Diversity / Work-Life Balance

　Mizuho Leasing Group is promoting diversity and inclusion throughout our organization. We believe understanding and accepting diversity and differences of employees’ backgrounds are significant in terms of :  helping each other to bring out their best, fostering solidarity, and thereby promoting their own growth while adapting to changes. By promoting the advancement of women, work-life balance, proactive communication, and flexible working styles, we are working to create a rewarding workplace environment where diverse ways of thinking and values are accepted and respected, and one that brings out the best in each employee's unique talents.

　To promote understanding of diversity, we hold various seminars provided by external lecturers.

　In addition, we are working to raise awareness among employees by distributing information through "Diversity Communication" via the in-house intranet to keep employees up to date on diversity-related initiatives, seminar schedules, and so on.

　We have been developing the following action plan to improve the employment environment so that women can play an active role in the organization.

　To create a company culture that provides a rewarding workplace, we have developed a comfortable working environment for employees by establishing systems that enable them to work flexibly according to the life-cycle.

　We are working on promoting the advancement of women by training women for career development, as well as training for men in managerial posts who have female subordinates.

　Mizuho Leasing is striving to promote work-style reform and work-life balance through the following initiatives and systems.

　In our drive to improve work-life balance and lift work productivity, we are promoting flexible working styles that are unbound by fixed locations or times. We have introduced five flexible staggered commuting patterns and a telework system for all employees. By establishing satellite offices as well as a work-from-home system, we endeavor to enable employees to work in the environment that best suits their individual situation.

　As teleworking has normalized, we are looking for ways to raise work efficiency and stimulate communication. These include asking employees to fill out a questionnaire on telework to grasp the current situation and issues surrounding it, and communicating telework best practices to all employees. The tasks ahead include creating an even more comfortable working environment and promoting more flexible work styles.

　We offer Childcare Leave Returnee Training for employees who have returned to work after childcare leave. The training aims to help them strengthen awareness of participation while achieving a balance between work and childcare, learn about the approach to work after, and learn about housework and childcare. Meanwhile, in response to the requests for "chances to mingle in small groups" and to "connect with people in the same situation," we also host round-table talks as a venue for working mothers to exchange information. We are also making efforts to ease or relieve anxieties and worries that employees may have by inviting experienced lecturers to both the training and round-table talks, from whom participants can receive advice.

　Work and Nursing Care Balance Support Seminars for Group employees was held with an external lecturer, covering basic knowledge on nursing care and the nursing care insurance system, as well as on how to prepare themselves for nursing care. In addition, individual consultations was held by the lecturer after the seminar. In fiscal 2019, we hosted seminars targeting the managerial staff, in addition to those intended for all employees. The seminars offer managers an opportunity to learn from outside lecturers to deepen their understanding of employees who carry the burden of caregiving, and how to respond when consulted by a staff member about nursing care using case studies, so as to create a workplace culture of mutual support.

　Mizuho Leasing Group established Torakoya*, an in-house educational institution, in October 2017 with the purpose of transferring knowledge and know-how accumulated by the Group throughout its history and providing a venue for communication among employees across generations. At Torakoya, instead of classroom lectures, senior employees with a wealth of experience give participatory lectures, thereby stimulating communication across workplaces, careers, and generations.

(* Torakoya was named by blending Toranomon, the location of our head office, and terakoya, a type of private elementary school present during the Edo period, following a vote by employees.)

　We run Torakoya under a variety of themes: in "Value of equipment & property" in fiscal 2019, participants learned from a lecturer with abundant experience in sales and expertise in equipment and commercial distribution; in "Working while caring for a child" in fiscal 2020, three female employees talked about work styles and shared their know-how on balancing work and childcare based on their own experience.

　Mizuho Leasing considers developing a workplace environment where employees can work healthily and safely will lead to revitalizing the organization through improved employee vitality and enhanced productivity.

　Under this idea, we hold a Health Committee meeting based on the Industrial Safety and Health Act once a month to maintain and promote the safety and health of employees, while working to improve our workplace environment, maintain and improve employees' health.

　We provide an annual medical checkup for all employees. For expatriate employees and their family members living together, we provide the necessary vaccinations for each county they are stationed in as well as a medical check-up once or twice a year in that country or Japan, depending on the sanitary conditions or medical level of the country. In addition, according to the basic policy of promoting mental health—since relaxing, gaining spiritual enrichment and securing a comfortable, safe, and worker-friendly environment is important for employees' mental health—we conduct a stress check once a year.

　Furthermore, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are taking measures to prevent infection among employees and to maintain their health and safety as a top priority. This includes installing acrylic dividers on office desks, allowing only up to five people at a time to ride an elevator, installing face recognition devices with body temperature measuring functionality at the entrance on the first floor of the head office, and thoroughly ensuring that customers are wearing face masks and that their temperatures are measured.

　To ensure work-life balance and provide employees with enough time for spiritual enrichment, we have been running a campaign to encourage employees to take paid leave, with the aim of achieving the rate of taking paid leave of 70%, the average of all employees since fiscal 2017.  After reaching this target in fiscal 2018, we established an anniversary holiday (special vacation) system in October 2019 by further advancing our endeavors to create time for our employees to pursue their passions.

　Moreover, we have set Wednesdays as "no overtime days," and also assigned two days during summer (one in July and another in August) as no-overtime days for each division and branch, considering workload fluctuations.

　Mizuho Leasing hires people with disabilities, deciding on assignments and responsibilities once they join the company by considering the details of the disability in question and the type of work each applicant would like to do. We will continue to hire people with disabilities in view of the social significance of creating opportunities for them.