ChooseCSR / Environment
- CSR / Environment
- Social Initiatives
- Diversity Management
Diversity Management
Developing Diversity Management
| Fiscal 2019 Objectives | Fiscal 2019 Achievements | Self-Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
|
|
★ |
| Priority Objectives for Fiscal 2020 |
|
|
- Self-evaluation: ★★★ Achieved more than targeted / ★★ Achieved as targeted / ★ Achieved to some extent
Basic Concept
Sharp’s business philosophy, established in 1973, embraces the concept of diversity by stating that “It is the intention of our corporation to grow hand-in-hand with our employees, encouraging and aiding them to reach their full potential and improve their standard of living.” We aim to produce new value based on mutual respect among employees and to develop and propose products and services that can contribute to better lives, creating the next future with customers.
Diversity management is a human resources strategy for utilizing a diverse range of employees, but we regard it as a business strategy at the same time.
Promoting Activities of Female Employees
Sharp formulated an action plan based on Japan’s Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, which came into effect in April 2016. In line with this action plan, Sharp is working to raise the percentage of women in all job categories and increase the number of women in managerial positions. This will enable it to achieve further diversity in its workforce and contribute to society through better products and services. To this end, Sharp has set the following goals and is actively pursuing further engagement of its female employees.
| Goal | Deadline |
|---|---|
|
By the end of fiscal 2024 |
Promoting Female Employees to Managers
For years, Sharp has striven to expand the roles of women in the workplace and promote female employees to managers. In April 2020, the percentage of managers who were female was 3.4%, an almost six-fold increase compared to 0.6% in 2005, the year Sharp launched a program to promote more women to managerial positions.
Number of Female Managers
Supporting Employees Returning from Maternity or Childcare Leave
Sharp has held reinstatement support seminars every year since fiscal 2014. These seminars involve an explanation of the company’s current circumstances and the various support systems related to childbirth and nursing. As well, employees who have returned to work after taking childcare leave share their experiences and provide advice on how to balance work and child rearing. Attendees are also given the opportunity to build networks with other working mothers. These seminars help to resolve anxiety during time off from work and foster a positive mindset about returning to work. The classroom seminar in fiscal 2019 was replaced by an online seminar to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Eighty-eight employees attended the seminar via the web. The seminar video was also distributed to the supervisors of employees returning to work to help build a stronger, workplace-wide support system.
Screen shots of the reinstatement support video
In November 2019, we conducted a questionnaire survey of all employees who returned to work after taking childcare leave in fiscal 2014 or later. This was our attempt to create a working environment where employees can balance work and childcare and where women can play more active roles. The findings will be used to make Sharp a better and more attractive place to work.
Sharp also has two systems in place to support employees who are eager to advance their careers after returning to work from maternity leave or childcare leave. One is for giving one-off payments to employees making an early return from childcare leave and the other is for subsidizing the fees for non-registered daycare facilities for employees with children at age two or younger, who fall outside the scope of the government program for free early childhood education and care.
Sharp Corporation Personnel Composition, by Gender
(Persons)
Men |
Women |
Total |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directors, audit and supervisory committee members | 9 | 0 | 9 | |
| Employees | Executive officers | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Managers | 1,773 | 63 | 1,836 | |
| General staff （New employees who are graduates of universities and technical colleges) |
8,066 （110） |
1,067 （23） |
9,133 （133） |
|
| Subtotal | 9,847 | 1,130 | 10,977 | |
| Total | 9,856 | 1,130 | 10,986 | |
| Ratio | 89.7% | 10.3% | ||
(As of April 1, 2020)
Ratio of Men and Women at Major Overseas Subsidiaries
| Base | Directors, managers | Non-supervisory employees (permanent employees) | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
||
| SEC (US) | Sales, production | 81.8% | 18.2% | 70.6% | 29.4% | 71.4% | 28.6% |
| SEE (UK) | Sales, production | 80.0% | 20.0% | 73.7% | 26.3% | 75.1% | 24.9% |
| SEID (Indonesia) | Sales, production | 84.3% | 15.7% | 69.0% | 31.0% | 30.3% | 69.7% |
| SATL (Thailand) | Production | 73.9% | 26.1% | 28.9% | 71.1% | 30.0% | 70.0% |
| SMM (Malaysia) | Production | 29.2% | 70.8% | 37.6% | 62.4% | 44.8% | 55.2% |
| SOCC (China) | Production | 17.8% | 82.2% | 27.8% | 72.2% | 31.6% | 68.4% |
| NSEC (China) | Production | 36.8% | 63.2% | 63.0% | 37.0% | 63.0% | 37.0% |
| WSEC (China) | Production | 39.9% | 60.1% | 46.2% | 53.8% | 46.9% | 53.1% |
（As of March 31, 2020)
Expanding Opportunities for Non-Japanese Employees in Japan
With the globalization of business, Sharp is working globally to secure and systematically train human resources who can meet the needs of each workplace. In recent years, Sharp has promoted greater employment of international students and people of other nationalities residing in Japan. As of April 2020, there are approximately 160 non-Japanese employees from 14 countries working in various departments and job categories.
To avoid illegally employing undocumented workers, Sharp checks the residence status of all foreign nationals before hiring them. This follows the advice of the Immigration Services Agency of Japan’s Ministry of Justice. (Sharp uses an Agency website to validate residence card numbers.)
Reemployment of Retirees
In 2001, Sharp introduced a professional employee system that reemploys employees who have reached the mandatory retirement age of 60. This stems from the company’s stance on promoting the utilization of senior employees who have a strong work ethic. It also takes into consideration employees who wish to give back and contribute to society through the skills and knowledge they have accumulated over many years. Sharp reviewed its standards in response to the revised Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons, which came into effect in April 2013. Employees who have reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 and wish to continue working can be reemployed until the age of 65 in jobs that the company needs them for.
Promoting Employment of the Disabled
Ever since Sharp founder Tokuji Hayakawa established the “accumulation of community service” as one of the “Five Accumulations of Competency* ,” Sharp has been actively involved in social service and welfare. The entire Sharp Group makes efforts to promote the employment of the disabled and to create a better work environment for these employees.
Specifically, Sharp launched a recruitment website addressing the employment of disabled people. This website contains information on initiatives to hire such individuals to work in the Sharp Group. Sharp is also striving to make the working environment more accessible for disabled employees. For example, during training sessions attended by hearing-impaired participants, there are support measures such as voice recognition software and PC note-taking (a method for conveying audio information by entering it into the keyboard of a PC) so that voice communication is converted into text for participants to read and understand.
As of June 1, 2020, the Sharp Group employed approximately 320 disabled persons. The percentage of disabled employees among all employees was 2.46%, well over the 2.2% rate mandated by law (as stated in the Act on Employment Promotion etc., of Persons with Disabilities).
- * Accumulation of trust, accumulation of capital, accumulation of community service, accumulation of human resources, and accumulation of trading partners
Employment Rate of the Disabled in Japan
Online Recruitment Interviews
Sharp started to use online interviews for recruitment in the first half of fiscal 2019. With less time and location constraints, this new form of recruitment has allowed us to interview applicants flexibly, regardless of the place they live or work, the level of disability, and other factors. We are creating and increasing opportunities to approach a diverse range of talents by leveraging the benefits of online interviews.
Sharp’s entire recruitment interviews have gone online since the latter half of fiscal 2019 to protect the safety and health of both applicants and interviewers under the Covid-19 pandemic.