Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)

To implement the Shiseido Corporate Philosophy, we recognize and respect individual differences based on the concept of PEOPLE FIRST regardless of differing perspectives or attributes, such as gender, age, or nationality. We continue to develop personnel systems and policies to nurture a culture for discussing new value creation. We create new value by promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

More than 80% of Shiseido Group employees are women, with 58.8% of women across our global organization in leadership positions. Women hold 45.5% of the positions on our Board of Directors (as of April 2024). The percentage of women in leadership positions in Japan is 40.0% (as of January 2024). We believe that empowering women can help spark innovation and in turn promote further growth at Shiseido, allowing employees to fulfil their potential. To drive this, we aim to increase the percentage of women in leadership to 50% by 2030 to fairly represent gender equality.
For many years at Shiseido Japan, we have offered and promoted a wide range of systems and support measures for women’s life events. Since the early 1990s —even before the introduction of childcare and family care laws—we implemented childcare leave and shortened working hour systems. We have opened two in-office childcare facilities — KANGAROOM Shiodome in 2003^*1, and KANGAROOM Kakegawa in 2017 — for Shiseido employees, as well as local businesses and residents. Further, to provide flexible childcare in line with diverse workstyles, in April 2023 we opened KANGAROOM+, a comprehensive childcare facility offering mainly babysitting services. In addition to ensuring more freedom of time and place by offering one-on-one childcare instead of group childcare, the scope of services has been extended to include elementary school students. The aim is to cater to the problems that parents face when their children enter elementary school first grade.^*2
In 2008 we introduced the Kangaroo Staff program to secure personnel to cover for Shiseido Personal Beauty Partners who have to work shorter hours due to childcare. In 2023, 479 Kangaroo Staff helped to support the work-life balance of 1,411 Shiseido Personal Beauty Partners raising young children. As a result of initiatives like these, 92.3% of employees across Shiseido Group in Japan return to work following childcare leave, and we continue to maintain this high percentage.

We are also working to improve our workplace environments to create comfortable workplaces not only for women, but for employees with many different attributes. To ensure health, safety, job satisfaction and security, we are implementing various workstyle revisions. These include flextime with no core hours, remote work (Shiseido Group in Japan), and the introduction of “Shiseido Hybrid Work Style,” an innovative new arrangement that allows employees to combine in-office work with remote work to maximize productivity.

We focus intensively on cultivating a company culture in which diverse employees play active roles while demonstrating their skills and proactively building their careers.

Shiseido is implementing initiatives to improve DE&I literacy among employees. As of 2023, we have promoted DE&I training for marketers and creators in the Japan Region. Employees in charge of marketing and creativity are important points of contact with consumers. They have studied appropriate responses and expressions for marketing and advertising so that they can create new value through brand and business activities based on the DE&I approach. As a result, we have had positive reactions linked to behavioral change.
In 2024, we started DE&I training for Executive Officers, department heads, and other leaders in the Japan Region.

The Shiseido Group in Japan employs approximately 400 employees with disabilities who put their experience and strengths to use regardless of workplace or type of work. The nature and extent of disabilities vary, but we tailor arrangements and resources to individual situations, and regard them as valuable talents in the workplace.
The employment percentage for people with disabilities is 4.52% at Shiseido Company, Limited. The percentage for the Shiseido Group in Japan is 2.82% (as of June 2023). Hanatsubaki Factory Co., Ltd, a special subsidiary of Shiseido where most employees are people with developmental challenges, operates in nine locations, including Tokyo, Tochigi, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, and Fukuoka, employing more than 60 individuals with disabilities (as of June 2023).

Based on the above employment policies, many employees with disabilities work as full-time employees (FTE) under the same personnel system as employees without disabilities. The program for developing human resources, including training, is also the same as for employees without disabilities.
When we recruit employees, we ask hopeful applicants in advance about any special considerations for their disability before we conduct the interviews. We also organize work experience workshops to promote understanding of the work among students with disabilities. Before joining the company, supervisors at the workplaces and HR representatives confirm any necessary adaptations. If necessary, they also arrange seminars to deepen understanding of disabilities among employees in the department where the new staff member is assigned.
After new recruits join the company, we continue to follow up in collaboration with superiors, dedicated personnel supporting the retention of employees with disabilities, industrial physicians and public health nurses. In case of rehabilitation, tests, or hospital visits related to the disability, employees can take advantage of the outpatient leave. We also create flexible environments adapted to individual requests for aid and equipment. Further, in the SWING Project to Increase Job Options for Employees with Visual Impairments that was launched in 2019, a new job category named “online sales and marketing” was created based on a proposal made by employees with visual impairments themselves. We built systems and frameworks that permit visually challenged people to work and continued recruitment activities for three years from 2021. A total of four new employees with visual impairments, including one who joined in 2023, were appointed as salespeople in the three years.
We are deepening company-wide understanding of employing persons with disabilities. To that end, we incorporate content about disability in management training, and set up information exchanges for HR representatives.

Shiseido has become more active in employing human resources with diverse nationalities and cultural backgrounds overseas facilities and in Japan.
Since 2018, we have mandated English as the official in-house language even in Japan in order to link talent diversity with value creation. Through e-learning and workshops on unconscious bias, we foster an inclusive organizational culture where employees with different backgrounds work in various departments. For non-Japanese nationals hired by Headquarters, the Company conforms to Japanʼs immigration control systems, especially related to resident status requirements, and treats them appropriately based on relevant Rules of Employment.
To accommodate diversity in faiths, we have also set up a prayer room at our Shiodome office.

Shiseido has introduced a system to re-hire experienced employees after they reach the retirement age of the Company (age 60) since 2006, so that they can continue to work as long as they have the motivation and ability to do so. In 2021, the system was revised and name changed to the EL Partners Advanced System to enhance responsibilities and reemployment conditions. In anticipation of the advent of the 100-year life era, we have changed the system so that employees who are highly motivated to grow and contribute to the Company even after retirement can play an active role regardless of age.

The Shiseido Group in Japan employs fixed-term employees based on labor-related laws and regulations and provides appropriate treatment with various social insurance and holidays stipulated by the law according to employment regulations and various other regulations. For fixed-term employees of five years or more at the Company, we switch their employment contract to an indefinite-term contract upon request in accordance with the law established in 2018.

Temporary employees work at the Shiseido Group in Japan according to the Worker Dispatch Law. With regard to the employment of temporary employees at the Shiseido Group, we implement various measures such as concluding agreements with employment agencies, development and management of registers, and appointment of personnel in charge of management, all of which is based on the Worker Dispatch Law policy related to measures that should be established regarding employment agencies and other relevant laws and regulations. Shiseido continuously and appropriately responds to amendments in or reinterpretations of respective laws and regulations.

The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives at Shiseido have been recognized with several awards. We will continue to accelerate Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) to support not only women, but employees with diverse backgrounds, including foreign nationals and mid-career hires.

In 2017 and 2022, Shiseido obtained Gold, the highest rating in the Pride Index. The index is developed by Work with Pride Association, which evaluates initiatives to support LGBTQ+ and other sexual minorities in the workplace.