Tokyu Corporation
President and Director
(Masahiro Horie)
The social environment is changing due to megatrends such as a declining birthrate and an aging population, technological advances, and the current spread of COVID-19, and along with these changes, people's values and behavior are also changing significantly.
Founded in 1922, our company has expanded into areas deeply connected to the daily lives of our customers, such as transportation, real estate, and life service, but for a long time it was a male-dominated organization, and the human resources within the company tended to be homogenous. Without diversification of the organization, it is difficult to develop new approaches and ideas, and growth for the next generation cannot be expected. In addition, with the changing social environment, the number of human resources with various backgrounds is potentially increasing, and the promotion of diversity management within the company (creating an organization that makes use of diversity) is now essential.
We believe that by recognizing and accepting various differences, such as gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, family environment, experience, and values, new ideas will be born and this will lead to the growth of our company.
As symbolic numerical targets for promoting diversity management, we have set "the ratio of women in management positions of 18% or more" and "100% rate of male childcare leave taken" by the end of fiscal year 2026. While striving to achieve these targets, as a top leader, I will continue to actively communicate and be involved in diversity management so that our company will be one where all employees want to continue working.
One of Tokyu Group 's Management Policy is "Value individuality and encourage the best from each employee."
Based on this, we announced the "Tokyu Corporation (Consolidated) Diversity Management Declaration" in FY2017 to promote diversity management throughout the group and ensure that it is steadily adopted by all employees.
We are implementing initiatives to promote diversity management from the three perspectives of "systems, culture, and mindset." We believe that diversity management can only be realized by establishing systems that allow diverse human resources to thrive, fostering a corporate culture that respects and accepts differences, and giving employees the mindset and awareness to thrive by utilizing their own strengths.
In October 2014, we established a dedicated team within the Human Resources Department to promote diversity management. This team works closely with personnel, career development, employee benefits, and other departments to plan and implement various initiatives for employees.
In addition, we hold HR and labor-related information sharing meetings twice a year for managerial level Manager from all departments within the company, and we also regularly hold "HR Communication" events where the head of the HR department and other department heads can discuss Human Resources Strategy. In this way, we are building a system that allows for the sharing and exchange of opinions on topics related to diversity management with departments other than HR as appropriate.
The progress of diversity management promotion is reported as appropriate to the Human Resources Strategy Advisory Board, and recommendations are received from top management, including the President and outside Director. Progress is also reported and discussed at the Management Meeting and the Board of Directors as needed.
Additionally, as an initiative targeting consolidated subsidiaries, we hold information exchange meetings twice a year regarding human resources and labor, where best practices are shared among the various companies and key points for responding to legal reforms are explained.
Our in-house certified career consultants are available to assist with any concerns employees may have about work-life balance or LGBTQ issues.
In order to enable people with diverse backgrounds to continue working energetically at our company, we have established systems related to working styles, including "Smart Choice" (flexible working hours and place), and we are also working to create an environment that accepts diverse talent.
As times change, people with various backgrounds are now working in the same workplace. Nowadays, everyone continues to work while dealing with some kind of responsibilities such as childcare, nursing care, or medical treatment. Therefore, our company is focusing on creating an atmosphere where differences are respected and accepted.
*1 "Infertility treatment" can also be selected as a reason for taking saved annual leave
*2 From October 2020, the scope of eligibility will be expanded to include those who own company-provided mobile devices (PCs, iPads, etc.).
We believe that changing the mindset of managers is important to foster an organizational culture, so we have been holding management seminars for all Executive Officer, including the president, and all managers since fiscal 2015. Every year, we invite experts from various fields to give lectures on diversity topics such as work style reform and promoting women's participation in the workplace, and we also deliver a message from the president.
Starting in FY2022, the name will be changed to the Diversity & Inclusion Seminar to provide a forum for all employees to deepen their understanding of diversity, and it will be widely distributed online, including to consolidated subsidiaries.
We have implemented a mentor system since fiscal year 2017 with the aim of supporting employees' career development and promoting understanding of diversity management. Mentoring is provided on a wide range of topics according to the wishes of the mentor (the person seeking advice), such as career-related concerns or solving work-related problems.
From fiscal 2017 to 2019, the program was implemented in a three-tiered structure: Director-general manager level (those who are in charge of management at consolidated subsidiaries), Executive Officer-section manager level, and general manager-assistant manager level. Almost all directors and Executive Officer officers participated in the program over the three years, which gave directors themselves a strong sense of employee diversity and provided an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of promoting diversity management. From FY2021 the scope has been expanded, placing emphasis on employee initiative and making both mentors and mentors open to the public. By broadening the scope of applicants to mentors of all ages and careers, the program will be used by our employees, including young employees, to help them think about their future careers.
We provide regular e-learning courses to all employees (with company email addresses) to help them acquire basic knowledge about diversity and create an atmosphere in which differences are respected and accepted.
<Past themes (examples)>
In FY2020 we began producing an internal media with the aim of making diversity a little more fun and familiar to employees, and have been distributing it on the company intranet. In addition to visible diversity such as gender and age, we also cover less visible diversity themes such as LGBT and values, and furthermore introduce employees according to themes, thereby fostering employee awareness of diversity. Each issue also includes comments from management.
We also focus on less visible diversity, such as careers and values, by holding online events on the theme of differences in values and publishing interviews with employees on our owned media in which they talk about their career journeys and their thoughts about them, encouraging viewers (readers) to self-reflect and understand themselves, and to find role models within the company.
Our predecessor, Tokyu Corporation, was a company whose parent company was railway business. Although the business characteristics involved overnight shifts, late-night work by women was not legally permitted until 1999, and for a long time the number of female employees was very low. However, in response to changes in the social environment and customer needs, we gradually diversified our business into real estate and various life service, which required new ideas that had not been seen before, and organizational diversification, or diversity management, became essential. In particular, we have focused on promoting women's participation in the workforce, as this is the theme that has the greatest impact on diversity management given our company's current situation. Given that our company is in charge of a business that supports the lives of our customers in all aspects, and that many of our customers are women, we believe that it is natural for women to be present in our company, which provides services.
We started hiring female new graduates for career positions in 1988, and since then, we have been hiring, assigning, and promoting to managerial positions without gender discrimination. On the other hand, in terms of training, we are working to cultivate the mindset of female employees by consciously giving them opportunities and implementing various generous initiatives for women, such as holding seminars for women and actively sending them to external training programs only for women.
Additionally, we aim to grow the company by increasing the number of women in decision-making positions, and have established targets for the ratio of female managers, etc.
<Goals for promoting women's participation in the workforce>
Since fiscal 2014, we have been hosting these events for female managers and their superiors at our company and some of our consolidated subsidiaries, with the aim of building networks for female managers and discovering role models. Every year, we invite female executives from various fields to talk about their career journeys and their thoughts based on those experiences, and we also implement programs that will empower participants and send a message from the president.
Starting in FY2022, the name will be changed to Tokyu Group WE Seminar to provide an opportunity for everyone to broadly reexamine their careers, regardless of position, and the seminar will be widely distributed online, including to consolidated subsidiaries.
* WE: Women Empowerment
From fiscal 2015 to 2018, we held roundtable discussions for young female employees. Senior female employees, mainly in managerial positions, acted as lecturers and spoke about how to balance life events with work and their thoughts on careers, helping to dispel vague anxieties about the future of young female employees. From FY2020 onwards, we have elevated these events to diversity events that explore differences in values, with the hope that they will encourage people to reflect on their careers regardless of gender and use this to understand others.
We believe that in order to create an environment where everyone can continue to work with enthusiasm, it is essential to have a place where people can deepen their understanding of women's health issues, and so we have been holding regular seminars on women's health since fiscal 2016. The seminars focus on topics specific to women, such as menstruation, menopausal disorders, and breast cancer, and as we want men to actively learn as well, we have been holding them online since FY2020.
We believe it is important to provide a wide range of opportunities for women, whose career advancement and life events tend to overlap, to build and develop networks both inside and outside the company. Therefore, we send our female employees to external training programs exclusively for women, with the aim of allowing them to actively interact with women outside the company, leading to career reflection and broadening their horizons.
<Major training programs for which we have provided dispatched personnel>
We assign employees regardless of gender, and female employees are active in many departments.
Tokyu Corporation: Examples of female employee participation
Case study of female employees at Tokyu Railways
SHIBUYA109 Co., Ltd.
Entertainment secondment
President ＆ Representative Director
Ayumi Ishikawa
After working for a telecommunications company, I joined the company mid-career because I wanted to be involved in Urban and community development that is more closely tied to people's lives. After working on designing various services and building IT platforms to utilize customer touchpoints such as railway and retail as the group's customer base, I worked in the Retail Business Division, where I was in charge of formulating mid-term strategies for the retail business and promoting digital transformation. I took up my current position in April 2021.
SHIBUYA109 Entertainment's vision is "Making You Shine! Make young people's dreams and wishes come true." Through its commercial facility operations and various media and marketing businesses, the company is working on various initiatives to transform into a "youth solutions company that serves as a bridge between Gen Z, businesses, and society," by staying in touch with the insights of Gen Z and giving back to society as a whole its passion and needs.
With the hopes that "we want families to share the joys and challenges of raising children" and "by proactively taking parental leave, we want employees to deepen understanding of those around them and create an atmosphere in the workplace where it is easy to take parental leave," we have set a goal of "achieving and maintaining a 100% rate of male employees taking parental leave by the end of fiscal 2026" and are promoting the taking of childcare leave by male employees.
* The percentage of male employees who had children in the previous fiscal year and took childcare leave in the previous and current fiscal years
<Major Initiatives>
Target rate of men taking parental leave
Voices of men taking parental leave (interviews and roundtable discussions with men who are involved in childcare leave) (Only available in Japanese)
Rate of men taking parental leave and average number of days taken
At our company, employees with disabilities are active in various departments. They view their disabilities as characteristics that they possess, and are active in areas outside of their normal duties, such as holding sign language classes for information staff at commercial facilities and study sessions for station staff on how to treat hearing-impaired customers.
In April 2004, we established a special subsidiary company, Tokyu Will, with the aim of promoting the employment of people with disabilities. We create employment opportunities for people with disabilities and support their independence as members of society. Tokyu Will mainly handles cleaning work in railway related facilities, but also handles a variety of other tasks, such as cleaning bedding and printing business cards, and from FY2023, outsourcing administrative support work at Tokyu Corporation's headquarters. Each employee is highly motivated, with the motto of greeting people cheerfully and with care, following the procedure manual, and working together. As part of creating an environment where people with disabilities can easily work and want to continue working, we have "job coaches" who have completed specialized training, and half of the staff who support the work of people with disabilities are certified as "vocational life counselors for people with disabilities."
* The special subsidiary system allows a subsidiary to be established that gives special consideration to the employment of people with disabilities, and if certain requirements are met, the employment rate of people with disabilities can be calculated by combining the employment rate of the subsidiary with that of the parent company and affiliated companies. As a result, the employment rate of people with disabilities is 2.87% (as of June 1, 2023), which meets the statutory employment rate.
Service awards ceremony and new employee welcome party
Tokyu Corporation, Tokyu Railways Corporation, and Tokyu Labor Union Ekiden Race
Kanto railway Special Subsidiary Association Tee-ball Tournament
In addition, we have a diverse range of employees working actively, regardless of age, nationality, or other attributes.
For employees approaching retirement age, we have introduced the "Active 60s System" in March 2021, creating an environment in which they can continue to work steadily even after retirement. In addition, for those who have been rehired after reaching retirement age of 64, we introduce the opportunity to register their careers on the Tokyu Group recruitment website, and the company where they register will consider whether they can continue working after the age of 65 and demonstrate their abilities. In this way, we are providing an environment in which motivated people can continue working for a long time, with an eye on the era of 100-year lifespans.
We also provide support to help employees envision their post-retirement careers before they reach retirement age, such as career planning seminars for employees in their 50s and life planning seminars for employees in their late 50s.
In light of the current situation in which our customers and employees are becoming more diverse, we believe that viewing LGBTQ as "individuality that each person has," respecting that individuality, and helping each other to grow will lead to the sustainable growth of individuals and organizations, and to Urban and community development that meets the expectations of people with various lifestyles and work styles. Since fiscal 2016, we have been taking various measures, such as holding study sessions, setting up consultation desks, and changing our work rules.
<Major Initiatives>
