Diverse Human Resource Activities
Women's Empowerment
As part of our diversity management, Shofu is working to identify and address issues in accordance with the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace to promote women's participation and advancement. Challenges include the low ratio of women in employment and the low number of women in leadership positions. For each of these issues, Shofu aims to raise the ratio of women in employment to 30% or more on average and continue to provide training for women to encourage them to take up management positions.
Goals and Initiatives Set Forth in the Action Plan
Plan Period: April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2026
Goal
Achieve an average female recruitment rate of 30% or higher among newly hired employees, excluding part-time and temporary staff, during the plan period.
Implementation Measures and Schedule
From April 2022: Continue external training programs for female employees in managerial positions to support promotion to higher management roles.
Goal
Maintain a 100% childcare leave utilization rate for female employees during the plan period, and aim for an average rate of 30% or higher for male employees.
Implementation Measures and Schedule
From April 2022: Communicate the Company's policy to promote childcare leave through the corporate bulletin board.
From October 2023: Encourage employees to take childcare leave through internal postings and other communication channels.
From October 2024: Post childcare leave stories of parents on the group newsletter.
In March 2025: Implement In-house Networking Roundtable about parenting and job.
As part of our initiatives to promote women's advancement, we implement Women's Leadership Development Training for female employees. Both programs were co-hosted with four local companies in Kyoto, offering participants opportunities for inter-company exchange that helped broaden their perspectives and enhance their professional awareness.
Going forward, we will continue to actively provide opportunities for self-reflection on career development and strive to foster an environment where women can realize their full potential.
Participant Feedback
Aki Ohtani, Section Manager, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance Department
My primary responsibilities currently include preparing medical device approval applications and corresponding with regulatory authorities.
This program, co-hosted with three other companies, brought together female employees in similar stages of their careers. Participants reflected on their career paths, shared insights from interviews with senior managers, and discussed topics such as career advancement and unconscious bias.
To further promote women's advancement, it is essential first to foster a mindset shift among female employees. At the same time, if leadership is limited only to "superwomen" with exceptional drive and ability, such progress will not be sustainable. Workplaces should enable women who are developing their skills and pursuing career growth to step into leadership roles naturally.
By fostering an environment that allows women seeking flexible work styles at different life stages to assume managerial roles, diverse leaders will naturally emerge. I intend to continue working in my own way and hope to contribute, even in a small way, to the advancement of women at Shofu.
Senior Talent
Amid growing concerns over future labor shortages resulting from the declining working-age population caused by Japan's low birthrate and aging society, we recognize that creating opportunities for senior talent with extensive experience and diverse skills is an important challenge for companies. In response to the 2021 revision of the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons, Shofu established a new system that enables senior talent with extensive experience and diverse skills to continue working until the age of 70 after reemployment.
