Hitz Diversity
Why the Hitachi Zosen Group is working on diversity management
The Hitachi Zosen Group is working to promote diversity management as part of our operational strategy. It is our hope that this will lead to the creation of new value and reinforce our overall strength as a group. We shall achieve this by carrying out independent business activities while removing the barriers of internal organization, gender, and nationality and respecting the diverse sense of values each person working in the Group brings with them. Our goal with this is to achieve the “high-profit corporation with a presence in the community that can continue to create value useful to society” as raised in our corporate philosophy of “We create value useful to society with technology and integrity to contribute to a prosperous future.”
History of our initiatives for diversity
- 2005
- "Kickoff of the Corporation Culture Reform Movement" declaration
- 2008
- "Promoting Female Talent" declaration
- 2013
- Kurumin Accreditation
Commendation of Companies Promoting Gender Equality and Work-Family Balance
- 2015
- Kurumin Accreditation (2nd)
Set up the Diversity Promotion Section
- 2017
- Top Message"Balancing work and parenting / long-term care"
- 2018
- Eruboshi (Grade2) AccreditationTop message "Promoting workstyle reform"
- 2019
- Commendation of Diversity Management Selection 100
Initiatives related to the promotion of diversity in the Hitachi Zosen Group started with our Movement to Reform Corporate Culture in 2005 and our Declaration of Promoting Female Talent in 2008. The Movement to Reform Corporate Culture was aimed at reforming corporate culture by, for example, demolishing long-standing customs and bringing together the full strength of every employee in order to achieve our various management plans in a business environment that was going from bad to worse. And with the Declaration of Promoting Female Talent, as while the social climate following the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was for an increasing number of female managers or women who eagerly wanted careers, the corporate culture at the time was still very much male-centric, so by engaging with systemic issues and reforming awareness about management jobs regarding the promotion of female talent, we are working to move past this problem.
As we move towards developing a corporate environment where women can shine, we also believe that having a workplace where not just women but the full range of diverse personnel find it easy to work will lead to all employees, including women, to play active parts. So, along with publishing our Top Message, we established a Diversity Promotion Section in October 2015, and are promoting diversity for an even broader range of people.
Activities to promote diversity management
With the establishment of the Diversity Promotion Section, the Diversity Management Vision was also presented to all employees at the same time the Top Message was published, and we are moving ahead with initiatives in eight categories: corporate culture and organization, work style, gender (women), nationality (non-Japanese), age (seniors), parenting, long-term care, and disability.
| Engagement Category | Vision |
|---|---|
| Corporate culture and organization | All employees understand the importance of diversity, understand that it is one of the operational strategies for sustainable growth, and carry out their work autonomously and in collaboration with the perspective of what is optimal overall while recognizing each other. |
| Work style | A diversity of work styles to suit the needs of the individual and the nature of the work are recognized, employees understand each other’s work styles, and improve their output. |
| Gender (women) | Women can continue to work, playing active roles as they expand their careers. Superiors provide sponsorship for women’s career development. |
| Nationality (non-Japanese) | All employees respect each other’s cultural, social, and values differences and work while sharing goals regardless of nationality. |
| Age (seniors) | Senior employees can pass on their own skills and techniques to younger employees smoothly, and work ambitiously by utilizing their own skills and techniques. |
| Parenting | The environment allows a balance between work and parenting, and employees can exercise their own skills without having to give up their career.
|
| Long-term care | The environment allows a balance between work and long-term care, and employees can manage both thanks to diversity in work styles. |
| Disability | All employees recognize the meaning of working alongside employees with disabilities. There are workplace environments and support systems in place that allow employees with disabilities to utilize their strengths. |
Diversity management promotion system
Specific initiatives and results
Creating an environment where women can shine
- Strengthen the hiring of women
(goal for new hires: 50% office, 10% technical) - Support for hiring at the management level
Sponsorship training for superiors, interviews with female middle management - Support career development for female employees
Lectures on Work-Life Management in career plan training, implementation of programs for female employee career development, dispatching to external training, hold interviews with female employees (published on company intranet)
Increase in rate of
women among
new hires
7.5%
(2008)
17.1%
(average for 2018 to 2021)
Increase in
female
management staff
1person
(2008)
27persons
(as of Apr. 2019)
Support for hiring and training foreigners
- Actively hire foreign nationals
- Initiatives for creating an environment where foreign employees can play a part
Meet-and-greets for foreign employees in the company, seminars to support career development, seminars for developing leadership aimed at foreign superiors/instructors, interviews with younger foreign workers, classes on Japanese conversation, etc.
Increase in number of
foreign nationals
among new hires
1person
(2008)
41persons
(average for 2018 to 2021)
Support for balancing parenting and long-term care
- Opened portal site for parenting and long-term care
Contains list of in-house system, local information, articles by employees who have raised children, etc. - Created handbook for supporting a balance for employees (parenting, long-term care)
- Held seminar on returning to work after childcare leave and online seminar on balancing work and long-term care
- Spread awareness of participation in parenting for male employees
(Sent awareness e-mails (to the employee concerned and his supervisor when the child was born), held seminars) - Support from the systems side
Systems for childcare and long-term care that exceed legal requirements, partial paid childcare leave, hourly-based paid leave, shortened hours/shortened day working, etc.
and long-term care
and long-term care
Initiatives for work style reforms
- Published Top Message
- Implemented various measures for work style reform
- Formulated “Work Style Reform Action Plan” for each department
- Introduced work from home system, satellite offices (Kanto, Osaka)
- Established lights-out at set times (Head Office), “focus time”
- “Smart & Easy Style” for freedom of wardrobe choices (Head Office, Tokyo Head Office)
- participation in “Telework Days”
- “Training for Promoting Work Style Reform and Improving Corporate Culture”
