Realizing a Rewarding Workplace

Each and every one of Shiseido employees demonstrates professional expertise and leadership, and this has contributed to realizing a rewarding workplace and supported the Company’s growth.
Shiseido is now diversifying employee work styles by combining remote and in-office work.
Through continuous efforts and new challenges, the Company aims to achieve the goal of “work as part of a fulfilling life” to sustain both employees’ health and their personal growth.

Shiseido has introduced flexible working hours and working from home arrangements and utilized external satellite offices so that employees can freely choose where and when they work. Activity Based Working (ABW) now being promoted allows employees to choose the optimal environment according to different types of work. A wide variety of work spaces are provided in the company’s offices, such as private rooms suitable for work that requires concentration and a sofa area for idea creation in a relaxed atmosphere. Each employee has their choice of optimal environment to improve work efficiency, rather than spending a day at a designated desk.

In 2020, Shiseido promptly took various measures in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus. For example, the company accelerated digitization throughout the world, and made arrangements to allow flexible work styles including work from home, remote work, online meetings, and staggered work schedules. It also enhanced the system for diverse work styles by, for example, adopting flexible working hours without core time. Shiseido Japan headquarters conducted a study on employees’ productivity and mental health as they worked from home. Shiseido Travel Retail headquarters (Singapore) has launched a platform that allows employees to share a wide range of resources, including information on infectious disease, advice on physical and mental health, and tips on how to work from home efficiently.

With the spread of novel coronavirus, there is greater need than ever for working from home and commuting at off-rush hour times. Working from home arrangements will be applied to all Shiseido Group companies in Japan to pursue business growth through the health, security, safety and job satisfaction of employees, and further improvement of productivity. Going forward, the company will transition to the “Shiseido Hybrid Work Style,” which will provide tailored support to diverse work styles, to maximize synergy between remote and in-office work.

Achieving a work-life balance enables employees to use their newly created time to play active roles in society. Shiseido believes this not only leads to employee growth but also enhances the Company’s performance and its corporate value. To accommodate employees' lifestyles and help them advance their careers regardless of life events, such as childcare and family care, the Company has introduced a more fulfilling system above the standards currently provided by law. The Shiseido Group in Japan stipulates equal treatment for employees with same-sex and opposite-sex partners since 2017. Common-law and same-sex couples are also eligible for support provided to employees who are raising children or caring for families as detailed below.

In 2020, 1,370 Shiseido Group employees in Japan (including 67 men) took childcare leave, and the retention rate after returning to work was 94.1%. For those returning to work after childbirth, the Company also provided welcome-back seminars to ease anxiety about balancing childcare and work. Twenty-six employees participated in the seminars.

To help its employees balance childcare and work, the Shiseido Group in Japan offers a robust environment as detailed below.

Childcare leave: Shiseido employees may take maternity leave in excess of the legally required minimum for up to a total of five years during the period until their child turns three years of age. Employees are eligible to use the system three times for the same child under special circumstances. No wages will be paid by the Company to employees during childcare leave. However, employees receive childcare leave benefits through employment insurance. Shiseido has a communication system called the Childcare Plan which allows female employees to confirm with their supervisors the process from pregnancy onward to return to their workplace. This plan, intended to facilitate employees’ smooth return to work, reduces anxiety about pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, and is also a means to share information when a supervisor changes.

Maternity leave (Leave before delivery, leave after delivery): Employees may take up to six weeks paid leave before delivery and eight weeks partially paid leave after the birth of a child. For the unpaid portion, cumulative paid leave and annual paid leave systems are available. If employees choose to take unpaid maternity leave, they can claim maternity allowance through the Shiseido Health Insurance Society.

Paternity leave: Employees may take paternity paid leave* for up to two weeks during the period until their child turns three years of age. This benefit is mainly to encourage male employees to take paternity leave and is provided in excess of the legally required minimum.

• *When an employee's partner (spouse, etc.) gives birth, special paid leave of up to five days is available in addition to paternity leave.

Well-being of employees raising children: Japanese law requires the introduction of a short working hours system for employees with children until their child turns three years of age, Shiseido allows up to two hours reduction in working hours per day until the first end of March after their child turns nine years of age. During the period until their child turns one year of age, one hour of the reduced hours is covered as paid time.

Support for beauty consultants raising children: When beauty consultants, who work in over-the-counter customer service, utilize the “Childcare Time” system for short working hours, substitute staff called Kangaroo Staff are sent to support sales counter operations in the evening hours. Since the Company began employing Kangaroo Staff in 2007, it has become easier for employees working in sales operations to balance work and childcare.

Childcare facilities: The Company has two childcare facilities at offices where many Shiseido employees work: Kangaroom Shiodome (Minato Ward, Tokyo) and Kangaroom Kakegawa (Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture). These facilities offer regular monthly childcare and temporary childcare services. Caretakers can also utilize the services to relieve themselves from childcare for a while and refresh themselves. Services are offered to employees at discounted fees to help them return to work at an optimum time of their choosing. The facilities are open not only to Shiseido employees but also to those from nearby companies and neighboring residents. The Company also established KODOMOLOGY Co., Ltd. in 2017 within the Shiseido Group to entrust the operation and consulting of in-house childcare facilities.

Childcare contributions: Employees of the Shiseido Group in Japan who support children are provided allowances for expenses related to nursery school, babysitters, and education. (Childcare and education contributions are available through the Cafeteria Plan^*.)

• *A corporate employee benefits plan with a point system. Employees can select options freely from a menu of services using points they have acquired.

Paid leave for the healthcare of children: Employees can take paid leave on an hourly basis for children under elementary school age (usually age six and under) in need of nursing care due to sickness or injury, and when they receive checkups or vaccinations. Employees are entitled to paid leave in excess of the legally required minimum for up to five days (40 hours) a year for one child and up to 10 days (80 hours) a year for two or more children.

Partner accompaniment for childcare: Employees with children up to the third grade in elementary school (i.e., until the first end of March after their child turns nine years of age) may request to accompany their partners who are transferred within Japan so that employees can continue their careers.

Operational guidelines for transfers of employees raising children that involve a change of address: In Japan, the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act requires employers to consider employees’ situations regarding childcare or family care when they are relocated. Shiseido has established operational guidelines for the transfer of employees raising children that involve a change of address. Employees who utilize the “Childcare Time” or “Family Care Time” system are exempted from transfers that involve a change of address at their request.

Support plans listed below are intended not only for the family members of employees but also the families of their partners.

Family care leave: Employees can take leave as often as necessary for a family member requiring care, for a period of leave up to one year at a time and up to three years in total.

Family Care Time: Employees can take “Family Care Time” of up to two hours a day for purposes such as accompanying a family member to the hospital. This plan may be utilized for up to one year for one family member, and up to three years in total.

Family care contributions: Employees are provided allowances to cover nursing-care service and facility usage fees relating to family members who have obtained a Certification of Needed Long-Term Care. (Family care contributions are available through the Cafeteria Plan^*.)

• *A corporate benefits plan with a point system. Employees can select options freely from a menu of services using points they have acquired.

Leave to accompany partners transferred overseas: The Company allows up to three years of leave for employees to accompany their partners who are transferred overseas.

Special paid leave for volunteer activities: Employees can take paid leave utilizing the “Social Studies Day Scheme” for up to three weekdays a year for social contribution activities. The Program encourages each employee to gain perspective in solving social problems, to foster a culture of thinking and acting on their own, and to utilize their experience wider perspective from such activities in their work. The Company believes this will lead to value creation for Shiseido.

Shiseido Health Support Dial: This telephone consultation desk provides consultation on physical and mental health issues to employees, and disseminates the advice of consultation staff including public health nurses on balancing child/family care and work.

For more details on support programs for childcare and family care, please refer to Social Data.