With the aim of enabling women and all other employees to thrive at work and ensuring the Company continues to co-create new value with various stakeholders, Idemitsu has positioned promoting the active participation of women as a key D&I promotion measure. To fulfill this commitment, we have set out our vision for both female employees and the Company as detailed in the table below.
| Female Employees |
|
|---|---|
| Company |
|
| Number of women (people) | Percentage of women (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of member | 564 | 14.0 | |
| Number of employees in managerial position | 24 | 2.4 | |
| Of the numbers mentioned above, over general managers | 3 | 8.1 | |
| Of the numbers mentioned above, managers | 21 | 2.2 | |
| Current Status | Targets | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of female executives (set as our target separately from the general business owner action plan) |
2 people (as of March 31, 2021) |
5 people (as of June 30, 2023) |
| Number of female management-level employees (employed by Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.) |
24 people (as of March 31, 2021) * 27 people (including employees seconded to other companies) |
46 people (as of March 31, 2023) |
| Percentage of female graduates hired | 24.1% (April 2021) |
30.0% (March 31, 2023) |
| Percentage of annual paid leave taken by employees | 69.5% (FY2020) |
85.0% (March 31, 2023) |
When formulating our general employer action plan, we set out to uncover the fundamental factors inhibiting the growth and active participation of female employees by using the actual hiring situation, analytical data tools and surveys of all employees on topics such as motivation. Based on these results, we established quantitative targets for issues requiring improvement.
We believe that better workplaces, where women can work easily and feel their work is rewarding, lead to better environments, where all employees can achieve better work-life balance and fully demonstrate their diverse capabilities. Accordingly, from FY2020 onward, we are implementing initiatives based on this action plan.
Quantitative target 1*1
46 female managers (3.0%) or higher (currently 26 (1.7%) as of April 1, 2019)
Quantitative target 2*1
30% or higher ratio of female graduate hires (currently 22% as of April 1, 2019)
Quantitative target 3*2
85% or higher percentage of annual paid leave taken by employees (currently 69.3% as of April 1, 2019)
Since September 2020, we have been running a mentorship program with the aim of offering career support to female employees. Female managers active outside the Company act as mentors to solve current concerns and issues and encourage the growth activities of women by offering advice on how to achieve growth. In fiscal 2020, 14 women participated. In the questionnaire, all participants said they noticed or learned something new, 93% said they were influenced in their attitude and behavior, and 93% of superiors said they felt a positive change. 11 women will participate in fiscal 2021.
In order to implement the action plan, we think it is necessary to build a solid employee network. As part of it, starting from April 2020, employees who have common interest in a certain topic / theme gather forming subcommittees on Teams. Participants, not only limited to female employees, can share their problems and receive feedback from others about the topic. It could at least reduce anxieties among the members and stimulate them to exchange more ideas.
| Month | Number of events |
Target | Number of participants |
Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2020 | 2 times | Employees on childcare | 7 people | Does the number of employees struggling to balance work and childcare increase due to Coronavirus? Let's talk about your concerns and take a step forward to solve them! |
| June 2020 | 4 times | Employees on childcare | 16 people | The state of emergency has been lifted! Let's think together about to balance work and childcare in this post-Corona era! |
From fiscal 2020, we will include initiatives related to women’s activities in the management-level employees’ management- by-objectives (MBO) evaluations to encourage the growth of female employees.
In February 2020, we held an opinion exchange meeting that was attended by eight female engineers from the Group’s complexes and refining companies. The online follow-up meeting started in October and was held three times during fiscal 2020. In fiscal 2021, an opinion exchange meeting was held in August with 20 participants. We are continuing this activity because it helps participants get to know each other and motivates them to work and pursue their careers.
The former company Showa Shell held a networking event for female managers and South Korea-based GS Caltex every year since 2017. The third such event was held in September 2019, and the newly integrated company expanded the list of invitees to include next-generation leaders. The event provided opportunities to network with people outside the company and from overseas, creating strong bonds with the aim of broadening people’s minds and influencing future action. The participants fostered a sense of kinship among themselves, motivating one another to step outside their gendered boxes and take action enabling their own growth and activity.
‘Ladies Meet Up @ Odaiba’ was a gathering organized for female employees on January 17, 2019. This gathering was organized to promote interaction between employees of Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell, and to increase awareness on how to make effective use of individual capabilities in an ever-changing workplace environment. A total of 103 female employees gathered in Odaiba from various parts of Japan, while others joined the gathering via Skype.
In the first half of the event, 2 female executive officers, Ms. Terakami and Ms. Inoue spoke about their careers. The participants were inspired by the fact that Ms. Terakami and Ms. Inoue took up the initiative and overcame hardships to get to where they currently are, in spite of the fact that there were few females in power at that time.
In the second half of the event, the participants reflected on the contents of the talk given by Ms. Terakami and Ms. Inoue and tried to apply what they had learnt to their own situations. All participants actively participated in group discussions, openly sharing their thoughts and opinions, such as attributes that they would like to utilize and new challenges that they would like to take up in the future. Positive feedback was received from all participants, with some expressing that the gathering was a great opportunity to freely discuss about work and a good platform to think about solutions to solve issues in the workplace together. Other comments include an improvement in the level of interaction between Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell employees.
