Empowerment of Women Dialogue between the President and Female Employees

Matsumoto: Companies are trying to increase the percentage of female managers, from the perspective of ensuring diversity in their core human resources. By placing more women in positions where they can make independent decisions within certain parameters, we are aiming to uncover perspectives and values that we have not considered before, and that will lead to sustainable growth for the Company.
The division I belong to has a high percentage of women and many mid-career professional hires. So during discussions, there are a variety of opinions exchanged and new discoveries made. We promote diversity throughout our company, and by bringing in new perspectives from employees who have been in the minority, we can fully expect to see groundbreaking business improvement plans and new business ideas.

President Kojima: Recently, a female member of the Research and Development Headquarters made a wonderful suggestion, and her fresh perspective was an eye-opener. Having diverse perspectives is essential to our continued growth as an innovator. As for the ratio of female managers, we will continue to strengthen our efforts, as our current situation is not up to the generally verified corporate average.

Koyanagi: My awareness greatly changed when I was assigned to a district office of the Technical Engineering Division in my 15th year at the Company. I realized that my knowledge of technology was limited in comparison to my company history. I challenged myself to acquire qualifications as a first-class plumbing construction management engineer and a society-certified equipment engineer, took an examination to change course to a career-track position, and even took an examination for promotion. I wanted to show other female employees that everyone has a chance, and that I wanted this trend to continue. My aim was to move from an area-based position to a global position, because I wanted to expand my network and try experiencing other stores one time.

Yoshida: I really understood what you meant when you said that your awareness has changed, since you were assigned to the district office of the Technical Engineering Division. I work in sales, and the field training I had for the first year and a half since I joined the Company was a great experience.

Takeda: I do not think there is any particular on-site work that can be done just by women or men. Employees just do what needs to be done, and whether they can or cannot do it is because of a difference in their abilities, not a difference between genders. However, there are fundamental gender-based differences in terms of physical strength, frequent changes to one’s physical condition, and how easily one is affected by life events. So, a challenge for the future will be how to clear these issues. I believe that overall, company systems are being put in place to enable job continuity for women. However, I believe that more thought should be given to operations and methods that are in accordance with on-site operations.

Mitsuzawa: I agree. This is not just a problem for female employees. Since the system has been enhanced through workstyle reform, the next step is to improve the environment so that all employees can use the system equally. It would also be good if the system could be used in a way that is more flexible and aligned with changes in people’s life stages.