Significance of the Project and Description of Activities
Work-Life Balance (hereinafter referred to as "WLB") means to achieve a balance between life and working style."
WLB is an important government policy in building a dynamic society. Labor shortages are a major concern as the population ages and fewer babies are born in Japan. Because of this, many more women and senior citizens are expected to work in our society. To achieve this goal, an ideal working environment must be created for women and older people (in other words, to achieve a WLB). For companies, too, WLB is an important business challenge. When a female worker who finds it difficult to achieve a balance between working and bearing and raising children decides to leave her job, the company loses a valuable asset it has trained and fostered over a long period of time, resulting in deteriorating competitiveness.
The WLB project was organized to contribute to the solution to such challenges confronted by society and companies. The first activity of this project is to provide companies with a "self assessment system" to self-evaluate how well they have achieved a WLB for their companies. In fact, many companies have used our self assessment system and we provide instructions on how to use it and give them support as to the analytical methods to use in assessing the results. This system was co-developed with Work-Life Balance JUKU organized internally by WLB leading companies such as Shiseido Co., Ltd., Nichirei Corporation and IBM.
The second activity of this project is to collect data from the companies that have used the self assessment system, and to build a database. This WLB database is used to provide benchmark data to the companies that have used the system so that they will understand the position of WLB in society. The third activity is to build awareness of WLB through publication and conferences, and to achieve better research results using the WLB database.
Summary of the Self Assessment System
The effort of companies to promote WLB involves the following: First, companies map out a policy for a childcare leave system; employees then achieve a balance between work and life by utilizing the system; and the success of the system improves business performance. Companies should be able to systematically evaluate this sequence in order to see whether WLB is really working for them. The self assessment system was developed to allow companies to perform their own self-evaluation. This system will allow companies to assess their strengths and weaknesses, and determine the changes necessary to improve the WLB.
Self assessments are conducted based on questionnaire survey results of the company and its employees. The questionnaires have been steadily improved, and are available in multiple types, including those for large companies and small to medium-sized companies, to meet a diversity of needs. Questionnaires for specific jobs and industries, such as for nurses, are also available.
Our self-assessment system has been used by many companies and organizations. Examples of large companies include Nichirei Corporation and Shiseido Co., Ltd., and many small and medium companies include WLB-designated companies certified by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Medical Institutions such as the Japanese Nursing Association are also users of this system.
Publishing of Books about WLB
Work-Life Balance as a Corporate Strategy
Work-Life Balance Promotion ManualAnother activity of GEM is the publication of books, the purpose of which is to bring awareness of the importance of WLB and the self assessment system to society. One such book, "Work-Life Balance as Corporate Strategy" (published by DAI-ICHI HOKI Co., Ltd., 2008), facilitates understanding of the importance of WLB as an important strategy for corporate management and covers the use of the self-assessment system. The self-assessment system was developed to be publicly available free of charge. Therefore, by reading the book, anyone can gain the knowledge necessary to use the self-assessment system.
Then, what should companies do with the results of the self-assessment system? Many small and medium companies, in particular, have shared with us their concern that they do not know specifically where to begin, although they do understand the importance of WLB. For this purpose the "Work-Life Balance Promotion Manual" (published from DAI-ICHI HOKI Co., Ltd., 2010) was released. This manual provides a clear summary of what you need to do to achieve Work-Life Balance using the self-assessment system. This can be used as a WLB management activity manual. We are confident that many companies, especially small and medium companies, will find the manual beneficial.
In addition, research papers based on the WLB database have been also released by project members. Gakushuin University is becoming one of leading WLB research centres, drawing public attention to this field of research.
Hosting conferences to share leading-edge experiences of WLB
In order to achieve WLB, efforts are being made in various fields in society. It is our desire to share leading-edge experiences with many people to raise the awareness level of WLB throughout Japan. With this purpose in mind, GEM hosts an annual open conference.
In 2008, in commemoration of publication of "Work-Life Balance as Corporate Strategy," we invited Mr. Takagi Tsuyoshi, President of Japanese Trade Union Confederation, and others to be guest speakers for the conference. The themes of the 2009 and 2010 conferences were "WLB for Small and Medium Enterprises" and "WLB for Hospital Doctors and Nurses" respectively. Both conferences were well attended with hundreds of participants involved in lively discussions.
Although small in scale, GEM is hosting research seminars on WLB by researchers on a regular basis. These seminars serve as a valuable venue for research exchange on WLB with external researchers.
