Sustainability management

The Sustainability Orbit

The Sustainability Orbit illustrates the "Sustainability Management" framework by which Recruit Group engages with various stakeholders to strengthen our corporate values.

The department in charge of sustainability holds dialogues with external stakeholders and organizes town hall meetings with management and employees to increase dialogue and promote open discussion of both sides' needs and expectations. These insights are discussed in depth by the Sustainability Committee, which consists of external sustainability experts and Recruit Group executives and board members. Following each committee meeting, Recruit Holdings' Board of Directors approves the agenda items and begins to execute them in line with our guiding principles. We believe this process leads to the realization of Recruit's basic principle to "create a brighter world where all individuals can live life to the fullest."

Recruit Group's Contribution to the SDGs

Recruit Group aims to contribute to achieving the 17 goals and 169 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through all of our corporate activities in a global effort toward a better future.

Recruit Group's vision is "Follow Your Heart". We envision a world where individuals and businesses can focus on what really matters: the idea that when more people are free to pursue their passions, we can achieve a better future. The preamble of the SDGs declares that no one should be left behind in the pursuit of a society in which all people can pursue greater freedom. We believe that the greater freedom described here is exactly what we envision: a future in which we have the opportunity to choose our own way of life from a variety of options.

According to the OECD, approximately 40% of people are assumed to fall into poverty if they were without income for three months^*2. Since its founding in 1960, Recruit Group has been dedicated to democratizing job opportunities through providing information platforms. We recognize that we must take action for the better through our business activities, primarily by helping individuals find jobs that will help them earn a steady income.

We have long been working toward broadening accessibility to the labor market and transforming job matching to make it easier and simpler. However, there is so much more we can do to actualize our vision. By bringing together the data, technology, and expertise of Recruit Group, we will foster innovation to develop a quality, inclusive, and equitable job matching infrastructure for all (Goal 9).

As a starter, Recruit Group is committed to improving job-matching efficiency and reducing the time it takes for job seekers to get hired by half by FY2030^*3. At the same time, we are committed to taking additional steps to support job seekers from vulnerable and marginalized communities who face systemic barriers^*4 and cannot be helped through improved matching efficiency alone. We aim to help minimize these barriers through technology and partnerships, which will further shorten the time it takes to get hired. Through these efforts, we will contribute to promoting decent work for all (Goal 8) and creating a future where getting a job is as simple and easy as the push of a button. When job seekers can quickly find the right job for themselves, it will lead us to help end poverty in all its forms (Goal 1) and promote equal opportunity and social and economic inclusion for all to reduce inequality (Goal 10).

Since its founding, Recruit Group has bet on the ideas and passions generated by curiosity of its diverse employees, creating new businesses and services that celebrate and recognize our differences. Our management team is determined to reiterate the importance of maximizing employees' motivation. We have established and will continue promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a focusing theme across our group. While we celebrate all aspects of DEI, we are currently focused on and committed to addressing gender disparities within our group, and aim to have approximately 50% of employees, managers, senior executives, and members of the Board of Directors be women by FY2030^*5 (Goal 5). We also aim to respect and protect the human rights of all people through all our corporate activities.

To support the longevity of our planet, Recruit Group is committed to protecting the health of our environment. We are determined to accelerate "Climate Action" (Goal 13) by achieving carbon neutrality by FY2030^*6 through its entire value chain.

In pursuit of our commitment to sustainability, Recruit Group will continue to prosper together with all stakeholders to realize a sustainable, brighter world where all individuals can live their lives to the fullest-and contribute to achieving a future envisioned by the SDGs.

*1 On this webpage, the number of years stated are reflective of the number of Recruit Holdings' fiscal years which begins on each year April 1 and ends March 31 of the following year. All figures displayed here are approximate numbers.

*2 The figure is based on those in 28 countries sourced by OECD's report "How's Life? 2020."

*3 Average estimated duration it takes for people who get hired through Indeed online job-search platform after they started to apply to a job on the platform, calculated by available data.

*4 Initiatives aim to support racial and ethnic minority groups, people without higher education, people facing barriers due to age bias, and people with disabilities. The Company may also aim to reduce other various barriers, including newly emerging issues in the labor market by FY2030. The initiative as of today includes help through the Indeed online job-search platform, and through partnerships such as Goodwill Industries International and Shaw Trust with whom Indeed collaborates.

*5 Senior executives are defined as Corporate Executive Officers and Corporate Professional Officers of Recruit Holdings and Media & Solutions Strategic Business Unit ("SBU"), and CEOs of the Company's major subsidiaries and heads of key functions in the HR Technology and Staffing SBU. Figures for managers and employees are calculated from Recruit Holdings, SBU Headquarters, and primary operating companies of each SBU. Managers mean all of those that have subordinates except for senior executives.The Board of Directors members are defined as Directors of the Board and Audit & Supervisory Board members.

*6 GHG emissions through business activities are the sum of direct emissions from the use of fuels in the owned or controlled sources ("Scope 1") and indirect emissions from the use of purchased electricity, heat, or steam in the owned or controlled sources ("Scope 2"). GHG emissions through the value chain are indirect emissions other than Scope 1 and 2, occurring in the value chain ("Scope 3"). Entire value chain shows a total of Scope 1, 2 and 3. Carbon neutrality includes reducing the GHG emissions as well as offsetting residual emissions.

The Recruit Group Sustainability Issue Analysis Map

To maintain our "Sustainability Orbit" and realize our management philosophy, we must identify notable sustainability issues, prepare appropriate responses at an early stage, and incorporate action plans into our corporate strategies.

We use an original framework called the "Recruit Group Sustainability Issue Analysis Map" to help us understand new trends and identify the sustainability agendas Recruit Group should prioritize.

The Recruit Group Sustainability Issue Analysis Map consists of quadrants that represent the four phases of issue recognition and legislative arrangements. The vertical axis represents the level of interest NGOs and international organizations show toward a given issue, while the horizontal axis represents the level of interest among environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessment organizations. The map illustrates how various factors contribute to Recruit Group's understanding of an issue, including shareholder expectations, external ESG surveys, major agenda at international conferences, ESG investors' concerns, national and regional administrative movements, and regulatory trends.

Sustainability Management structure

Organization

Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. has set up a Sustainability Transformation Department. Group companies are carrying out sustainability activities based on the "Recruit Group Sustainability Policy"

International conference / Stakeholder dialogue

We participate in major international conferences related to sustainability domain and hold stakeholder dialogues in order to gain early insights into the expectations held by our stakeholders, who are spread out more globally than ever.

Stakeholder dialogue

Sustainability Committee

The Sustainability Committee is set up as one of the advisory bodies to the Board of Directors to promote unique sustainability activities that meet the expectations of our stakeholders. Committee meetings are held semi-annually, in principle.

Sustainability Committee

For human rights, which is our core theme, the following two organizations in Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. are playing a central role in promoting the activities, coordinating activities between the relevant departments at the group companies. *Please see here for details on the human rights management structure.

Group Risk Management & Compliance Division

Collects information on the theme of human rights related to business and the workplace, responds to requests for consultation and inquiries from group companies, and also carries out educational activities to raise awareness, such as internal training conducted together with the group companies on various human rights themes.