Our mission is to provide cutting-edge solutions to the world’s energy problems, and
to achieve it, culture is key. We must transform from a hierarchal, patriarchal
society driven by academic circles and departmental groups to a flat culture where
diversity is respected. A culture where everyone, regardless of nationality, gender,
age, or career background
can openly exchange ideas, make quick decisions, and work as a team. And where even if
we fail, we remain agile and keep trying again.
Once we have rooted ourselves in this flat culture, the realization of our mission
will be within reach.
JERA’s mission is to create new infrastructure to enable the stable and economic
provision of clean energy under any circumstances.
To achieve this, it is important for us to have both a strong sense of social
responsibility and the capability to innovate freely. And to achieve that innovation
capability, diversity is essential.
By engaging in discussion and performing our work with an unwavering respect for one
another’s differences and capabilities, our diverse workforce generates value that
goes beyond a mere extension of traditional ways of thinking and working. By sharing
this awareness among all of our people, from new graduates to experienced workers and
executives, we can create a company where innovation is truly all around us.
That’s the kind of company we aim to build.
Hisahide Okuda
President, Director, CEO and COO
Overview
Realizing our corporate mission and vision
Mission
To provide cutting edge solutions to the world’s energy issues
Vision
To scale up our clean energy platform of renewables and low greenhouse gas thermal
power, sparking sustainable development in Asia and around the world
Realizing our D&I mission and vision
Realizing an environment where innovation organically occurs
Through our ongoing D&I activities, we aim to create an environment where each of our
employees can thrive and fulfill their potential. We also strive to foster a culture of
innovation by encouraging our people to learn from and be influenced by the skills and
values that make others unique.
Vision
Fostering a flat and innovative culture
By encouraging open and direct communication among employees and between employees and
management, we aim to foster a culture where each of our people take initiative in our D&I
activities.
Each year, participants from JERA HQ and our major overseas subsidiaries meet
at an in-person forum to promote global D&I initiatives and foster understanding
among Group companies. By exchanging information and opinions across the borders
of nationality, language, and role within the company, we create a sense of
unity as “One JERA.”
We host conversational events aimed at creating new value in business by
enabling our employees to interact with diverse perspectives. Through dialogues
and mixers featuring experts and artists from various fields, we seek to drive
innovation through unconventional connections.
Dialogue between an external expert and President Hisahide Okuda
Dialogue between an external expert and President Hisahide Okuda
Using the “world café” methodology, we hold events where employees
of diverse
identities and backgrounds engage in small-group discussions about topics such
as D&I, culture, and creating a healthy workplace. By encouraging discussion
among employees who do not regularly interact with one another during their
daily work, these events contribute to the generation of new solutions and new
ideas.
Group discussion
Group discussion
A participant presents his group’s ideas
A participant presents his group’s ideas
Through events such as power plant tours and kids’ activities, we give our
employees and their families and partners an opportunity to communicate, learn,
and become “JERA fans.”
Taking a commemorative photo
Taking a commemorative photo
Exchanging business cards with the president
Exchanging business cards with the president
Visiting one of our power plants
Visiting one of our power plants
Welcoming diversity
We strive to create an inclusive work environment where diverse talent can realize their
full potential.
As part of our efforts to promote diversity, we are working to increase the
ratio of women in all roles and positions. We have set a target of filling 8.5%
of supervisory roles with
female employees by FY2025.
FY2025 targets
Our achievements in women’s empowerment (for the past three fiscal
years)
July 2022
July 2023
July 2024
Percentage of female employees
8.3%
9.8%
11.9%
Percentage of female managers*1
4.5%
5.1%
6.2%
Number of female officers*2
2
4
4
Percentage of employees who took childcare leave*3
10 male employees (13.9%) 9 female employees (69.2%)
52 male employees (40.3%) 13 female employees (108.3%)
85 male employees (79.4%) 11 female employees (100%)
*1 Calculated based on the number of managers at JERA (including
secondees to subsidiaries)
*2 Number of female directors and executive officers (including outside
directors)
*3 Calculated using the formula: (Number of people who used childcare
leave that fiscal year) /
(Number of employees who had children in that fiscal year)
By addressing women’s health issues through investment in Femtech*
technology and providing Femtech products and services to our employees and
their families, we aim to achieve our D&I mission of ensuring their happiness.
*Femtech: A portmanteau of “female” and “technology”
femtech
A look at JERA’s highly original D&I initatives
Minako Fujiie, Managing Executive Officer, Enterprise Value Creation
Minako Fujiie
Our male executives try a menstrual pain simulator
Our male executives try a menstrual pain simulator
One of JERA’s most notable D&I initiatives is our investment in Femtech. Femtech
refers to technology used to address women’s health issues, such as menstruation
and the menopause. In a society where women’s health issues often receive little
attention, JERA’s investment in this field—despite having a workforce that is
90% male—demonstrates our genuine commitment to D&I. Our male executives have
also taken steps to understand the different experiences our employees face
through a menstrual pain simulation, which enabled them to experience a
discomfort they will never face firsthand. This initiative significantly
contributes toward fostering a flat and innovative culture.
In promoting
D&I, understanding the difference between equality and equity is
crucial. Equality assumes that everyone’s circumstances are the same, while
equity acknowledges that each individual has their own unique situation. People
tend to see things from their own perspective, making it difficult to understand
what they haven’t personally experienced. That is why I feel this first step
taken by our leadership team to understand differences is a highly meaningful
one. (September 2024)
In April 2021, we established a special subsidiary, JERA Miraiful
, as part of our efforts to bring about a society where people both
with and without disabilities can thrive, find happiness, and fulfill their
potential. Employees with various disabilities engage in work that is suited to
their particular strengths, such as cultivating strawberries and operating the
café at Yokohama
Strawberry Park, growing flowers and maintaining the flowerbeds on some of our
power plant premises, making sweets and novelty goods, and performing
housekeeping work at our head office.
Staff at the Yokohama Strawberry Park Café
Staff at the Yokohama Strawberry Park Café
We strive to be an organization where everyone can be themselves at work,
regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. To this end, we are
advancing the following initiatives to support the LGBTQ+ people in our
communities:
Establishing a dedicated external support hotline
Hosting Pride Month events to raise awareness and promote understanding
Hosting talks by external speakers with firsthand experience of LGBTQ+
issues
Creating and distributing an in-house LGBTQ+ handbook
Sponsoring Tokyo Rainbow Pride
Obtained the Pride index* Gold award
*An index for evaluating LGBTQ+ initiatives in the workplace, certified by
the voluntary organization “work with Pride”
A talk by an LGBTQ+ speaker
A talk by an LGBTQ+ speaker
We conduct an annual employee satisfaction survey to quantitatively assess our
employees’ satisfaction with the company, their work environment, development
opportunities, and D&I initiatives. The ultimate goal is to enhance employee
morale and contribute to improving JERA’s corporate value. Based on the
results of this survey, we implement specific measures for each workplace where
improvements are needed. As a result, company-wide satisfaction is on the rise
year-over-year.
We have implemented a system where employees can freely submit requests,
suggestions for improvement, comments on their own D&I initiatives, and more.
Employees can make an anonymous submission to suggest improvements while
maintaining their own privacy, or sign their name to receive a personal
response. In this way, our suggestion box helps to facilitate the two-way
exchange of ideas and sentiments between the company and our staff.
Company-wide initiatives to raise awareness of D&I
As part of our efforts to promote understanding of D&I, we hold month-long events
twice a year. These events aim to provide employees with the opportunity to personally
engage with D&I issues and take action.
We have implemented the following initiatives to date:
We designate one month each year as D&I Month, during which we hold events designed to
provide opportunities for employees to engage with D&I principles, take ownership of
them, and put them into action. A theme, such as “Well-being: Creating a
workplace
where everyone can thrive” is decided for each year, and events are held for
employees
to meet and get to know colleagues they may not have interacted with before.
Examples of D&I Month events
Lecture and dialogue event
Lecture and dialogue event
We hosted a lecture and dialogue event featuring a partner in a venture fund
specializing in women’s well-being, in which JERA has also invested. Topics
discussed include gender equity and JERA’s reasons for investing in Femtech.
World Café
World Café
At these events, employees discuss topics related to D&I, culture, and workplace
development with colleagues they may not otherwise interact with, and gain new
insights on what they themselves can do to help. (Note that we also hold
World Café-style events outside of D&I Month.)
Family Day
Family Day
With the aim of helping employees’ partners and families learn more about JERA,
we hold an annual Family Day, with activities such as power plant tours and
kid-friendly experiences.
Menstrual pain simulation
Menstrual pain simulation
Several of our male executives, who do not menstruate themselves, had the chance
to experience menstrual pain using a simulation device. By improving
understanding of how other people’s lived experiences can differ from our own,
we also aim to help our executives and employees gain a renewed appreciation for
the importance of equity.
Pride Month
Pride Month
We designate one month each year as Pride Month, during which we hold events and
implement initiatives designed to empower, increase awareness, and foster acceptance
of LGBTQ+ individuals. Our goal is to create an environment where people from diverse
identities and backgrounds can feel safe and thrive.
Examples of Pride Month events
Lectures and dialogue events
Lectures and dialogue events
We hold lectures delivered by external speakers with firsthand experience of
LGBTQ+ issues to increase awareness and build empathy among employees.
LGBTQ+ handbook and D&I lending library
LGBTQ+ handbook and D&I lending library
We distribute an original handbook covering the basics of LGBTQ+ identities and
issues and operate an internal lending library of recommended books on LGBTQ+
issues and other D&I-related topics.
E-learning course
E-learning course
We provide an LGBTQ+ e-learning course for all employees.
Past courses have included contents such as actual workplace issues faced by
LGBTQ+ individuals, potential harassment scenarios, and topics such as coming
out and the risks associated with outing others.
Awards and recognition
D&I Award
D&I Award2024
In 2024, for the second consecutive year, JERA was designated as a "Best Workplace," the highest of the four tiers in JobRainbow’s D&I Awards, which recognize companies for their D&I initiatives. We were also awarded the Semi-Grand Prize, which recognizes initiatives that serve as positive examples for other companies.
Pride Index
Pride Index Gold
JERA was awarded the Silver award in FY2022 and the Gold award in both FY2023 and FY2024 in the Pride Index, which measures engagement with LGBTQ+ issues.
Eruboshi certification
Eruboshi certification
JERA has been awarded the 2-star "Eruboshi" certification by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as a company proactively engaged in the promotion of women’s empowerment in accordance with Japan’s Act on the Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace.
Achievements
Male Leaders Coalition for Empowerment of Women
Male Leaders Coalition for Empowerment of Women
We are a member of the Male Leaders Coalition for Empowerment of Women, an initiative
of the Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office.
G20 Empower
G20 EMPOWER
We are an advocate of G20 EMPOWER, a private-sector alliance of companies committed
to accelerating women’s empowerment.
Keidanren Female Executives Mission to the United States
Keidanren
Female representatives of Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation) and several
companies, including JERA, exchanged opinions on women’s empowerment and D&I with
members of the US government, international organizations, and private enterprises.