United to Inspire Inclusion

The ACCJ Kansai Chapter marks a decade of driving business through diversity

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Kansai Chapter celebrated a milestone in its advocacy efforts on November 21 at the 10th anniversary Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Summit, which took place at Oriental Hotel Kobe.

Host Mie Kitano, co-chair of the Kansai Diversity and Inclusion Committee, welcomed the 130 in-person and 30 virtual guests. She shared how, over the past decade, many positive changes have been achieved, but stressed that there still a long way to go on the journey to true D&I.

“This year’s theme, United to Inspire Inclusion, emphasizes the importance of unity and collaboration in driving meaningful change,” she said. Highlighting the critical role of inclusion in creating an prosperous future for all, she encouraged all participants to actively engage in conversations aimed at realizing equality.

Jason R. Cubas from the US Consulate General Osaka-Kobe then delivered opening remarks.

“I’m pleased to join you for the 10th anniversary of this D&I summit under this year’s theme, United to Inspire Inclusion,” said the consul general. “This theme speaks to something essential. D&I must be woven into the fabric of our organizations and industries as core components of the larger strategies and operations.”

Noting that one of the four key pillars in the US national travel and tourism strategy is to ensure that tourism experiences are diverse, inclusive, and accessible, Cubas cited D&I as a guiding principle that can elevate entire industries by shaping how we engage the world.

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“An inclusive approach allows us to understand our colleagues, clients, and communities more deeply, and to unlock new markets and innovate in ways that would otherwise remain out of reach.”

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“In Kansai, we saw an inspiring example of this principle in action [in October], when Osaka hosted the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association for their global conference,” he shared. “It was the first time this was held in Asia, and it wasn’t just a milestone for tourism; it was a testament to how an industry’s inclusive practices can drive growth, innovation, and new opportunities.

“Across all sectors, organizations have the opportunity to integrate D&I into their strategic vision. Whether it’s the tourism industry committing to new ways to welcome people of all backgrounds or technology companies designing products accessible to everyone, D&I can and should be foundational to every facet of how we operate,” he continued. “An inclusive approach allows us to understand our colleagues, clients, and communities more deeply, and to unlock new markets and innovate in ways that would otherwise remain out of reach.”

Panel Discussion

Following Cubas’s remarks, Eli Lilly Japan K.K. President and Representative Director Simone Thomsen moderated a panel with three leaders from different industries:

• Irina Menshikova, president of Amway Japan G.K.
• Mari Nogami, president and representative director of Haleon Japan K.K.
• Victor Osumi, managing director and president-Japan of Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Thomsen, who is also the ACCJ Kansai governor, kicked off the discussion by asking each panelist to recount one success story from their company that has inspired inclusion and driven business.

Nogami, who was the first chair of the Kansai Women in Business Committee—now known as the Diversity & Inclusion Committee—shared how Haleon approaches diversity as a new company. The consumer health brand was spun off from GSK in 2022.

“As an independent company newly listed on the New York and London exchanges, having gender diversity is almost mandatory,” she explained. “The company already had made an external commitment that at least 50 percent of the board, executive leadership team, and the business unit leadership would be female. The board is already 40 percent female and the executive team is 47 percent female. That is a serious commitment. We do it not only for welfare; we do it because it really drives business.”

Next, Menshikova talked about Amway’s Women’s Inclusion Network, which champions flexible workstyles and drives the progression of female leadership. She was leading Amway’s operations in Ukraine, Russia, and Central Asia before arriving in Japan in 2022.

“This is a country with a lot of challenges in diversity and inclusion, so it’s my personal passion to drive this agenda,” she said. “Amway, as a leading company in the direct sales industry and one of the biggest private American companies which has always been focused on multicultural, multi-generational and disability [issues] gives me the opportunity to execute that agenda.”

Currently, Amway in Japan has employees from 16 countries, while 62 percent of its workforce here is female. Cultural matters, however, may prevent women from advancing their careers Menshikova noted. “So the flexible lifestyles help them to balance their personal responsibilities with their job responsibilities.

Lastly, Osumi, who is also ACCJ president, explained the importance of sourcing from partners who support diversity and described how Delta’s approach extends D&I to customers and the community.

“We collected hundreds of images that anyone can download free of charge to show how to accommodate a person with a disability,” he said. “We have more than 200,000 wheelchairs now in place and have an offering tailored especially to customers who use wheelchairs.”

The Atlanta-based company is also supporting entrepreneurship, creating almost $559 million of revenue for Black-owned businesses as well as women in business.

Challenges and Solutions

As the discussion continued, Eli Lilly’s Thomsen pointed out that D&I is a complex, ongoing journey and asked the panelists about the challenges they face and the solutions they are finding.

An example given by Osumi is how cultural differences impact perceptions of D&I among Japanese employees, and how life events such as pregnancy can lead to unintentional exclusion. The lack of women involved in discussions at the government level about D&I reform make finding solutions more challenging, he noted.

Menshikova cited hurdles for team integration created by the Covid-19 pandemic. With many employees joining remotely and lacking in-person interaction, she said, challenges in managing cultural and generational differences have arisen and linger. Adjusting communication styles to suit a diverse workforce is essential, she added.

Looking at multinational work environments, Nogami sees expectations for how female leaders should behave as an obstacle. Because Asian women may have grown up in cultures where they were told not be assertive, they may struggle to overcome this when making a point at work. She advocates for companies to have not only a mentor but career sponsors who are very serious about promoting these talents who may not be showing their real potential due to cultural expectations.

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“While D&I is an important part of an organization’s overall strategy, it takes individuals at all levels to play an active role in building an inclusive culture.”

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Targeted Learning

After the panel drilled down into more detailed aspects of D&I, participants split up into three breakout groups:

• Beyond the Quota for PWD
• Managing Uncomfortable Conversations
• Breaking Boundaries: Closing the Gender Gap and Retaining Talent for Salesforce Diversity

In Beyond the Quota for PWD, Kenji Hirano (president and representative director of Adecco Japan and director of LIXIL Advanced Showroom Corporation) joined Asahi Group Holdings’ Senior Manager of Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mizuki Hsu to promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities (PWD). The workshop, facilitated by Kitano, highlighted the importance of creating inclusive environments that go beyond mere compliance with quotas to foster genuine opportunities for PWDs and to uncover biases.

Managing Uncomfortable Conversations featured Lumina Learning Global Partner for Japan Elizabeth Handover guiding participants through the key skills and techniques for professional, objective communication. The session covered techniques for crafting the conversation and highlighted factors that can lead to success or failure. Handover provided highly practical advice that could immediately be applied in the workplace. The session was facilitated by committee Vice-Chair Naomi Iwasaki.

Breaking Boundaries: Closing the Gender Gap and Retaining Talent for Salesforce Diversity explored gender diversity in Japan’s sales sector. Shimako Takayama (commercial diversity, equity, and inclusion leader at Eli Lilly Japan), alongside facilitator Alison Chen (vice-chair of the ACCJ-Kansai Diversity and Inclusion Committee), discussed the trends, barriers, and strategies to foster greater inclusion and empowerment to help retain talent.

Connections

The summit concluded with a networking session, and at the end of the day, participants no doubt felt the embodiment of what Consul General Cubas said in closing his opening remarks: “While D&I is an important part of an organization’s overall strategy, it takes individuals at all levels to play an active role in building an inclusive culture. Thank you all for your commitment to this work. I hope today’s discussions inspire everyone to keep moving forward, weaving D&I into every part of what you do.”

Individual Matters

Companies put diversity, equity, and inclusion at the center of return-to-office policies

Offices in Japan have seen a revolution over the past two years or so, with the pandemic having ushered in the need for remote work. Despite being largely unfamiliar with the practice, companies across the country stepped up to the challenge. But, as living with Covid-19 has become standard, many businesses have back-pedaled or adapted their approach as they navigate a return to the office. Others have come to see the new normal as an opportunity to reflect on where, when, and how employees work, to foster greater productivity, and expand their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

The ACCJ Journal spoke with leading companies in various industries to explore the lessons they have learned from the pandemic vis-à-vis work and what the future might hold for employees in Japan.

Starting from Behind

When Japanese enterprises were slow to respond to the government’s request, in February 2020, to allow 70 percent of employees to telework to help contain Covid-19, they came under fire. Critics said companies’ working cultures were outdated and being held back by a focus on presenteeism and physical administration tools such as hanko (seals).

A study by Tokyo-based brand consultancy Riskybrand Inc., however, shows that Japan was simply behind the curve. Only five percent of the country’s workforce was practicing telework pre-pandemic (compared with 32 percent in the United States and 27 percent in the United Kingdom), making remote work an abrupt switch for Japanese companies.

Still, many were able to implement the recommendation quickly. According to a Riskybrand survey of some 1,700 businesspeople in Japan, in May 2020 almost 40 percent were working remotely at least three days a week, of whom 20 percent were doing so daily. The larger the company, the more extensive the implementation, with 30 percent of large organizations (those with more than 3,000 staff) offering telework compared with 14 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), defined here as having fewer than 50 employees.

Managed talent services provider MESHD, a brand of Tokyo-based HCCR, was among those to respond swiftly. On the declaration of Covid-19 being a pandemic, the enterprise shifted from office-based work to a compulsory work-from-home model across its Japan and India offices.

“On the whole, the company responded positively to the changes, and we saw no visible dips in performance and limited impact on team dynamics,” said Chief Executive Officer Sean Travers. “We felt the team was working as effectively remotely as they [had been] from the office.”

“Covid-19 and the workstyles adopted to mitigate it have boosted understanding of, and a desire for, greater DEI in business.”

Following the government’s first state of emergency declaration, healthcare company Novartis Pharma also introduced remote work for all staff, unless it was absolutely necessary for them to go to the office or attend critical customer visits. To support employees affected by the closure of schools and childcare centers, Novartis provided additional childcare services until the end of 2020.

Coca-Cola (Japan) Co., Ltd., meanwhile, encouraged employees to work remotely in the early days of the pandemic, before closing its office for a time in March 2020 and asking all staff to telework. On reopening, the organization capped office attendance at 25 percent to ensure employees were allowed to access the office for critical work of specific needs.

From those early days, the uptake of remote work by companies with white-collar workers has continued to rise—and increasingly so with the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. By fall 2021, 52 percent of enterprises in Japan were offering telework, according to statistics portal Statista.

Office Allure

With Japan now well into the third year of the pandemic, many companies are returning to the former status quo.

In a survey of 6,500 companies by Tokyo Shoko Research, Ltd., 27 percent of those offering telework during the height of the pandemic had stopped doing so as of June, up from 21 percent in October 2021. Only 29 percent of those surveyed now offer the option of remote work, down from 37 percent in October 2021. Large enterprises were more flexible (57 percent offered telework) compared with 24 percent of SMEs.

And it is not only companies that are trying to go back to the former normal. About one-quarter of those offering teleworking said only 10 percent of their staff were using the option as of June 2022.

The reasons for this are unclear, especially as 80 percent of employees surveyed by Teikoku Databank Ltd. in February 2022 said they wanted to continue teleworking, citing reasons such as saving time on commuting, having freedom to care for family members, or gaining greater work–life balance.

But the past two years have shown that teleworking can pose difficulties for some groups, including those without an adequate office setup or a conducive working environment at home, which may make returning to the office appealing.

From the early days of the pandemic, EY Japan recognized that not everyone would have the ideal environment for telework and supported staff financially by purchasing display monitors, microphones, and other equipment for their use at home.

The company’s DEI leader, Megumi Umeda, said the move acknowledged the potential of remote work to “enhance the workforce by welcoming working mothers, people with disabilities, and others who have limitations on their workplace and working hours.”

Patrick Jordan, vice president of human resources for Coca-Cola Japan & Korea at The Coca-Cola Company, also found that not all staff were equipped—physically, mentally, or emotionally—to work from home, noting that the company’s implementation of telework was “a great learning experience” regarding employee needs.

“While we wanted to ensure the safety of our employees from Covid, we also recognized we have to ensure their safety in many other ways, such as mental health,” said Jordan, adding that staff with medical concerns or who were uncomfortable working at home were allowed to return to the office, while undertaking thorough infection control measures.

For MESHD’s Travers, only a few months of telework brought to light issues for new hires. “New joiners were really struggling with their onboarding,” he said, noting that he “underestimated the impact of them not being in the same room as senior members” who could guide them in phone interactions, exchanges with fellow employees, day-to-day queries, and so on.

Learning Lessons

As the advantages and disadvantages of telework have become more apparent, so too have some successful approaches to future workstyles. Many companies have been finding out more about what employees want and giving them the choice to work in ways that suit them, all the while offering a hybrid work model.

Coca-Cola removed the office’s staff capacity rate of 25 percent in June and monitored attendance to see if there were any changes. When the number of staff working in the office didn’t rise, leaders had a sense of validation, believing that staff “didn’t want to return, didn’t see value in returning, or were not sure how to return,” explained Jordan.

However, the subsequent introduction of flex guidelines, to enable teams to choose how to work virtually, has resulted in an organic increase in attendance to 30 percent capacity. This shows that “clearer instructions are needed to help people settle into a more balanced hybrid way of working,” he added.

He also pointed out that survey data is critical for gaining better understanding of the desirable elements of hybrid working, as well as people’s concerns about working at the office or at home.

Flexibility is also key at Novartis. The company offers a framework called Choice with Responsibility, which was implemented in July 2020 in the belief that the pandemic would last longer than the world anticipated.

“This evolving framework asks employees and leaders to continue redesigning the way we work and make the best choices for high-impact hybrid work—not just for the individual but also for the team,” explained Chanel Leitch, country head of people and organization for Japan at Novartis.

Novartis has a new space for individual work which can be easily converted for small group discussions or medium-sized group short meetings.

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While the company continues to restrict the number of staff working at headquarters to 50 percent of each division at any one time, other limitations, such as the number of face-to-face attendees in meetings, have been relaxed to give staff autonomy over their workstyle. As a result, “each employee is now used to making sound decisions as to how they can best produce outcomes as an individual and a team in a hybrid working environment,” said Leitch, adding that the approach is “a key driver of engagement and continued retention.”

Similarly, EY Japan’s recent people survey also shows that continuing to offer telework options has resulted in improved engagement and inclusivity.

Since introducing this workstyle in 2018, the company launched its Flex and Remote Program in 2020 as a commitment to employees. EY Japan has promised to continue offering staff flexibility regarding where and when they work, regardless of the Covid-19 situation.

“Each person’s schedule is unique, considering the needs of the individual, the project they are working on, and the needs of the client and the team,” and therefore requires flexibility, Umeda said.

A new volunteer program was implemented to provide financial support to employees who wanted to move outside central Tokyo and work remotely from the suburbs. This supports employees desire to live outside Tokyo and contributes to the larger community.

Big Picture Thinking

Looking ahead, the future of work is likely to focus on how and why people work, as much as where and when they work. For many companies, the pandemic has shone a light on what work traditionally has been and has prompted or accelerated discussion on what work could be after some out-of-the-box thinking.

“As an organization, we need to think about the reasons we want our team to spend time together in the office,” said Travers. “It needs to go beyond just working at your desk.”

Indeed, with staff now able to conduct meetings online and do “deep work” and other individual-based tasks remotely, companies are keen for office-based time to focus on interactive activities, such as mind mapping and team building.

Coca-Cola has redesigned one floor of its headquarters as the Coke Collaboration Center, an experimental initiative to encourage teamwork via hot desks, lockers, meeting spots for different groups, and phone booths for individual or remote meeting participation.

EY Japan’s Umeda agrees that the role of the office has changed, noting that it should “become a collaboration space for colleagues, clients, and business partners, not a workspace.”

And, given that online employee social events “could never really be a substitute for an in-person, on-premises event,” office time should also be used for staff to spend time together and build relationships with each other, said Travers. For MESHD, a key reason for the hybrid work model is to forge a strong company culture and sense of community via employees’ in-office time.

Jordan agrees, noting that “the need for social interaction is very important.”

To encourage it, Coca-Cola has begun offering events at the office such as free lunches in the cafeteria, a summer festival that includes employees’ family members, and a bar serving alcoholic beverages.

“Each employee is now used to making sound decisions as to how they can best produce outcomes as an individual and a team in a hybrid working environment … the approach is a key driver of engagement and continued retention.”

Most important though, Covid-19 and the workstyles adopted to mitigate it have boosted understanding of, and a desire for, greater DEI in business.

EY Japan’s Umeda said people’s own challenges during the pandemic had made them “recognize the importance of inclusiveness, equity, and respect for others.”

The Novartis Choice with Responsibility framework has enabled the company to further embrace diverse needs and “look for ways to progress in building an inclusive environment,” said Leitch.

And at Coca-Cola, the hybrid work model is fostering inclusivity. “Returning to the office is all about inclusion,” said Jordan. “Each [employee] has developed personal habits which interact with their professional habits … so we need to be mindful of each individual’s needs and not treat everyone the same.”

MESHD’s Travers also has staff front of mind. The pandemic has enabled him to “come to the realization that it’s the employees who will dictate the future of work, irrespective of companies establishing regulations,” he said.

Indeed, the pandemic has increased employees’ willingness to change employers if they are not satisfied with their workstyle. In June, the JLL Workforce Preferences Barometer found three out of four of the 4,000 office workers surveyed would reconsider their involvement with their company if they wanted greater work flexibility.

Setting up suitable work models and fostering DEI has, therefore, never been so important for recruitment and retention.

Certainly, Travers notes, companies investing “time, money, and resources into their employees’ skills, emotional wellbeing, and job satisfaction will reap the rewards in the future.”

A Culture of Inclusion

Previewing this year’s ACCJ-Kansai Diversity and Inclusion Summit Series

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Shaping workplace culture and inclusion. Leading the change. These are the themes of the 2022 ACCJ-Kansai Diversity and Inclusion Summit. Following the same format that debuted to great success in 2020, three two-hour online sessions will be held over successive weeks in October and November, each with its own keynote speaker, small-group discussions, and practical training.

The format was born of the pandemic, when organizers had to adapt the normally daylong program to a world of virtual interaction. It proved highly successful. The online format opened up access to people throughout Japan, and registrations rose from 224 for the previous year’s in-person event to 320. Similar results were repeated last year. Not only has accessibility been boosted, but the extended interactions also strengthened the summit’s impact and benefits.

With such success, the committee has decided to stick with the three-day series, and this year will host sessions on October 4 and 18, as well as November 8.

The first day will focus on gender diversity and equality, and will feature a training session with Jennifer Shinkai, an ikigai and inclusion facilitator and coach. The main session for the day will be led by Tetsuya Ando, founder of Fathering Japan, the non-profit organization he started in 2006 to focus on supporting fathers who are balancing the responsibilities of work and home.

The second day will feature a discussion of cultural diversity and inclusion with Nissan Corporate Vice President Catherine Perez, while Day 3 will explore psychological safety in sessions hosted by Google.

The series will be a wonderful opportunity to share personal and professional experiences in advancing D&I in Japan and abroad, including strategies that can be employed individually, at work, and in the community at large. Additional coverage can be found on the Digital Journal website following the sessions.

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Learn more about this year’s summit series.

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Bridge the Gap

Bank of America’s Tamao Sasada shares her thoughts on DEI, ESG, and sustainable finance

Tamao Sasada says that her grandmother was her mentor. “When I was a kid, she always told me that I would need to have a career with a professional skill set,” Sasada shared. Her advice was based on experience gained as a woman doctor during World War II—something rarely seen during those days—that gave her this wisdom to share with the granddaughter who, one day, would lead Bank of America in Japan.

Sasada was already a career-minded student when she attended university in Japan in the early 1990s, but those words from her grandmother helped her find her path. She chose to study law.

But what should be her next step? Where should she work?

“Back then, some Japanese women who aspired to advance their careers chose to work for US or non-Japanese companies, as these were perceived to be more performance driven and gave women more opportunities to advance their careers,” Sasada explained. “So, after graduation, I chose to become a lawyer in New York.”

From there, her path took her into the world of banking and back to Japan. Today, as Japan country executive for Bank of America and president of BofA Securities Japan, she focuses on business growth for the bank and also devotes considerable effort to promote environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG); diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and sustainable finance at Bank of America.

Sasada spoke at a fireside chat hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Alternative Investment Committee on September 7, and she later sat down with The ACCJ Journal to share her thoughts on a number of topics, including how Japan can push the DEI and ESG agendas forward.

What are your memories of that first job in New York?

I made the decision to go there knowing that it would be a tough and competitive environment. And it was. I remember walking into meeting rooms and being the only woman—and a young Asian woman—there. That was not uncommon. There were a number of women lawyers at the junior level, but far fewer at the senior and partner levels.

But one thing that was quite eye-opening was the law firm provided a lot of training and development programs, which was something not so common in Japan back in the 1990s. They took time to really invest in junior people, which certainly gave me a solid training and allowed me to excel in my career.

How did you start to grow your career in finance?

The opportunity arose to work for Merrill Lynch, now BofA Securities, the brokerage and investment banking arm of Bank of America. I took a position in Japan.

I’ve been with the company for 24 years. Looking back, it was quite interesting to find that, even in a US organization, the work environment in Japan back then was quite male dominated. Of course, it is very different now. I found myself trying extra hard to make sure that I could deliver, and that people would not judge me on the basis of being a woman.

As an investment banker in Japan, part of the job is to bridge the gap between Japan and our global franchise, identifying clients’ needs and offering our full capabilities.

“Diversity matters because it brings different perspectives. At Bank of America, we believe that the more diverse we are, the stronger and better we are.”

BofA employees join the firm in driving DEI and environmental efforts, such as the Arakawa River Cleanup.

Also, one of the key challenges working for a US company in Japan is that you need to make sure that the Japan franchise is visible and has strong presence, not only in the eyes of clients but also in the eyes of the headquarters in the United States. I believe this is a challenge for everyone who works in a gaishikei (multinational organization) in Japan, regardless of gender.

So, even today, I still think about how best we can serve our clients in Japan and connect the dots between what our Japanese clients need and what we can offer globally. On top of that, navigating the organization and connecting people through business and social relationships have always been important aspects of how I built my career.

Why does diversity matter when building teams?

Diversity matters because it brings different perspectives. At Bank of America, we believe that the more diverse we are, the stronger and better we are. When we connect our diverse backgrounds and perspectives, we can better meet the needs of our colleagues, clients, and communities.

For us, DEI is action oriented. Our chief executive officer, Brian Moynihan, and all members of the management team are very focused on building an inclusive culture where our employees feel comfortable being who they are and bringing their whole selves to work, knowing they have equal access to opportunities regardless of their differences such as gender, ethnic background, or other such factors.

Such a culture has allowed us to attract and retain more diverse talent, and I find this to be true when we recruit in Japan as well as other parts of the world.

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Are there aspects of DEI unique to the financial sector?

In banking, it’s important to bring in different perspectives and skill sets. Our clients are diverse, so we need to be diverse. Also, much of our business is cross-border in nature. For example, in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), our Japanese clients are buying and selling not just in the domestic market but also abroad.

Due to this, we need to work with a lot of colleagues outside Japan. Building connectivity—that’s the term we use—around the organization is important to growing trusting relationships.

So, for a global bank, DEI becomes very important because we need to understand that our clients and colleagues come from different backgrounds with different thought processes. Embracing these differences and removing any unconscious bias is critical for successful outcomes.

That’s why I feel that our company is stronger when we are more diverse in thinking and mindset, and creative in how we bring the business together and leverage the people and platform we have. Clients appreciate this because this allows us to better meet their needs.

How can companies strengthen their DEI?

Our commitment to DEI starts at the top. Our management team sets the diversity and inclusion goals of the company. Each management team member has action-oriented diversity goals, and they are reviewed by the board every quarter.

Our Global Diversity and Inclusion Council, consisting of senior executives from every line of business, meets quarterly to discuss DEI objectives and the progress we are making at each level of the company.

I have been a part of this council as one of the two representatives from Asia, having worked very closely with this leadership team. Over the years, I have witnessed how passionate our leaders are and how hard our company works to narrow the gap in any diversity spectrum.

From a gender perspective, 50 percent of our workforce and more than 30 percent of our management team are women, and we have a very ethnically diverse board. At the end of 2021, our company was one of only nine S&P 100 companies with six or more women on the board.

So, the statistics are strong, but what is equally important is to create a culture where people are given equal access to opportunities regardless of backgrounds, and to put people into their roles because of their capability.

What unique DEI challenges do Japan-based companies face? How can they overcome them?

I think Japan has come a long way. Particularly since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s three arrows and empowerment of women initiatives, there has been progress, such as more women being put into managerial positions. But certainly, more needs to be done. The increasing pressure from investors on broader ESG goals, and the latest update to the corporate governance codes that requires companies to disclose their DEI progress, are all encouraging to me.

In addition, building an inclusive culture is really key to driving DEI. There are a few things that might be helpful in achieving better results. One is male advocacy. The terminology might not be familiar to some. It means men, or male managers, taking ownership of ensuring women are given equal access to opportunities and are supported, including through various programs. Say you have a very capable female manager who is a working mother. It is not uncommon for companies in Japan to offer benefits to support working mothers. What is important is how the male manager supports these colleagues’ career development and encourages colleagues to be understanding. If a company can follow this approach for a period of time, that will result in a robust pipeline of middle-level to senior women managers.

“As the country executive for Japan, driving business growth is one of my principal missions, but creating an inclusive workplace where people feel they can bring their whole selves to work is equally important.”

Tamao Sasada

The second is a strong mentorship and sponsorship program. Different companies might have different mentor programs, but sponsorship is something that may not be so common in Japan. A sponsor is usually someone influential and powerful in the organization who helps a rising talent succeed. They help the individual increase visibility within the company, speak up for them, and assist them through advancement opportunities.

Also important is building a meritocracy culture. Put people into the role because of what they can do, regardless of their backgrounds.

How did you overcome career obstacles?

Fortunately, at Bank of America, the culture has always been supportive. My motto is, when you are given the opportunity, always try to go out of your comfort zone and give it try.

When I was a junior banker, I was given the chance to become a coverage banker for one of our biggest clients in Japan at the time. It was unusual for a junior banker to be given such a big responsibility, but I believe my manager trusted that I could do the job and took a chance on me.

I worked extra hard to ensure I delivered for that client, who had a lot of doubts about me at the start.

This client aspired to expand the business globally. To help them, even though I was still junior, I fearlessly reached out to colleagues around the world to get help. That was a great opportunity to get to know people in the organization, understand what we could do globally, and deliver what the client needed.

This client was happy with the outcome and became one of my advocates.

So, the lesson learned was to go out of your comfort zone. There are always learning experiences that come out of doing so. And once you have experienced that, you can pay it forward.

Why is stakeholder capitalism important?

Stakeholder capitalism is a term defined by the World Economic Forum half a century ago, which has gained renewed focus in recent years. It essentially means companies must deliver not only for shareholders, but also for all stakeholders including clients, employees, and the wider community.

This is something our company really believes in, and it has been reflected in our corporate philosophy for many years. We have a corporate strategy called Responsible Growth, which states that we are here to serve wider stakeholders. DEI is always part of that strategic focus, and ESG as well.

How does DEI tie into ESG and sustainability?

DEI is part of ESG, which has been a long-term focus for us, even before the term became so prevalent.

This goes back to our Responsible Growth Strategy, delivering for all stakeholders. And that is really the core essence of the stakeholder capitalism that we talked about.

As mentioned, there has been a renewed focus on stakeholder capitalism in the global business community. Our CEO, who is a passionate advocate of ESG, has been chairing the International Business Council at the World Economic Forum, leading global companies in pushing ESG standardization forward.

In recent years, more focus has been put on the E, the environment, with more than 130 countries and many companies having pledged their net-zero goals.

At Bank of America, we announced our goal of achieving net-zero by 2050. The urgency is felt in both the private and public sectors globally. Just like our role in helping accelerate ESG in the global business community, Bank of America is taking a leadership role in the net-zero transition through sustainable finance.

About a year ago, we announced a $1.5 trillion pledge to mobilize capital to support clients’ ESG efforts. That’s $1 trillion for climate transition and another $500 billion to promote social inclusion, such as racial and gender equality, healthcare, and education.

What is sustainable finance? Why is it important?

We believe that the finance sector has a key role to play in providing and mobilizing the capital needed to drive the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy. A lot of our clients are making net-zero pledges, and they are working hard to come up with a roadmap to carbon neutrality. Our mission is to support them through sustainable finance, such as providing green loans, helping clients issue sustainability or green bonds, or advising on M&A transactions in the renewables space.

We do it ourselves as well. Bank of America was one of the first financial institutions to issue green bonds and sustainable bonds. During the past two years, we issued one of the first Covid bonds and sustainability equality bonds to help advance many of the social issues we saw in the past few years.

How do you see the future of DEI in Japan?

Certainly, progress has been made. We must keep driving that culture of change. Within each organization, it’s important to follow up on initial efforts. Much has been done, but focusing on some of the things I mentioned earlier—meritocracy culture and initiatives such as a sponsorship and mentorship program—are definitely key steps. It’s great to have maternity and paternity programs as well as a support system for working mothers, but building a supportive and inclusive culture is equally important.

As the country executive for Japan, driving business growth is one of my principal missions, but creating an inclusive workplace where people feel they can bring their whole selves to work is equally important.

I look forward to seeing companies in Japan continue to drive these efforts forward and create inclusive cultures that will promote further acceleration of DEI.

Supplier D&I

WEConnect International’s three-year journey in the Japanese market

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While there is much talk in Japan about diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace, another important, though less-discussed, aspect of D&I involves suppliers. Some major companies have long championed diversity in their supply chains, but the issue is now getting more attention—and progress is being made—thanks to the efforts of socially conscious leaders.

This was the topic of a November 25 virtual event, hosted by the ACCJ-Chubu Programs Committee and entitled Supplier D&I: Three-Year Journey in the Japanese Market. Speaker Setsu Suzuki, chief executive officer and founder of Hunext, Inc., shared how sourcing from women-owned startups is shaping the Japanese economy.

Connecting Women

Suzuki is the Japan project director for WEConnect International, the Washington, DC-based non-profit organization (NPO) that expanded its certification and market access activities to Japan in 2018. She recalled how, in 2017, she was invited by Gary Schaefer, principal officer at the US Consulate Nagoya, to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India. Some 6,000 women business owners took part in the three-day event. There she had her first contact with WEConnect International, which helps drive money into the hands of women business owners by enabling them to compete in the global marketplace.

“That’s fantastic, right?” Suzuki exclaimed. “So, I immediately said that I want to be a member of this organization.” After getting to know leaders of the enterprise during the summit, she was asked to become the director of WEConnect in Japan. Three months later, she signed a contract with the international body and led its expansion into the market. Noting that WEConnect International is the only certifying body in the world that supports supplier diversity, Suzuki explained that there are five categories:

• Women
• Challenged
• LGBTQ
• Racial minority
• Veterans

“And women are really key,” she said. Globally, just one percent of procurement by governments and corporations goes to women-owned business.

“WEConnect International began studying this 12 years ago, but the number is still only one percent. We want to push it to two percent,” she explained.

“According to a World Bank report, 32–39 percent of companies around the world are owned by women. So, definitely, women are key to a diverse economy.”

Next, Suzuki introduced the companies among WEConnect International’s 143 member buyers that are most active in Japan:

• Accenture
• Johnson & Johnson
• Intel K.K.
• IBM Japan, Ltd.
• EY
• P&G Japan G.K.
• Microsoft Japan, Co., Ltd.
• Micron Memory Japan, G.K.

“More and more Japanese corporations are starting to pay attention to supplier diversity,” she said.

Where Are the Women?

There are 3.8 million small businesses in Japan, but only 500,000 are owned by women. What constitutes a woman-owned business (WOB)? It seems straightforward, and Suzuki noted that we use the term a lot in English.

But to make it clear what this means by definition, she explained that it should be “an incorporated company with at least 51 percent of the business owned and managed, or governed, by one woman—or more.” The WEConnect certification standards state that ownership “is determined based on title to, and beneficial ownership of, stock, membership interests, or other equity in the business.”

WEConnect allows self-declaration as a WOB. Such registration in their database is free and carries limited benefits.

“WEConnect International … helps drive money into the hands of women business owners by enabling them to compete in the global marketplace.”

There is also the Women Business Enterprise (WBE) designation (pronounced “weebee”). This certification opens the door to the procurement departments of 143 member companies and enables business owners to connect with 12,000 women entrepreneurs in more than 110 countries.

In this case, there is a fee, and membership includes unlimited access to WEConnect benefits. The money is used to fund the NPO’s operations, which are driven by three pillars: certification, connection, and education.

Three-Year Journey

WEConnect International’s launch in Japan took place three months after Suzuki took on her role as country director. The expansion into Japan was made possible through the Strengthening Market Access for Women Business Owners initiative, a consortium that includes Accenture, Intel, and Johnson & Johnson. The founding members are working closely with WEConnect to leverage its powerful global networks and experience working with women business owners, and there are now 28 certified WBEs in Japan.

The launch was marked by a hybrid event, making it possible to connect women business owners from Hokkaido to Okinawa. It was supported by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and Women in Business Committee Vice-chair Makiko Tachimori (Fukui) helped facilitate.

A business-to-business matchmaking event was held on November 26, 2020, in which 10 member buyers, 14 tier-one corporations, and 51 WOBs and WBEs participated. Suzuki said that three women business owners got contracts following the event, showing how even online meetings can really make business happen.

The session will take place again in February—rebranded as the P&G Academy Women’s Entrepreneurs Business Development Program—as an eight-day intensive series.

With the support of Johnson & Johnson and Dell Technologies, WEConnect conducted a survey of 191 Japanese female entrepreneurs in Japan between August and September 2020. According to results, the top challenges faced by WOBs are:

• Balancing work and family (65 percent)
• Gender discrimination (30 percent)
• Market entry (11 percent)

She also noted that many women who responded to the survey cited the issue of surnames as an obstacle to their business lives. Because Japan continues to require that women take their husband’s surname, some women said that they must use a false name in work, so that their husband’s family will not discover that they are entrepreneurs—a role that goes against traditional views of a woman’s place in society.

On the brighter side, Suzuki said that WOBs in Japan are thriving across a wide range of industries. Many fall under the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an important part of WEConnect International’s activities. The organization is working with governments, the UN, and others to help achieve SDG number five: gender equality in the economy.

Japan WBEs

There are only 28 certified WBEs in Japan, but Suzuki is dedicated to expanding that number. She introduced two success stories during the event, starting with Yuko Takahashi, president of Osaka-based Japan Engine Valve Mfg. Co., Ltd. Known by the brand name Dokuro, the company began producing engine valves in 1949.

Takahashi, who was unable to attend due to a business event, delivered a short, vibrant video in which she flew a drone around the Dokuro offices and production facilities to explain how her company makes after-market auto parts. The parts are shipped around the world to meet the needs of those who own Japanese cars.

Setsu Suzuki

Ayako Mochizuki

Yuko Takahashi

Next, Ayako Mochizuki, a Japan native who moved to the United States at the age of 22, shared her experiences running a small and medium-sized enterprise in Japan, doing business with large companies on a global basis.

In 2014, she became president of IBS Japan Co., Ltd., the 35-year-old value-added reseller of data communication products, founded by her father. She runs the company from her home in Boulder, Colorado, while her father remains involved as an owner in Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, where the corporate headquarters is located.

IBS Japan’s mission is to make life easier through the application of technology, and the company was certified as a WBE by WEConnect International in 2019. “Since then, I have had many successes [as a result of] being a WBE,” she said. One such success, she noted, involved the sale of thermal camera technology to a major pharma company soon after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite these successes, challenges remain—particularly with traditional mindsets about gender roles in business. Mochizuki shared an interesting example from within her own company.

“When I got certified [as a WBE] in 2019, one of my employees—a key person for me—actually told me that I should not be certified,” she recounted. “He said that if we are certified, if they find out that I’m a feminist—that’s the word he used—we are not going to get business, because it’s a male-dominated industry that we serve. He was very concerned.”

She noted that this worry is real in Japan, because the country remains very much dominated by men, and many of the business leaders are aged 60 and over.

So, the shift in mindset takes time. But through the efforts of Suzuki, WEConnect, and women business owners such as Takahashi and Mochizuki, that change is taking place.

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D&I Hiring in Healthcare

Titan Consulting helps companies put diversity policies into action

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Presented in partnership with Titan Consulting K.K.

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It has been two decades since the Japanese government set its target of having women in 30 percent of management positions by 2020. The country has fallen far short of that goal, which the government has pushed off to 2030.

Titan Consulting K.K. Business Development Manager Sophia Plessier certainly noticed the imbalance on her arrival in Japan. Coming from San Francisco, where discussion of diversity and inclusion (D&I) and support for women in business are a part of everyday life, she found it striking how few Japanese companies were promoting these important issues.

At Titan, she helps clients increase the diversity of their leadership. It’s a natural progression of her career in executive recruitment for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices, and technology industries. She began that journey in 2015 in the United States, where she partnered with top healthcare companies to fill key spots in their management.

Focus on Diversity

Filling those positions is about more than just reaching a percentage. It’s about benefiting society through the innovation and solutions that emerge from teams built on diverse views, experiences, and backgrounds. And Titan’s area of focus—healthcare and life science—requires a little extra attention.

As Business Operations Manager Sean Lindley noted: “The benefits of having a more diverse leadership team are well established, but building that team can be more of a challenge in healthcare—especially in Japan—due to the somewhat conservative nature of the industry.” The way in which these companies approach screening adds an extra layer that must be overcome, he explained, “but with this challenge come opportunities, and if you’ve got something which can potentially remedy that, then the most conservative industry is probably where you want to try and apply the solution.”

The solution he speaks of is the D&I Spotlight Package, which Titan has created, inspired by another product they offer to clients which focuses on medical-doctor hiring. The package helps clients who wish to start putting their D&I policies into action through talent acquisition do so in the most effective way possible.

“Titan takes the time to understand the areas on which the client is aiming to focus their D&I hiring and the foreseeable challenges.”

The D&I Spotlight Package is a 12-month commitment from Titan Consulting which starts with an in-depth discussion to understand the client’s current situation and business needs. Titan takes the time to understand the areas on which the client is aiming to focus their D&I hiring and the foreseeable challenges. This offers a close partnership in which Titan provides detailed market analysis, access to an extensive network of professionals, a market map that identifies candidates, and ongoing, proactive support. Whether the client just wants a market map, needs to hire for key positions, or has extensive hiring needs, Titan is ready with a tailored service.

“We work with the client to pinpoint what type of professionals they want to engage with,” explained Partner Daniel McGrath. “Some clients have urgent and immediate needs while others are more focused on casual exploratory meetings for pipelining. Whatever their situation, Titan offers the opportunity to turn D&I hiring ambitions into reality for companies that are serious about evolving their business.”

Real World Results

Plessier shared an example of a successful placement. In another case, a medical device client, which was focused on Japan and had an entirely male executive team, was given a big incentive from the global executives to push for more diversity. They needed to replace their head of research and development, so decided to invest in diversity hiring and work with Titan. In just six weeks, the final candidate was selected from three finalists.

If you’re ready to strengthen your management team with more female leaders and greater diversity of voices and ideas, Titan Consulting is ready to help.

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Learn more about the D&I Spotlight Package:
titanconsulting.jp/diversity

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Hidden Treasure

Can women overcome obstacles to fill Japan’s tech gap?

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The Japanese government calls it a “digital cliff”—a projected shortfall of 450,000 engineers, programmers, and other tech workers needed by 2030 to undertake the country’s digital transformation.

Harnessing the largely untapped potential of Japanese women—who are drastically underrepresented in science, engineering, and computer programming jobs and college degrees—could help narrow that gap.

“Authorities realize they face a big labor shortage, and some people talk about opening up immigration. But, already, we have a huge resource: Japan’s hidden treasure is the power of women,” said Annie Chang, vice-chair of the ACCJ Independent Business Committee and head of IT recruiting company AC Global Solutions Ltd. In 2013, Chang co-founded Women in Technology Japan, a group dedicated to boosting female participation in the tech industry through workshops and mentorships.

And yet women face a host of obstacles—cultural, educational, corporate, and familial—that keep them from playing bigger roles in technology. As a result, Japan has a large digital gender gap, with some of the lowest shares globally of women in tech jobs and college programs, even compared with many developing Asian nations.

According to UNESCO data, just 14 percent of university graduates with engineering degrees in Japan are women. Compare this with 20.4 percent in the United States, 24.5 percent in the Philippines, and 30.8 percent in India. Among engineering researchers, Japanese women account for just 5.6 percent. That’s left a dearth of female role models to inspire girls about their futures.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Asumi Saito, 30, who co-founded Waffle, a non-profit in Japan that works to support teenage girls interested in science and technology at a critical juncture in their lives, when they must choose between pursuing science or humanities tracks in high school.

“I’m hopeful about the younger generation,” said Saito, who believes that bringing more women into technology will benefit the broader economy and society. “It will lead to greater diversity in innovations and, likely, more humane applications of technology in areas such as health and childcare.”

Allowing women to play a bigger role in the tech industry would “lead to so many more business opportunities,” said Yan Fan, a software programmer who previously worked in Silicon Valley and, in 2017, co-founded coding academy Code Chrysalis, which runs intensive 12-week programming boot camps in Japan. About a quarter of its students are women. Fan and her academy were featured in the April 2019 issue of The ACCJ Journal.

“The message I want Japanese women to have is: ‘You are 50 percent of one of the most powerful economies in the world. You are a significant part of the workplace,’” Fan explained.

And that could lift Japan on the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, where the country languishes at 28th globally and seventh in Asia, behind Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and South Korea.

Systemic Change

But Japan’s digital transformation could leave many of its women behind. Those at home with children, or who are middle-aged, have little chance to learn new in-demand skills, such as programming, machine learning engineering, and data science.

That’s a global concern: as automation takes over low-skilled jobs around the world, women stand to lose more than men, the 2021 UNESCO Science Report warns.

Fan isn’t confident that Japanese society can shed the constraints and cultural assumptions that impede women. She points to the oft-heard microaggression, “Even a housewife can do this,” as an example of the mindset that grips Japan. “When you hear those kinds of things day after day, it becomes ingrained in you.”

Systemic change is needed, Fan said. “The onus seems to fall mostly on women. There’s little talk about all the other changes that need to happen for women to actually make the space in their lives to learn new skills. So, I think women will fall further behind as the country digitizes.”

Still, Fan is optimistic about Japan’s potential—and the wider impact it can have. “If we can elevate women in this society, we can create reverberations throughout the world just due to the sheer size and power of Japan’s culture and its economy.”

Mindset Change

There are signs of modest progress. Compared with 20 years ago, there’s greater awareness of diversity, and companies are taking steps to hire and promote more women. That’s thanks partly to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s promotion of Womenomics, a term he apparently borrowed from Kathy Matsui, the former Goldman Sachs Japan vice-chair who, earlier this year, co-founded MPower Partners, Japan’s first venture capital fund focused on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). “Just the fact that diversity is part of the vernacular is a huge step forward,” Matsui said.

But, more importantly, there’s been a mindset change at some corporations. Leaders have realized that giving women bigger roles in projects and leadership isn’t just a human rights and equality issue, but a driver of economic growth, she added.

“If you don’t think diversity is a competitive and growth imperative, it really isn’t going to get any traction,” she said. “But if you think it is a weapon for growth and a competitive advantage, and you filter that down through your organization, you can get buy-in. Then you can start to change how you recruit, how you evaluate, how you promote. That’s the only way you’re going to get women into those leadership positions.”

One step in this direction is the appointment of Yoko Ishikura, professor emeritus of Hitotsubashi University, to be the No. 2 official in charge of Japan’s new Digital Agency.

The number of women seeking and finding jobs in the tech industry is slowly growing. Of the 27,300 candidates placed by tech recruiting company Wahl + Case since 2014, the portion who are women has risen from 27 percent to 38 percent, explained founder Casey Wahl. However, women make up 14 percent in highly technical positions such as software coding, he said; more go into marketing and product design.

Women who do land tech jobs find they pay better than work in many other industries. The average annual salary for candidates recently placed by Wahl + Case has been about ¥9 million ($80,000).

Compared with 20 years ago, Wahl said he sees major changes in the role of women in the workplace. “There’s a big trend going on, a generational time shift,” he noted. “The people in their thirties and forties—when they get into power, then things will change even more.”

The combination of soaring demand for tech jobs and greater commitment to diversity presents women with an opening—provided they have the right skills. “Women have a great opportunity now,” Chang said. “But the pipeline is so small. How do you increase this from the grassroots level?”

Home Front

Parents and teachers have the biggest responsibility in nurturing—or discouraging—girls’ interest in science, math, and computers, Chang, Matsui, and others said.

When Chang asks Japanese female engineers who had the biggest influence on their career choice, the frequent response is their fathers. Ironically, it is more often their mothers who tried to dissuade them, she explained. “The moms are generally stuck at home, so they don’t have much exposure to technology. They’re not very encouraging of daughters who are interested in science and don’t think the image is very good.” Some even worry about their daughter’s marriage prospects if they pursue an engineering career.

Even today, there is a persistent bias in Japan that girls aren’t particularly good at science and math. Parents and teachers may express such views, and girls pick up cues from anime and TV shows that tend to portray boys tinkering with robots or computers, but not usually girls.

Those images can influence girls’ self-image and confidence, said Miki Ito, 38, an aerospace engineer and general manager at Astroscale, which is engaged in removing space debris circling Earth. “There’s the idea that if you go study science at university, it’s full of men, or it’s really difficult,” she said.

Ito’s parents were surprised but supportive when, as a teen, she expressed a desire to study space. Her only model was Chiaki Mukai, Japan’s first female astronaut. In college and graduate school, most of her college classmates and all her teachers were men, but Ito said she didn’t encounter any discrimination.

“I actually think women are well-suited to programming. It involves setting up steps to carry out a plan, like going on a trip. Women are good at that kind of planning for their families,” Ito said. “As more women take these IT jobs, they will become role models for the younger girls, who will realize they can do those jobs.”

Digital Future

To prepare Japan’s youth for the digital future, the government now requires computer programming to be taught in elementary schools. At that age, boys and girls are equally enthused about technology, said Haruka Fujiwara, 34, who has been teaching and coordinating programming classes at her school in Tsukuba, located north of Tokyo in Ibaraki Prefecture.

“The kids love it. They naturally engage with each other and talk about projects together. Children who were kind of quiet or not very confident now brag about their projects,” Fujiwara said. “I haven’t seen any gender difference in enthusiasm or ability.”

To create projects, fifth and sixth graders use software and tools such as Microsoft Excel and Scratch, a coding language and community developed for children by the US-based non-profit Scratch Foundation. One of their projects measured the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, Fujiwara explained. Seventh graders at her school start learning the JavaScript programming language. “In the upcoming generation,” she said, “I think girls will be using computers just as confidently as boys.”

Until age 15, Japanese boys and girls perform equally well on international standardized math and science tests. But a gap develops once they enter high school and are required to choose between science and humanities tracks. More girls choose the latter, perhaps because science seems daunting or because they are encouraged to do so by their teachers or parents.

The gender gap widens further in college and graduate school, where engineering and tech programs are dominated by male students and teachers. In many countries, this leaky pipeline phenomenon is common: the higher the education level, the fewer the women. But in Japan’s case, the flow narrows to a trickle.

And working women are generally expected to quit once they bear children, removing their ideas and contributions from the marketplace. When women are at home, they have few opportunities to gain tech skills, and tend to settle for part-time, low-paying jobs such as supermarket cashiers—a position that is dwindling as checkout kiosks take over.

While more young mothers are returning to work after maternity leave, finding daycare can be difficult—especially if they have to work late. And working women are still generally expected to do most of the housework and child-rearing, as well as care for elderly parents or in-laws.

To flourish and advance in the workplace, women may need to think more about how to brand themselves—how they can use their unique gifts and strengths to be successful, said Nancy Ngou, an ACCJ governor and co-chair of the Human Resource Management Committee, who is also head of organizational change and diversity at accounting firm EY.

“They shouldn’t have to emulate the male personality,” Ngou said. “Maybe they’re better at networking or building trusting relationships with people. As a leader, those are very important qualities.”

Reframing the Narrative

At Waffle, Saito and her co-founder, Sayaka Tanaka, are trying to change the narrative about technology and gender.

They run one-day camps for girls in middle and high school that cover programming basics and offer career talks, as well as hands-on experiences that emphasize the problem-solving, community-building, and entrepreneurial aspects of technology. “We want to create a safe space where girls can talk about these things freely,” said Saito, 30, who holds a master’s degree in data analytics from the University of Arizona.

Earlier this year, Waffle supported 75 young women who participated in a Technovation Girls contest, in which teams developed and pitched apps to a panel of judges. Many of the apps were intensely practical. One provided advice on where to find vegan food, and another divvied up household chores among family members. Recently, they received a grant from Google to support their work.

Saito said she receives text messages from girls about the opposition they face at home. One said her father refused to pay for her university tuition if she was going to major in data science and told her instead to study medicine—considered a scientific field more suited to women. Another girl said her parents didn’t want her to study physics because they were afraid that she would never get married.

“A lot of these girls don’t have adults around them to listen to them seriously,” said Saito. “That’s a huge problem in Japan.”

Creative and Flexible

Coding academies have popped up across Japan, but enrollment is heavily weighted toward men. Most women simply don’t have the time, money, or inclination to attend.

Trying to make programming attractive to women, Hitomi Yamazaki in April co-founded Ms. Engineer, Japan’s first coding academy expressly for women. With female models and muted purple tones, the website emphasizes the flexibility that programming offers, including working from home. Even the startup’s name is meant to convey the idea that being a female engineer is cool.

“We wanted to avoid the geeky image and stress the creative monozukuri aspects of programming,” Yamazaki said, using a Japanese term meaning craftsmanship or making things. “We also emphasize that programming is well-suited to a woman’s work style—the freedom of working hours and location.”

Applicants to the first class want to change careers or achieve more in their jobs, Yamazaki said, and 70 percent of inquiries have come from women with children. The pandemic has helped both working women and stay-at-home moms realize that working from home is a realistic option, she said.

Ms. Engineer aims to produce graduates who can do full-stack programming, meaning they can design web applications as well as manage databases and servers. The course costs ¥1.42 million, or about $13,000.

Yamazaki has worked to promote her new business among social media influencers, including Yuri Sasagawa, a model, TV announcer, and new mother who recently attended Ms. Engineer’s kickoff event and tweeted enthusiastically about the future opportunities for female engineers.

Elevating Women

Companies embracing diversity have taken various approaches to narrow the digital gender gap. Some have set numerical targets and implemented steps to reach them, while others have focused on changing hiring and promotional practices.

ACCJ member company Hitachi Ltd. recognizes that the input of women is essential to address consumers’ needs, said Tomoko Soma, a manager at the company’s diversity and inclusion development center. “Our entire business is changing, and we are not trying to sell products as much as services that provide solutions to everyday problems,” she explained. “To do that, we need a variety of employees coming up with ideas.”

Hitachi, which has been implementing initiatives to support and elevate women for more than 20 years, recently reached two goals: the employment of 800 female managers, who account for 6.3 percent of all the company’s managers, and raising the portion of female senior executives to 10 percent.

By 2030, the company aims to raise the ratio of female senior executives to 30 percent through its long-term plans to identify and develop promising young employees and by absorbing talent through global acquisitions, Soma said.

In keeping with government guidelines, female Hitachi employees can take up to two years of maternity and childcare leave, then come back to the same job. If the women have a hard time finding daycare for their child, Hitachi will help them and can extend the leave for a third year. “In situations where there are no nursery vacancies, we don’t want women to quit their jobs just for that reason,” Soma said.

Changing Hiring Practices

Online marketplace Mercari, launched in 2013 and one of Japan’s most successful startups, decided not to set numerical targets for women because doing so might lead to mistaken notions that some women were hired just to meet a quota, said D&I Strategy Team Manager Hirona Hono. “People may feel that they have to reach the goal for the sake of reaching the goal, instead of addressing the fundamental problem behind why this is happening,” she said.

Instead, the company has changed its hiring practices by expanding the pool of candidates to include as many qualified women as possible through recruiting events, women’s coding groups, and other methods. It also has installed checks in the hiring process that might detect bias. Human resources staffers check the pass-through ratios of male and female candidates after each interview to see if there’s any significant disparity and discuss the results with division leaders, she said.

Hono also added a series of diversity questions to the company’s internal promotion recommendation forms, including asking the person filling it out if other candidates from different backgrounds had been considered. If they hadn’t been, she wants to know why. “These questions keep people accountable,” she said.

At EY, while female employees are out for maternity leave, the company offers them a tablet so that they can stay connected to their peers and do e-learning if they want to stay up to speed, Ngou said. The company also provides women returning after maternity leave with an independent coaching service to help them work out daycare, their schedule, and the career they want when they return.

For real change to occur, Ngou said, there must be genuine commitment by the top of the organization—usually a man—displayed in public and behind closed doors. “If the leader doesn’t take it seriously, isn’t active in it, and doesn’t hold his other male leaders accountable for advancing women, nothing’s going to happen.”

Once the top adopts a change, the middle managers can confidently carry out the policies throughout the company, Ngou explained. “The top is so important. Change happens middle-out in Japan. But without the top leader voicing it, nothing will happen.”

Not a Sense of Crisis

The Japanese government has come under fire for doing little to address the shortage of women studying and training for jobs in technology—especially since doing so would help the country meet its digital transformation goals. One suggestion mentioned by several people interviewed for this story was to offer scholarships for female students interested in studying engineering.

“There’s still not a sense of crisis,” said Dr. Jackie Steele, a Canadian political scientist who has lived in Japan for more than 20 years. “I think Japan is going to have to hit an even bigger wall economically before the political and economic elite will admit that there are systemic hierarchies rewarding masculinity, senior age, and ethnocultural purity. These biases must be consciously eliminated. This undermines Japan’s ability to attract diverse talent in a global market.”

To give middle and high school girls exposure to tech workplaces, the government’s Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office set up a program in 2015 that promotes events where students can interact with female engineers, including those at ACCJ member company Amazon Web Services Japan G.K., and visit computer labs or university campuses. In 2019, some 36,000 people participated.

To help boost the number of workers with digital skills, the Japanese government offers subsidies that cover 70 percent of the cost of pre-approved training courses in artificial intelligence, data science, and other topics that are offered by private cram schools, explained Takefumi Tanabe, a director at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. While these don’t target women in particular, Tanabe sees Japan’s digital transformation as an opportunity for women to join the IT workforce.

Husband of the Year

The growth of ESG investing, or funding companies that meet certain environmental, social, and governance standards, can bring investor or market pressure for change, said Matsui, whose MPower Partners runs such a fund. For example, these funds will focus on ESG considerations, such as board diversity, which remains a big challenge in Japan.

“Japan is one of the fastest-growing markets globally for ESG investing. Every asset owner is increasingly focused on how to ‘ESG-ify’ their assets,” Matsui said. So, in addition to examining company fundamentals, fund managers are asking questions about the company’s carbon footprint, as well as its supply chain resilience, child labor policies, employee well-being, and the diversity of the workforce. “To me, the ESG movement is going to be a huge force for change,” she added.

A critical, but almost entirely overlooked, step is to educate and support Japanese men about their changing roles in society—and to celebrate those who are supportive husbands, said Wahl. There are plenty of seminars on what it means to be a working mother, but virtually none on what it means to be a working father. Many men assume that their main role is to work hard and provide for their families financially, although that view is changing among younger men.

“There should be a Husband of the Year award,” said Wahl. “He should get a prize and all kinds of recognition as his wife gives the speech about how she is successful because of what he did. And this has to be seen as cool.”

And if the government is going to offer women scholarships in technology, then it should also offer scholarships for men in caregiving, said Steele. “We need to work on both sides of the equation,” she added. “Men also face gender-based harassment if they stray from the corporate-warrior masculinity model.”

Matsui is encouraged by the differences she sees among the young men with whom she interacts. “They don’t necessarily want to work like their fathers and grandfathers, they don’t want to be slaves to their employers. They want to spend more time with their families. So, their values are more aligned with what many women have been striving for.”

That bodes well for the future. “The younger generation wants a world that is more equal. They want their spouses or partners to maximize their own potential,” Matsui added. “They’re still young, so they’re not necessarily in decision-making roles. But it’s only a matter of time before we see this generation leading Japan, and that makes me optimistic.”

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ACCJ Kansai D&I Summit

Key takeaways shared over three days of focus on workplace equality

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The 7th Annual ACCJ Kansai Diversity & Inclusion Summit took place over the course of three days—October 4, 13, and 21—in a new series format that delivered a blend of inspiration and practical information sharing. With a focus on diversity-and-inclusion (D&I) initiatives, as well as equality in the workplace, the series featured keynote and plenary speakers, a fireside chat, training sessions, and remote networking.

The first day of the summit began in earnest with a keynote speech by Jenifer Rogers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ). Rogers noted that the ACCJ is at the forefront of D&I efforts, especially through the Women in Business Committee and its activities, which include advocating for women in the workforce.

Recently, the committee created the Women in Business Reading List on the ACCJ’s website where resources are shared to help empower women in the workforce.

Speakers at the summit shared their personal and professional experiences in advancing D&I in Japan and abroad, including strategies that can be employed individually, at work, and in the community at large. Attendees engaged deeply with the themes of the conference, via question-and-answer sessions and breakout training opportunities.

The Way of Change

In her presentation, Rogers looked back at her first experiences in Japan, and how having to “encounter adversity in order to create opportunity” helped to shape her career trajectory.

“That experience changed my life; it changed what I wanted to do with it, and the total direction of it,” she said.

Graduating high school early, Rogers relocated to Japan in 1981 and spent two years as a student at Sophia University. Before that transition, she had intended to study nursing in the United States.

However, because of those early years in Japan, she changed her studies from nursing to foreign studies and law. She also studied Japanese. After graduating from law school in the United States, in 1988 Rogers returned to Japan on a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research. Her area of study was the impact of the 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Act on female college graduates.

Why female college graduates? Because, at the time, they were one of the groups most discriminated against in Japan, Rogers recalled. Such women had the least time to work before they had to quit their jobs to raise children.

In the late 1980s, Rogers and her peers had been excited about how the new law would be a game changer for women in the workforce. “Unfortunately, those expectations were not met.”

And yet, by the time Rogers returned to Japan for a fourth time, at the end of 2014, things had changed: D&I had become part of the agenda in business circles here. Why was that?

Societal pressures, such as the aging of society, had created a need for talent—and among the least-tapped demographics in Japan at the time were university-educated women. Japan realized it has to take advantage of that.

In addition to the United States, Rogers has practiced law in six countries. She has studied or worked in Japan for more than 16 years, her career spanning financial services and IT industries. This vast experience has allowed her to develop a global perspective, she said.

Rogers holds non-executive directorships at three companies, positions that have allowed her to share her experience as a lawyer and a business professional. In January, she was elected president of the ACCJ.

Prior to leading the chamber, she worked with not-for-profit boards and in other leadership roles—experiences that helped her to hit the ground running as a leader at the ACCJ.

Looking back at her career, Rogers sees change as the salient theme; indeed, she refers to herself as a “change junkie.” But why embrace change?

Rogers identified at least three reasons: change—whether that’s working with a new team or in a different country or culture—allows you to leave your comfort zone, learn new ideas, and have new experiences.

“I think of change as an opportunity for growth.”

Does that mean she has taken every opportunity to embrace change? No. Rogers notes that she has been thoughtful about when to adopt change, in part because change comes with risk.

That said, the status quo involves risks, too. Nothing remains the same, she shared. For instance, you may get a new boss, your division may be merged with another one, or you may lose your job due to restructuring. What is important is assessing each new opportunity considering your personal and professional circumstances to determine if it is the right change for you and your career goals.

In her case, change allowed Rogers to become a resilient leader. Without it, she would have had no imperative to grow, no motivation to improve, no opportunity to receive input from a wide range of sources, and no incentive to innovate.

“I gained so much confidence in myself after each new opportunity. There were no perfect experiences, only those that taught me a lot of new things that helped me grow.”

Rogers encouraged women not to be held back by the fear of the unknown, and to embrace change.

Throughout her career and in the same way that she embraced change, Rogers has engaged actively with D&I and experiences involving people who have different ideas, backgrounds, gender, and even biases. While diversity can cause discomfort, it can also spur innovation and growth, she noted.

“In some cultural contexts, I need to have very in-depth, one-on-one conversations with people to make sure they understand my point of view, and that I understand theirs. That happens in Japan.”

As another example, Rogers noted that in India, she had to be open to having many meetings and drawn-out debates to ensure the desired outcome for all stakeholders.

In Japan, where she often is the only woman in the boardroom, Rogers often has wondered how she can leverage her personal experiences and skills to bring about change.

There is now a call for D&I in Japan, not as nice-to-have but as a must-have, to improve productivity and competitiveness, she said. The question then becomes, “How can Japan truly accelerate its diversity and inclusion?”

For us, it starts with adapting views so that they have the greatest impact in the context of Japan. Identifying others who are open to your views, finding a mentor or sponsor who is sympathetic to your goals, and mentoring others are great ways to effect change and to learn for yourself.

Surviving Diversity

The second keynote on day one was delivered by Masaaki Ito, executive director of Japanese fast-food chain Yoshinoya Co., Ltd. Previously, Ito worked for P&G in Switzerland, the United States, Singapore, and Japan. He is currently an outside director and adviser to several companies. Ito spoke about how he has survived in a diverse corporate environment abroad and in Japan.

A graduate of Keio University, he recalled that on TOEIC, a standardized test for English proficiency, he had achieved a high score. And yet, he had not been able to speak English well, something he had thought might haunt him while living abroad.

Ito spoke about being the only Japanese on his team in Cincinnati and Geneva. But, when he transitioned to the office in Singapore, the challenge changed: there were 10 nationalities in the office. What’s more, 60 percent of his colleagues were women—a first for him in the workplace.

Looking back, Ito noted a number of things that he learned—despite the challenges—from working as part of diverse teams across many cultures. From the perspective of a marketer, it is important to have diverse views on your team, he acknowledged. A lack of diversity, conversely, is likely to lead to unintended outcomes, such as groupthink.

One way to work through differences—and to identify shared values and good ideas—is to engage in team-building activities, such as office outings, including going out for food and drinks with colleagues, he said. Referencing Aristotle, Ito noted that there are three necessary elements to human communication. One must have the ability to:

• Create trust
• Act rationally
• Display empathy

In addition, he identified three questions—beginning with who, how, and what—the understanding of which are needed to move people. The first is, “Who do you wish to be in the eyes of the listener?” When speaking, it pays to speak to others in the same way that you want them to speak to you.

The second is, “How would you like to talk to another person?” It pays to be able to find areas of agreement with others, so formulating a conversation using a “yes, and” formula is better than a “yes, but” structure. The former allows you to better understand the other person.

The third is, “What would you like to learn from the other person?” Here, it pays not to focus merely on what you want to say, but to listen. Focus on being objective and eliminating bias about the other person, and listen carefully to them.

Mastering the who, how, and what of communication allows workplace diversity to be transformed from a burden into a boon, Ito shared.

Remote Realities

Day two of the summit began with a keynote by Kyoko Yamamoto, senior vice president and head of human resources at NTT Communications Corporation. In her presentation, entitled “Workstyle Transformation as a Key Driver of D&I,” Yamamoto outlined key barriers to gender diversity in the Japanese workplace.

Speaking from personal experience, she noted long-standing and outdated organizational barriers to women’s inclusion and progress at work, such as inflexible hours and an assumption that employees will stay late at the office. There have also been expectations that work will be carried out face-to-face, as opposed to remotely.

However, the coronavirus pandemic has led to a radical transformation of the work culture in Japan, while expanding the view of what a workplace is. Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, work practices have become more flexible, “remote-work natives” are now common, and companies have realized that new value can be gained from remote work. What’s more, employee happiness has increased in many respects.

Yamamoto identified four trends in this era of increasing remote work:

• Open communication and management
• Flexible rules and conditions
• The 3Cs of the office
• Digital transformation and data utilization

The first refers to a new culture of open information sharing and management, and setting up remote and interactive management systems.

Yamamoto referenced NTT’s Remote Work Handbook, a guide to telework that is available free online. The guide shares best practices on topics such as how to manage a remote meeting, onboard new employees, and update IT skills.

Flexible rules and conditions, meanwhile, seek to create a work environment that isn’t based on fixed work times and office locations. Here, a new, super-flex-time system allows greater flexibility for employees to choose their work hours and location.

And the 3Cs of the office—change, creation, and collaboration—redefine our understanding of a workplace: the office can now be a remote space for generating ideas and collaborating, but with on/off switches that allow workers to have time for themselves.

The last item, meanwhile, optimizes work via the digitalization of processes and the greater use of data—the advent of which will open new opportunities that align well with the work–life balance needs of women. In such an environment, workers are encouraged to find a balance between individual autonomy and self-management on the one hand, and teamwork on the other. They are also empowered to respect diversity and build trust via open, trust-based workflows.

Since the implementation of this new workstyle paradigm at NTT in early 2020, employee satisfaction has reached record levels. About 80 percent of workers at the company now enjoy remote work, up from less than 20 percent before the pandemic.

Staff told of increased satisfaction and productivity, career development, and a sense of unity. Meanwhile, record increases were reported in employees’ sense of pride, equality, and respect—not to mention trust. What’s more, for the first time, the level of satisfaction among women increased to match that of men. Both had around a 65-percent positive response rate in opinion polls.

Overall, the transformation of workstyles at NTT has led to major changes to its office culture in two ways. From the perspective of the company, business processes have been transformed and data-driven management is now prevalent.

From the perspective of workers, personal growth and well-being have become priorities, work has become more pleasant and diverse, and career opportunities have increased.

Change for Good

The plenary speaker on day two was Daniel Binette, senior director of the immunology business unit at Eli Lilly Japan K.K.

In his presentation, entitled “Beyond the Evidence: D&I in Action,” Binette shared data from a survey, of more than 100 companies in 15-plus countries, which shows a link between financial performance and ethnic or gender diversity in the boardroom.

Other data shows that 67 percent of prospective employees surveyed shared that they consider workplace diversity an important factor when applying to work for a company. Diverse organizations, Binette pointed out, are more likely than less-diverse ones to attract and recruit better talent.

Despite the compelling evidence showing how D&I can improve personal and business outcomes, Binette noted that some organizations have fallen behind global trends in its implementation.

Why? As we focus on diversity targets for age, race, and gender, do we lose our focus on inclusion?

When working in South Africa and Canada, Binette experienced working on highly diverse teams, as both countries have divergent populations. However, there were key differences. Diversity in the workplace in South Africa was notably stratified. While Indian and white colleagues made up older generations of workers, Black people made up most of the recent hires.

Recognizing such subtle differences informed their inclusion strategies that, for instance, aimed at reducing turnover among new hires, which at the time was no better than the industry average for South Africa.

To improve their inclusion scores, Binette and his colleagues asked themselves how they could bring together their organization’s diversity, be it in terms of age, background, culture, or language.

So how did they increase inclusion?

They set a goal: Make life better in communities where most of their Black coworkers lived, while lowering turnover and increasing productivity.

Binette’s D&I goals had four pillars:

• Increase inclusion, productivity, engagement, and retention
• Develop a strategy to build a shared common vision and to coach inclusiveness
• Provide help when wanted
• Create a barometer of discussion

Further, Binette and his team conducted roundtable discussions to find out where their organization stood on inclusion. Employees shared their views and leaders listened.

Most important, however, rather than conduct a top-down initiative, the company invited representatives from their employee base to help shape the overall strategy for inclusion.

After sharing the vision, the next 90 days were critical. Performance management was updated, clear goals around collaboration were set, and it was made clear that, while leadership would support the new strategy, it was the responsibility of all to make it a success.

Managers and employees discussed how to collaborate, and coaching was conducted by everyone. Sessions covered topics such as unconscious bias and microaggressions, remarks that may be perceived as belittling.

As implementation continued, there was a need to support managers further. So diversity training used reverse mentorship to increase interests, pairing managers with employees from vastly different backgrounds. This allowed for better understanding between managers and their colleagues.

Binette admitted that diversity training is a continuous task, but initial results were encouraging: their organization in South Africa became an industry leader in reducing turnover, the workforce was more dynamic and engaged, and prospective employees showed enthusiasm to work for the company.

He shared three key takeaways from the initiative:

• Connectedness—the importance of a shared sense of belonging—grew among employees
• Respect—having deep consideration—for others became more prevalent
• Transparency—the importance of communication among staff and with management to explain the need for the strategy—increased

Binette stressed that leaders are important in:

• Setting clear goals on inclusiveness
• Recognizing their own limits and reaching out for help
• Modeling good behavior
• Assessing progress
• Recognizing change and change-makers

Globally Diverse

Day three began with a keynote by Neal Reed, executive officer and vice president at P&G Japan G.K. In his presentation, entitled “Equality & Inclusion: from Good Intentions to Impactful Actions,” Reed emphasized one main goal: to encourage attendees “to do one thing different, starting tomorrow.”

Reed stressed three assumptions about the attendees:

• They believe that diversity is good
• They know that leaders play a key role
• They are all good people with good intentions

He said that while much progress has been made globally in the D&I space, equal opportunities are still not equally distributed. This means some people do not always feel included.

Warming to the theme of equality and inclusion (E&I), Reed challenged the audience with a question: Are you doing enough? All, not just leaders, are responsible for making a difference, even in a small way.

Reed shared a framework that has guided him in this, allowing him to move from good intentions to actions that have an impact. The framework has three elements:

• Look in the mirror and challenge yourself
• Take action where you have passion
• Help one person at a time

Looking in the mirror and challenging yourself is a reality check, where you ask whether you are doing enough. Faced with a busy life, it is easy to slip into the belief that D&I is not important.

Taking action where you have passion allows one to focus on an area in which you already have a keen interest—a field where you believe you can make the greatest difference in D&I.

Lastly, it may pay to focus on helping one person at a time, a strategy that is less intimidating than trying to solve all organizational or global challenges at once.

In a moment of self-reflection, Reed noted the following elements in his D&I—as well as E&I—journey:

• Coming from a background of privilege brings with it the responsibility to act in support of others who are less privileged
• Change comes from action, not intentions alone
• Diversity is a first step, but enabling equality has greater impact
• Insiders need to help outsiders
• Leaders need to be role models

Reed said that people have always been considered P&G’s biggest asset. The company has long thought of E&I as a business strategy built on diversity in recruitment, equality of opportunity in the workplace, and fostering an inclusive culture.

Recently in Japan, P&G launched initiatives, such as the E&I Board, members of which meet regularly to apprise themselves of their work. Then there’s Beyond Gender, an initiative that builds on previous work around gender, while bringing to the fore challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community and those with disabilities.

The company’s brands, too, have been used on a greater scale than before to highlight E&I initiatives. So ads for its household products, for instance, have been used to encourage men to do more housework, such as laundry.

Challenge Accepted

The plenary session on day three, entitled “The Possibility of ‘Knowing’,” featured para athletes Kabetani and Norimatsu, both of whom compete in wheelchair rugby and are representatives of AIG Japan Holdings K.K. The moderator was Yumiko Ishii, senior manager in the internal audit office at American Home Assurance Company, Ltd.

Kabetani and Norimatsu spoke about their experiences in the company’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), volunteer-led initiatives for the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including for employees with disabilities.

Looking back at his early days working at AIG, Norimatsu recalled that some of his colleagues, having had little experience working with someone in a wheelchair, were not certain how—or, indeed, if—they could help.

“There were people who were not sure whether they wanted to help me by opening the door,” Norimatsu shared.

Other colleagues wanted to help but found it to be challenging, not knowing how or when to do so. But, as time went by, the distance between Norimatsu and his colleagues naturally closed and many more people began to speak to him. As a result, mutual understanding grew.

ERGs were created to help bridge such gaps, and to bring the workforce closer together. Indeed, survey results from the disability ERG show that colleagues were eager to know how they could assist team members with disabilities. As a member of the group, Norimatsu has been eager to share his experiences with others, and to learn from them, too.

“I know about wheelchairs, but I don’t know much about disabilities that do not involve the wheelchair, including those of people with mental disabilities,” he said.

Such connections, he noted, are especially important in Japan, a country where there have not been many opportunities, in the corporate environment, for people with disabilities to interact with other colleagues. Via the ERG program, both para athletes have not only bridged gaps between employees and supported AIG’s business goals, but they have also helped to inspire colleagues in unexpected ways.

Norimatsu explained: “If speaking about my disability helps someone, I want to proactively communicate [my experiences]. It might not connect directly with business, but it might indirectly produce a good effect.”

Breakout Performance

Throughout the summit, attendees engaged in breakout training sessions facilitated by Miho Takiguchi, director of talent and organization development and diversity at AstraZeneca K.K. The sessions focused on the themes of the conference.

With more than 200 attendees, this year’s summit was organized by ACCJ-Kansai Diversity & Inclusion Committee Co-chairs Yuri Ichihashi, Yuka Nakamura, and Asana Otani. The summit’s master of ceremonies was Vice-chair Daniel Steiner.

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Tipping Point for Change

Injecting diversity into corporate Japan through outside directors

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Over the past decade, Japan has gone from less than one percent of directors at Japanese companies being female to about 10 percent at many of the larger organizations. And while that figure represents progress, it is by far an inferior diversity-and-inclusion (D&I) performance than typically can be seen at companies in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world. Some of the largest corporations in France, for example, have boards on which women account for 45 percent of the directors.

How Japanese companies might be encouraged to overcome their apparent reluctance to welcome women into their boardrooms was the topic of a November 15 virtual event, entitled Injecting Diversity through Outside Directors. It was hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Women in Business Committee and moderated by corporate governance consultancy Third Arrow Strategies LLC founder Tracy Gopal. The discussion drew on the experience and insight of three women who are committed to bringing change to Japan:

• Jin Montesano, executive officer and chief people officer at LIXIL
• Jenifer Rogers, ACCJ president and general counsel for Asia at Asurion
• Kaori Sasaki, founder and chief executive officer of ewoman, Inc.

In her introduction, Gopal pointed out that women are an increasingly critical part of Japan’s workforce and are needed in boardrooms to help ensure the long-term stability of the national economy. Having women on corporate boards also encourages other female employees to make sure that their voices are represented. It also helps attract the best and brightest.

At present, Japan’s corporate code merely suggests that company boards be balanced in their composition, including in terms of gender. However, this request of sorts cannot sufficiently move the needle when men have deep roots in the corporate culture. Thus women such as Montesano, Rogers, and Sasaki have “a responsibility to be the great change-makers,” Gopal said.

Jin Montesano

Jenifer Rogers

Kaori Sasaki

Tracy Gopal

Relative Progress

The change that has been witnessed in Japanese boardrooms might be considered quite rapid when one takes into consideration many corporations’ reluctance to evolve. But it looks poor in comparison with other parts of the world that have really “accelerated their game,” Rogers noted.

Her experiences on the boards of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. have reinforced the importance of the task, and her presence is important on several levels. Female staff have approached her and expressed gratitude that she is changing the company by altering the face of the board. Simultaneously, major investors are keen to see diversity on a board and a willingness to accept non-traditional voices.

Beyond the boardroom, another area of evolution that can be seen is in a company’s internal dynamics.

“We know that diversity is a driver of innovation,” Rogers said. “I personally feel that it’s my duty to speak up and share my views, because that is why I have been chosen to join a board as an outside director. And what I’ve found at organizations on whose boards I serve is that, whereas I used to be the first to ask a question or to share my viewpoint, now I can’t get a word in edgewise.”

Rogers said that what she really likes is how this change has created synergy with top management. “There are more obligations on external directors around sustainability, the codification of the corporate governance code, talking about diversity, and other issues at the board level.”

“Women are an increasingly critical part of Japan’s workforce and are needed in boardrooms to help ensure the long-term stability of the national economy.”

When that takes root, Rogers noted, it can trigger a cascade of change that runs down to every corner of the organization.

“I really think that, when female directors have a lot of confidence and are good communicators, they can truly be agents of change within the board dynamic.”

Yet, too often, a single minority voice on a board is not sufficient to bring about change.

Being the only woman is a difficult position in which to be, Rogers admitted. “What you must do is learn how to have influence and make an impact. For me, that means making friends with the other external directors, which allows me to have a much broader voice.”

One board on which she serves now has three female directors. This, she said, has resulted in a significant change.

“It has altered the dynamic, and we have now hit that magic number which shows there has been a general shift in the organization: it is committed to diversity,” she explained. “If you have three women, then you have enough representation to make a difference. Each woman feels comfortable with that level of diversity.”

Sustaining Change

For Montesano, three key components must be in place to make D&I a truly sustainable endeavor:

• A corporate culture that is genuinely more inclusive
• Credible and authentic leadership
• D&I-focused human resource policies and practices

She agreed with Rogers’ point about reaching a tipping point of minorities on a board, something that LIXIL has been keen to attain.

“Our D&I commitment was to achieve 50/50 gender equity on our board by 2030, and we are already at 30 percent,” she said. “At present, the board has three women. And while one might be [seen as] a quota to make women feel better, three normalizes the situation. Then you’re no longer having a conversation about gender; you’re actually having real conversations as a diverse board. And from there, you go from strength to strength.”

Immediately after being appointed LIXIL’s chief people officer, Montesano said she spent a lot of time examining data and conducting her own research to determine D&I best practices, as well as to tailor a strategy best suited to LIXIL. Her seat on the LIXIL board also enables her to act as a strong bridge between the board’s direction and the company’s D&I strategy.

“What I found is that you must focus on the I, or inclusion, not on diversity,” she said. “If inclusion is the goal, then diversity is the natural outcome.” This, she noted makes real D&I change much more sustainable. That determination has enabled LIXIL to formulate the hypothesis that drives its D&I agenda. The company crafted its approach by asking questions such as:

• How can an inclusive culture be created?
• How can managers demonstrate more empathy?
• How can people best be trained to practice inclusive behaviors?
• How can leadership embrace the actions needed to be genuinely inclusive?
• How can a company eliminate bias from policies, processes, and practices?

A key LIXIL initiative during the coronavirus pandemic has been to maximize flexibility in the workplace for women.

Of course, working from home—something that has been critical during the pandemic—was one element of this, but the company has also stepped up its self- and family-care policies. For example, 10 days have been added to maternity leave, and the entitlement has been made more flexible; an employee can now take the time off in half-day or even hourly increments.

Montesano also called for more women to take the plunge and actively seek promotion to serve on corporate boards. She said that she knows there are women ready to make their voice heard, because she meets them all the time.

“The number might seem small but, in absolute terms, it’s a pretty healthy size,” she explained. “For women who are considering it, I think it is really about putting your hand up to sit on this or that statutory entity internally, then joining outside non-profit boards, which are always looking for talented people.”

Montesano believes this can really accelerate things. “In my own company, my CEO is supportive of me sitting on an outside board. While many other companies may not have considered encouraging it, I hope they will. It would accelerate D&I across Japan and add more gender diversity to boards.”

Growing Curiosity

For ewoman founder Sasaki, there has been visible change in the 35 years since she started her first company, Unicul International. Over the past 26 years, Sasaki’s International Conference for Women in Business has been a catalyst for this change and is widely recognized as spearheading the D&I movement in Japan.

“Compared with 30 years ago, more women are in executive or leadership positions and, at the conference, they like to learn more about diversity, global issues, and how to climb the corporate ladder,” she explained.

Sasaki, who has been serving as an outside board member of corporations for 13 years—and currently sits on the boards of four companies—created the female board-member network called The Board. She noted that most companies continue to believe that they are diverse if they just reach a set number of female employees.

“Diversity is not just a gender issue; diversity of thought is very important for a company’s growth. We need to bring a new angle, a new direction of ideas into boardrooms.”

She added that the public, as well as ESG investors, are asking which companies are performing well on D&I. Such information often influences their investment decisions. But the current rankings only utilize the data which companies choose to make public, so they don’t accurately reflect the true D&I culture at these companies.

To remedy this situation, and to help companies determine the status of their own D&I efforts compared with their peers, Sasaki’s ewoman assembled a group of international experts to design the Diversity Index (DI). The DI measures the diversity of an organization by combining the numerical data with the attitudes and perceptions of every employee and executive through an online survey and exam. It not only reveals the true state of D&I in a company, it identifies training opportunities and serves as a recruiting tool.

Buying In

All three women concluded that the outlook is positive for women in senior positions and also, more broadly, for D&I at Japanese corporations.

Rogers summed it up: “The reality is that, for all companies in Japan, there is demographic pressure. It’s the external competitive market that is driving the use of that pool of talented women in Japan who are highly talented but, at present, underutilized.

“I believe that CEOs and CFOs are now really buying into it,” she added. “They can see how diversity can transform their organization and allow people to really bring their best self to work. The leaders have targets, are measuring, and are increasing disclosure. It really is an articulated priority.”

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