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General Employer Action Plan based on the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace

The Olympus Group believes that the active participation of diverse human resources is indispensable for the sustainable development of the company and therefore promotes Work-Life Integration (WLI) to enable our employees to achieve the optimum balance.
Olympus Corporation recognizes promoting the advancement of women as a priority issue to achieve WLI and have created the following action plan.

1. Plan duration

April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2024.

2. Current status

  • The percentage of female managers is 2.4% as of the end of FY2019, which is low compared with the overall percentage of female full-time employees (approx. 14%).
  • The percentage of women among new graduate employees in FY2020 was 23.5%.
  • We provide management skills training programs and a mentor system to nurture female managers. We also provide leader training programs and mentoring for manager candidates.
  • It is difficult for female employees to find a female role model and design a career path as the number of female managers and opportunities to get to know them are few.
  • The education and promotion of professionals and experts is insufficient.
  • In FY2018, the scope of workers eligible for teleworking was expanded from those in childcare to include those engaged in elderly care or nursing care. Since then we have been expanding the trial for target employees in each business site.
  • To help female workers to return smoothly to work after childcare leave, we provide the means to view work-related information during their leave and a return-to-work career design training programs.
  • Although we are promoting WLI awareness among managers, understanding and active utilization of the WLI schemes is still insufficient.
  • Despite difficulties in achieving WLI for sales personnel, there is no support system for female employees to remain in the job.

3. Approach

Based on an understanding of the current situation, we are adopting the following approaches in the education and promotion of professionals/experts and managers.

  • Reinforce systematic education for female manager candidates.
  • Reinforce establishment of a working environment that enables a sound work-life balance.
  • Reinforce female employment.

4. Goals, concrete actions, and start date

Goal 1: Increase the number of female managers to twice that compared to FY2021 by the beginning of FY2025.

(Concrete actions and start date)
From April 2019.
  • Provide genderless manager training programs.
  • Educate managers on nurturing subordinates.
  • Introduce a mentor system with female managers as role models.
  • Provide training programs per job level for promoted employees incorporating their career path planning.

Goal 2: Reinforce the working environment to enable a sound work-life balance

(Concrete actions and start date)
From April 2019.
  • Establish a scheme that enables work continuation during illness treatment (including fertility treatment and breast cancer).
  • Support smooth returning to work by opening childcare centers and providing a return-to-work briefing together with the employee's child.
  • Support returning to work through a partnership with a housekeeping agency.
  • Achieve WLI by making teleworking available to all employees and introducing hourly usage of annual leave.
  • Toward achieving WLI in the workplace, reform WLI awareness through training improvement and booklet renewal.
  • Offer financial assistance to obtain qualifications during childcare leave.
  • Introduce a half-day childcare leave system to enhance working opportunities while on childcare leave.

Goal 3: Increase the percentage of female new graduates to 25% or higher in our employment as of April 2024.

(Concrete actions and start date)
From April 2019.
  • Actively publish information on female employment and appoint a female employee as a recruiter to increase job applications from women.
  • Promote targeted recruitment of female students in the STEM field (where the ratio of female students is low) as the number of students from this field hired by our company is high.
  • Introduce location-specific employment for sales personnel.