According to a recent think-tank report into diversity and productivity, women-friendly companies tend to be more productive and have lower staff turnover than companies that were judged 'women-unfriendly'.
Japan's Equal Employment Opportunity Law came into effect a little over 20 years ago, in 1986. Since then, the ratio of women in the workforce has climbed to 40%. There is however a characteristic trend in female employment in Japan that is not generally seen in other developed nations. Known as the M-curve, it is the tendency of women in their late 20s and 30s to drop out of the labour force to get married and raise families.
In the wider context of intensified global competition and Japan's labour shortage due to its rapidly aging population, the M-curve phenomenon is not good news, and it is now seen as a national priority to remedy the situation by making it easier for women to continue developing careers after starting a family. Many companies in Japan are also recognizing the problem and we are now seeing, particularly in larger corporations, initiatives to support women who want to continue working.
Some of these initiatives set high standards indeed: a major consumer electronics manufacturer has introduced a child-care leave system which its female employees can take advantage of for up to seven years without damaging their career prospects. Companies with on-site child-care facilities, and policies that ensure women do not miss out on career opportunities once they return from child-care leave are also on the increase. Some companies are taking steps to increase female recruits, while others are encouraging their part-time or temporary staff to become full-time regular employees.
These trends are in line with global hiring practices, which place increasing importance on the idea of diversity in the workplace. Broadly, the theory behind diversity – creating a work environment comprising people of different ethnicity, education, gender, age, values and so on – is that it improves employee retention and productivity, and raises consumer confidence because a company whose staff demographic is similar to the marketplace it serves is better equipped to thrive in that marketplace.
According to a recent think-tank report into diversity and productivity, women-friendly companies tend to be more productive and have lower staff turnover than companies that were judged 'women-unfriendly'.
Furthermore, the fact that a company has women-friendly policies sends a signal to all staff – both male and female – that the company values them. This leads to greater loyalty, which in turn contributes to an increase in the quality of work. One male employee of a cosmetics company that supports female employees returning to work after child-care leave summed it up: "knowing that I work in a company where women can work without the anxiety of having to choose between their career and their family makes me feel good about working here too."
While these developments are good news for women working in companies that have such systems in place, they are limited to a relatively small number of large corporations. As a proportion of the total workforce in Japan, it is a relatively small proportion, and an even smaller proportion of the total number of companies: More than 90% of companies in Japan are classed as small or medium size enterprises, and they account for 70% of all employees.
As a practical step to addressing Japan's problem of low and declining birth rates and problems associated with its aging population, more companies need to recognize that making their workplaces women-friendly is not a 'cost', but rather can lead directly to gains in productivity and a reduction in overall staff turnover.