Do you know about the work style reform for Beauty Consultants (renamed to Personal Beauty Partners in 2020; hereafter “PBPs”)? It was called the “Shiseido Shock” by some media outlets and became a society-wide topic in 2014. At the time, there was a brief debate, centering around the question of whether or not Shiseido, a company that was thought to be kind to its female employees, had become stricter on working women.
This work style reform was part of our pre-planned initiatives to achieve the goal of “allowing employees who want to balance childcare and nursing care with work to also boldly take on the challenge of career growth,” rather than stopping at the stage of “being able to balance work and childcare and continue working.”

For more information on “Shiseido’s Progress of Empowering Women” thus far, please click here to view the video. （※Japanese Only）

*The above video uses YouTube, an external service, and is outside the scope of web accessibility supported by this site.

In this article, we interviewed Yuki Honda, the person in charge at that time, to look back at why we implemented the work style reform for PBPs for the promotion of women’s activities and how we overcame the challenges we faced in the process.

We interviewed Yuki Honda, who was in the Human Resources Department at the time and led the reform.

What was the situation like at the stores where PBPs worked at the time?

(Honda) At that time, the number of PBPs in the storefront who were working shorter hours was rising, resulting in an uneven workload, and complaints and comments regarding their dissatisfaction were reaching to the head office.
The Human Resources Department set up a project team to address those issues.

What were the key actions to promote the reform?

(Honda) We did not make any changes to the childcare-related rules themselves but reviewed the operational aspects of them. At the same time, we made efforts to improve communication with employees in various related positions.
The “shortened-working hour system” for childcare is capped at two hours per day, which allows for shorter working hours, but does not exempt PBPs from working late shifts and weekends under the “variable working hour system.” We began by confirming the understanding that the lack of late and weekend shifts was only a “consideration” by those around them.
We also spread the message within the company that childcare is a valuable experience that can lead to the formation of a diverse background and is a positive aspect of one’s career.

In promoting the action, the key person for the reform was the immediate manager who interviewed the employees in their childcare period. For this reason, we held workshops for managers all over Japan.
Since most of the managers at that time were men who had almost no experience with childcare or housework, we began by dispelling their concerns about what questions to ask regarding childcare and whether it was appropriate to inquire about their employees’ private lives.
In addition, we prepared Q&As to ensure that the explanation regarding the meaning of the changes to the operation of the system and the responses to questions were not compromised by inconsistencies among the interviewees. We also set the goal for managers to be sincere about “what they expect from employees in their childcare period and how they can support them to achieve the work style reform.”
It was extremely important that all employees, including managers, employees in the childcare period, and other employees who work with them, became aware that they were “involved” in this reform, so we developed these measures through repeated discussions with employees and with support from the labor union.
As a result of these efforts, 98% of the targeted PBPs reviewed their work style and prevented the decline of organizational capability in the workplace.

As the person in charge of implementing the reform, how did you feel about it?

(Honda) At the time, I was not only working but raising a child that was in preschool myself, so I was well aware of the difficulties of balancing work and family.
Meanwhile, balancing both required a considerable amount of efforts I had never experienced before, such as how to archieve the goal in the shortest possible amount of time and gain the understanding of the community and family members who would support me.
What I gained through these experiences is immeasurable. That is why I felt a strong need to demonstrate to the company and to society that “child rearing is not a detriment to your career, but rather a useful experience for your work.” Many of our employees who were raising children shared the same perspective. I think this is the reason why this reform was successful.

There is one more thing I had insisted on. It was that childcare and nursing care are not “special” events in our life. Although it is not supported by the rules, many things which are tough and not expected can happen in a long working life. Whether it is your child’s absence from school or you or your loved ones coming down with a serious illness, we all face our work responsibilities while dealing with these kind of situations. What I wanted to achieve through this reform was to realize a workplace where everyone can play an active role by sharing the most appropriate considerations with each other while learning self-management skills in our ever-changing lives.

Today, regardless of gender, not only for PBPs but also in other positions, employees are contributing to the company and society in various workplaces while balancing work and childcare. Many of them are now active in management positions.
This project made me realize that rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all system, we can create a workplace where everyone can play an active role by having managers, the employees themselves, and those around them seek out the best fit for each of them.

Thus, the work style reform for PBPs, called the “Shiseido Shock” at the time, became a key factor in the company's progress of raising up women to a stage where they are truly empowered in the company.

Now, almost 10 years after the work style reform for PBPs,
what impact did this reform bring on our company’s empowerment of women?
The outcomes of the reform are discussed in “The ‘Shiseido Shock,’ a Work Style Reform for Personal Beauty Partners – 10 Years Later –.”