In line with our corporate philosophy 'Benesse=Well-Being', we are committed to creating a workplace where employees can work in a healthy and lively manner, so that they can maximise their full potential.
We also believe that a workplace where there is openness, where people can say anything to each other and where each individual's opinion can always be received with confidence, leads to free and innovative ideas.
We aim to continue to improve the performance of each and every employee and to continue to grow both as a company and as individuals.
An environment where diverse human resources can unleash their abilities is a prerequisite for nurturing a corporate culture where each employee tries to improve by learning from others for their respective growth. The Benesse Group Principles state that “We believe that before we become good businesspeople, we must live as responsible members of society…”. True to this sentiment, we have practiced the concept of work-life management for over ten years, respecting work as well as other areas of our employees' lives.
In addition, we continue to promote productivity improvement through the elimination of long working hours and the realization of a healthy work-life balance. Specifically, we manage appropriate working hours while also striving to pay employees more than the legally mandated minimum wage. In determining compensation, the personnel department offers payments on a standard that is above the legal standard while also observing laws and regulations.
The environment and systems are designed to enable employees, including contract workers, to work in a variety of different ways.
(Benesse Corporation)
Benesse Corporation offers a combination of working from home and working in the office system that is tailored to the individual's work situation. Benesse Corporation also carried out a full renovation of their Tokyo headquarters in May 2021, aiming to create an office suitable for new work styles. They also abolished assigned seats based on an activity-based working (ABW) concept, where workers select the optimal location based on the work they are doing as a place to create value (joint creation) with the team. Spaces for team building and collaboration were also improved. This enables a hybrid working style, combining telecommuting and coming to the office. In FY 2023, over 61% of employees at the Benesse Corporation worked from home.
We strive to improve productivity by eradicating long working hours and achieving a healthy work-life balance within reasonable working hours.
(Benesse Corporation)
Various leave and holiday schemes have been set up, including for contract employees, to ensure that employees are aware of these schemes and to actively encourage them to take them.
（Benesse Corporation）
Other leave arrangements include assignment leave, mourning leave, marriage leave, menstrual leave, hospital visitation leave, maternity leave, official leave, jury leave, nursing leave, public injury/sickness leave, and nursing care leave.
Work-life Management Data (full-time employees)
Fiscal year ended March 31 of each year
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overtime work hours* | 34.3 hours | 38.2 hours | 39.6 hours | 38.9 hours | 41.0 hours | |
| Annual leave utilization rate | 60% | 52% | 54% | 60% | 60% | |
| Number of employees taking nursing care leave | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Average years of continuous service | Men | 12.0 | 12.2 | 13.1 | 12.6 | 10.1 |
| Women | 12.6 | 13.0 | 14.3 | 13.8 | 12.2 | |
* Prescribed working hours: 7 hours/day
The Benesse Group considers the health of its employees and their families to be an important asset of the company and their health management to be an important management issue.
We do not see the issue of health only as a compliance issue concerning occupational health, nor do we see it only as a risk management issue such as the loss of labor through employees’ illnesses and injuries. Under our corporate philosophy of “Benesse = Well-being”, we believe that creating a work environment that enables our employees to work in a vigorous, enthusiastic way and making best use of their talent will ultimately make us an indispensable group of companies that seek to deliver services that enrich people’s lives and that our customers, regions, and society as a whole can support. To attain this goal, our companies, employees, and health insurance cooperatives are all working as one to pursue better health.
● Benesse Group Health Declaration
Driven by its corporate philosophy of “Benesse = Well-being”, the Benesse Group declares its commitment to working to maintain and promote the health of our employees and their families.
Various consultation services have been established within the Benesse Group to support employees so that they can work in good health, both mentally and physically. We offer support in problem resolution through coordinating with industrial physicians, human affairs, and various supervising departments within the company and through introducing outside specialists and organizations.
The Benesse Group’s businesses, such as education and nursing care, require us to have a particularly strong sense of ethics. We work to create an open workplace so that each employee of the Group can understand compliance and the Group can conduct its corporate activities honestly and sincerely.
We also have a structure that communicates this awareness of our employees to companies to improve our daily operations and workplaces.
The Benesse Group has been conducting organizational assessments for more than 20 years to realize "people-oriented" management. Based on the results of organizational "health checkups," the PDCA cycle is incorporated into the group and individual company management systems to improve issues, such as sharing and reporting current status awareness at board meetings and reflecting the results in business plans.
From FY2021, we switched from GAMBA, its proprietary organizational assessment tool (conducted once a year), to Motivation Cloud (Link and Motivation Co., Ltd.), Japan's largest organizational assessment tool (conducted twice a year). Results and issues can now be immediately identified. We will increase employee engagement by speedily visualizing the state of the organization, identifying organizational issues, and making improvements.
(Year ended 31 March of each year)
| 2022 |
2023
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2024
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | November | June | November | ||
| Engagement rating | A | BBB | BBB | A | BBB |
※Engagement Ratings:
An indicator of the degree of engagement (mutual understanding and affinity) between a company and its employees.
There are 11 rating levels from AAA to DD.
The Benesse Group has established the Speak Up Line as an internal reporting system for quick consultations and communications when an employee discovers an illegal or unfair action or an action that violates the Group's articles of incorporation or internal rules.
We are working to prevent a variety of problems as a company and to solve problems quickly through making appropriate use of this system.
Benesse Corporation has introduced an employee representation system that seeks employee opinions when drafting and revising labor-management agreements and work rules. Benesse Corporation recruits employee representatives at each workplace through candidacy or recommendation and asks for their opinions on labor-management agreements and employment regulations.
In the past, the Benesse Group has promoted initiatives that widely incorporate suggestions from employees, and we began to implement a new suggestion scheme targeting all Benesse Group employees known as B-STAGE in FY2021.
It is our on-site employees that can more easily sense customer dissatisfaction and/or business problems and inconsistencies. To continue being a necessary presence in the world, Benesse has positioned the fact that each employee is readily aware that these problems are an opportunity for management and the workplace to come together to solve these challenges.
We have a New Business Proposal Department that can propose new business ideas and a Business Improvement Proposal Department that can suggest recommendations and points of improvement for the everyday work situation. Benesse Group employees and people from outside the company can join these teams.
In FY2023, we received 1,796 entries. Outstanding proposals in the New Business and Business Reform categories are being incorporated into our business planning and are progressing toward implementation.
Under the Certified Health & Productivity Management Organizations Recognition Program operated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Benesse Group's Tokyo Individualized Educational Institute was recognized for their health management efforts in the large enterprise category, while Benesse Business Mate, Benesse BE studio and Benesse Basecom were recognized in the small to medium-sized enterprise category.
【The Health & Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program】
The Health & Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program. The Certified Health & Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program honors large-scale and small- and medium-scale companies that are conducting excellent health management based on the initiatives for regional health problems and the health promotion initiatives noted by Nippon Kenko Kaigi. By increasing the visibility of companies that engage in good health management, the scheme aims to develop an environment in which companies can be positively assessed by other members of society, including employees, job seekers, related companies, and financial institutions as companies that consider employee health management from a business management perspective and are engaged in strategic efforts for improving it.
Last updated : 2024/08/01