Sojitz Corporation (“Sojitz”) has been named a “Nadeshiko Brand 2020” company, a designation that recognizes Sojitz as a listed enterprise for its exceptional work to promote the success of women in the workplace. This year marks the fourth consecutive year that Sojitz has received the “Nadeshiko Brand” designation.

FY2020 marks the final year of a five-year action plan and set of targets that Sojitz set for empowering women in the workplace.

Sojitz is advancing various inter-related initiatives to promote the empowerment of women. This includes efforts such as encouraging women to set ambitious career objectives and offering training and promotions that enable women to exercise their full potential. Furthermore, Sojitz has sought to put in place systems and create a work environment that enables all employees, regardless of gender, to balance work and childcare. Sojitz is also pursuing stronger team management that leverages the individual strengths of its diverse employees in order to raise organizational achievement.

Sojitz considers the empowerment of diverse employees—including women—to be essential for its mid- and long-term growth. For this reason, Sojitz corporate management regularly issues messages designed to lead the way in fostering deeper understanding of this idea among employees, including among managers.

Sojitz will continue to fully mobilize the strengths of a diverse workforce as it seeks to achieve sustainable growth and to raise its corporate value.

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Sojitz’s major initiatives for promoting the empowerment of diverse employees in FY2019:

・Expanded and carried out training for female management candidates
・Introduced and implemented a policy which provides childcare subsidies to employees who return to work early after taking maternity/childcare leave
・Introduced a system that allows male employees to take up to eight weeks of paid childcare leave
・Introduced new systems and work environments, such as revised job grades for women in administrative-track positions, and began promotions and appointments of female employees
・Conducted training for all general managers regarding the “Sojitz Commitment to IkuBoss” that Sojitz announced in 2018, which seeks the development of managers who support the work-life balance of their staff and subordinates while still ensuring the organization produces results, in an effort to elevate awareness among all employees