Empowering Women in the Workplace
Policy
Through initiatives including the Job Style Personnel System, the number of mid-career hires has exceeded 200 each year over the past three years (fiscal 2022-2024), reflecting greater diversity in employment types and areas of expertise.
However, challenges remain regarding the active participation of women. For example, while the proportion of female employees (non-consolidated) and female directors has risen to around 25%, the percentage of females in managerial positions (non-consolidated, FY25.3) remains at 18.4%.
We have therefore set a medium- to long-term target to raise the percentage of females in managerial positions across the KDDI Group to match the overall proportion of female employees by 2040, and will accelerate related initiatives.
Key Targets
By achieving targets related to senior positions (department manager and above), managerial positions, and hiring, we will support the formation of a pipeline for women’s advancement.
- 1Percentage of females in candidate development programs for senior positions: 20% or over
- 2Percentage of females in managerial positions (non-consolidated, excluding STEM): 15% or over by fiscal 2025
- 3Percentage of newly hired female graduates: 30% or over
To achieve these targets, we have shifted our approach to addressing fundamental issues by setting, in addition to the above targets, issue- and process-specific goals for each division within each pipeline, from recruitment to designation as potential executive candidates.
Key Initiatives
Support for Individual Women
| Initiative | Content |
|---|---|
| Sponsorship Program (since fiscal 2024) | This is a program designed to create growth opportunities and promote upskilling so that female employees—whose careers are often significantly affected by life events—can deliver results in a short period and progress toward appointment to managerial positions. A feature is that Executive Directors (sponsors) provide one year of side-by-side support through coaching and mentoring to promote the upskilling of female employees who are candidates for managerial positions (sponsees). This program aims not only to accelerate the acquisition of skills and experience and the building of networks for female employees just one step away from managerial positions, but also to simultaneously drive a mindset shift among Executive Directors toward talent development. |
| Roundtable with female directors and females in managerial positions (since fiscal 2023) | This is a forum for dialogue between candidates for managerial positions and female outside directors, female directors, and females in managerial positions. Through dialogue, the program aims to dispel anxieties about taking a managerial position and to foster intention to pursue managerial positions by elevating their perspectives to understand the fulfillment of such roles. |
| Expansion of support systems for balancing life events (such as childbirth and childcare) | We have introduced systems that exceed statutory standards regarding childbirth and childcare. We create an environment where women can continue to thrive regardless of women-specific life events, enabling autonomous career development for all female employees. |
Shifting Mindsets and Fostering an Inclusive Culture
| Initiative | Content |
|---|---|
| Unconscious bias training (since fiscal 2022) | This training was launched in FY22.4, starting with Executive Directors. They recognized their own biases, declared their own initiatives to promote women’s advancement and leverage individuality, and disclosed them to all employees via the internal newsletter. Since fiscal 2024, to ensure the content is rooted in the challenges of each division, training has been rolled out by each division. |
| Panel Guideline (since fiscal 2024) | To ensure diversity among presenters and panelists at internal and external events, we mandate that consideration be given to having participants who are female or under the age of 39 comprise at least 25% of the total. By raising awareness of diversity in the selection of participants, we aim to foster a culture that values diverse perspectives regardless of attributes or age. |
Initiatives to Eliminate the Gender Pay Gap
KDDI defines grades as levels classified by differences in the magnitude of job responsibilities and the expected talent requirements, regardless of gender, and uses them as benchmarks for career development, target setting, performance evaluation, and grade appointments, among other system criteria.
To ensure fair evaluations based on individual competencies and achievements, we rigorously apply grades as benchmarks, thereby building a system in which, as a result, the gender pay gap essentially does not arise.
To more accurately understand the actual situation, we monitor the gender pay gap at the end of every fiscal year to review and analyze the status. From fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2024, the gap narrowed by 2.75% across all workers.
If monitoring results reveal differences that cannot be explained statistically, we will conduct a detailed analysis of the factors and, as necessary, translate the findings into improvements to system operations and processes.
Most Recent Survey Results (women’s pay as a percentage of men’s pay, with men set at 100%)
| FY2023 | FY2024 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All employees | 78.34% | 81.09% | 2.75% |
| Full-time employees | 78.72% | 80.23% | 1.51% |
| Part-time and fixed-term employees | 83.29% | 92.33% | 9.04% |