Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

  1. JAC TOP
  2. Sustainability
  3. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

With offices in 11 countries, JAC Group respects diversity and different values, including nationality, race, age, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion, and belief, and provides fair opportunities and an environment appropriate to individual circumstances.

“Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” is an essential value for us and "Fairness" a core part of our Philosophy & Policy. The Group is committed to creating a workplace where more professionals can flourish in their own way in a more open environment.

By introducing a diverse workforce to our clients, we will actively contribute to the creation of a society in which a wide range of professionals can thrive.

Adding Equity - Evolving to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

JAC Group introduced systems including a flextime system to enable employees to work flexibly and a childcare f inancial support system in the latter half of the 2000s, and has put in place an environment that enables women to play an active role at work while raising children. We have now established an internal system to provide similar support to LGBTQ+ employees, and through this we help our diverse employees to play an active role at work. In June 2021 we launched JAC Group Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee under which we established the Women’s Empowerment Committee and LGBTQ+ Committee, and have taken action since then in order to further enhance our promotion of D&I.

As of 2024, we have added equity (i.e. fairness and the elimination of disparities) to diversity, which refers to a broad variety of human resources co-existing without discrimination, and inclusion, which refers to everyone being welcome and having a feeling of reassurance and unity, and changed the name of the committee to JAC Group Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee. With this committee taking the lead, we are working on initiatives to provide an environment and opportunities so that anyone can play an even more active role.

To date, we have been promoting awareness-raising activities on unconscious bias in the workplace and various initiatives to ensure that the workplace is a place where all employees can work on equal terms. In addition to promoting awareness and utilisation of current internal systems, we will also work on reviewing them and formulating new ones.

JAC Group Structure for DE&I Promotion

LGBTQ+ Committee Activities

Aims to increase the understanding of LGBTQ+ among Group employees and to create a working environment where all employees, regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, can be equal and be themselves. We believe that this will enable us to utilise the different opinions and ideas of our diverse employees and create innovative power. We will also contribute to increasing the diversity of society through recruitment by consultants with an understanding of diversity.


Initiatives and Results to 2023

Initiatives

? Internal awareness survey every six months
? Training for directors, managers, and employees
? Creation and distribution of Ally declaration stickers
? Exchange meetings with departments responsible for LGBTQ+ matters at other companies
? Support Tips for Persons Registered as LGBTQ+ created as documentation for internal use and awareness raised among employees
? Exhibit at Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2023
? Declaration of support for Business for Marriage Equality campaign that promotes marriage equality in Japan (legislation for same-sex marriage)

Results

Percentage of employees who understand the meaning of the word “ally” increased from 21.1% in October 2021 to 88.6% in June 2023. JAC’s proactive initiatives are held in high regard, and for two consecutive years since 2022 we have received the highest rating of gold in the PRIDE Index created by the work with Pride voluntary organisation that evaluates initiatives for LGBTQ+ and other sexual minorities.

Initiatives for 2024

We have set the goal of increasing understanding of LGBTQ+ within JAC Group and creating a working environment in which everyone is free to be themselves, and will aim for targets including the creation of a workplace with no discrimination or harassment and more employees making an Ally declaration. While continuing our current initiatives, we shall work to promote diversity in society through our business, including holding joint events with companies and NPOs working on DE&I, exhibiting at Tokyo Rainbow Pride, and supporting those who register as LGBTQ+.



Women’s Empowerment Committee Activities

To realise an organisation where individual strengths and abilities can be demonstrated regardless of gender, we believe that the gender ratio in management positions should be equal to the ratio of all employees. To foster new ideas and generate innovation, it is necessary to have a diverse organisation in which female employees with management aptitude, motivation and potential can vividly demonstrate their strengths. To this end, we are promoting initiatives to confront unconscious bias in the workplace and increase psychological workplace safety.


Initiatives and Results to 2023

Initiatives

? Unconscious bias surveys
? Training for managers
? Selection of managerial candidates, and in-department development
? Establishment and operation of a mentor system for female leaders and managerial candidates
? In-house events including round table discussions with CEO and women in managerial positions and networking events
? Women’s Empowerment Meeting social gatherings hosted by President Hiromi Tazaki at JAC offices

Results

As a result of cultivating an organisational culture where all female employees can proactively pursue various challenges while maintaining a healthy balance between their personal and professional lives, the ratio of women among the leaders who are candidates for managerial positions increased from 27.3% (as of January 2023) to 29.0% (as of December 2023).

Initiatives in 2024

We have created five teams to undertake the work detailed below in order to achieve our goal of a 40% representation of women in managerial positions by 2030.

Team 1: Recruitment Runs informational sessions and other such initiatives for female managers in order to increase the ratio of women hired.

Team 2: Education Works on building a mechanism to increase the number of female leaders and managerial candidates, and runs a mentorship programme as well as events such as round table discussions with women in managerial positions as well as networking events.

Team 3: Retention Performs follow-ups concerning life events and works to establish an environment that makes it easy to discuss concerns in order to enable women to keep building their careers even after being promoted.

Team 4: Awareness Building Holds JAC Women’s Empowerment Salon networking events to exchange information with other companies and internally and externally communicates initiatives for the promotion of female empowerment with the aim of increasing awareness in order to contribute to the achievement of gender equality across society as a whole.

Team 5: System Raises in-house awareness and encourages use of the internal childcare support system and other forms of support, makes improvements to the system, and undertakes other such activities. Also runs the Working Parents Committee to facilitate information exchanges among parents who are raising children and to encourage male employees to take parental leave, and works on building a working environment to enable employees to play an active role over the long term while aiming to help female and all other employees take on challenges and increase their skills in their careers.



Status of Female Empowerment

With a female employee ratio of 40% at JAC Recruitment Japan and 46% across JAC Group as a whole, many women play active roles at JAC.
Ever since it was founded, JAC Group has been run as an organisation that provides all employees, regardless of their age or gender, with fair opportunities to leverage their individual strengths and capabilities to play an active role. As a result, 75% of our top consultants who have provided support for more than 300 successful placements are women.
On the other hand, the ratio of women in managerial positions at JAC is 21%, and so we are undertaking a range of initiatives with the goal of boosting this to 40% by 2030. (All figures current as of the end of 2023)

Percentage of female employees 40%、percentage of female managers 25%

Childcare support system

Since 2007 we have implemented our Employee Childcare Support Project, in order to contribute to measures aimed at tackling the declining birthrate in Japan and allow employees with children to balance work and childcare while continuing to build a career.
A childcare allowance of up to 100,000 yen/month (up to 9 months old) ? 30,000 yen/month (from the first to the third year of primary school) per child is provided to employees with children, so that they can return to work early without taking a career break.

Initiatives for the Employment of People with Disabilities

The JAC WakuHapi Farm

To enable people with various disabilities to work according to their unique capabilities in a stable manner, JAC takes into consideration working times and work content as necessary to build an environment that provides fair opportunities to play an active role. As of December 2023, our rate of employment of people with disabilities stands at 105% of the legally mandated rate, and as well as mainly being involved in back office work in our offices, we also have employees with disabilities involved in agricultural work at our three Wakuhapi Farms, in Ichihara City and Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture and Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture. The harvest from these farms is sent to each office, where employees can purchase it at on-the-spot sales. This has created a virtuous cycle in which the joy of the active role played by persons with disabilities and of harvesting is shared by everyone.