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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Work-Life Management
Initiatives in Japan
Ricoh Group's Vision for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Work-Life Management
The Ricoh Group will improve its corporate strength by ensuring every employee plays an active role with a sense of fulfillment, which will lead to innovations and contribute to the sustainable development of society. To realize this, we need to create an environment where diverse people can play active roles. Each employee needs to manage both their work and private life and work with high productivity.
Based on this policy, the Ricoh Group positions Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Work-Life Management as one of its management strategies.
The Ricoh Group has set three axes of “Cultivate awareness and corporate culture,” (the key element), “Promoting the Active Engagement of Diverse People” and “Supporting Work-Life Management and Reviewing Work Styles,” and is taking initiatives for each.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Employees with different cultures and backgrounds perform at their full capacity to generate innovation that creates new value.
Work-Life Management
Efficient working styles help employees lead a fulfilling life at work and home alike, and thus increase their productivity.
We aim to realize the above-described vision to increase corporate value and employee motivation (performance).
Various measures adopted to help raise awareness of the work environment to make the company a more comfortable place in which to work (Ricoh Co., Ltd.)
Promotion
of activities
by diverse
human
resources
- Female manager study groups and gatherings
- Early development programs for female manager candidates
- Career forum for junior female employees
- International Women’s Day events
- Increasing job opportunities for people with disabilities
- Supporting post-retirement career development
- SOGI (LGBTQ+ community) basics seminars, e-learning, etc.
Support for
better
work-life
balance and
improvement
of working
styles
- Childcare/nursing care leave and shorter working hours
- Support leave system (nursing, nursing care, fertility treatment, non-work related injuries, etc.)
- Paid leave by time, encouraging consecutive use of paid leave
- Remote work, satellite offices, and workcation
- Flextime system (with no core time)
- Shorter working hours/days
- Special long-term leave for spousal relocation
- Special long-term leave for volunteer work
- Communication guides for supporting work-life balance (for supervisors and users)
- Return-to-work support seminars, nursing care seminars,family day, etc.
Improving employee awareness
and corporate culture
- Information dissemination for diversity
and work-life management (portal site) - Awareness-raising seminars
- Promotion meeting for group
companies in Japan
Awareness survey
- Employee awareness survey (engagement)
- Work-life management awareness survey
Improving employee awareness and corporate culture
<Raising awareness of workplace issues>
When promoting the Active Engagement of Diverse People and Supporting Work-Life Management and Reviewing Work Styles, it is essential to raise the awareness of each employee and develop a corporate culture to accept these initiatives. With this understanding, we conduct various activities to enhance employees' correct understanding and Cultivate Awareness and Corporate Culture.
Major Activities
- ■ Providing and delivering information through the dedicated portal site
- ■ Holding seminars on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Work-Life Management
- ■ Work-life management awareness survey (for raising awareness of the programs, monitoring changes in employees’ awareness and understanding their needs)
Also, employee awareness surveys focusing exclusively on work-life management are conducted with the aim of making these systems better known, improving employee awareness, and understanding employee needs regarding this theme.
Support and programs for Work-Life Management
<A pioneer in supporting better work-life balance>
To support employee work-life balance, Ricoh introduced childcare leave and shorter working hour programs in 1990, even before the enactment of the Child Care Leave Law.
These programs have been enhanced as appropriate to respond to the changing needs of employees, including those related to family care-giving.
The program lineup has been broadened to offer a range of options for shorter working hours and/or days, remote working, among others that can cater to the various lifestyles of individual employees.
Various Systems for Supporting a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Return-to-work support seminars (for childcare leave users) and nursing care seminars are held every year to brief expected users on support programs offered by the company as well as other HR programs. Return-to-work support seminars contain interactive information-sharing sessions and discussions, such as sharing stories by employees who had been on the childcare leave about their activities as working parents, which are appreciated by many participants.
To help childcare and nursing care leave users return to work without problems, such employees are given an opportunity to communicate with their supervisors during the leave and have a relevant interview ahead of their return date.
From 2003, the Career Recovery Program has been in place to ensure that the performance appraisal results of employees during their leave will not unfairly affect their prospects for promotion. In the program, in making decisions regarding promotions, performance appraisal results both from before and after leave are taken into account.
The use rate of childcare leave has increased to its current level of almost 100% for both genders, owing to various measures implemented in the past, including pioneering efforts. The return-to-work rate of childcare leave users has also reached almost 100%.
In addition, at some of our group companies, lactation room is available during work hours for female employees who have returned to work after maternity or childcare leave.
Return-to-work seminar (for childcare leave users)
Work style reform
<Reducing total working hours>
Ricoh actively works to reduce total working hours through reforming workplace attitudes and establishing organizational systems. Seeking to change work style, we emphasize the importance of effective time management and appropriate working styles for increasing productivity and efficiency at work, advising employees to work intensively and take adequate breaks to refresh. Increased efficiency is expected to help curtail overtime hours. We also promote more active use of paid leave.
Specific measures in place include: Fresh Up Days, under which all staff, in principle, are encouraged to leave work on time on two common designated days of the week; a system in which checks are made with supervisors if their subordinates’ overtime exceeds the prescribed hours; and management training programs on personnel management affairs.
To facilitate the use of paid leave, a range of measures have been implemented such as: setting aside specific days and months to encourage large numbers of employees to take such leave; launching a program to promote a five-day consecutive leave period; and offering leave on an hourly basis.
<Promoting flexible working styles>
We have revised the work style systems according to new work styles, including removing the core time from the flextime system and removing the limit on the number of days of remote work and the restriction on remote work places. In addition to these, we added satellite offices and adopted digital tools to improve work efficiency at the workplace. These revisions have realized optimal work styles for employees, allowing them to choose hours and places that fit their job type and contents and combine office work and remote work.
Empowering women
<Step-by-step progress>
The Ricoh Group considers women’s empowerment as a key diversity theme and implements relevant initiatives on an ongoing basis.
Ricoh Co., Ltd. signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in February 2011, and in February 2016 joined the Japanese Cabinet Office-led Declaration on Action by a group of male leaders who will create ”A society in which Women Shine.” Driven by the active involvement of top management, the company is accelerating the implementation of measures to promote women’s empowerment and encourage their active roles as part of its efforts to facilitate diversity in the workplace.
Starting from fiscal 2020, we set targets for raising the percentage of female managers as part of our ESG goals and stepped up efforts to achieve the set targets.
Global: at least 20.0%
(Group companies in Japan: at least 10.0%)
(Ricoh Co., Ltd. : at least 10.0%)
Training programs and greater involvement of female employees with talent and motivation (Ricoh Co., Ltd.)
■Level-based thematic seminars and forums for women
Efforts to improve the work environment
- Programs for raising the awareness of managers (Seminars, training programs, communication guides, etc.)
- Providing diversity-related information and promoting diversity (Portal site, awareness survey, International Women’s Day events, etc.)
- Interaction and information sharing to promote efforts by group companies (Meeting of responsible persons from each company, etc.)
- Work style reform (Creating a workplace where each and every employee can enjoy exercising their abilities to do meaningful jobs, offering forums and developing systems for this purpose, etc.)
- Commitment of top management (Establishing a DE&I Statement and Diversity KPIs, C∞L Boss declaration, etc.)
Promoting employment and expanding opportunities for the disabled
In line with its founding principles of “Love your neighbor, love your country, love your work,” Ricoh believes that all persons, with and without disabilities, should be given adequately fair treatment and opportunities to exploit their individual abilities to the fullest in the pursuit of self-fulfillment and meaningful work. Based on this belief, we have been proactively promoting the employment of disabled people and introducing to our sites, as necessary, access facilities such as ramps, accessible toilets, and dedicated parking spaces as well as specially designed work-related equipment.
At the Ricoh Group, to step up our efforts in this area, we set voluntary disability employment rate targets higher than legal standards, and have expanded job opportunities to offer positions particularly to people with intellectual or mental impairment. We will further raise our targets and expand opportunities for employing disabled workers.
For more details, please see Diversity KPIs.
Promoting understanding of SOGI(LGBTQ+ community)
The Ricoh Group implements measures to promote understanding of SOGI(LGBTQ+ community) to create a workplace environment where everyone can feel safe and show their individuality.
To eliminate discrimination arising from lack of understanding and realize a workplace where everyone can work comfortably, it is essential to understand various sexual orientations and sexual minorities correctly. With this understanding, in October 2018, the Ricoh Group revised its Code of Conduct to give consideration to SOGI (LGBTQ+ community), by adding sexual orientation and gender identity in the “discrimination to be excluded” under “3. Behaviors Respecting Human Rights.”
We also provide seminars and e-learning training for Group employees in Japan.
In addition, we have also established a consultation desk for human rights, harassment, and SOGI(LGBTQ+ community), and have started to add gender-free washrooms and changing rooms.
SOGI (LGBTQ+ community) seminar
Post-retirement career options
We work on creating work environments where rehired employees can play active roles by utilizing the expertise and skills they have cultivated. We have adopted flexible time work, remote work, short work, and other work style systems to realize diverse work styles for employees. We also offer in-house recruitment and in-house secondary jobs to provide opportunities to employees to choose workplaces where they can demonstrate their skills and experience. Many employees continue working with a sense of fulfillment in the Group after their retirement.
Diversity KPIs
■Average service years by gender
(Ricoh Company, Ltd. in Japan)
■Percentage of female workers
in management positions
(Ricoh Company, Ltd. in Japan)
■Gender pay gap per person in management level (Base salary and Total salary) FY2022
| Base salary | Total pay per person | |
|---|---|---|
| Managerial position | 95.2% | 95.1% |
(Ricoh Co., Ltd. in Japan)
Ricoh adopts a gender-equal compensation system. The above gender gap is attributable largely to differences in age and grade composition.
■Employment Rate of Workers with Disabilities
External recognition/certification
Ricoh Co., Ltd.
2005 |
Tokyo Labor Bureau Director’s Award for Excellence for Companies Promoting Gender Equality (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) |
|---|---|
2007 |
Kurumin accreditation for nurturing the next-generation (Tokyo Labor Bureau) (also, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
2010 |
Nikkei Award for Best Companies Supporting Child-Rearing |
2013 |
Diversity Management Selection 100 (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry) 
|
2015 |
Platinum Kurumin special accreditation for nurturing the next-generation (Tokyo Labor Bureau) 
|
2016 |
Eruboshi company certification (three certification grades) based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) 
|
2018 |
Top Hundred Telework Pioneers and HAPPY Telework Award (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) 
|
2019 |
Childraising-Friendly Companies Grand Prix 2019, Special Encouragement Award (Nikkei xwomen/Nikkei DUAL) |
2021 |
Received the Chairman's Award of the 21st Telework Promotion Award (Large Enterprise Telework Category), Japan Telework Association 
|
2022 |
Minister of Regional Development Award at the Regional Development Telework Awards (Cabinet Office) Minister Prize in Top Hundred Telework Pioneers and HAPPY Telework Award (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) |