Stakeholder Dialogue

Summary of the dialogue
—Possible measures for spreading awareness of diversity to all employees—

Okubo: I'd like to sum up the dialogue that we have had today.
Many different ideas were mentioned, but they can be summarized in three points.
The first is creating a positive workplace culture. To do this, it is necessary to use "shock therapy" and to make diversity initiatives more visible so that they become a concrete reality for employees, rather than just a concept. The second is to work towards making problems more apparent, and explore solutions during this process. I think that we must look at diversity problems as pressing issues. For example, regarding subjects such as the hiring of women who have studied science, we could implement activities aimed at increasing the number of such applicants. Thirdly, we should be more aware of the fact that diversity is the foundation of innovation. With cameras for example, there is currently an ongoing change in the structure of the user base. With this in mind, use of diversity initiatives as a management strategy could become the basis for new initiatives in this area.

I'd like to personally propose that Nikon Corporation set ambitious numerical targets in the three following areas:
1. the proportion of female managers and leaders;
2. the proportion of women in each job category; and
3. the proportion of non-Japanese employees and women in the entire company.
To achieve ambitious targets in these areas, bold reforms of the personnel management systems will be necessary, and it is very important to engage in dialogue in order to advance those reforms. What are your thoughts these kinds of "shock therapy" in order to make diversity activities more visible?

Kanazawa: I had several thoughts about the numerical values that could be set as targets, but overall as areas for improvement I think these three are good. I also agreed that your second suggestion would be an interesting way of approaching the problem. Since it is true that women are currently unevenly distributed in certain job categories, this might work well. There is a need for discussion related to the third suggestion. Each of these ideas would bring about a variety of interesting discussions.

Atsumi: It is good to have numerical targets, but my advice for this matter is that companies should be cautious regarding the internal and external disclosure of goals regarding female managerial positions. Also, regarding non-Japanese employees, there are many companies that divide responsibility clearly, putting one department in charge of diversity centered on non-Japanese, which may include utilization of global personnel, and one department in charge of promoting gender diversity. However, this leads to inconsistent results. At Nikon, if you want to promote diversity centered mainly on non-Japanese or utilization of global personnel, it is necessary to be aware of that point when tackling the issues. Diversity is more like an herbal medicine rather than a quick-acting remedy. It takes time, but gradually kicks in. It is also crucial to handle the issue of diversity as a management strategy, and as a fundamental challenge for the company. Diversity is vital for increasing corporate performance.
There are four effects of diversity: 1) securing good personnel; 2) improving employee motivation; 3) forming an efficient organization; and 4) promoting innovation.

Akiyama: I think that first it is a good approach to take measures after establishing such targets. Regarding the targets for females in managerial positions, I have the opposite opinion, namely that the company should be open about its goals and that they should be discussed within the company. I feel this way because openness is needed so that personnel in managerial positions understand why it is important to appoint women to managerial positions. This also ties in with the issue of visibility mentioned earlier. For non-Japanese employees, it is difficult to promote the advancement of women and also implement measures related to non-Japanese employees at the same time. It is better to decide what the priority at hand is, and to take things step by step.

Hakamata: The targets that we currently disclose were actually first proposed by my department. I agree with setting targets, but setting targets like that can sometimes lead to efforts that involve only a limited number of departments or people. I think that in order to create widespread activities aimed at diversity within the company, it is necessary to give greater consideration to the sorts of actions that should be taken.

Atsumi: I would recommend implementing regular surveys on employee satisfaction while also setting numerical targets and making company-wide efforts. Rather than just seeing an increase in the numbers, it also important to monitor whether or not women are actually active in each workplace. If such monitoring is performed, the differences of situations among workplaces will become clear. After examining these situations and looking at the kinds of places where women are actively working, as well as the kinds of managers in those places, the problems in other workplaces will start to become apparent in contrast. The workplaces that did not show very good results may then be influenced positively by referring to the situations of workplaces with good results.

Akiyama: A company that I worked for in the past had set a maximum number of years that an employee could work in one workplace, and required a certain number of sections that employees had to have experience in to be promoted to managerial positions. This was extremely effective. For some companies it might be better to keep employees in one section in order to develop the competence of professionals in certain areas. But at least from the perspective of management, providing employees a variety of experiences in a variety of workplaces was very effective.

Okubo: Thank you very much.
As Ms. Hakamata was saying, it seems that the next step is to implement measures that will lead all employees—and especially the people in charge of each department—to see diversity as a challenge that has implications for the business itself. In the process of doing so, I think there will probably be numerical targets, and a variety of different systems created. I am very grateful for the many suggestions that we received from the two specialists on the topic, Mr. Atsumi and Mr. Akiyama. I am also glad that the participants from Nikon were able to confront these challenges and discuss the direction of the necessary solutions. With that, I would like to bring this stakeholder dialogue to a close.

In closing

Kanazawa: Within the management team, we have given a great deal of attention to diversity. But this has not actually led to the company changing. Going forward, we will put the various suggestions received today to good use. Thank you.