of career plan
 “Review of Way of Work Project” in sales related divisions

Outcomes of diversity management

 Elevation of satisfaction and motivation of employees and the quality improvement of work by
the improvement of long hour work

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1963 Capital 2,304million yen

Head office address 2-3-11, Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo
Business outline Travel agent and related business
Sales 1,305,165 million yen (March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated(as of March 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 26,082 (6,121 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
[Female] 14,970 (5,467 non-regular employees), The ratio of female mangers: 35.6% (*)
attribute category
Average service years for
13 years (Male: 16.6 years; Female: 9.5 years)
regular employees
(*) The number of female employees and the ratio of female managers are the data from only domestic
Remark
companies.

195 Best Practices Collection 2015

 JTB Corp.

versatility of employees and aim to establish a vigorous

Background and goals of culture full of the opportunities for education and
challenges”. After then, in reviewing “The Vision for 2020”,
diversity management the company re-defined that “persons are property”,
thereby, it was recognized again that discussion is
Toward the promotion of diversity by the whole required including the nourishment of employees and their
Group companies composed of 172 companies career paths, and challenges that could not be covered up
JTB Corp. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) is a by conventional measures including the review of the
stock holding company which leads various group system of human nourishment were made clear again. In
companies composed mainly of travel business, solution 2013, stepping forward from the tackling focused on the
business, publication and advertisement. The company consciousness innovation covering the top management
made a company split-up in 2006 by regions and at “the Diversity Promotion Committee” as described
specialized areas, and currently, the number of the group above, responsible persons for diversity were appointed at
companies counts 172 in Japan and abroad. Viewing the the personnel department and the general affairs
travel business companies group only, it is separated to 24 department of each company, and holding promotion
companies composed of regional general type companies, meetings periodically by the whole Group companies, the
individual sales specialized companies and function company is sharing favorable cases and challenges as
specialized companies. Other than it, the Group covers well as the tackling policies, aiming at the independent
versatile business kinds such as preparing leaflets and advancement of each company.
sales promotion materials, planning and operating
meetings and exhibitions, workers’ dispatching and
information system. The company started to strengthen Specific measures taken for
diversity, particularly the promotion of positive activities of
female employees in 2006 and in the next year 2007, promoting diversity management
having the holding function, it established the Diversity
Promotion Room and started the tackling diversity, leading Operation and setting of “Diversity INDEX” to all
Group companies in Japan. Further, to advance the companies of the Group to be in line
tackling by top-down method, a committee organization As the framework to steadily promote the tacklings of
named “the Diversity Promotion Committee” headed by Group companies that differ in kinds of industry and
the president as the chief commissioner and top business, the company made “Diversity INDEX (use
management of the Group’s main companies as indicators of diversity)” aiming at the realization of PDCA
commissioners was launched, and the company has cycle for the promotion of diversity and has been
worked the top management of each company and made implementing it since 2013. By correlating part of results
consciousness innovation so that the companies within the with public announcement and evaluation of company, the
Group can be in line. arrangement of environment where each company
advances its tackling based on the mid and long-term
Aiming at the nourishing and settlement of viewpoints of the whole Group smoothly if personnel
“human resources” who are the key for the movement of the top persons of each company happens.
quality of services “Diversity INDEX” is composed of 3 parts of “I. Will and Act
As about 60% of the total employees of the Group are of Managers” common to the Group, “II Mid and
female employees and the business is mainly labor Long-Term Goals” for each company and “III. Positioning
intensive, it was just a challenge for the management to Indicators” which can be actively used as the reference
heighten the quality of “persons” and to have them be indicator. “I. Will and Act of Managers” aim at the
settled in the company and continue to positively act. realization of “the state where “will and act”” of managers
Namely, in order that employees themselves hold their are realized, and as the indicator for it, partial results of
know how and knowledge and they work for a long time, consciousness survey (hereinafter referred to as “the
utilizing them, their returning to work after birth delivery consciouness survey”)concerning the way of work
and child care or improving the culture of long hour work covering all employees that is implemented once a year by
and arranging the environment where they can continue to the whole Group (answers by the employees to the
work were urgent challenges for the company. Particularly questions of “Do you know the goals which the president is
among the generations who entered the company listing?” and “Is the president committed to it?”) are used.
immediately before or after the company split in 2006, As these questions are common to the Group companies,
there was a situation where a sense of limitation spread the results are put into figures and annonced at the table of
compared with other generations because their career the management meeting which directors attend. Also, as
visions that they had imaged originally became to high rank 20 companies, the partial results are
non-transparent by the effect of the company split or announced to all employees. Because top persons of each
because they could not realize by themselves the career company is compelled to automatically bear responsibility
path (for example, movement from sales with corporations for the results as their results are compared within the
to sales with individuals) that their superiors stepped. Group, such companies which have thought up to now that
Accordingly, in 2011, “The Basic Policy of the “It should be tackled by the Group companies that employ
Management of Human Resources” was renovated, and it lots of women” will positively start the promotion of tackling
was clearly written that “under the basic philosophy that not by others but by themselves.
the growth and vigor of employees support the growth of On the other hand, “II. Mid and Long-Term Goals” uniquely
the company and the development of the Group, sets the theme to be tackled by each company for 3 years
employees will aim at the elevation of their specialties and to come. For example, a system is taken to clearly write
the growth to autonomous and creative type employees the results each year, listing what can be quantified by
and the company will respect for the personality and each company individually such as the figure of junior

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JTB Corp.

employees concerning the “goal of work” put in the

consciousness survey of employees, the number of
overwork hours and the ratio of female managers. By
setting freedom degree that can be set in line with the
actual circumstance of a company, a framework for each
company to advance the tackling matching its industry and
business not for all companies of the Group uniformly is
established.
Meantime, in “III. Positioning Indicators”, indicators are
comprehensively presented from 3 aspects of “information
on human resources”(basic data such as number of
employees), “employees’ consciousness”(the results of
consciousness survey described above) and “the
implementation situation of measures” (implementation  Group work as part of “Review of Way of Work Project”
situation such as compatibility support system) and the (Solidarity by speaking actual will regardless of ages
part can be utilized as a reference when “II. Mid and and titles)
Long-Term Goals” are set and as the extraction of the
theme which cannot be achieved yet.
company split in 2006 felt difficulty in imaging their own
The consciousness survey as described above has been
careers and amidst this situation, work resignation
continuously done every year since 2010 (that of 2011 was
increased. The “career design seminar” was implemented
suspended as the effect of the earthquake was big). By
and an opportunity to share the goals of work in the future
this survey, challenges of companies shared vaguely up to
and direction aimed in the future. At the same time,
then became clearly presented as figures, and the top
fulfilling the public recruiting system of personnel and the
management and the middle management became to be
system of exchange of human resources, opportunities
able to have the challenges and solutions to be tackled in
were set by which the width of work experience can be
the future as common recognition. Based on the result of
broadened by not only staying in the business area of the
the survey, goals are set in the framework of “Diversity
company to which the employees belong but also
INDEX”, and a promotion system is realized in which each
positively raising hands in what they want to challenge in
company reflects from time to time its tackling in the
the future and in the fields where they want to positively
movement of the whole Group.
act. This tackling started in 2010, and a result is starting to
be shown that the part of the goal of work in the
Tackling the improvement of quality of human consciousness survey has been improved gradually.
resources and management including the
making and support of career plan “Review of Way of Work Project”in sales related
From the viewpoint of human nourishing, in addition to the divisions
enlightenment of consciousness specialized in the Among the employees who are engaged in the travel
promotion of diversity, the support of career nourishing for business, there is a big difference in their way of work
junior employees has started to be positively implemented. according to the divisions to which they belong. For
Firstly, as to the former, the training of consciousness example, the over-the-counter sales with individuals has
innovation is being implemented to all classes of each busy period and idle period though it has no holiday during
company. The staff of the Personnel Department of the a year and the system of shift work is arranged well there,
company visit each company, and set the lecture thereby, the actual sense of long hour work of employees
framework in the training for section chiefs and for the tended to be low. On the other hand, the employees in
candidates of the management, giving directly lectures to charge of sales with corporations are frequently in charge
them the significance of the promotion of diversity, of a series of various and versatile work from the work of
whereby, they are continuing the enlightenment making planning of travels, proposals and adjustment that are
thorough use of opportunities. As to the themes of the included in “the sales” with corporations they care up to
lectures, they set the significance of diversity and the the contracts and accompanying, thereby, they feel big
points to take note and contrive in the actual management, fulfilment but their burden is heavy, and their will to
and to the newly employed, they are trying to speak from continue in “the sales” tended to be low. Particularly,
the viewpoint of time control. Not only as a paper plan, but among female employees this tendency is remarkable,
by having consciousness in the routine work performance and as the age of an employee advances, his/her physical
even if little by little, the movement which leads to the problem reveales. Therefore, it was an urgent challenge to
promotion of diversity as a result is aimed. Further, the improve long hour work and to tackle for renovation to an
favorable cases of concrete tackling are commended by organization where volitious employees can continue to
the “Diversity Award” of the whole Group that is planned work for a long time.
and operated by the promotion bureau of the company, Accordingly, in the whole Group, “Review of Way of Work
and the cases are tried to be widely shared through Project” started in which 4 teams are tentatively selecteed
internal newsletters and training, which leads to the with the themes of the challenges of the improvement of
realization and the promotion of tackling in the whole long hour work and telework, and the tackling started to
company. reflect and improve the way of work collaborating with
On the other hand, as to the aspect of the nourishing of outside consultants. Out of these 4 teams, 2 teams were
career as the latter, it is being implemented from the selected from “JTB Corporate Sales Corp.” whose main
viewpoint of the improving skills of junior employees and business is the sales with corporations and started to
the promotion of settlement. As described above, tackle the improvement.
reflecting the situation where the employees who entered Although voices were heard that cutting overwork would
the company particularly immediately before or after the be difficult in the divisions of sales with corporations and

197 Best Practices Collection 2015

 JTB Corp.

employee in charge. By introducing a system that can compared with 2012, in 2013, annual actual work hour per
control work volume itself into a division by which two employee was reduced by 50 hours. In addition, though
employees in charge are assigned for a single matter and the number of employees who answered in the
a dedicated person (coordinator) who consolidates and is consciousness survey of employees that they “feel
in charge of “work which is hard for human resources fulfilment and want to continue the work” (“I think so much”
without sales experiences” such as contract work and plus “I thinks so a little”) increased slightly, and 1.4% for
making of itineraries, not only work efficiency advanced male employees and 2.6% for female employees were
but also the sense of burden of individual employees was improved.
alleviated. The company assigns an well experienced Further, as “the actual sense of the tackling” by each
employee who was in charge of sales up to now as the company (recogniton and actual feeling that the company
coordinator, sets an evaluation standard which is different is advancing the tackling) improved by 8.6 points
from that for the employees in charge of sales such as the compared with 2012, and as to the “situtaion of overwork
number of preparing written plans and the number of sales at work places” of sales related employees of each
support, thereby, creates an environment where sales company (subjective thinking on much or little of overwork
employees can concentrate to the responses to customers hour), improvements were seen by 5.8 points in the sales
and the proposals for planning making use of the division for corporations and by 8.1 points in education
know-how and the network held by the coordinator, which tavel division.
results in the change to the work with higher added value. Actually, in the divisions which steadily tackled the
In order to effectively make use of the time worked out in “Review of Way of Work Project”, compared with before
this way, contrivances to make the contents of work dense the start of the tackling, overtwork hour has been reduced
are done such as implementing various study meetings in every year by about 10%. Specially, in the division of
divisions, holding the events for the employees who educational travel as the sales with corporations as
voluntarily participate using no overwork day, thereby, described above, remarkable results are found such as the
aiming at the expansion of communication. reduction of overwork hour to 72.4% in the first half a year.
Thanks to the reduction of work hour, employees have
leeway and a movement to positively tackle the
Outcomes of diversity information gathering for better proposals is emerging and
a good circle of higher motivagtion has been happening.
management In order to positively deploy this favorable case to other
divisions, currently, the cross-sectional tackling in the
Elevation of satisfaction and motivation of whole business department mainly by the employees who
employees and the quality improvement of work tackled the project has been occurring. Also, this case is
by the improvement of long hour work positively reported in the internal letters and is made use
Based on the trial of the “Review of Way of Work Project”, of as the foothold for new tackling at the company’s bases
the whole company implemented the renovation of long nationwide.
hour work, and by various tacklings done by the Group as
a whole, or by individual business company and business
department, work hour per employee has been improved.
Further, as a result of the consciousness survey, the
number of employees who “feel fulfilment and want to
continue the work” has been increasing. For example,

 Group work as part of “Review of Way of Work Project”  Many employees go to new sight-seeing spots after 5
(Solidarity by speaking actual will regardless of ages o’clock in the evening (after work) also with the aim of
and titles) information gathering

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Rush International Co., Ltd. Compound
services
SME

Great expansion in promotional support consulting

business by flexible working system with detailed
training and job evaluation which are difficult in large
enterprise.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Create opportunities for “Utilizing the ability of the women for the society.”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Environment construction of telecommuting by development of network environment, etc.
 The realization of a flexible working system with mutual schedule sharing of employees
 The structure to clarify the employee’s individual target and feedback to evaluation standard

Outcomes of diversity management

 Expansion to call center business based on the flexible follow system
 Achieving big sales growth by sales promotion supporting business which announced a
“consumer point of view.”

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2002 Capital 72 million yen

Head office address EBS building 6F, 3-6-27, Marunouchi, Naka-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi
Business outline Sales promotion support consulting, Customer management, Data entry, Internet Homepage creation, etc.
Sales 72 million yen (as of April 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of Feb. 2015)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 10 persons (including 2 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by
[women] 7 persons (including 2 non-regular employees), women’s share of managerial jobs: 40%
attribute category
Average service years for
10.0 years (10 years for men, 10 years for women)
regular employees

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 Rush International Co., Ltd.

staffs return home due to family reasons, they can work or

Background and goals of check e-mails, etc. at home when they have time. Since
current duties of employees are mainly agent service on
diversity management the web, it does not cause any special difficulty to the
business if there is a high security network environment.
Create opportunities for “Utilizing the ability of When customer calls during office hours, a staff in the
the women for the society.” office answers the call and contacts the staff working at
Rush International Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the home, and the staff at home returns the call to the
company”) founded in 2002, is developing business customer, such process is done daily. In this way, while
around the women who wish to continue working while taking advantage of the characteristics of the business,
experiencing a variety of life events, since their there is a system that employees can complete the
management philosophy is listed as “Utilizing the ability of business in charge with responsibility.
the women for society”. Current president as well as the It should be noted that as for the attendance management,
founder is a woman. After working for a major automobile it has decided to apply the time required to work even in
manufacturer and giving birth twice, she launched the the case of home working. Since implementation of the
company as a sales promotion support consulting system, results of using a work-at-home, such as during
business when she was age 28. Every time she saw a the child’s illness, are over 100 cases in 12 years, and it is
woman retire from a large enterprise as she cannot work now utilized as a matter of course in-house.
flexibly despite her ability, she has been thinking that it is The company has invested considerably about safety of
possible to be active in business for longer if there are information management to support such work style, such
flexible working system and fair evaluation. as to acquire the privacy mark as security for quality
In addition, in the promotional support consulting which is assurance and to use of high-security server, etc.
the core of the company’s business, it is considered as Although it is a cost, it is considered as the necessary
essential for increasing sales and attraction of investment in order to have women with children work
product/service of the customer to appeal to women who without hesitation.
has purchasing decision. Therefore, mainly woman has In addition, as life balance support system other than
been employed since its establishment with the aim to work-at-home, there are programs such as shorter working
utilize the planning ability and creativity of the woman with hours during child is young, or taking early elementary
view closer to the consumer. school child to the office during summer vacation,
Currently, Seven out of ten employees are woman and the therefore, retirement as the reason of work life balance is
majority is a working mother. Age is wide range from 20s zero since the foundation. In addition, “Leave for school
to 50s, and they experienced/ will be experienced a variety events system” is introduced and it so that the day off can
of life events, such as having a baby or raising a child, be acquired without hesitation. With this program, the
therefore, they need flexibility in working schedules to number of employees who take 100% of the paid leave
balance work and life, and they, as a woman in different become more than twice compared to 7, 8 years ago, and
stage of life, help each other with feeling of mutual the overall usage rate of paid leave reaches 90% currently.
support.
It should be noted that any special skills are not required The realization of a flexible working system with
upon employment, however, many staffs make progress mutual schedule sharing of employees
utilizing the initiative and the activeness which they cannot Even the system such as telecommuting and short-time
demonstrate fully in large enterprises. With female work was well established, sometimes there is a conflict
employees having professional mind, the president is at between employees depending on its operation. For
the center, and they catch the needs of the customer example, not to clarify the reason of early leave or to
quickly and develop the business of the new field. burden the job alone, would collapse the mutual support
system.
Therefore, in the company, all staff including the president
Specific measures taken for shares the daily schedule as well as the progress of the
promoting diversity management business. E-mail correspondents with customers are
shared with all staff by using BCC mail so that business
Environment construction of telecommuting by progress, etc. can be checked by staffs that are not in
charge. A strict information sharing is established. In
development of network environment, etc.
addition, information sharing and task management are
The largest barrier for working mothers is time and place
possible on the web, and private schedule is also possible
restrictions of work. During infancy, sudden illness, etc.
to be shared.
are concerned of course, and it is not a few cases to be
Also, in everyday morning briefing, we confirm the work
forced to leave office for the interviews and PTA meetings
distribution each other, and if there is a case to leave office
after child’s enrollment in school.
by going out or leaving office early, the reason and
The most effective way in such a case is a mechanism of
destination is reported to other employees beforehand. For
telecommuting which enables business operations away
instance, when “There is meeting of PTA activity from
from office. The company introduced the network services
16:00 to 17:00 at child’s school,” it is possible for other
of VPN (Virtual Private Network) to the home of full-time
staffs to respond customer as “The staff in charge will
employees, and they are equipped with a mechanism that
contact you at 17:30.” if that “Responding by telephone or
can access on the company’s server from home, so that if

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Rush International Co., Ltd.

e-mail is possible after 17:30” is reported beforehand. As concentrating on workplace environment maintenance
Therefore, providing a mutual support system enables and corporate culture creation by various arrangements as
flexible waking system without causing the influence on described above, the situation becomes that the employee
customer. with work-life balance issue can concentrate on work in
peace. While understanding the capability and potential of
The structure to clarify the employee’s individual the employee, the company encourages them to challenge
target and feedback to evaluation standard a new duty thorough providing a chance gradually,
For fair evaluation of employee with various working style, therefore, as a result, it has led to the expansion of new
it is necessary that mutual understanding of expected role business areas. By carefully drawing needs of existing
and work contents which agreed between top customers, for example, data entry, call center, the
management and employee by talking to each other. deputizing the sales promotion office, and Web production,
The company states the code of conduct based on the it become possible to build relationships that leads to the
management philosophy, and in addition to the business next proposal.
plan and objectives of the period, “mission” of each The company made the business such as call center agent,
employees are also added to them and distributed as a which generally the company of our scale is thought to be
booklet. Firstly the “mission” is set by the levels of action difficult to acquire the order, by taking advantage of the
which the employee wants to become able to or aim to. company’s unique flexible job distribution system fully. We
Then it is modified if necessary after the comment by received multiple orders of unit price contract per one call
president regarding points which are missing to employee which expected to receive less than 10 call a day, rather
or which should be grown a little more. Points which than a call center agent where they receive 50 to 60 calls a
become issues on daily business are indicated precisely day. The company has achieved high level of telephone
and stated clearly such as, for example, “Carry out a correspondence by preparing manuals per company
reporting of the asked matters strictly” for an employee carefully so that multiple staff can be trained to act as the
who has difficulty of business completion reporting in an operator of each company. As a result, the company is
appropriate timing due to hesitation to the president, or possible to provide high quality service at low-cost in
“Make an appropriate decision depending on the situation comparison with the others, and it is tied to strengthen the
and finish one job by one step” for an employee who has competitiveness of the company.
difficulty in making decision in unexpected situation.
We all read out the “mission” together in a weekly morning Achieving big sales growth by sales promotion
gathering. With reading out the own “mission,” each staff supporting business which announced a
shall make one or more report that what kind of action was “consumer point of view.”
taken along with the “mission” in job of last week. By Also, since the female employees, who have a variety of
reading out self weakness and point of improvement to experience in a wide range of ages, are active in the
share with all employee, it becomes a habit that to act company it has also become the company’s strengths to
responsibly while always looking back on actions of own. make use of their points of view. Currently, the company
Also, when an action which is different from “mission” was provides “Promotional support consulting in the consumer
taken, it is possible to encourage the voluntary review at point of view”, which was named “ONNA-GOKORO
this morning gathering. By setting personal target along CHOSATAI (Female feeling research team)”, to customers
with the business target of the company and by looking it who develops goods and services targeting women, For
back regularly while doing daily business, the professional example, as a tie-up with a cosmetics company, it is tied to
mind of the each employee is trained little by little. the product development of the lineup that corresponds for
In addition, about the evaluation, President herself decides each age during the product development.
how much result was made along the above-mentioned Ideas and awareness to satisfy the “ONNA-GOKORO
“mission,” not by the working hours. Although individual (Female feeling)” such as point of view as a consumer,
result is not announced, all the achievements and the especially “As for cosmetics, not only the contents, but
financial information of the every term are open in the also the images and situations of use are important.”, is
company. Also, there is a limitation as “the overtime work useful for the customer of male staff only, therefore the
must be within five hours a month,” so that the productivity company has realized the provision of high value-added
is also a target for evaluation. Furthermore, in the case of service by offering tools and the know-how for sales
the short-time employee, the staff can negotiate with the promotion, not only a simple offer of idea.
president directly, such as “I accept the salary reduce When the tie-up case of to the cosmetics company posted
since I can work only this hour now, however I want to go to the company’s Web site, it is increased that the request
home by o’clock.” from companies who wish to use frank opinion of women
in product development, and sales of promotional support
services has increased three times. It was about 800
Outcomes of diversity million yen in 2008, and it has been extended to 25 million
management yen in 2013.
Since implementing a working style, work distribution, and
training to maximize the ability of employees who has
Expansion to call center business based on the limitation in working hours, etc., the company succeeded
flexible follow system in improving the profit margin (From 45% in 2008 to 2013
55%), without lowering the productivity, and the business

201 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Rush International Co., Ltd.

model which continue business in wide range by satisfying

customer needs with small number of best skilled
employees, has been established.

 Point of view as a consumer of female employees is

utilized in promotional support business

 The company’s web page “promotional support

consulting of female point of view”

Best Practices Collection 2015 202

Pasona Group Inc. Services Large enterprise

The company’s corporate philosophy is “creating

opportunities of being active” regardless of age, gender
and disability. To realize this, the company works on
various activities inside and outside the company and
develops new businesses.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Realization of the corporate philosophy “continuing to create opportunities of being active
regardless of age and gender”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 In order to seek for more flexible way of working, the company implements “work style reform”
for men.
 Carrier design support and fair evaluation by in-company counselor
 Support for developing management through talent management method
 Employment of persons with disabilities as “artist employee” taking advantage of their
originality

Outcomes of diversity management

 Development of new businesses by making use of the company’s knowhow obtained through
various activities

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1976 Capital 5,000 million yen

Head office address 2-6-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
HR solution/temporally staffing, consignment & contracting, manpower dispatching, support for reemployment,
Business outline
outsourcing, etc.
Sales 208,660 million yen (FY 2014 ended May)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Consolidated (as of May 2014) (*1)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 2,987 (including 466 contract workers)
Number of employees by [female] 1,781 (including 416 contract workers), ratio of female management: 46%
attribute category [persons with disabilities] 216 (including 165 contract workers), ratio of persons with disabilities: 2.23% (*2)
Average service years for
8.3 years (male: 8.5 years, female: 8.1 years)
regular employees
(*1) Calculation for Pasona Group Inc. and Pasona Inc.
Remark
(*2) Calculation of ratio of persons with disabilities includes its special subsidiary, Pasona Heartful Inc.

203 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Pasona Group Inc.

Background and goals of Specific measures taken for

diversity management promoting diversity management
Realization of the corporate philosophy, In order to seek for more flexible way of working,
“continuing to create opportunities of being the company implements “Working-style Reform”
active regardless of age and gender” for men.
Pasona Group Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the In order to further improve the support system of keeping
company”) started temporally staffing business in 1976. By balance of work and child-rearing which was introduced in
dispatching and placing housewives and middle-aged 1990s, the company introduced various new systems,
persons who had difficulties in finding a job, the company including “Hello Baby Leave” in 2006 (the scope of
has realized “job creation.” application was expanded in 2011 [described later] and
In order to develop an environment where women can there is subsidy for housekeeping service), “Pasona
continue to work, the company actively introduced and Family Nursery School” (in-company nursery school) in
implemented from early on the systems supporting for 2010, and enhancement of “Re-employment Program” in
keeping balance of work and child-rearing. For example, 2011 (described later). In order to make such systems
the company set up “Life support course” by which more accessible, the company annually measures the
employees work only in limited time, and “Area course” by utilization ratio and reviews the systems. It abolishes
which employees work only in a limited area, as its unused systems while continuingly making slight change
“Special working system” in 1997. to provisions “to be used.” By doing so, the systems are
In those days, the average age of the company’s fully worked out and become really fruitful for the
employees was around 27 years old, and the issue of employees.
“keeping balance of work and child-rearing” didn’t come up Since there is the concern that a feeling of unfairness
for discussion. In anticipation of several years ahead, the generates among employees who do not have a child only
company implemented the before-mentioned courses to by focusing on the welfare for child-rearing employees, the
establish the system allowing employees to choose the company offers the Cafeteria Plan (an welfare program
way of working every year. It also introduced that points are given to employees to freely choose from
re-employment system to provide employees with the variety of education training/services and other menus) to
carrier-building opportunity by enabling them to leave the obtain subsidy for housekeeping/child-rearing by using the
company for a certain period of time for the purpose of points. Thus, the company secures fairness among
child-rearing and then come back. There was a case employees.
where a board member of a subsidiary who were taking a In this way, the environment that female employees can
child-rearing leave participated in the board meeting by continue to work by utilizing various welfare systems is
telephone. Today, thanks to such system establishment established, but such systems are not enough to reduce
and flexible operation, the company’s return rate from the burden on female employees who want to keep
child-rearing leave becomes 100%. balance of work and child-rearing. In order to reform the
In addition, with the mission of creating new ways of way of working, do jobs more efficiently and promote
working and creating new jobs to solve issues in response male’s participation in child-rearing, the company focuses
to the needs of age in mind, the company established on raising awareness of male employees. The company
“Knowledge Bank Business” by gathering talented old- provides “Daddy & Mommy Seminar,” “Ikumen
and middle-aged people who have technology (Child-rearing man) Lecture” and other training
development-related carrier, to provide document programs/courses for men. The company also expanded
investigation service prior to patent application. Here, the the scope of the beforementioned “Hello Baby Leave” to
oldest worker is 78 years old and most workers are in their encourage men to take child-rearing leave. Thanks to such
60s. Thus, the company develops the business while efforts, the utilization rate of child-rearing leave by male
providing senior workers with new way of working utilizing employees rises to 24% in fiscal 2013. Furthermore, the
their previous career/knowhow. company started “Papa Project” in 2013 by which male

 Developing a new business where variety of human

recourses demonstrate their skills

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Pasona Group Inc.

employees having an elementary school or younger child certain mismatch in the course of business. At the same
can stagger their office hour (Although usual business time, it becomes possible to find and pick out an excellent
hour is 9:00-17:30, it can be changed to 8:00-16:30, employee with the challenging spirit. Accordingly, it is
10:00-18:30 and so on.) to spend more time in possible to realize appropriate assignment and fair
child-rearing. evaluation of human resources.
In addition, the company started “Iku-boss (child-rearing
boss) Project,” a system strongly committed by not only Support for developing management through
management in administration department but also talent management method
management in sales department to build a community of The company has achieved a certain results by assigning
male employees who have an elementary school or excellent employees to appropriate position regardless of
younger child to support male employees’ participation in age and gender. For the future, however, it is required to
child-rearing by promoting information exchange. In this speed up the business development by promptly finding
community, participants discuss how to improve efficiency and further educating capable employees.
of work to create more time for child-rearing and then carry Recently, as a part of such talent management method,
out the solution. Thus, through the proactive participation various measures are carried out. Firstly, the company set
of management in the project, the company can create a up the Human Incubation Institute (HII) where younger
movement involving male employees. The know-how employees can improve their ability enough to start a new
obtained through such a movement is developed as a business in order to be exceptionally promoted. With the
consulting menu for other companies, creating a virtuous global business development in mind, the company invites
cycle where a new business is born. excellent human resources from overseas subsidiaries
and provides training 4 times per year.
Carrier design support and fair evaluation by Also, the company introduced the board of young officers
in-company counselor called “Junior Board System” where mainly employees in
As there are many employees with the qualification of their mid-thirties discuss with and offer improvement
carrier counselor at the human resources department, proposal to top management. It carries out a monthly
employees can directly contact the department to discuss Shacho Juku (cram school provided by the president) to
their carrier design/life plan. There are three contact offer opportunities of experiencing the management way of
routes: by E-mail, by telephone and through “My Carrier thinking. Among those who experienced this system, the
Bank” system using their annual self-assessment company will select excellent human resources who are
statement. The counselors receive various consultations expected to join the management in the future and
about the way of working, including matters of their implement a special training. By positioning them as
families. “Sub-director” who is in pre-stage of director, the company
In the annual “My Career Bank” self-assessment provides a training to let them understand on-site issues
statement, employees can consult about their work, and current status from the viewpoint closer to on-site than
private matters and their career plan. The contents of directors, while letting them share management issues
self-assessment statements is managed/understood by with directors. Also, by implementing this training, the
the human resources department manages to develop company functions a recruiting system irrespective of
their abilities or assign them to appropriate position. gender.
Moreover, managers and higher rank personnel discuss
and list up the employees who should be followed up, Employment of persons with disabilities as
ones who should be pushed or ones to whom attention “artist employee” taking advantage of their
should be paid. To such employees, personnel with the originality
qualification of carrier counselor of the human resources The company employs persons with disabilities mainly for
department takes contact to advise them individually. its special subsidiary “Pasona Heartful Inc.” The Pasona
Because the human resources department directly Group set up the special subsidiary in 1989, but dismissed
responds instead of the employee’s boss, it is possible to it later to centralize the company’s employment work in the
find the best solution for both the employee and the human resources department for the purpose of
company. enhancing recruitment. Since the company found difficult
The human resources department precisely checks the for one department to control all the recruitment work of
evaluation results of employees received from each the group, however, it decided to set up the special
department, in accordance with the target management subsidiary again, resulting in the establishment of Pasona
system. The human resources department monitors the Heartful in 2003.
validity of the evaluation result, for example, “Didn’t Persons with disabilities are basically engaged in routine
evaluator’s preference affect the evaluation?” “Isn’t the clerical work as assistant for employees at planning
target too high?” or “Is this evaluation too easy?” to meet department and sales department. Also, they are engaged
the employees’ satisfaction toward the evaluation. This in printing work, sending/receiving of postal mail at mail
system can function because directors in charge, division room, health-keeping work, etc. Based on the concept
manager, etc. closely have an exchange with the human “talent has no disability,” “Art Village” was established in
resources department to share the employee’s business 1992 to expand the scope of job of persons with
contents, achievements, and results. Under such disabilities who have difficulties in becoming workforce by
circumstances, both the human resource department and using their “art.” In 2004, the company started employing
directors in charge will notice an employee who has a “artist employees” whose job is drawing picture. Currently,

205 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Pasona Group Inc.

17 “artist employees” are drawing picture under the Also, they are engaged in production of craftwork and
instructor’s guidance and their works are displayed here bread. Persons with severe disabilities are engaged in
and there in the company. In 2014, they started selling cultivation of chemical-free vegetables at farm, instead of
their work at exhibitions, which was well responded more clerical work. Thus, the company creates various “jobs.”
than expected and makes a profit. The achievements are developing into businesses, such
as “the commissioned business in the training farm for
persons with disabilities.”

 Employees working at Pasona Heartful Inc.

(From left, “art employee” of “Art Village,” “Art Village craft center” and farm work)

currently used by as many as 500 people. In 2013, the

Outcomes of diversity company opened “Women’s Career College,” the Japan’s
first women’s school for adult education to support rich
management career building for women based on the concept of
“managing sound life,” “cultivating mind,” “fostering
Development of new businesses by making use intelligence” and “refining beauty.” The number of students
of the company’s knowhow obtained through reached 17,000. Moreover, “Internship Project for
various activities Housewives “commissioned by the Small and Medium
As described above, various systems and measures Enterprise Agency in 2013 offers internship at small and
implemented by the company are successful, contributing medium enterprises for those who quitted job because of
to employee’s skill-up and continued working. As of May child-rearing, etc., and want to work again, in order to help
2014, the ratio of female employee to the whole employee filling in the blank of work experience and finding new job.
is approximately 58% and the ratio of female director to all So far, the project is used by 2,900 people in total.
the directors and female management to all the With regard to the employment of persons with disabilities,
management are 21% and 46%, respectively. Thus, there the company expands its consulting business by making
is an increase number of employees who advance their use of the knowhow obtained through their employment.
career by making use of their various experiences. By introducing actual examples of working
The company organized the knowhow obtained through experience-based program, the company achieved 500
the establishment/operation of such systems and provides participants in training and, supported 50 people in finding
them for other companies as a service, which gets on track job.
one after another. For example, the company started As such, the job opportunities and the knowhow of skill-up
“Home-working Support” in 2010 by which it supports by opportunity created in the company generates a virtuous
offering at-home job utilizing the-state-of-the-art IT cycle of being utilized as the company’s core knowhow,
environment for single-parents who have difficulties in resulting in business expansion.
getting job because they cannot go out. This service is

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Musashisakai Driving School Services SME

Deploying new services based on the positive proposals

of ideas from female employees who learned hospitality,
and achieved increase in income and profit.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 To break common sense rooted in the driving school industry, planning the change of
consciousness by the positive activities of female employees
 Improvement of treatment and the implementation of nourishing support for all employees as
regular employees etc.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Sharing and improvement of consciousness of purpose using morning gathering and
proposal cards
 Improvement of service quality by the non-limited investment to the nourishing of human
resources
 Offering chances regardless of work years and gender under the policy of “nourish those who
are positive”
 Realization of right persons in right positions by watching the abilities regardless of the
existence or non-existence of disabilities and ages

Outcomes of diversity management

 Expansion of the sales of high price products by the supply of ideas and services by the
employees who are “professionals of hospitality”
 Realization of the improvement of customers’ satisfaction and service quality by “service
business”

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1960 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address 2-6-43, Sakai, Musashino City, Tokyo
Driving teaching, lectures for aged people and lectures at the time of their acquisition of driver’s permit, teaching
Business outline
for paper driver
Sales 1,694 million yen (May 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of December 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 139 (16 non-regular employees)
[Female] 58 (7 non-regular employees), the ratio of female managers: 5.1%
Number of employees by [Person with disability] 1 (0 non-regular employee),
attribute category the ratio of the employment of persons with disabilities: 1.6%
[Seniors] 6 (6 non-regular employees)
Average service years for
8.2 years (Male: 10.3 years; Female: 6 years)
regular employees

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has been heightened and the service quality has been

Background and goals of improved.
diversity management
Specific measures taken for
To break common sense rooted in the driving
school industry, planning the change of promoting diversity management
consciousness by the positive activities of
female employees Sharing and improvement of consciousness of
Musashisakai Driving School (hereinafter referred to as purpose using morning gathering and proposal
“the company”) is deploying mainly a driving school near to cards
Musashisakai Station with 3 pillars of employees’ In order to make employees understand and fully know the
satisfaction, customers’ satisfaction and contribution to corporate philosophy and management policy and to
community under the management philosophy of “mutual heighten converging power by treating them as the
respect and mutual prosperity”. After the foundation in members who bear the management together,
1960, since the latter half of 1980s when the current communication among employees or between employees
chairperson was assigned as the president, the company and the management is indispensable. At the company,
has positively implemented the employment of women and from the time when current president was assigned,
the re-employment of aged people to respond to versatile morning gathering participated by all employees has been
needs of customers of a wide range. Particularly, as to the continuously implemented every day. At the gathering,
employment of women, as a result of the positive starting from greetings, other than the confirmation of
advancement prior to other companies of the industry, goals and exercise of vocal, employees admire what is
currently, 45% of employees are female employees in total, good to each other and announce daily realization, thereby,
which is a rarely high ratio of female employees in the the morning gathering is a place to aim at the
industry. communication and information sharing.
As the background of the above, there is a change of the Since years ago, the company has adopted the
environment of the decreasing birthrate and aging “innovation card” system from themselves as a system to
population and disinterest in cars by young people and the improve employees’ work. This system not only aimed to
withering of the whole industry became significant. The improve by writing ideas for work improvement and to
realization by the 3rd president of the company (currently submit the cards to the management, but also it was
chairperson), thinking “If this trend continues, there will be positioned as what urged the motivation to tackle
no industry of driving schools in 20 years later” was the employees’ proposals with responsibilities. Currently,
momentum of renovation. Aiming at the lifetime work place there are many employees who directly propose within
where employees who are now here can continue to work their divisions and to the management their daily ideas
until 70 years old, and urging the positive activities of without cards. It is the manifestation that a culture to aim to
female instructors as new people for it, the company set in solve together with surrounding employees has been
aiming at the renovation of consciousness of employees, fermented and the level of problem consciousness of each
regarding the school not as a “place of teaching” but as a employee has been heightened.
“place of making lifetime memories of customers” to offer
high quality services. Improvement of service quality by the
non-limited investment to the nourishing of
Improvement of treatment and the human resources
implementation of nourishing support for all In order that better quality customers’ services are offered,
employees as regular employees etc. the improvement of the skills of employees is
Once as a common sense of the industry, a method to end indispensable. From the thought of the management that
the teaching efficiently by part of regular employees and the skills of employees lead to added value of the
the majority of contract employees and to rotate the work company, the company is spending annually 30 million
was general. However, in converting the management to yen for the nourishing of human resources. By the
the focusing of customers service, in order to elevate introduction of manner training and the payment of the
employees’ responsibilities for work and their service spirit, allowance of qualification acquisition, 5 employees
the company realized that a treatment, doing the same acquired the qualification of “hospitality coordinator,” and
work but differing in wages, will be “easy for the mainly by them, seasonal events and various tackling at
management but not easy for employees,” thereby, such a the service bases open to areas are implemented, which
treatment will be a neck for the company itself in the future. bears part of the company’s “service business” (to be
Therefore, the company tried to make contract employees described later).
regular employees and in 2006 it made all employees at Further, the company is positively supporting employees’
that time regular employees. voluntary self-enlightenment and the improvement of their
Under the belief that “if the company protects its skills. For example, the company side is bearing the costs
employees, the employees will protect the company”, for studies in foreign countries and English conversation,
while offering the support for nourishing and chances to be which is implemented not from the aspect whether such
described later, the employees’ sense of responsibilities will directly lead to work or not but on the point to expand
the chances and possibilities of employees at last.

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Musashisakai Driving School

Once, by the idea of an employee who has an division, his potential ability was revealed and he positively
acquaintance of person with auditory disability, a circle of acted in more work places.
finger language was acting, and the fact that employees In addition, the company is not setting limitation by age. In
can use finger language became famous, and the 1989, a system where employees can continue to work
company succeeded in the support of license acquisition lifetime regardless of their ages was introduced and the
to persons with auditory disabilities for the first time in the company is positively implementing mid-career
country. By the prevailing of this verbal communication, employment. For the aged employees with mid-career
the number of introducers has been increasing. employment, the improvement of work place environment
toward the building of work places where employees can
Offering chances regardless of work years and work easily and the lectures at internal training are
gender under the policy of “nourish those who assigned to them, and currently, the company is
are positive” employing as regular employees those who excel in the
Amidst the organizational culture which positively supports driving school industry as advisers.
positive improvement of work and self-enlightenment as
described above, the company is aiming at a system to
urge challenges in the allotment and employment of
Outcomes of diversity
human resources. For example, as to cross-sectional work management
such as the revision of introductory pamphlets, such work
is made as a project and is recruiting project members Expansion of the sales of high price products by
from each division. Even for an employee who entered the the supply of ideas and services by the
company for the 1st year, an opportunity to raise his/her
hand and participate in the project is given, thereby, a
employees who are “professionals of
system that surrounding senior employees follow him/her hospitality”
up and support the challenges to new attempts is made up While the company’s basic plan for the acquisition of
naturally. On such an occasion, ideas and planning by driver’s permit is about 250,000 yen, its “IT-VIP Plan” with
employees are admitted by their senior employees and the various premiere such as prioritized booking and the
management even if such ideas and planning are minute, appointment of instructors sets the amount of 380,000 yen
and by such admission, the employees get the result of to 500,000 yen (changing according to age) as a product
their ideas and planning as well as pleasure by that such with higher price of 100,000 yen or more.
ideas and planning are embodied, thereby, the employees In 2013, female employees who acquired the qualification
hold sense of responsibility and arduous thoughts and of hospitality coordinator grasped the situation where this
work with high motivation. high price plan’s sales did not increase much as a
challenge, and proposed the re-building of the branding,
starting from the revision of the pamphlet of the
Realization of right persons in right positions by
introduction of teaching plan. As a result of many
watching the abilities regardless of the existence improvements and contrivances such as the review of the
or non-existence of disabilities and ages pamphlet’s design with high quality sense but with
Similarly, to the employees with disabilities and aged easiness to take up, the implementation of role play
employees, by giving them roles by which their abilities training to find the needs of customers, the improvement of
can be revealed to the maximum, watching their good the method of explanation and the preparing of
points and bad points, not only their work can be efficiently hand-written messages to existing customers so that the
advanced but also the reliance and respect among value of this plan can be easily transmitted, the ratio of
employees are occurring. contract outstandingly increased. Specially, the plan
Currently, the company employs persons with heavy enjoyed very good responses by the young people who
intellectual disabilities as regular employees and they are had anxiety in the acquisition of driver’s permit and their
working simple response to visitors as reception work. parent generation and senior people who thought to
Initially, from the care of them that response to visitors acquire the driver’s permit at their advanced age, and the
would be difficult for them as well as for surrounding satisfaction who used the plan largely improved. As a
employees, the company allotted them to back-yard work, result, the number of sales of “IT-VIP Plan” increased by
but problems such as they repeated mistakes though 131% compared with 3 years ago, and by the activities
many times they calculate, committed tardiness and whose momentum was the improvement of the plan, the
napped while working became conspicuous. Accordingly, total sales of the whole company significantly increased by
changing the idea, all employees discussed about the 111%. In terms of the number of students at driving
excellent field of such a person with disability and asked schools designated by Tokyo municipal government, the
him for the work which is suitable to him as his role. company is continuing to be the 2nd rank in Tokyo and in
Concretely, his first characteristic was familiar to persons 2014, the company achieved the largest profit in the past.
and he liked the exchange with people, and if so, a In addition, the company’s service using “niche” which is
conclusion was reached that the delivery of document in not directly related to teaching is much popular. In 2007,
reception work was proper to him, thereby, his position female employees of the company launched “Sakai
was changed. Not only his will of work was elevated by Paradise” by which students can receive the services of
being in charge of reception work, but also by detailed nail care and massage at 100 yen per one time. The
support and guidance by the employees in the same service delicately respond to the needs of young female

209 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Musashisakai Driving School

customers such as high school students and college Realization of the improvement of customers’
students who want to effectively use the waiting time of satisfaction and service quality by “service
teaching, and the service is directly connected to the business”
acquisition of new customers as the unique service of the The tackling of the manner training as described above
school, being the source to create a new profit. and the study meeting to learn the services of other
industries etc. succeeded and not only the sales but also
the customers’ satisfaction was improved. While the
nourishing of human resources is directly connected to the
improvement of work, it is contributing to the
improvements of customers’ satisfaction and good
corporate culture.
In addition, these tackling themselves are attracting
attentions from outside the industry. Regardless of the
kinds of business such as manufacturing business and
service business, the visitors who wish to learn the
services of the company counts 50 companies or more in
total, counting 100 persons or more, and the company’s
services are being taken up plenty times by various media.
The company’s versatile services beyond mere teaching
using various human resources are heightening not only
the satisfaction of customers but also that of the
 Nail Service at “Sakai Paradise”
employees and as a result, a good circle which leads to
the offering of better service is occurring.

 Seasonal layout in the driving school

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Sun Staff Inc. Services SME

Commercialization of improvement support service for

small and medium enterprises (SME) by focusing on
senior human resources who have rich knowhow, and
realization of profit expansion and inheritance of
manufacturing culture.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Development of improvement support service by utilizing senior human resources who have
rich experience of production management

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Provision of improvement support service by sales staff and instructor
 Securing and educating human resources who can provide “Sun Staff style” improvement
support service
 Flexible way of working to meet the requirement of senior human resources as much as
possible

Outcomes of diversity management

 Realization of service contents expansion by focusing on improvement support knowhow of
senior human resources
 Inheritance of manufacturing culture by utilizing senior human resources

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1990 Capital 20 million yen

Head office address Meitetsu Kariya Building 3rd floor, 1-95, Wakamatsu-cho, Kariya CIty, Aichi Prefecture
Business outline Integrated Professional Service
Sales 2,632 million yen (FY ended March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (As of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 107 (including 62 contract workers)
Number of employees by
[Elderly person] 32 (including 32 contract workers)
attribute category
Average service years for
6.8 years (male: 6 years, female: 7.5 years)
regular employees

211 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Sun Staff Inc.

Because the company received some applications soon

Background and goals of after the company started recruiting for the project
entrusted by Aichi Prefecture, the company believed that
diversity management there is a need for improvement at SME production site
within the prefecture, and increased customers while
Development of improvement support project by increasing mentors.
utilizing senior human resources who have rich As implementation of improvement assistance, basically
experience of production management the instructor in charge visits the company to assist twice a
Sun Staff Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) is month, and implement the meeting at the time of opening
a temporally staffing company established in 1990 for the and closing. Plan of the day is checked and relevant basic
purpose of utilizing retired employees of Toyota Industries training is conducted if necessary in a meeting at the time
Corporation. In addition to the integrated professional of opening, Items to be implemented until next session are
service including engineer dispatching, the company is confirmed in the meeting at closing, manager and person
expanding its business toward improvement support in charge are supposed to attend either or both meeting.
service for manufacturing, intellectual property (IP) Since most of our subjects are family owned company, we
services, and plantation & landscaping services. believe that communication with person in charge is
When the company was established, there were many important above all, therefore, we request the customer an
senior talented persons who reached retirement age but opportunity for it beforehand so that smooth support can
were still doing well and had will to work. Therefore, be established. Besides visiting twice a month, inquiry and
creating job where they can use their accumulated progress report regarding subjects presented at the visit
experiences and skills was needed. Moreover, there were are communicated by e-mail and by phone. Our attitude of
many women in the neighborhood who quitted job upon aggressive involvement is evaluated from the customer,
marriage or childbirth. In order to utilize manpower of such and it has led to the building of trust.
seniors and women, the company has dispatched human In addition, a sales staff in charge involves closely
resources to Toyota Industries Corp., its affiliates, and between the client company and the instructor from the
local companies/government. Because the competition stage of pre-contract. He listens to client’s needs and
among temporary staffing companies was fierce, however, match them with the strength of each instructor, and when
the problem was to differentiate from other companies and there is a misunderstanding between both parties, he
build the company’s own strength. Moreover, a new action plays a role that to carefully explain the meanings of the
was needed to regain Toyota’s brand image since the improvement activity to the management and person in
criticism against temporary staffing companies became charge from objective viewpoint. Thus by a careful support
stronger after Lehman shock. Under such circumstances, of sales staff in charge, the real situation of the
the company started providing improvement support improvement activity which used to be left to the instructor
service at SME’s manufacturing site by making use of only become mutual with sales staff. Based on those, the
accumulated rich experiences and skills of seniors who sales staff in charge organizes know-how and a skill of the
retired a major manufacturer, instead of limiting senior’s improvement support service and once again it is shared
workplace only to temporally easy work, and differentiated among every instructor. Through the sharing, an individual
from other similar companies by enhancing support for success experience becomes standardized as the
SME revitalization. company’s own service, and it enables the provision of
As a part of temporally staffing business, a senior talented high-quality services.
person having experience of on-site mentoring visited a
customer SME for consulting and carried out on-site Securing and educating human resources who
improvement through the discussion with a business can provide “Sun Staff style” improvement
owner. Such cases were accumulated though it is small in support service
number. Spurred by entrustment of the “production As improvement support which implemented by staffing
management supporting project for manufacturing SMEs” service of the company until 2009, dispatched personnel
initiated by Aichi Prefecture in 2010, the company started was giving so to speak a improve guidance in own way, on
full-scale improvement support at SME manufacturing site. the basis of their own experience. However, upon starting
Thus, the company has expanded its business while of new service of the company, existing method causes
educating mentors, by focusing on entrusted unequal service quality by the instructor or relationship
“manufacturing improvement support” project as one of its with client. when is going to expand as the company’s
core business. services, by trainers in this way, or by the relationship and
support destination, it would come out variations in the
quality of service. In addition, the majority of the instructor
Specific measures taken for is basically the former employee of Toyota Industries,
promoting diversity management however former employee of other company is also
employed, then, in many cases, the methods such as
Provision of improvement support service by production management are different from the instructor’s
background company.
sales staff and instructor
So, firstly, regarding training methods of senior human
To initiate “manufacturing improvement support” project,
resources for future instructor, we tried to standardize as
the company relied on several seniors who had
much as possible, and started the action that to align the
experiences in improvement support at SME factory.

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Sun Staff Inc.

service standards of our company and providing it to the Flexible way of working to meet the requirement
customer. For example, instructors basically visit SME of senior human resources as much as possible
client twice a month and present improvement support of As senior human resources can work continuously, the
field, once it is completed, a report shall be submitted individual’s lifestyle is taken into account as much as
within a day or two, and there is a system that the possible regarding the way of working. For example,
instruction contents and improvement situation can be hearing their request of working style in advance such as,
shared by the other staff. In addition, progress report, etc. “Full-time employment with 16 days or more per month,”
are discussed in the monthly meeting of all instructors. If “Full-time with three days a week,” and “5 hours a day,”
there is a problem, sales staff in charge starts a follow-up and while taking industry sector and location of companies
and coordinate with client’s needs again as well as the who wish the improvement support into account, the
system is able to improve instruction method of the number of company to be in charge is adjusted. Some
instructor. (To be described later) instructors are busy with visiting the four to five companies
Careful attention is paid to the case such as the senior in charge.
human resource as an instructor has too much confidence In the current situation, most of the clients are in Aichi
in his experience and skills. Customers we approach are Prefecture, however, as described above, there are some
holding some kind of concern toward the improvement requests from the companies in Kanto and Kyushu, for
method in the past or progress of activity and often example, there is a contract in the schedule of “three days
unconvinced with “Basic of improvement.” Many of them and two nights, once a week.”
start thoroughly from the basic construction level of “3S”
(“sort,” “set in order,” and “shine”) which is previous stage
of the “5S”. Without consideration of that situation, if an Outcomes of diversity
experienced instructor gives guidance in the tone of “You
cannot do even such an easy thing,” there is a possibility management
that the communication with the customer would be no
longer maintained. Realization of service contents expansion by
The instructor is required to have know-how of focusing on improvement support knowhow of
improvement and skills that to understand the client’s senior human resources
needs, to share the goal, and to indicate calmly the After we started the efforts of improvement support service
appropriate road map towards that goal. In that sense, not as an “improvement support service for manufacturing”
everyone who has experience in production management business, a large ripple effect has occurred not only on this
can become an instructor, and the company secured the business, but also on existing businesses.
instructor who can provide high-quality instruction by Firstly, as for the “improvement support service for
advance checking of suitability which the candidate can manufacturing” business, the sales are significantly
share the same viewpoint as SME and explain upon increased from 600 million yen in 2009, to 1,700 million
supporting them. yen in 2012 after the commercialization, and to 2,300
In this way, the quality and quantity of instructors have million yen in 2013. In 2014, the company made
been gradually improved, and today, there are 16 consignment contract of Aichi Prefecture improvement
instructors between age of 53 and 70, whose average age support service business and Kariya-city improvement
is 65.7, and they are providing improvement support support service business, then the company has grown to
service to SMEs in Kanto and Kyushu area as well as Aichi estimate 56 million yen, which is more than double to the
prefecture. In addition, the category of client industry is previous year. Although the efforts are made while
expanding to various industries such as textile, food, and receiving consignment of the government business, there
aviation as well as transport machinery-related industry. are many inquiries from SME who obtained the results of
the company’s improvement support service. In addition,
in response to the expansion of the industries and regions
of customer in this business, the range of our customers
has greatly expanded.
Furthermore, triggered by improvement support service,
there are many examples leading to an order of our
temporary staffing and professional dispatch service.
Especially, since the sales staff give improvement support
service to the customer and they are able to understand
client’s business challenges, the company become able to
dispatch useful personnel by matching to customer’s
actual state and situation, rather than “Just sending a staff”
As a result, satisfaction and business achievements of
customer has been improved greatly. Thus, it has been
built that the mechanism to put the customer’s business on
the right track by using improvement support service and
staff dispatching as two wheels to be well balanced.
 How the instructor performs the guidance for In addition, while providing improvement support services,
improvement in the field the company become able to aggregate know-how and the

213 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Sun Staff Inc.

skills that existed only in individual staff, and by development of human resources that can make
summarizing these, the company has also begun to improvement while in close contact with the field of SME
deploy as an educational service. For example, the businesses.
company utilizes educational contents such as “basic Such efforts of the company are evaluated also outside the
knowledge of the manufacturing,” “Toyota style company, and the numbers of media exposure such as
manufacturing,” and “improvement,” and expands the newspaper, are more than 50 times. In addition, combined
curriculum specialized in manufacturing. Using this, it is with the actual results of consignment business from local
started that contract service to provide education for new government, awareness and image of the company’s
employee in the related companies of Toyota Industries business are improved, also inquiries from customers are
Corp. and customers who took our improvement support increased significantly.
service. In case of SME, only small number of person can
be employed and it is often difficult to prepare the
educational program of own company for those few
employees. By gathering several SME with such problem,
the company fixes the environment where SME can
employ new staff with confidence by providing an
opportunity to teach basics and essence of the
manufacturing.

Inheritance of manufacturing culture by utilizing

senior human resources
“Improvement support service for manufacturing” business,
also contributes to the promotion and inheritance of
manufacturing culture of SME in the area. “Improvement”
were often penetrated only to large enterprise or primary
and secondary subcontractors, however, there is room for
improvement activities to the SME of the region which
become the foundation of manufacturing in Japan, and  Improvement instruction from factory worker’s point of
managers of the company are strongly conscious that view
those SME is the one who has the hidden technology to
support the future of the industry. Therefore, we focus on

Best Practices Collection 2015 214

BIKOH CORPORATION Services SME

Sharpening the “Ability of employment” by employing

person with intellectual disabilities and homeless, and
developed from the cleaning industry to the park
management business.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Implementing the employment of person with disabilities in the corporate philosophy and to
promote with assistance of specialized agencies

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Organization construction and field support to avoid the burden kept in the field
 “Utilization” of person with disabilities by the business subdivision and work distribution with
personal aptitude
 Starting homeless employment based on support system developed by the employment of
person with disabilities

Outcomes of diversity management

 Expanding business to a designated administrator of the city park from the building
maintenance
 Contributing workplace communication and self-esteem improvement of employees

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1980 Capital 10 million yen

Head office address 2-7-23 Kujo-minami, Nishi-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Business outline Maintenance of public facilities and operational management of the city park
Sales 492 million yen (as of March 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non consolidated (as of July 2014)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 149 persons (including 47 non-regular employees)
Number of employees by [Persons with disabilities] 27 persons (including 1 non-regular employee),
attribute category Employment rate of persons with disability 28.05%
Average service years for
4.0 years (4 years for both male and female)
regular employees

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 BIKOH CORPORATION

implemented upon the unification of the chain of command

Background and goals of for the person with disabilities. In addition, it was decided
to provide many opportunities for communication between
diversity management headquarters and field personnel such as to conduct case
conferences regularly in order to avoid the case that
Implementing the employment of person with full-time support person is saddled with the worries and
disabilities in the corporate philosophy and to challenges in the field.
promote with assistance of specialized agencies Furthermore, it has established that a system to solve the
BIKOH CORPORATION (hereinafter referred to as “the problems by company-wide by providing a contact to
company”) was founded as the building maintenance full-time support person can be consulted at any time in
company in 1980. Undertaking park cleaning, etc., through the headquarters, and requesting on-site assistance to
the encounter with “Osaka intellectual disability temporary job coach from El Challenge or others.
employment promotion building services business In addition, in order to maintain the openness of the
cooperative” (commonly known as El Challenge), the company, meetings including the third party are held
company began to actively implemented the employment periodically. In case that an idea to benefit the person with
of people with disabilities. El Challenge is a union disabilities actually becomes a burden, it is difficult to
established as a part of the “welfare initiative of the object internally, however it is easy to comment the
government” (this means as follows : “Efforts to support objections and alternatives for the outside experts. Taking
the self-reliance” as creating employment opportunities for such process, employment has been promoted while
people with disabilities, single mothers, and seniors exploring the way of support that would lead to true ability
through ingenuity and improvement of policies on the development, not to press the convenience of the
basis of cooperation in fields of housing, education, and employer.
labor, while reviewing all areas of prefecture government
from the welfare point of view) in Osaka Prefecture from “Utilization” of person with disabilities by the
1999. Vocational training and employment support for business subdivision and work distribution with
severe intellectual disabilities has provided by them, and personal aptitude
the company began involved as an accepting side in 2003. It is difficult for person with disabilities to be a “force” in
Acceptance of person with intellectual disabilities had reality by doing exactly the same content and procedures
started by the company as it is secured that sufficient as other employees. However, by determining the
support is provided by El challenge since they understand characteristics of person with disabilities, it is possible to
the characteristics of each and every person with process the amount of work that corresponds to the “one
disabilities and multiple support group of disabilities are person”. In this way of thinking, the company has been
the constituent members. training a person with disabilities as an important force by
There were some difficulties in the beginning, for example, allocating the work of “one person” to each employee
a staff put too match force in sweeping the fallen leaves regardless of the disabilities.
and scratched the soil during the park cleaning, however, For example, as for the toilet cleaning of buildings, the
as contacting with person with disabilities who work hard, process can be subdivided into more than 10 complicated
the company recognized the necessity of the employment steps such as cleaning of the toilet bowl, replenishment of
of person with disabilities which shall be tackled seriously. toilet paper, and wiping a faucet, etc. Normally, the area of
Therefore, trying to position the employment of a person assignment is allocated on the assumption of all this 10
with a disability as part of the corporate management processes done by one person, however if there is a
rather than CSR, the company set a “society that values person with disabilities who is good at only three of the
the ties with the people and the environment” as a processes, he is assigned as in charge of the three
management policy, and implemented a variety of processes and works while changing the location. In this
organization improvement. way, it is possible to delegate the work to person with
disabilities while preserving total number of staff at work by
subdividing the work and careful combination of the strong
Specific measures taken for and weak points
promoting diversity management Work distribution that meet the individual characteristics
such as described above, is basically discussed in the
case conference to be carried out once a month, however
Organization construction and field support to the daily arrangement on-site is done by full-time field
avoid the burden kept in the field support person and personnel in charge at the head office.
In cleaning business, sometimes the eye of director cannot Staff selection and schedule management is implemented
watch the details since the work site is away from the in the headquarters, and it has sent to the person in
headquarters. For that reason, when hiring the person with charge on site. Gradually the procedure goes smoothly
disabilities, it is essential to develop a system that the without the intervention of the headquarters, and there is a
burden is not taken only the field by eliminating the system that can capture the problem across the company
difference of perception between the actual instructing when there is any problem.
field and headquarters.
So, on-site full-time support person with knowledge of the
disabilities is placed, and a flexible guidance in
accordance with the degree of the individual disability was

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BIKOH CORPORATION

Starting homeless employment based on

support system developed by the employment of
person with disabilities
While carrying out cleaning work of the park as well as the
building maintenance business, we began to feel that the
presence of the homeless cannot be ignored. As our
business is supported by taxes of citizens, beautification of
the park is regarded to be essential as the customer (=
citizen) services, and it was decided to hire the homeless
to be involved in the cleaning business.
Upon the homeless being in the operation, the variety of
ideas that have been worked on in the company through
employment of person with disabilities has been applied
successfully. Work itself in many cases goes smoothly by
 Everyone processes work of one person by utilizing the applying the construction of the acceptance structure
“Strength” on-site and instructions with the visual information, etc.
However, as the relevant life support is also required in the
On the other hand, there is a case that improvement for case of the homeless employment, it started with a series
smooth the work of person with disabilities will lead to the of trial and error. The cases such as not showing up after
development of universal design, and there is also a case single failure or returning to homeless by spending all the
that leads to the efficiency of the work. There are salary at once were repeated continuously. The Company
instructions with lots of pictures and photos, and improved cooperated and discussed the measures with supporting
easy-to-use cleaning tool provided for the person with organization for self-support of the homeless (a NPO
disabilities who is difficult to understand the words, as a corporation of Kamagasaki support organization)
result, it becomes easy to understand and easy to use for regarding the issues in life aspect. And, It has
everyone, regardless of the disabilities. implemented that a support to put life and job on a track
Understanding of the customer, who is a consignor, is gradually while providing life support such as “OK to
essential to such innovation. For example, to make easier comeback” system (to allow the re-employment after
distinction of the two emergency stairs in one floor, we leaving the work) and payroll by installment.
proposed an idea of setting both stairways as “stairs of the
red” and “stairs of the blue” by putting a small sticker as a
Part time job

Self-support
sign to the customer and it is adopted. As a result, it also
payment

payment

payment
Monthly
Weekly

helped as an improvement of the universal environment

Daily

which is easy-to-understand for all users.

Life support
To have regular daily work,
To spend money correctly
To avoid troubles in life
 Process of homeless working support

Outcomes of diversity
management
 Operation manuals with many pictures and photos
Expanding business to a designated
administrator of the city park from the building
maintenance
In 2003, comprehensive evaluation general competitive
bidding system in 2003 has been introduced to the facility
cleaning business in Osaka Prefecture, and not only cost
but also public nature (such as implementing the
employment of persons with mental disabilities or with
difficulty in employment as “consideration for the welfare”)
has been evaluated which was a positive impact for us. As

217 Best Practices Collection 2015

 BIKOH CORPORATION

the contracts with government agencies increase, social Contributing workplace communication and
evaluation from the private building owners increase, and self-esteem improvement of employees
this contributed to the growth of business result. Since the communication between the field and
In addition, as our achievements in employment of person headquarters improved in the response to employment of
with disabilities and homeless along with the person with disabilities, traditional issue that information
achievements of cleaning business are evaluated, we sharing has been difficult due to scattered workplace is
accepted order for management of two of the Osaka resolved, and now it is possible to take more close
prefectural park which is led to secure stable revenue, attention to understanding of the work and status of each
such as Sumiyoshi Park as the designated administrator in and every employee, regardless of disabilities. In addition,
2006 and Kyuhoji Green Park in 2010. Therefore, we have a feeling of togetherness has been built by sharing the
been working on problem solution of community in the consciousness of social contribution and the sense of
aspects of both hardware aspects such as maintenance of accomplishment with all employees while working with
the parks and software aspects such as operational persons with disabilities, and employee satisfaction is
management by utilizing a variety of human networks and improved as a result.
resources which we have developed, and it becomes the Especially when the company won the grand prize of
company’s strengths and creates a virtuous cycle that Osaka Heart full company award in 2005, there was a staff
leads to the next order. who put the copy of the award certificate on the wall, thus,
Also, since the cleaning business is a labor-intensive more employees become proud of the company’s efforts
industry, it is difficult to survive without “ability to employ” and work actively on daily business. Awards and lectures
the people with various backgrounds. The company is able in public have notified each time to the staff, so motivation
to respond to the era of labor shortage in the aging society and professionalism of our employees has been improved
with fewer children and expand its business while we have as the company’s social awareness and evaluation
accumulated the skills and know-how to employ and utilize increase.
people who need life support such as persons with mental
disabilities and homeless.

Best Practices Collection 2015 218

Mirairo Inc. Services SME

Practice the barrier value which regards disability as a

value, creates new businesses, and expands activity
opportunity of persons with disabilities.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Business deployment which harnesses eyes of party concerned with disabilities
 Value which can be offered just because there is a “barrier = disability”
 The adherence to being a “company”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 In order to make the environment in which employees can work easily, preparation of IT tool
was put into practice.
 Various ways of working of persons with disabilities are realized from expansion of the
existing business.

Outcomes of diversity management

 Large increase in business efficiency by ChatWork introduction
 New business creation is expanded by the increase in efficiency of business.
 Cognitive expansion and securing talented-people through the heart chair project

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2010 Capital 9 million yen

Head office address Shin-Osaka Matsushima Bldg. 8F, 3-8-15, Nishi-Nakajima, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Business outline Consulting of universal design
Sales 39 million yen (term ended in May, 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of February 2015)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 14 persons (un-regular: seven persons among them)
Number of employees by [Persons with disabilities] Five persons (un-regular: one person among them),
attribute category 40% of person-with-disabilities hiring rate
Average service years for
1.5 years (male: two years, and female: one year)
regular employees

219 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Mirairo Inc.

the future by harnessing the viewpoint of various people

Background and goals of who have felt inconvenience in society until now, as well
as persons with disabilities.
diversity management
The adherence to being a “company”
Business deployment which harnesses eyes of In realizing barrier value, the president put emphasis on
the parties concerned with disabilities enterprise continuity. When you think that you want to give
Mirairo Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) is a a certain impact socially, working, for example as a
venture business which the president established at the volunteer is also possible. However, you have to continue
time of university enrollment in school in 2010. Hardware for a long time just because it is socially important.
sides accompanying universal designing of stores, Thinking that it cannot be continued without both wheels of
equipment, products, etc., such as plans and design, and sociality and economical efficiency, the president decided
consulting of soft sides, such as service provided at a to take the form of incorporated company when realizing
store and education to a service provider, etc., are the barrier value.
main business, and solution of the universal and potential
problems which arises at places that various persons
including persons with disabilities use, such as commercial Specific measures taken for
establishment, educational facilities, hotels, and wedding
halls, is aimed at. The president himself has a disability promoting diversity management
called congenital osteogenesis imperfecta, and 40 percent
of the employees have some disabilities and provide the In order to make the environment in which
service from the viewpoint as the party concerned. employees can work easily, preparation of IT tool
By having enforced “the law about promotion of facilitation, was put into practice.
such as migration of elderly people, persons with 40 percent of the employees working for the company
disabilities, etc.,” in December, 2006, barrier-free means of have some disabilities. As the poor health or injury due to
transportation progressed quickly and it became easier for disability cannot be predicted, it may be sometimes difficult
persons with disabilities and elderly people to go out than to go to office depending on the case. So, in the company,
before. On the other hand, as for the present condition, preparation of IT tool by which usual work can be done is
there are many points that a store, a service, and provided so that daily business may not be influenced by
barrier-free products themselves are not still progressing. the physical conditions.
The company is continuing activities every day by realizing By using a chat tool called ChatWork, the enforcement and
really valuable barrier-free and universal design taking progress management of a project is possible through the
advantage of the points understood or recognized by the videoconferencing of remote places, and specifically,
parties concerned with disabilities of limbs, vision, hearing, business can be performed at your pace at the house
etc., in order to produce facilities, stores, and goods not according to the physical conditions. Furthermore,
only for persons with disabilities but various other people. read-out function is given to this chat tool, and if this is
used, a person with vision disabilities and a person with
Value which can be offered just because there is hearing disabilities are able to take communication, for
a “barrier = disability” example. It has a structure which you can work whether
Experience of the president’s school days has influenced with or without disabilities.
the background of the floatation strongly. The president
was working for a certain web-page design service as a
sales person, and the performance was very good with the
business even in a wheelchair at the time of a freshman at
college. The then president said, “It is a strong point that a
customer remembers you as a business manager. You
could do that just because you could not walk.”
The president looks back upon those days, saying, “I felt
that some switches changed.” “There are things you can
do not even if you cannot walk but because you cannot
walk.” The “barrier value” which is the corporate
philosophy of the company is borne by the president’s real
experience.
The idea of the barrier value which began from the ability  Operating scenery using ChatWork
“to do just because you cannot walk” is the concept which
is not necessarily applied only to persons with disabilities,
but is applied to people who feel a certain inconvenience It was a chance that development of ChatWork notified the
in society in common from elderly people, to foreigners, company that ChatWork, Inc. furthered development of the
and to those that are employing a certain complex. tool which was easy to use for a person with disabilities.
Although the service for mainly practicing barrier value By consulting about accessibility correspondence of the
focusing on persons with disabilities is provided now, it company, the product development and marketing by
aims at producing new value and returning it to society in ChatWork, Inc. with the eyes of the party-concerned with
disabilities became possible, the company was led to

Best Practices Collection 2015 220

Mirairo Inc.

getting easier-to-use IT tool on one side, and it was able to and since there were many customers whom one person
realize the increase in efficiency of business. It is a joint is corresponding to and the frequency of communications
research with big merits for both sides, and it is a tool was high, the mistakes of duplication of correspondence
indispensable especially for the company now. due to occupational cases, and failures of connection, etc.
had also occurred frequently. However, after introducing
Various ways of working of persons with the chat tool, the efficiency of work increased, and the
disabilities are realized from expansion of the synchronization of a project can be controlled now up to 27
existing business. companies, that is about 3 times. Two or more employees
are involved and one project is carried out, and it is
It is also in reality that occupational descriptions or a place
because optimum distribution of information and a quick
of work in which a person with disabilities can play an
share were attained by introducing the chat tool. As a
active part is still limited. The company creates various
result, the frequency of telephone or mail exchanged
opportunities for persons with disabilities through
between employees and customers for work content or
expansion of the existing business.
schedule check decreased, and each company member
The company is conducting training business to tell
could concentrate now on the required work. While 4 or 5
various people the measures for persons with disabilities
staffs were required when managing one project
and elderly people called “universal manners” and the
conventionally, only 3 persons could manage it after tool
correspondence method is undertaken by the foundation.
introduction. When a leeway of time was given, the
While repeating the training and the lecture arranged for
mistake of work also decreased sharply and the work
companies, administration, or schools, curricula are
could be done by the minimum staff and time distribution.
selected carefully and gradually and we are releasing
As the businesses which can responded to at once
“universal manner official approval” qualifying acquisition
increased, the company has realized the increase of sales
of universal manners in the 2013 fiscal year, and has
of business and the increase of the number of orders
begun to put power also into the establishment of the
received.
authorization lecturer system and expansion of
educational curricula that perform manner training more
than before. New business creation has been expanded by
Conventionally, several members around the president the increase in efficiency of business.
were taking charge of the lecturer of universal manner In the company, it became possible to increase business
training. Expanding the training business and continuing it efficiency by IT to put power into creation of various new
only by some members has a limit, and talented persons businesses besides the above-mentioned universal
who can carry out a program required for training all over manner official approval or an authorization lecturer’s
the country were required. The company is creating the training.
environment where a person with disabilities can play an One of them is a mask investigation business. The
active part by accelerating simultaneously expansion of company cooperated with the major company which
universal manner official approval, and training a lecturer conducts mask investigation in 2014, and the party
with disabilities. Now, the number of participants or concerned with disabilities visited stores and institutions as
lectures of the training exceeds a total of 10,000 persons, monitor investigation and started the service to evaluate
and the examinees of universal manner official approval how the store actually changed through the attendance of
are also over 3,000 persons. Two lecturers with disabilities the training etc. which the company offered. Although
are playing an active part in Tokyo and Osaka each, and it there are many requests of the persons with disabilities “to
has led also to creation of the place where a person with work as a part-time job,” work is actually limited. If it is a
disabilities works with the spread of training or official monitor investigation, it is possible to get a counter value
approval. because the wheel chaired party concerned actually goes
to a store, evaluates how it is from experience of the party
concerned and reports the result.
Outcomes of diversity Moreover, in addition to a store or an institution, monitor
investigation of products is also planned to be started from
management now on. The person in charge of the company visited the
institution himself, and since the conventional product
Large increase in business efficiency by development was conducted with the questionnaire survey
ChatWork introduction on every person with disabilities, it had required time and
By having put preparation of the IT tool into practice, the labor. Drastic reduction of cost is expected because
environment where a person with disability can work was people of the party concerned with disabilities perform
improved, and the increase in efficiency of business was monitor registration and not only store investigation but
realized, without expanding the number extremely from the monitor of products is carries out.
conventional number of employees. These enterprises themselves have incorporated the idea
Before introducing the IT tool called ChatWork mentioned of the company of “changing disability into value,” and
above, even if you managed the employee’s time in any expanding the opportunity of activity of a person with
way, the capacity of the customers who you can respond disabilities by expanding all over the country more than
to simultaneously was about seven companies. Sharing before is expected.
the information on plural jobs among employees took time,

221 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Mirairo Inc.

Cognitive expansion and securing

talented-people through the heart chair project
The idea of barrier value is valid also in the case of the
East Japan great earthquake. The company thought “there
might be no wheelchair there and people might be troubled”
due to the tsunami damage in the case of the earthquake
disaster, and carried out the “heart chair project” which
sent about 200 wheelchairs to stricken areas. Although
active conduct of business was stopped about three
months for this activity, the situation of that measure was
reported also in the national edition and the overseas
edition of NHK, and it brought a result of the activity of the
company being taken up through many media after that
while it obtained various support for activity.

 The situation of the heart chair project

As the cognition of the company was expanded with the

national level, entrance candidates increased and it is
possible to secure talented persons including persons with
disabilities.
The company continues creating the value which can
produce “barrier value” just because there is a difference
as core from now on.

Best Practices Collection 2015 222

Sanyo Shoji Co., Ltd. Services SME

Earning the trust of customers based on precise and

accurate disassembling operation of the person with
disabilities and aiming for the top runner of the industry
at a steady development.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 Converted into a “human mind attend company,” with one person with disabilities as a start
 Corporate value improvement by “Company to work with people with disabilities”

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Realization of the Code of Conduct and corporate culture innovation through the introduction
of various initiatives
 Efficient and warm workplace with a combination of persons with disabilities and seniors
 Cooperating with supported employment type A establishment in order to expanding the
support for person with disabilities

Outcomes of diversity management

 Persons with disabilities and seniors as a force, contribute towards “recycling rate of 100%”
and business expansion
 Improving employee satisfaction and success in staffing by corporate culture innovation

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 1957 Capital 90 million yen

Head office address 2-4-10 Hishie, Higasiosaka City, Osaka
Collection, transportation and processing of recycling industrial waste such as communications equipment,
Business outline
switching equipment, and computer, etc.
Sales 3,645 million yen (as of February 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Non-consolidated (as of January 2015)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 201 persons (including 55 non-regular employees)
[Persons with disabilities] 7 persons (including 2 non-regular employees),
Number of employees by
Rate of the employees with disabilities: 3.5%
attribute category
[Seniors] 27 persons (including 23 non-regular employees)
Average service years for
5.7 years (Male 5.8 years, Female 5.5 years)
regular employees

223 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Sanyo Shoji Co., Ltd.

and the seniors and making all employees to work happily

Background and goals of rather than simple numerical value, such as “person with
disabilities employment rate”, in that sense, the fact that
diversity management employees with disabilities being active in the company is
one of the help to increase the corporate value.
Converted into a “human mind attend company” Also, since persons with disabilities actually have the
with one person with disabilities as a start aptitude to repetitive operation, their precise and accurate
Sanyo Shoji Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the disassembling operation earns the trust of customers and
company”) was founded in 1957, engaged in the recycling increases productivity, and it has contributed to the
industry of communications equipment and computers. company’s business expansion. (to be described later)
During the current president, who succeeded the
predecessor in 1999, expanding further business, it
becomes a turning point that hiring one person with Specific measures taken for
disabilities due to the consciousness of the community
contribution in 2001, and the direction has started to
promoting diversity management
change for “Establish a company with heart to heart
communication”. Until that time, the new president had Realization of the Code of Conduct and
pursued “To make money” as the company’s mission, corporate culture innovation through the
however, when he saw the person with disabilities do his introduction of various initiatives
job clumsily but with attitude of honesty and sincerity, he As well as to clarify the management philosophy as
realized that “There is a better things to do than making described previously, the Code of Conduct that has been
money.” stated was also re-defined. Based on the Code of Conduct
Starting from there, the company has re-defined itself from which has been defined as “words, behavior, and
the recycling business, so to speak, “A company to take on appearance with dignity” conventionally, “SKH activity” has
the dirty job”, to a “A company to convey the “THANKS” to implemented from April 2008. aiming that “As a human
the earth”, and at the same time, “Welfare and Benefits being, before being an employee of the company, to be
projects” had implemented as top-down in order to respected by colleagues, business partners, and
develop systems and environment for employees to work community and to establish a corporate culture that
comfortably step by step, such as long holiday system, full everyone can respect each other equally”. As S means
five-day week system, canteen installation and free lunch “SAN (Prefix)” for prefix activity, K means encouraging
service, uniform cleaning service, company outing, and activity of honorific, and H means an action with dignity, it
cost subsidy of employees gathering, is aimed for the company where every employee can
In addition, “To hire 50 people of persons with disabilities” communicate equally regardless of his title or disabilities.
was set as a target in 2003, and the number had increased In the beginning, there is a hesitation among employees to
from 18 in 2007 to 41 in 2009. Also, by shifting an call president name with “SAN”, however while trying as
operation which originally outsourced into in-house company-wide activity, the way of communication has
operation by persons with disabilities, a system to have been changed due internalization of each “SKH activity”.
both employment of persons with disabilities and business In addition, as for the Code of Conduct, it is re-defined as
operation was established. three points of “greeting” “cleaning”, and “SKH activity”,
and they are combined to slogan as “Ao SORA (Blue
Corporate value improvement by “Company to sky)ACTION!” and held out extensively. Since the code of
work with people with disabilities” employee to return is stated clearly, it is enabled that
Of course, welfare point of view is not the only reason to penetration of the corporate philosophy which is difficult to
employ such number of the persons with disabilities, there implement by the words.
was a social demand required for the recycling industry in Since 2010, 360-degree feedback has been implemented
the background. in order to realize the “looking back and growth of the
More than a decade ago, importance of compliance manager” and “open atmosphere”, and it is introduced that
increased, and strict compliance system had been a a system which is subjected to board members and
standard for determining the value of a recycling company. executive officers for being evaluated by their
In the current situation that the standard has shifted subordinates. As necessary skills and abilities which are
gradually to recycling rate and many of the recycler had required for manager, such as “interaction with person of
achieved it, the standard for a company value engaged in lower rank,” “reliability in emergency,” “attitude toward
recycling industry is focused on environmental mistakes,” “understanding of the skill development,” are
contributions and employee satisfaction. clarified specifically, it has implemented that ability
The company practices that by realizing corporate development of managers by individual feedback.
philosophy through working with person with disabilities

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Sanyo Shoji Co., Ltd.

 SKH Activity badge  Code of Conduct “Ao SORA (Blue sky) ACTION!”

Efficient and warm workplace with a combination Cooperating with supported employment type A
of persons with disabilities and seniors establishment in order to expanding the support
As for operations which mainly engaged by persons with for person with disabilities
disabilities, there are field work, including the disassembly As the employment of persons with disabilities started in
of the personal computer, and the data input with full-scale from 2003 and has established in the company, it
telecommuting which mainly performed by person with has reached to 53 people, and the disability employment
disabilities in the wheelchair, and since 2008, the car wash rate was achieved 20%in April 2012. Until then, the
equipment is introduced in order to broaden the company staffs have taken further step to take care even
opportunity of employment, then internship students with of the living aspect of persons with disabilities, however it
disabilities are accepted. gradually becomes difficult to provide enough support as
Recycling operation of communication equipment, etc. the number increases. So, the company has cooperated
conducted by the company, there are many tasks to be with supported employment type A establishment, Work-
considered in security such as the disposal of personal Work (hereinafter referred to as “Work-Work”), trained
computers, servers, and mobile phones. Especially, upon professional staff was deployed in order to achieve the
the disposal of large amounts of personal computer, it is hospitable support which can maximize the ability of
necessary to accurately count the number of hard disk that person with disabilities.
was discarded, and there, particularly the accuracy of the Persons with disabilities who were employed in the
employees with intellectual disabilities has been company were transferred to Work-Work with the
demonstrated. Since the loss of the hard disk is a problem exception of the seven, with the establishment of
that is directly connected to the information leak, the Work-Work. At that time, an interview was conducted one
number of the discarded and the delivered must match by one along with the guardian, with careful explanation
exactly, and person with disabilities will never be that to develop a life support system and extensive work
ambiguous to cheat the number and will surely finish the environment than before. In addition, it is set not to lower
operation. This accuracy and reliability is supported by the the salary levels.
clients, and it has led to continuous orders. The current business is commissioned from the company
to Work-Work, and employees of Work-Work are doing the
Efficiency comparison of working hours company’s work. Operation content and work location are
basically the same as before transfer. Although only the
Time comparison working hours become 1 hour earlier as 8 o’clock - 16
Item General staff Challenged Time efficiency o’clock, all the series of operations such as the morning
Laptop PC meeting, radio exercise, and cleaning are performed
together.
Desktop PC In addition, from the point of view of the reasonable
Mobile phone(Drill press) accommodation with the professional staff, creative
Bar-code memory Input mistake NO Input mistake arrangements are made throughout the workplace. For
∗ Time unit represents minute per one item example, when fractionating components in the process of
∗ Person with disability called “Challenged” dismantling, work efficiency is remarkably improved by
 Efficiency comparison of working hours
which to be able to determine by visual descriptive marks
such as rabbits and sheep. On the other hand, as part of
In addition, the senior mentor employees who were skilled welfare and benefit, events such as dinner and
in the operation attend in the actual work site. As they recreational games of employees are organized as a
spend together in morning meeting, cleaning, and the holiday training programs which are aiming to motivate
disassembly operation, they build a relationship to tell a employees. External expertise by cooperation with
private matter. Since the senior employees who have rich Work-Work is beginning to be fully demonstrated, such as
life experience, help persons with disabilities like their the other employees to participate aggressively in
grandparents, it is able to support in private life as well as workshops and seminars related to disabilities more than
in the company. ever to deepen the understanding.

225 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Sanyo Shoji Co., Ltd.

Improving employee satisfaction and success in

Outcomes of diversity staffing by corporate culture innovation
management A corporate culture that all employees can work with
caring each other regardless of the age or disabilities,
have been constructed while realizing a comfortable
Persons with disabilities and seniors as a force, working environment for persons with disabilities. It can be
contribute towards “recycling rate of 100%” and said that it have been paid off that the realization of the
business expansion corporate philosophy and action guidelines by the top’
As mentioned previously, the high efficiency of the strong will, since the degree of satisfaction result of
dismantling work and the accuracy in the security “Employee Satisfaction Survey” has improved to from
information disposal work of person with disabilities had 58.5% in 2009 to 71.4% in2013.
improved reliability from the customer to the company and In fact, the energy and dedication of the persons with
business expansion. By skilled in the work of hand disabilities affect the entire company to change as the
dismantling of personal computers and mobile phones, vibrant workplace, and then it enables us to employ
some persons with disabilities finish the work in about 5 excellent human resources of new graduates of
minutes while regular staff takes about 20 minutes. In this universities and Masters Degree who have interested in
way, as well as the time efficiency, delicate hand environmental business recently. Also many new
dismantling contributed to the company’s aim of “recycling employees who are attracted to the open atmosphere and
rate of 100%”, and now the recycling rate has reached to work environment, have joined and it has led to a further
97%. Thereby, the added value of the material increased, leap forward of the company.
and it has led to the improvement of profitability. Recently,
recycle facility in Tokyo and Nara are opened other than
headquarters of Higashi-Osaka for business expansion.

 Secular change of “Employee Satisfaction Survey” result

 Comparing attributes are the average of the company of
“number of employees 200 to 500 people”

 The demolition work personal computer

Best Practices Collection 2015 226

Okushin System Services SME

Persons with disabilities and single mothers with the

volition to commit and capability are positively employed
and obtaining the opportunity of new businesses
expands.
Main points

Background and goals of diversity management

 The place of the employment for taking advantage of “social loss” is created.

Specific measures taken for promoting diversity management

 Environmental management which makes operating at home and a remote place is
facilitated.
 A setup of the clear rule which guarantees the method of the work united with the individual
situation
 An employee grasps the task progress and physical conditions mutually by everyday
information sharing.
 The operating assignment according to characteristics and implementation of fair evaluation

Outcomes of diversity management

 Starting with the system “SPIS” developed from the experience of the persons with disabilities
themselves, all employees contribute to business expansion

Data

 Corporate profile

Year of foundation 2000 Capital 3 million yen

Head office address Ichikura Bldg. 4F, 2-2-4, Yariyamachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Business outline Trust development of business management systems for SMEs
Sales 52 million yen (term ended in March, 2014)

 Data for employees

Consolidated or
Unconsolidated (as of January, 2015)
non-consolidated / Date
Number of employees 7 persons (un-regular: zero person among them)
[Women] Two persons (un-regular: zero person among them)
Number of employees by
[Person with disabilities] Five persons (un-regular: zero person among them), 132% person-with-disabilities
attribute category
accession rate (*)
Average service years for
4.5 years (male: five years; female: four years)
regular employees
(*) Since there are three employees with serious disabilities, a double count is carried out and it becomes
Remark
100% calculative.

227 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Okushin System

Experienced talented people are employed in the system

Background and goals of configuration, and two persons with physical disabilities
become leaders and two persons with mental disabilities
diversity management (schizophrenia) become members, and they are
performing construction of business management systems
The place of the employment for taking for SMEs and business support systems centering on
advantage of “social loss” is created. Osaka City by four persons. Moreover, two of them are
Okushin System (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) employees of single mothers, and they are flexibly working
is carrying out trust development of business management utilizing the system of telecommuting, etc.
systems for SMEs since the foundation in 2000. Although
the present president who is the founder had worked for a
major software developer as an engineer, he felt a Specific measures taken for
question in the life in which solo assignment and overtime
work continued and could not take many hours with the
promoting diversity management
family at all, and opted for independence. SOHO style
based on telecommuting was assumed in which the house Environmental management which makes
was connected to the office with the Network at the operating at home and a remote place facilitated
beginning. Gathering high talented people with the skill In order to work considering each situation which an
aiming at the method of work that forces neither many employee has, the members in the company have
hours nor selection of a place, and undertaking an discussed the best way one by one whenever some
enterprise together with a friend by presenting such a way problems arose, and they have been made to be rules
to work was assumed. uniquely.
The women who retired at the time of marriage and First, as office environment, complete barrier-free one is
childbirth in the previous occupation period came into his made so that migration can be done smoothly when two
mind then. He felt it as “social loss” that the able talented wheel chaired employees attend their office. The device in
people who gained various experiences would give up a the case of work or a meeting with the wheelchair besides
career, and employment of “those whose daily attendance installation of the sliding door of a hanging type, an electric
is difficult and who has given up work with the volition and wide switch, and a slope in which power is not needed and
capability to work” is considered. Then, the capable single making a desk to the height are implemented so that there
mother and person with disabilities as SE were fixed as may be no inconvenience.
the target, and a well-qualified person was searched in the Moreover, a trackball (a mouse which rotates a ball using
job assistance organizations etc. a fingertip, palm, leg, etc. and operates cursor) for the
Although the women introduced in the job assistance employee who cannot use a usual mouse of OA
organization did not have expertise in many cases unlike equipment is installed and the VPN service (in which the
the original assumption and women who would become personal computer and server of an office can be
persons who could be effective immediately in a system accessed from a remote place) and the free Internet
office were not found, he met a talented person with telephone are also introduced for telecommuting. About
disabilities by the introduction from the Osaka City the teleconference and the conference call, it has become
Vocational Rehabilitation Center in 2006 (with disabilities possible to lend out apparatus etc. to not only an
of upper and lower limbs), and it resulted in employment. employee’s house but also a customer’s office and
Then, employment of persons with mental disabilities of depending on the case, to connect an office and a
whom the job opportunity is limited is also being advanced, customer to perform teleconferencing, and they are
and five persons with disabilities including persons with actually utilized in previous arrangements with a customer
serious ones are on the register as of October, 2014. in a remote place or for a visit for which use of a

 Service scenery in the office

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Okushin System

wheelchair is difficult. Therefore, it is made the mechanism in which all the

Although the subsidy of the nation, etc. are used in part, persons concerned can confirm the situation of a project,
cost is spent on such environmental management as the situation of an individual’s work, etc. by creating a
investment “for talented people required by the company mailing list for every project as per one’s whole post, and
to work comfortably.” The employees who could actually also utilizing an in-company bulletin board and joint
serve only once per week at the beginning became able to scheduler as information sharing of operation.
attend three times per week, namely on Monday, Moreover, the morning gathering is carried out every day
Wednesday and Friday, by this improvement and by also including a telecommuter. All the members gather in
combining with telecommuting on Tuesday and Friday, the the office at the opening hour, people staying at home start
company is advancing operating smoothly. Moreover, also an Internet telephone, and it is supposed that the schedule
when telecommuting is needed hurriedly by an employee and work contents of the day will be mutually checked by
with a child, flexible correspondence and smoothly all the members. Furthermore, although the daily report is
performing a task are possible. to be created on a system every day at the time of closing,
the mechanism of writing in the physical conditions and
The setup of the clear rule which guarantees the comments to share the work contents or advancing
method of work connected with the individual situation is taken there. It is possible for the president to
situation grasp every employee’s situation finely by reading through
a daily report and returning comments.
Although the president had aimed at the SOHO style at
Especially about the condition management of the
home at the beginning, he began a system to introduce the
employees with mental disabilities, system development
rule which makes days and hours of duty flexible, taking
available as data by which to look back upon the daily
advantage of an employee’s wish of the attendance to an
situation is performed, the physical conditions and how to
office.
advance work is discussed by “looking back” once per
The employees can choose office hours from three types
week within the post and once per month with the
of 30・35・40 hours per week in the system which the
president besides the device (the system is mentioned
company has taken in now and they are “the short-time
later) which visualizes the employees’ own physical
service system” which can change the duty every month,
conditions there, and improvement is being aimed at.
the “hours paid system” which can acquire up to 5 days of
Unlike physical disabilities, the actual physical conditions
paid holidays (40 hours) by one hour basis, the “flex-time
of and required consideration for the persons with mental
system” which can adjust working hours per month, etc.
disabilities are sometimes unclear from outside. Therefore,
“The short-time service system” is used, when extending
not only it puzzles those around the person with disabilities
office hours little by little from 35 hours to 40 hours starting
in how to support him but also the dissatisfaction “why he
with the contract of 30 hours per week so that the
is absent suddenly although he seemed to be fine” might
employee with disabilities may get used to attendance
be felt. In order to solve such a situation, the opportunity to
gradually. Moreover, “hours paid system” becomes
discuss one’s conditions and state has been once held as
available by the in-advance application to the superior in
the “disability present” in the company. Although a speech
the case of being absent due to going to hospital regularly,
was not forced by the president, the employees
the guardian meeting of a school, etc. only for several
themselves voluntarily spoke about their own disabilities,
hours. These are institutionalized according to the clinical histories, required consideration, etc. outspokenly.
situation of the company based on actual employees’
This enabled it for the employees who are usually
needs. In addition, it has defined the “prohibition of
supported to offer suitable consideration and support,
overtime working principle/the in-advance application
while the mutual understanding was deepened further.
system of overtime work” and always taking a “break” for
10 minutes 1 time respectively in the morning and the
afternoon for fatigue mitigation as an in-company rule. The operating assignment according to the
The social climate by which the employee with various characteristics and implementation of fair
problems can continue to work by performing flexible rule evaluation
improvement according to an employee’s request is Although those who are employed in the company are
gradually becoming ready. talented persons with skill and experience with which they
can play an active part in a system office as a person who
Employees grasp the task progress and physical can step in and be effective immediately as mentioned
conditions mutually by everyday information above, it is necessary always to learn new technology
according to the contents of a project and the requests of
sharing. the customer. Moreover, since it is necessary to perform
Close information sharing is indispensable in the company the operating assignment according to the technological
most of whose employees “are not always present in the level and the strong and weak points of an individual and
office” in order to advance operating smoothly. Especially to do work as the schedule, the role of management also
when a person in charge is absent suddenly, progress of becomes important.
work and customer correspondence have a possibility that First, when the leader has grasped the individual
affect may arise, and even if an inconvenience arises, it is member’s characteristics, he considers how to leave work
necessary to create the organization in which another and assigns it, and he also clarifies the contents and the
employee can respond. time limit in the workmanship instruction, or unifies the
indication instruction system etc. Moreover, the idea of

229 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Okushin System

“Not making employees do things not suited” is considered administrative agency Welfare and Medical Service,
as the rule which people follow up when there is unsuited Osaka, etc. and taken up by media.
work (telephone correspondence etc.) by disability Moreover, the Network with exceptional subsidiaries,
characteristics,. person-with-disabilities support institutions, etc. also
Evaluation is carried out one time on 360-degree basis per spread, and the cases connected with an order received
year, and it is considered as the mechanism in which all have also increased in number as the measure of
the members evaluate all the other members in their posts person-with-disabilities employment progresses. The track
(system development and sales sections). Although the record of telecommuting or person-with-disabilities
point and standard of evaluation are common to all the employment is highly evaluated, and is also increasing the
members, a leader has specific weight of points set up opportunity commended. Business expansion is steadily
highly, and it is devised so that it may become an appraisal achieved through practice of the basic philosophy of the
in line with the intention of management. company “we and people with us aim at the creation of
In addition, in performing this 360-degree evaluation, a society which can be regarded very much as the one with
study meeting is held in advance every year, and “practice” happiness.”
by which to evaluate one model case or explore a
reasonable line is performed. Since blur arises in an
appraisal and it does not become a fair appraisal without
the process of adjusting the viewpoint of evaluation in this
“practice,” advance preparations are carried out over many
hours.

Outcomes of diversity
management
Starting with the system “SPIS” developed from
the experience of the persons with disabilities
themselves, all employees contribute to
business expansion.
As mentioned above, by finding capable talented people
with volition, building a warm rule setup and environmental
management and a support system, the talented people
who were difficult to set to work until now play an active
part and are contributing to enterprise expansion. Talented
people’s fixation ratio always exceeds 80%, and 100% of
the fixation ratio was continuously recorded from 2011 to
2013.
Moreover, cases have been born that the persons with
mental disabilities themselves develop an employee’s
work commitment support system “SPIS” based on their
own experience. In this system, self-valuation inputted into
the daily report, such as the life side and the way of work,
is made to be a graph and can be grasped visually. This
system was introduced in two companies from 2013 and
also adopted by three enterprises of independent  Working fixing support system “SPIS”

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 Diversity Management Selection

Diversity Promotion Project Commendation

Human resources service business specialized in housewives

(b-style, Inc.)
The company is contributing to the creation of employment of housewives and
improvement of productivity of companies by linking housewives who wish the short time
work hour for the compatibility of childcare and domestic matters with small and
medium-sized companies which wish the securing of excellent human resources.

Further, as to “Shfu JOB executive”, from the start of the business

Contents of business and programs in 2012 up to the present, the business has been introduced in
small and medium-sized venture companies of about 100
Operation of “Shufu JOB”, a human resources service companies accumulatively. In this business, the company is
business specialized in housewives dispatching/introducing high career housewives who have
Bstyle Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) is experiences as specialist personnel/ managers to companies in
operating “Shufu JOB” business with the purposes to realize the various work attendance forms such as part-time work for 3 days
creation of employment of housewives and the improvement of a week and time-shortened work. In the broad job kinds such as
productivity of companies at the same time by supplying IT engineering, new business and development of products,
companies with excellent housewives who have ample public relations and marketing, management planning, accounting,
experiences as social persons and to advance the renovation and personnel and legal work, housewives with professional
growth of the Japanese society as a whole. knowledge and skills are positively acting. For small and
As a differing point from other companies, it can be listed that the medium-sized venture companies that had no female employees
company offers human resources service business of office work and managers who work for time-shortened work, a result that it is
specialized in part-timers. Focusing on housewives who have the role model has been seen.
ample experiences as social persons but wish short time work for
the compatibility of childcare and domestic matters, the company
is doing workers’ dispatching service on the basis of part-time
work.
“Shufu JOB” is composed of multiple businesses. Starting from
workers’ dispatching service business (currently the “Shufu JOB
staffing”) mainly of part-time work in 2002, the company started
“Shufu JOB search” in 2010 that is a job seeker mediation
business covering housewives, and is supplying this service all
around Japan. Further, in 2012, the company launched “Shufu
JOB executive” that is a workers’ dispatching and introduction
service of high career housewives who have experiences as
managers, planning staff or specialist personnel. The company is
introducing housewives who have professional skills and
experiences to small and medium-size companies whose
challenge is securing excellent human resources.
The company is offering for women the creation of places where
they can feel fulfilment and positively act after their retirement
from work at the companies taking the opportunities of pregnancy
and birth delivery and who are not enriched by the opportunities of
re-employment and for women who returned to work after the
ending of birth leave but who are engaged in supplementary work
due to time limitation.

Results
Results by the “Shufu JOB” business
Since the start of the service in 2002, the number of companies
which utilized this business counts about 3,800 and the company
created the employment of more than 40 thousand housewives. In
the business mainly done by part-timers, more flexible allotment
of human resources is possible, which can be said to be
contributing to the matching of housewives who wish short time  “Shufu JOB staffing” website (left) and “Shufu JOB execugtive”
work and companies who want to allot human resources website (right)
according to the busy time and idle time.
In addition, the company utilizes the business to arrange for the Corporate data
system to support the employees who returned to work after birth
leave, and the realization of the way of work according to the Year of foundation 2002 Capital 86 million yen
hopes of employees became possible such as dispatched FORECAST Shinjuku SOUTH 5F-7F,
Head office address
employees by “Shufu JOB” support the portion that employees Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo.
cannot respond when employees wish short time work at the Workers’ dispatching, job placement service for
companies that accepted housewives as dispatched employees, value, work analysis, work sub-contracting and
and when employees wish to work 3 days a week, they share the Business outline
support of the employment of human
work with dispatched employees. It was the operation for the first resources.
birth leave system to companies, and making use of the business, Sales 4,354 million yen * as of July 2014
it can be said that the company succeeded in the establishment of
a system after the return to work of employees. Number of employees 170 * as of July 2014

231 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Diversity Management Selection

Diversity Promotion Project Commendation

Offering solutions for the promotion of diversity management

(Recruit Management Solutions Co., Ltd.)
Supporting the renovation of companies by offering various solutions starting from the
promotion of diversity management and by research and development as well as
information transmission related to the management of human resources.

activities toward the understanding of diversity and introduction of

Contents of the business and the program role model, and the fermentation of the culture where women can
positively act can be said to be the results of the measures.
Offering solutions for the promotion of diversity Further, a manufacturing company had a challenge that as a
management result of re-employment of employees after retirement and the
Under its brand vision to “aim at the realization of a society where change of jobs, many of them resigned because they could not
individual and organizations are heightening their values as well fit in with new jobs. As a result of the detailed performance of
synergy,” Recruit Management Solutions Co., Ltd. (hereinafter the motivation to the change of job under the career development
referred to as “the company”) is offering to companies solutions support program by the company, the number of retired
which combine training, consulting, assessment survey, employees became zero in the year, which leads to making use of
counselling and coaching, and is implementing the supports to the the abilities of the employees after their retirement.
management, managers and employees so that they will truly Results of research and study concerning the
change their activities and consciousness. management of human resources
As the contents of support concerning the promotion of diversity As a plan correlated with external public relations organ paper
management, programs such as (1) support of making plans for “RMS message,” the company held a symposium titled “RMS
multiple years of the activities of the promotion of diversity and message LIVE 2014” in February 2014. Making ““work””
support of making plans for activities’ policies, (2) support of environment and challenges in 2030- viewpoints to be prepared
personnel system and making the system of nourishment, (3) by the personnel departments- the theme of the symposium, the
support of renovation of way of work, (4) support of the settlement number of participating in it counted 107. At the symposium,
of foreign employees, (5) support of the fermentation of global focusing on 2030, the company offered information to think “to
mind and (6) female employees and senior employees think their work” and advanced discussions about the challenges which
own careers, are counted. personnel departments can face.
Research and study relating to the management of Further, separately from the company’s website which lists cases
human resources and special edition of themes, the company opened an website
At “the Research Institute of Organizational Activities” which is the titled “Think ““work”” in 2030” and is listing there the results of
R&D division of the company, research and development and survey concerning the management of human resources
information transmission relating to the management of human described above as well as columns and proposals by the learned
resources are being implemented. The company implemented people. Toward the realization of various ways of work, the
“Survey 2012 concerning the promotion and will to work”, ‘Survey company is positively transmitting the way of work of individuals in
2012 concerning the images and way of work of superiors in 4 the future and the hints for thinking personnel measures of
countries in Asia” etc. and announced the respective results in companies.
“RMS Research”, a report magazine of surveys. Further, in 2013,
under the theme of “specialized regular employees and free
regular employees” the company gathered information and
studied companies that make their employees utilized beyond
their attribute category and have published the information and
study as “RMS message,” an external public relations organ
paper.

Results
Results of supply of solutions for the promotion of
diversity management
The supports concerning the promotion of diversity management
described above exceed 130 companies annually. Many times,
the company supports companies which wish to make diversity
management their strength for several years.
In a wholesale company supported by the company for 3 years,
the number of female managers and their candidates has been
increasing and the corporate culture has been changing to “it is
natural that women who have children positively act regardless of
their kinds of job”. The company has been implementing many
measures to this wholesale company such as the changes of
personnel system and nourishing system, the setting of a
committee for the promotion to female managers by the
management, clarification of concrete post promotion time and  Website of “Think “”Work”” in 2030”
nourishing plans for female employees, multi-layer female leaders
nourishing program, training of managers, design of support
measures for compatibility dedicated to sales persons, dialogue Corporate data
Theory (research and study) Year of foundation 1989 Capital 110 million yen
Grand Tokyo South Tower, 1-9-2 Marunouchi,
Head office address
Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo.
Supply of goods and services that have

Training business in the areas of the

higher effectiveness

Supply of goods and services

exploration of human resources and the
Business outline development of organizations, consulting
requested by the age
 Piling up of theories and  Grasping of the needs of markets
methods as the base and customers
 Research for grasping the
actual circumstances of
 Offering of the most suitable
solutions
Supply of viewpoints which think
organizations and the management of business, assessment survey business and
counseling and coaching business
markets  Feed-back from customers and human resources
 Applied study for the persons who attended lectures
development of services  Improvement of services matching
 Announcement of studies and the age

Sales 10,710 million yen

cases at academic society etc.

Number of employees 389 *As of April 2014

Practice (at customers’ sites)

 Outline of organization

Best Practices Collection 2015 232

 Reference 1
List of Enterprises of Diversity Management
Selection 100 (by industry/region)

List of Enterprises for the FY2014 Diversity Management Selection 100 (by industry/region)

Human resources subject to Management

recruitment or promotion performance

300 or less employees

No focus on any specific group

Women

Foreigners

Persons with disabilities

Elderly persons
skills and experiences
Persons with diverse careers,

Others

Product innovation

Process innovation

assessments
Improving external

Workplace effects
Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)

Construction
Taisei Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Manufacturing
KENKO TOFU, Inc. ★ Hokkaido ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
EBINA DENKA KOGYO CO., LTD. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
KAMIJIMA HEAT TREATMENT CO., LTD. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
SAKAE CASTING CO., LTD. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○
XEBEC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
POLA INC. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
LIXIL Group Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
CALBEE, INC. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
DENKAHIMAKU Kogyo Co., Ltd. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
BAXTER LIMITED Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
NIIGATA WACOAL SEWING CORPORATION ★ Niigata ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
FUKUMITSUYA SAKE BREWERY ★ Ishikawa ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
FUJI Special Paper Inc. Aichi ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
STG CO., LTD. ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
NAGAOKA INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
KAWAMURA GISHI CO., LTD. Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
SANYO SPECIAL STEEL CO., LTD. Hyogo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
FP CORPORATION Hiroshima ○ ○ ○ ○
SEIBU GIKEN CO., LTD. ★ Fukuoka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Electricity, Gas, Heat supply and Water
CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. Aichi ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
OSAKA GAS CO., LTD. Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Information and communications
HITACHI SOLUTIONS, LTD. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
PROASSIST, LTD. ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○
Transport and postal activities
HITACHI TRANSPORT SYSTEM, LTD. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
East Japan Railway Company Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Wholesale and retail trade
SATO KINZOKU CO., LTD. ★ Miyagi ○ ○ ○ ○
AEON CO., LTD. Chiba ○ ○ ○ ○
Fracoco Co., Ltd. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
ISETAN MITSUKOSHI LTD. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

233 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Human resources subject to Management
recruitment or promotion performance

300 or less employees

No focus on any specific group

Women

Foreigners

Persons with disabilities

Elderly persons
skills and experiences
Persons with diverse careers,

Others

Product innovation

Process innovation

assessments
Improving external

Workplace effects
Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)

Lawson, Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○

Finance and insurance
The Chiba Bank, Ltd. Chiba ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Aflac Japan (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
GE Japan Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Nippon Life Insurance Company Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Real estate and goods rental and leasing
Hulic Co. Ltd. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
First Collaboration ★ Kochi ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Takushin Sangyo Company ★ Fukuoka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Accomodations, eating and drinking services
Resorttrust Inc. Aichi ○ ○ ○ ○
Living-related and personal services, amusement services
JTB Corp. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Compound services
Rush International Co., Ltd. ★ Aichi ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Services, N.E.C
Pasona Group Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Musashisakai Driving School ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Sun Staff Inc. ★ Aichi ○ ○ ○ ○
BIKOH CORP. ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Mirairo Inc. ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○
Sanyo Syoji CO., LTD. ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Okushin System ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“Human resources subject to recruitment or promotion”

・Circles are entered into the columns for categories of human resources subject to recruitment or promotion in accordance
with the descriptions by enterprises in their applications for the selection. These human resources are not limited to regular
employees. They may include part-timers, temporary employees and outsourced individuals (business owners).
・ “Persons with diverse careers, skills and experiences:” Those recruited through various routes including mid-career
recruitment and post-childcare reemployment.
・ “No focus on any specific group:” Cases where enterprises positively provide education, vocational training and other
opportunities for their existing employees to obtain diverse capabilities and knowledge.

List of Enterprises for the FY2014 Diversity Promotion Project Commendation (by industry/region)

300 or less Location

Enterprise name
employees (prefecture)
Services, N.E.C
1 b-style, Inc. ★ Tokyo
2 Recruit Management Solutions Co., Ltd. Tokyo

Best Practices Collection 2015 234

 List of Enterprises for the FY2013 Diversity Management Selection 100 (by industry/region)

Human resources subject to Management

recruitment or promotion performance

300 or less employees

Women

Foreigners

Persons with disabilities

Elderly persons
skills and experiences
Persons with diverse careers,
No focus on any specific group

Product innovation

Process innovation

assessments
Improving external

Workplace effects
Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)

Construction
Zm’ken Service Co., Ltd. ★ Fukuoka ○ ○ ○
SK-Home ★ Kumamoto ○ ○ ○
Manufacturing
Astellas Pharma Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Asahi Breweries, Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
S.T. Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
MSD K.K. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Metrol Co., Ltd. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Toppan Forms Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Fujitsu Limited Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Nippon Pharmaceutical Chemicals Co., Ltd. ★ Kanagawa ○ ○ ○ ○
Fujii Corporation Co., Ltd. ★ Niigata ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Kato Seisakusho ★ Gifu ○ ○ ○
Hikari Kikai Seisakusho Co., Ltd. ★ Mie ○ ○ ○ ○
REGULUS CO,. Ltd. ★ Mie ○ ○ ○ ○
Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. Osaka ○ ○
Teijin Limited Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Procter & Gamble Japan Hyogo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Kyousei ★ Okayama ○ ○ ○ ○
Torayahonpo Co., Ltd. ★ Hiroshima ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Heart Co., Ltd. ★ Kochi ○ ○ ○ ○
Kikusui Shuzo Co., Ltd. ★ Kochi ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Information and communications
SCSK Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Dunksoft Co., Ltd. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Cybozu, Inc. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Transport and postal activities
Maruzen Unyu Soko ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○
Wholesale and retail trade
Ikea Japan Chiba ○ ○ ○
Takashimaya Co., Ltd. Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○
Tashiro Coffee Co., Ltd. ★ Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○
Kenkokazoku Co., Ltd. ★ Kagoshima ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

235 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Human resources subject to Management
recruitment or promotion performance

300 or less employees

Women

Foreigners

Persons with disabilities

Elderly persons
skills and experiences
Persons with diverse careers,
No focus on any specific group

Product innovation

Process innovation

assessments
Improving external

Workplace effects
Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)

Finance and insurance

Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank, Ltd. Gifu ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Sumitomo Life Insurance Company Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○
Living-related and personal services, amusement services
Tokushuiryo Inc. ★ Hokkaido ○ ○ ○
Okinawa Watabe Wedding Corporation ★ Okinawa ○ ○
Education, school support
Selectee ★ Miyagi ○ ○ ○ ○
Medical, health care and welfare
COCO-LO ★ Gunma ○ ○ ○ ○
Other services
Rakuten, Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“Human resources subject to recruitment or promotion”

・Circles are entered into the columns for categories of human resources subject to recruitment or promotion in accordance
with the descriptions by enterprises in their applications for the selection. These human resources are not limited to regular
employees. They may include part-timers, temporary employees and outsourced individuals (business owners).
・ “Persons with diverse careers, skills and experiences:” Those recruited through various routes including mid-career
recruitment and post-childcare reemployment.
・ “No focus on any specific group:” Cases where enterprises positively provide education, vocational training and other
opportunities for their existing employees to obtain diverse capabilities and knowledge.

List of Enterprises for the FY2013 Diversity Promotion Project Commendation

Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)
Academic research, specialists, and technical services
Telework Management Hokkaido
Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. Tokyo
Medical, health care and welfare
danway Kanagawa

Best Practices Collection 2015 236

 List of Enterprises for the FY2012 Diversity Management Selection 100 (by industry/region)

Human resources subject to recruitment or promotion

300 or less employees

Women

Foreigners

disabilities
Persons with

Elderly persons

skills and experiences

Persons with diverse careers,

specific group
No focus on any

Others
Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)

Construction
Shigematsu Kensetsu Co., Ltd. ★ Ehime ○ ○ ○
Green Life Industry Co, Ltd. ★ Fukuoka ○ ○
Manufacturing
Rokkatei Confectionery Co., Ltd. Hokkaido ○ ○
Meister Inc. ★ Yamagata ○ ○ ○ ○
Kurita Aluminum Industry Co. ★ Ibaraki ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Kaneko Manufacturing Co. ★ Saitama ○ ○ ○ ○
Sanshu Seika Co. ★ Saitama ○ ○
Kao Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Kirin Holdings Company Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Sato Holdings Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Suntory Holdings Limited Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○
Shiseido Company Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Hitachi, Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Ricoh Company, Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Kanagawa ○ ○ ○
Otani ★ Niigata ○ ○
OGAWA NO SHO INC. ★ Nagano ○ ○
Kokuyo Co., Ltd. Osaka ○
Saraya Co., Ltd. Osaka ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Winnac ★ Wakayama ○
N.E. Works ★ Shimane ○ ○
TOTO Ltd. Fukuoka ○ ○ ○
USA Lantern, K.K. ★ Oita ○
Information and communications
ISFnet, Inc. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
NEC Soft, Ltd. Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
NTT Data Corporation Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
SI Co., Ltd. ★ Hyogo ○ ○ ○ ○
Wholesale and retail trade
MO-HOUSE ★ Ibaraki ○ ○ ○
Start Today Co. Chiba ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Japan Laser Corporation ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
HiSOL, Inc. ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○
Kimura Metal Industry Co., Ltd. ★ Aichi ○
Tenhiko Industrial Co., Ltd. ★ Osaka ○ ○

237 Best Practices Collection 2015

 Human resources subject to recruitment or promotion

300 or less employees

Women

Foreigners

disabilities
Persons with

Elderly persons

skills and experiences

Persons with diverse careers,

specific group
No focus on any

Others
Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)

Finance and insurance

Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Tokyo ○
Resona Bank, Limited Osaka ○
Academic research, specialists, and technical services
OJT Solutions Inc. ★ Aichi ○ ○
Living-related and personal services, amusement services
Kimono Brain Corporation ★ Niigata ○ ○ ○
Okinawa Tourist Service Incorporated Okinawa ○
Other services
24-7 Inc. ★ Hokkaido ○ ○ ○
Koureisha Co. ★ Tokyo ○
Support Gyoseishoshi Law Firm ★ Tokyo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Note: N.E. Works suspended the business as of May 31, 2014.

“Human resources subject to recruitment or promotion”

・Circles are entered into the columns for categories of human resources subject to recruitment or promotion in accordance
with the descriptions by enterprises in their applications for the selection. These human resources are not limited to regular
employees. They may include part-timers, temporary employees and outsourced individuals (business owners).
・ “Persons with diverse careers, skills and experiences:” Those recruited through various routes including mid-career
recruitment and post-childcare reemployment.
・ “No focus on any specific group:” Cases where enterprises positively provide education, vocational training and other
opportunities for their existing employees to obtain diverse capabilities and knowledge.

List of Enterprises for the FY2012 Diversity Promotion Project Commendation

Location
Enterprise name
(prefecture)
Ramuresu K.K. Hokkaido
AKACHANTOMAMASHA CO., LTD. Tokyo
wiwiw, Inc. Tokyo
Harmony Residence Inc. Tokyo
Yumemichis, Inc. Tokyo
Work-Life Balance Tokyo

Best Practices Collection 2015 238

 Reference 2
Members of Examination Committee of FY2014 Diversity
Management Selection 100

Chairperson

Hiroki Sato Professor, Chuo Graduate School of Strategic Management, Chuo University

Members of the examination committee

Christina L. Ahmadjian Professor, Graduate School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University
Yukio Okubo General Manager of Recruit Works Institute, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.
Emiko Takeishi Professor, Faculty of Lifelong Learning and Career Studies, Hosei University
Nami Takenka Chairperson, Prop Station
Shigeo Hirano Chairman, Mystar 60 Corp.
Hikaru Fukanuma Principal Economist, Japan Finance Corporation Research Institute
Mitsuyo Matsubara Guest researcher, Research Institute for Economics and Management,

Gakushuin University
(in Japanese syllabic order)

Commissioned project by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry “Field Survey on the
FY2014 Diversity Management Promotion in Enterprises”
FY2014 Diversity Management Selection 100 Collection of Best Practices

March 2015
Issued by Economic and Social Policy Office,
Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau,
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8901, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3501-0650

Advisory Division, Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC

Tel: +81-3-3503-1555
Mail Diversity@jp.ey.com

※ Copyright Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry All Rights Reserved.

239 Best Practices Collection 2015

FY 2014

Diversity Management
Selection 100
Collection of Best Practices

March 2015

Commissioned by Economic and Social Policy Office, Economic and

Industrial Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8901, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3501-0650

Commissioned to Advisory Division, Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC

Tel: +81-3-3503-1555
Mail Diversity@jp.ey.com