Diversity Promotion Initiatives
Diversity Promotion Initiatives
Each of MARUI GROUP's approximately 6,000 employees is different. We believe that innovation is assured when these employees are accepting of the differences in others and are able to unite with an eye toward social change and demand. We are therefore promoting diversity with regard to individual talents, gender, and age.
Three Themes for Promoting Diversity
MARUI GROUP seeks to ensure that every employee can exercise their individuality and feel enthusiastic toward their work. To this end, we are promoting diversity based on three themes.
1. Corporate culture in which the individuality of every employee is respected
- Official Groupwide project teams
- Initiatives led by Medium-Term Management Visionary Committee
- Cross-Group profession change system
2. Systems and frameworks supporting the contributions of all employees
- Work style reforms (reduction of overtime)
- Work-life balance systems
3. Management reforms for utilizing diversity
- Communication reforms
- Opportunities for everyone to participate in management
- Corporate culture facilitating self-growth
Innovation and Evolution of Diversity Promotion Initiatives
MARUI GROUP's diversity promotion initiatives began from the starting point of gender diversity. The number of employees involved has grown with each coming year since these initiatives were kicked off in 2013. As a result, these initiatives have continued to evolve through the gradual broadening of their scope, from only women to including men, from management to employees, and eventually to encompass a greater range of workplaces and finally the entire Group.
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| 2014 |
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| 2015 |
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| 2016–2017 |
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| 2019 |
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| 2021 |
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| 2022 |
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Approach toward Promoting Diversity
The promotion of diversity has been clearly identified as a management strategy in the Company's medium-term management plans since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. Specific diversity promotion initiatives include MARUI GROUP's participation in A Group of Male Leaders Who will Create a Society in which Women Shine, a committee headed by the Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office of Japan. In addition, we distribute Diversity Books containing messages from senior management to all employees. The Company has also established the Diversity Subcommittee, which comprises representatives from management, and the Diversity Project Team, which is membered by employees from throughout the Group. With these two organizations in place, we are able to set directives, such as expanding grassroots activities for fostering diversity awareness within the Group, in a top-down manner, while simultaneously advancing bottom-up diversity promotion initiatives.
Top-Down Directives, Bottom-Up Initiatives
Top-Down
- Identification of diversity promotion as a management strategy in the Company's medium-term management plans since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015
- Participation of President Hiroshi Aoi in A Group of Male Leaders Who will Create a Society in which Women Shine (Cabinet Office) as a founding member
- Distribution of Diversity Books containing messages from senior management to all employees
Diversity Book (Japanese only)
Bottom-up
- Advancement of initiatives at workplaces spearheaded by Diversity Project Team members
- Support for projects from supervisors and Diversity Subcommittee members
Comprising representatives from management, the Diversity Subcommittee plays a role in supporting the Diversity Project Team. The members of this project team change with each fiscal year, resulting in an annual increase in the number of employees that have experienced membership. Moreover, the project team provides an opportunity for participants from differing backgrounds to learn of each other's individuality.
Another step was taken in the evolution of these initiatives with the launch of the Gender Equality Project Team in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. With the expressed goal of fostering a corporate culture encouraging employees to reach their full potential regardless of their gender, the Gender Equality Project Team is engaged in a crusade to eliminate preconceptions.
Activities of the Gender Equality Project Team
The official Groupwide Gender Equality Project Team was launched in April 2021. MARUI GROUP recognizes that empowering its female employees in the workplace requires the development of gender-equal work styles. Developing these work styles is a task that cannot be accomplished by women alone, but rather one that requires real change in the mindsets of their families and coworkers and of society as a whole.
This project team features a diverse membership of employees from a variety of workplaces and age groups. These individuals are engaged in self-propelled action for the purpose of achieving the project team’s expressed goal of fostering a corporate culture encouraging employees to reach their full potential regardless of their gender. Moreover, as is the case with other project teams, members are changed on an annual basis, which produces a new set of employees with increased knowledge and awareness each year and thereby contributes to the cultivation of a corporate culture that lends itself to business innovation.
Human Resource and Evaluation Systems
A Groupwide committee was assembled in December 2015 to examine the Group's human resource and evaluation systems. To date, this committee has held discussions on the implementation of these systems and their quantitative and qualitative targets with a total of 2,600 representatives from the employee base and from the Personnel Division. Based on these discussions, we launched new systems centered on value evaluations, which assess employees based on the sensibilities necessary for exercising our management philosophy and how well they are suited to each position, and performance evaluations, which look at the results of teams over a given period.
Work Style Reforms
Options for Flexible Work Styles
MARUI GROUP introduced a system that allows employees to work shortened hours in April 2021. Moreover, we have granted employees an additional day off that can be used for self-improvement, child-rearing, or long-term care purposes with the aim of helping employees better grow while working.
Meanwhile, the flextime system introduced in April 2022 enables employees to autonomously manage their monthly work hours, a move we anticipate will contribute to improved results and a greater degree of work–life balance.
Teleworking
MARUI GROUP encourages employees to utilize teleworking as a new work style for mobilizing diverse human resources and heightening individual productivity. This recommendation is being backed by efforts to develop a workplace environment in which employees feel safe teleworking. Measures to this end have included establishing teleworking regulations and providing employees with teleworking allowances.
