Tokyo - June 22, 2021 - Uzabase, Inc. today announced its commitment to further promoting Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) within its group of companies, a decision deeply rooted in one of its 7 Values - “We need what you bring”.
Background to This Decision
Ever since its establishment, the Uzabase Group has always aimed to gather together a diverse range of talents and create an organization in which everyone can express their individuality, as we work to deliver value to users across the globe in line with our Mission (“We guide business people to insights that change the world”).
As our organization became more diverse, we also established the “7 Values” in 2012 as a means of expressing the core values shared by all team members as we traverse the path towards fulfilling our Mission. One of these Values, “We need what you bring”, speaks to the very essence of what D&I stands for.
Thoughts Behind “We need what you bring”
We acknowledge and celebrate each other’s differences, be it in terms of values, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and respect one another, communicating openly and fairly. Open communication itself requires that everyone’s individuality is acknowledged, that everyone feels safe psychologically, and that the barriers to engaging in communication are removed. We believe that a balanced approach, where both open communication and inclusion are ensured, is the embodiment of “We need what you bring”.
More details on diversity at Uzabase here:
URL：https://www.uzabase.com/careers/
D&I Initiatives and Challenges
In order to truly embody the value of “We need what you bring, Uzabase has been working to ensure that diversity is respected and psychological safety is guaranteed to all of our employees.
While these efforts have helped to motivate and develop the talents of the diverse group of people in Uzabase, there are a number of issues that still need to be addressed.
・A noticeable information imbalance in terms of language
・A disparity in terms of gender ratio among regular employees and leaders
・Room for improvement when it comes to job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Our Commitment to D&I
In our quest to tackle these challenges, we commit to incorporating the D&I initiatives described below into our future business policy.
1. Ensure information transparency
We aim for fairness in opportunities, evaluation and promotion within the company, and we will ensure transparency of information.
Based on our value of “Be free & own it”, which guarantees to each one of us the freedom to think beyond the norm and to perform to the best of our abilities, we have been very open in sharing information, with consideration for privacy and confidentiality. We have also disclosed all information on remuneration and evaluation criteria within the Uzabase Group, including executive compensation and salaries tables, to ensure that all of our team members are able to create reasonable and logical expectations for the future. By being thoroughly open about sharing this information, we ensure fairness in terms of assessment and promotion across the company.
Furthermore, as the nationalities of and languages spoken by our team members continue to diversify, we will actively work to resolve any language-related imbalances in terms of information shared by enhancing our interpretation and translation systems.
2. Reduce the gender disparity among regular employees and leaders
At present, a disparity exists in terms of gender among our employees and leaders, as shown below.
In order to reduce the current gender disparity amongst employees and leaders, we will take the following actions:
・Leadership training and personality/attribute-based mentoring support for female leaders and leader candidates
・Re-onboarding support following maternity/paternity leave
・Creation of series of articles on “role models” within the company
・Provision of support for internal communities, such as Career Juggling (for working parents) and Rainbow (LGBTQI+).
3. Help people to overcome hurdles arising from structural issues in society
While constantly discussing the difference between Equality and Equity, we will provide support for members with diverse personalities and characteristics to work in an equitable manner. If we believe that a particular member has a hurdle arising from an issue in the social structure, we will work together to overcome that hurdle.
Specifically, we will consider updating our systems on an ongoing basis, including a work environment where diverse members can work comfortably, evaluation and feedback systems that allow them to demonstrate their strengths, and subsidy systems. In addition to the existing childcare fee subsidy system, we are planning to introduce a sick child care subsidy system, a nursing care allowance system, and Paternity Leave.
4. Set up a D&I Committee and disclose D&I-related metrics and policies on an ongoing basis
We will set up a D&I Committee, which will also include external directors. The Committee’s goals will be to plan, develop, and implement measures (internally), as well as to monitor and evaluate the results of these measures (with the help of external advisors if necessary). Going forward, we will also regularly disclose general information on diversity, such as gender, nationality, and occupation ratios, as well as various other details regarding our diversity initiatives.
Comment from Shinobu Matsui,
Board Director, Chief People & Administrative Officer,
Head of D&I Promotion Initiatives
When I joined Uzabase in 2014, I was the first working mother in the company. The CEO at the time said to me, "We do have a maternity leave system, but there are no working mothers at the company yet. I would like you to join us and prove that you can continue to work here even if you have children. We understand that you can't spend the majority of your time working, and only ask for 100% commitment during the time that you can actually spend on work.”
Later, when I was promoted to an executive officer position, I still had some reservations and worried if I could actually commit 100% to the job. The key for me was that I had people around me who I knew supported me and had my back at all times. I would like to become someone who can support others in the same way, and I also want to create a more structured approach to facilitate this within our organization. It is my hope that these D&I initiatives will help to shape this approach.
On this point, while it is important for companies to have various internal policies and initiatives in place, diversity in leadership may not necessarily improve without changes taking place in society as a whole. What we can do as a company is to share our current situation in relation to diversity with the world, boost our efforts and improve our communication, and provide full disclosure on the results of our initiatives, both good and bad. Through this, we can contribute to social change, even if only to a limited extent. By engaging in such initiatives on a constant basis, I truly believe that we have the power to drive change in Japanese society, change for the better. It is with this belief in mind that we are making this statement.
As we continue along the path towards the fulfillment of our mission, Uzabase will continue to enhance its efforts to create an environment in which individuals can truly unleash the full potential of their talent, and demonstrate the power of our core value “We need what you bring".
For Inquiries
Uzabase, Inc. (PR Team)
https://www.uzabase.com/contact/
