INTERVIEW: Pola Promotes Diversity to Utilize Human Resources

Tokyo, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--It is necessary to promote diversity and change the mindset of employees to utilize excellent human resources effectively, Miki Oikawa, president of Japanese cosmetics maker Pola Inc., has said.

"We hope that employees work for our company for a long time as they joined us by chance," Oikawa said in a recent interview. "I'd like to keep saying that this is where they can shine."

Pola aims to raise the share of female managers in the company to 50 pct by 2029. Given that the gender ratio of its workers and new employees is almost balanced, Oikawa said that the gender ratio for managers "will naturally be fifty to fifty if we train both men and women with same abilities."

The company is trying to make it easier for female employees to return to work after childbirth. Specifically, it is creating an environment that facilitates work from home while having personnel division staff and supervisors of female workers to make plans for their return to work through interviews with them.

Oikawa said that nobody asks male workers whether they do not need to go home early when they have children. Her company educates all employees about the child care leave for male workers.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]