Diversity & Inclusion

We believe that diversity is a key growth driver and bringing together different strengths, viewpoints and values generates the innovation that creates new value, and leads to sustainable growth for the Group. Therefore, we are working to promote diversity and inclusion with the goal of creating workplaces that are comfortable for everyone, where every Group employee can maximize their full potential and enhance their expertise, regardless of age, sex, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, disability, or the way they were recruited.
Given a background of responding to diversifying market needs, we consider empowering women in the workplace to be a particularly important management priority. To secure talented human resources, we are working on measures to promote roles for women aimed at creating an environment in which women can demonstrate their abilities and play an active role.

The current status (as of March 31, 2023) and targets for women, non-Japanese, and mid-career hires in the Company, and the gender pay gap, are as follows.

Towards creating a workplace environment where female employees can exercise their abilities and participate more than ever:

Given a background of a shrinking productive workforce and the need to respond to diversifying market needs, the Group considers empowering women in the workplace to be a particularly important management priority. To secure talented human resources, we are advancing initiatives to promote the workplace participation of women aimed at creating an environment in which, more than ever, women can demonstrate their abilities and play an active role. Under our general employer action plan launched in fiscal 2020, based on the Women's Advancement Promotion Law, we have set targets for the ratio of female employees hired and ratio of female employees in management positions, and we have begun a variety of measures aimed at achieving them. Specifically, we are moving forward with initiatives that strongly support women's advancement, including strengthening recruitment by expanding seminars at women's colleges and promoting follow-up with women in managerial career track positions. To encourage women to elevate their careers, we are also providing more opportunities for them to interact with a diversity of role models, including by holding informal exchanges with executives and division heads, as well as career lectures and dialogues with female business leaders. In this way, we are working to increase motivation and nurture a suitable culture. As a result of our efforts, we received Platinum Kurumin certification in fiscal 2017 and two-star Eruboshi certification (the second highest level) in fiscal 2021 from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Moreover, empowering female employees continues to be an important human resource strategy under our medium-term management plan, and we have set ambitious targets, including a ratio of female employees in management positions of 35%. We will enhance and strengthen our current measures, and focus on further empowering female employees.

Plan period: April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2027 (five years)

To give students an idea of what it is like for women working at Fuyo Lease, we have posted stories from female employees working in various divisions on our recruitment website. The posts cover aspects such as work details, careers, and working while raising children. Furthermore, in order to communicate more with female students, the Company set up booths at events for female students.

The Company regularly conducts a three-party interview for the purpose of supporting women's career plans in which each female employee is interviewed by her departmental manager and a staff member from Human Resources Division. Individual career plans are designed based on issues and a future vision for supporting each individual's development. Furthermore, in order to appoint female managers, the Company provides support for enhancing their abilities and skills through training by organizing opportunities for female employees to attend external seminars on subjects such as management skills and leadership.

We held career lectures with outside lecturers twice in 2015, to provide an opportunity for female employees to consider and plant their future careers. Since 2017, the target audience of the lectures has no longer been limited to female employees, and lectures have been held with the aim of creating a work environment where diverse employees can realize their potential. In January 2019, an Ikuboss^* Seminar was organized for management-level staff. From fiscal 2020, we have been holding career seminars by female executives and providing opportunities to encounter a variety of careers and work values.

Since January 2015, we are continuously running a working group for employees with the aim of creating a workplace that is more welcoming for employees to get actively involved in, and allows them to envision their careers over the medium and long term. In fact, several programs have been established through the discussions.

For example, a program called +Friday (Plus Friday) introduced in February 2017 is one of them, which allows employees to choose one Friday each month when they work just a half day. Flexible hours program introduced in May 2017 is another program that was born out of the working group's discussions. This program offers four different work schedules with earlier and later starting and finishing times, in addition to the normal working hours, so that employees can choose the schedule that is most suitable to their needs, for activities such as childcare or family nursing care duties, as well as their lifestyles.

Through discussion and consideration by employee-participation-type working group activities, we are striving to penetrate and establish systems to create better working environments.

Childcare Support Guidebook created by the first working group

Handout on creating a workplace that considers everyone's needs (a partial excerpt) created by the second working group

Leaflet giving information on the childcare support system (excerpt)

We are also working to hire people with disabilities.

In addition to the longstanding recruitment of mid-career employees, the Company has started recruiting new graduates since fiscal 2015. In recruiting people with disabilities, the Company decides, with considerations to the characteristics of their disabilities and the jobs they want, the sections and jobs where they are to be assigned after joining the Company, as well as their working hours. The Group also provides e-learning about disabilities to all Group employees and group training to heads of departments and branch offices to promote understanding about this issue.

As of the end of fiscal 2022, the percentage of people with disabilities employed by Fuyo Lease was 2.3 percent.

We are working to increase understanding of diversity and inclusion in the workplace by implementing measures such as providing e-learning about hiring LGBTQ people and people with disabilities to all Group employees and group training on those issues to division heads, executives and human resources managers. As a result of implementing these initiatives, we received a Bronze rating on the PRIDE Index 2022, an assessment indicator for efforts to address sexual minorities in the workplace. PRIDE Index 2022 was developed by work with Pride, a voluntary organization.

In response to the enactment of the revised Act for Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons in April 2013, Fuyo Lease reviewed the past continuous employment system and introduced a revised system, which allows, in principle, all employees who are reaching retirement age to continue working until the age of 65 if they wish.

As of the end of fiscal 2022, there were 70 employees still employed after retirement. Using their knowledge and experience acquired over many years, they are working in the functions of, for example, debt collection, making credit decisions, and remarketing leased properties.