The Ricoh Group respects individuality of each employee around the world. We promote a safe and comfortable working environment where each employee can work vigorously while fully exerting their skills and balancing work and personal life.
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Ricoh conducts employee surveys in each region (Japan, Europe, the Americas, China, the Asia and Pacific region) and takes remedial measures based on these results. For example, in Europe we have improved the employee survey process in various countries. In Japan, we are strengthening efforts to promote diversity and help employees strike a balance between work and family life. |
Improving upon Satisfaction Surveys, Ricoh Europe conducted Employee Engagement* Surveys on All Employees <Ricoh Europe (Europe)>
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Posters advertising the survey use local languages
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Ricoh Europe PLC, which covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has conducted its first Employee Engagement Survey of all 14,000 group employees. Management decided to conduct the survey in preparation for the integration of various group companies in April 2008, as that project highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of employees' opinions and the importance of identifying areas in which improvements should be sought. As well as assessing employee satisfaction, the survey was intended to measure the level of employee engagement in order to be able to raise it and have more employees actively participating in various activities and working to grow the company.
The survey, conducted in March 2008, was translated into 13 languages to allow employees to respond in their native tongue. A number of respondents reported that they were pleased to have the opportunity to express their opinions. Analysis of the survey results revealed that employee engagement ratio is currently at 4.9 points, surpassing the 4-point benchmark that Gallup research deems indicative of a "healthy company."
Based on these results, more than 40 improvement project teams were established across Ricoh Europe's operations, at Group, country and team level. Group-wide measures have already been implemented to: produce a simple summary of the key objectives and strategies defined in the Mid-Term Business Business Plan and share; create a short, simplified version of the Ricoh Code of Conduct; and actively publicize CSR activities. Improvements are being tracked with an improvement index using the Balanced Scorecard and progress and results have been disclosed to all employees.
Independent efforts have also been made by sales companies in each country and region. For example, Ricoh Poland established a process improvement team to facilitate communication within the company, while Infotec Germany set up an intranet for better information sharing among employees. Ricoh Spain, meanwhile, held a workshop to enhance management and coaching skills.
The survey was run again in February 2009 to check the impact of the improvements and will continue to be run on an annual basis. The improvement target for fiscal 2009 is to have 40 country-based projects and two pan-European projects addressing the key issues identified completed. Ricoh Europe plans to develop a framework for increasing employee engagement and encouraging all employees to adopt the common goal of growing the company.
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"Engagement" refers to the relationship between a company and its employees in which the two work together with the aim of mutual growth. |
| Sample of employee survey results |
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Diversity-focused human resources management <Ricoh (Japan)>
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Employee Awareness Survey
Can employees work equally regardless of their gender? |
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Ricoh is making efforts to establish diversity-focused human resources management in a bid to further globalize the brand. Especially in Japan, where the graying society and a decline in births have become serious issues, it is becoming even more important for women to exert their skills and contribute to the workforce. This is why one of Ricoh's priorities is to promote the active engagement of women.
Ricoh has always made a comfortable working environment for employees based on one of its four management philosophies, "Respect for People." Since around 1990.prior to any legal requirement in Japan.Ricoh began a childcare support system that offers female employees the option of working shorter hours, among other features. Ricoh also began a new system for flexible working hours and a review of existing personnel systems. In 1999, we conducted a survey of female employees' contributions at work and began a new employee awareness survey in 2001. As a result, we learned that (for example) "Male employees are not aware that female employees' retirement rate is dropping significantly" or that "Female employees have little awareness on how to build their careers," which revealed a need for change in the way both men and women feel about work.
In 2002, we coordinated efforts consisting of three pillars."changing awareness," "establishing a structure for balancing work and family life and flexible working conditions" and "supporting career development".in an effort to create a corporate culture where each individual, regardless of their gender, can maximize their contribution based on their skills and achievements. One example of these efforts is a series of interviews Ricoh conducted with the heads of each division based on the awareness survey results. We learned that female employees' career-building efforts were hampered by the personnel evaluation system conducted while women were on childcare leave, and that many employees were seeking a revision of this system. Therefore, we introduced a "career recovery measure" in 2003, which based evaluations on the pre- and post-childcare leave work performance and set promotion standards based on the post-childcare leave performance and future expectations. The new system ultimately increased the promotion rate for female employees. These ongoing efforts also increased the number of female managers, introduced new and increased management styles differing from conventional management styles, and are expected to help create a diversity-focused management.
After reviewing the results of employee awareness surveys between 2003 and 2008 from the perspective of changes throughout the years, we discovered that female employees were making insufficient efforts in the category of "activities with consideration for one's career direction." Therefore, we introduced a "career support program" in fiscal 2008 and have been further strengthening the company's efforts to support ambitious female employees who wished to find self-fulfillment at Ricoh and build a career here. Ricoh plans to conduct the PDCA cycle in these measures, and progress with the goal of creating a diversity-conscious workplace and instilling diversity-consciousness in our employees.
| Creating a Work Environment Where All Employees Can Show Their AbilitiesMid |
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Other efforts in showing respect to people |
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