Strengthening diversity is key for member companies of German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan
- Diversity is identified as a driver for performance improvements, survey shows.
- 70% of the surveyed companies support activities that strengthen diversity in the company.
- 69% state to create an atmosphere that appreciates diversity.
- However, only few have integrated diversity goals into their KPIs or appointed a dedicated diversity representative in their organization so far.
- Diversity could be used more in public relations and employer branding.
April 26, 2022 | Tokyo – Diversity is more and more considered to be a key driver for performance and on the verge of becoming mainstream as a topic for corporate discussions. The majority of German companies in Japan, are actively supporting measures that contribute to the strengthening of diversity in their workplace making them more attractive for talent and driving performance. On the other hand, companies that have integrated diversity goals into their performance evaluation or appointed a dedicated diversity representative are a clear minority. These are high-level results of a recent survey conducted among members of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan. The surveyed group included 300 German and Japanese member companies based in Japan.
70% of the surveyed companies support activities that strengthen diversity in the company. Most activities are pursued out of human resource considerations (55%) or with the objective of achieving a better business performance (55%) as diversity is understood to be a key factor. Corporate social responsibility (42%) also plays an important role followed by targets to reach a diverse workforce according to set parameter (32%) or meeting demands of the headquarter or management (26%).
"German companies are leading the shift to more diversity in the workplace and are actively pursuing a variety of measures to support diversity as a key factor to attract and retain talent in Japan", said Marcus Schürmann, CEO of AHK Japan and Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Japan. "Diversity is an important soft factor that can contribute to improved performance, but a lot of issues remain to be tackled to make it mainstream in Japan."
Diversity is increasingly becoming a topic for discussions, seminars, and workshops. At the same time, diversity is not just an agenda by corporate management, but driven by the individuals themselves. 55% of the company representatives state that "employees are making efforts to create an atmosphere that appreciates diversity."
On the other hand, companies are aware that it is still a long road to internalize diversity in corporate processes and key performance indicators. So far, 32% of the companies have incorporated diversity as part of company-wide evaluations, e.g., their employee satisfaction evaluations. 30% have put in place company-wide diversity guidelines. But only 20% of the companies have actual diversity goals as part of their KPIs.
Despite its importance, diversity remains mainly a side-task. 30% of companies have appointed an executive who is dealing with diversity topics among many other responsibilities. Only 6% have employed a dedicated person whose job is mainly focused on diversity topics.
The survey also indicates a lot of untapped potential regarding diversity as a topic for marketing and employer branding. 62% of the companies agree that diversity is not exclusively an internal issue. But only 32% actively share relevant diversity-related topics as part of their marketing strategy to an outside audience.
Japan is a key partner for German business. With a trade volume of 41.7 billion Euro, Germany is the Number 1 European exporter to Japan and vice versa. 12,480 German companies export to Japan, 450 German companies have their own subsidiary in Japan creating 265,000 jobs. The German stock of foreign direct investment in Japan adds up to 15.6 billion Euro. 10 German companies are among the top 100 foreign investors in Japan.
The current AHK Japan online survey ran from February 15 to 22, 2022. Responses from 23% of 300 surveyed companies were included in the evaluation. 70% of the companies comprise small and medium-sized enterprises with less than 100 employees.
The full results of this flash survey are ready to download here:
Press Contact
Yuko Makita
Communications
German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (AHK Japan)
+81 (0)3 5276 8741
press(at)dihkj.or.jp
Related Links
Publications on the topic
Member Survey: Diversity in the workplace