Empowering Women at Shiseido
Women’s empowerment in the workplace is one of our top priorities. More than 80% of the Shiseido Group workforce is female. The percentage of women in leadership positions across our global organization is 58.3%. As of April 2022, 46% of our directors and auditors are women. In Japan, the percentage of female leaders is 37.3%. We aim to increase this to 50% by 2030 to fairly represent gender equality.
In Japan, we have long pursued initiatives to support the life events of women. Since the early 1990s, we have implemented childcare leave and shorter working hours — even before Japanese childcare and family leave laws were introduced. We opened childcare facilities (Kangaroom Shiodome in 2003 and Kangaroom Kakegawa in 2017) for Shiseido employees, as well as local businesses and residents. In 2008, we introduced “Kangaroo Staff,” a program to provide personnel as cover for Shiseido Beauty Consultants working shorter hours due to childcare. In 2021, 1,606 Shiseido Beauty Consultants in the childcare stage of life were supported by 1,090 Kangaroo Staff personnel nationwide. Through these activities, 99.3% of female employees across the Shiseido Group in Japan return to work following childcare leave.
We also hold a workshop program called “NEXT LEADERSHIP SESSIONS for WOMEN.” These workshops provide training specifically designed for female executive candidates. In 2021 alone, 48 women participated to learn management and business skills while exploring their individual leadership styles. And in the five years since its introduction, 44% (59) of the 133 women who participated in the program were successfully promoted.
To achieve a 50% ratio of female managers across all levels of the organization, the number of senior female leaders must be increased. For this purpose, we created “NEXT LEADERSHIP SESSIONS for WOMEN advanced,” which is designed specifically for female employees who head business divisions and business sites. In 2021, 15 women attended.
In 2020, we introduced “Speak Jam,” a mentoring program connecting female officers with female employees. In 2020-2021, 67 women in their thirties from fields such as sales, manufacturing and R&D participated.
We also focus on improving our workplace environments, making them better and more productive places not only for female employees but also those with diverse backgrounds and 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.
In 2021, we began renovating offices in Japan and other countries under the concept of “Intersection of Creativity.” This approach aims to create workspaces that foster innovation and open communication, encouraging a workstyle that leads to maximum results.
External Recognition
Our diversity and inclusion efforts have gained us the following external recognition from various organizations:
We will continue to support the activities of employees of diverse backgrounds — including foreign nationals and midcareer hires, in addition to women — to boost progress in diversity and inclusion.
