Recruit and Retain Competent Personnel

Approach to Recruitment and Employment

We have introduced the largest number of married couples in Japan, and our next ambitious mission is outlined in our new mid-term management plan: “To matchmake 4% of Japan’s annual number of marriages (20,000 couples), 7,000 affiliates, 173,000 arranged marriage meeting members, and 250,000 active matching members by 2027.”
To achieve this business goal, we need to bolster our business model that leverages the strengths of “IT” and “people” we have built through innovation and challenge since our founding, and we need the participation of talented business people who can make this possible. For this reason, the qualities IBJ expects of new members are:

1. Ability to think proactively and be willing to make an effort toward goals
2. Keep improving and maintaining enthusiasm without settling for the status quo
3. Ability to find new value through flexible creativity

We have set the above three qualities and have various year-round recruitment contacts for new graduates, mid-career job seekers, people with disabilities, athletes, and others. In addition, we are striving to find and secure enthusiastic personnel by engaging in extensive global recruitment activities in India and South Korea.
We also operate personnel, review, and education systems to support the self-fulfillment of hired personnel in line with our management philosophy of “Bringing happiness to all the people who share a connection” and our behavioral guidelines (credo).
We are also striving to establish various systems focused on work-life balance.

Review and Rewards

IBJ employs over 1,000 people throughout the Group. Although each employee is engaged in a different service or business, we are working on “creating married couples” to achieve our social mission of solving Japan’s social challenges (depopulation and declining birthrates).
To this end, all our employees are important management resources and perform their duties with vital roles that affect the improvement of Company’s performance and achievement of its goals.
To keep employees motivated and maximize their abilities, we believe it is important to assess each employee’s growth and achievements fairly and impartially and to reflect the results in salary raises, bonuses, grades (Group), positions, and other forms of employee rewards, and have established a system for review and rewards.
We also implement multi-track and fast-track promotions to accommodate diverse lifestyles and boost motivation.

Key Points of IBJ’s Performance Review System

Review Based on Achievements and Conduct

In addition to Achievement Reviews based on target management, we administer a Conduct Review to appraise the conduct expected of IBJ staff, and review opportunities are provided twice a year, with the results reflected in pay raise/cut (once a year) and performance bonuses (twice a year).
In target management, we evaluate the extent of achievement against predetermined goals. We conduct fair and impartial reviews based on quantitative decisions, regardless of the year of employment, the individual’s career with the Company, or age.
In our Conduct Review, we have established a credo (behavioral guidelines) from the following seven perspectives to serve as the Conduct Review Standards for review and rewards, as well as to instill the credo, raise awareness of compliance, and develop skills.

Credo

1. We shall take pride in providing our customers with deep-seated joy and happiness.
2. We shall always value our colleagues. Therefore, we may treat them sternly at times.
3. We shall pursue excellence in both IT and services.
4. We shall perceive change as growth and take on new challenges.
5. We shall continue to learn throughout life to stay inquisitive and attractive.
6. We shall share our opinions, believing there are good answers beyond conflict.
7. We shall build on our strengths, share our weak points, and work as a team.

Fast-Track Promotion

Based on our idea that “the position makes the person,” we appoint personnel we deem to have the enthusiasm and leverage as senior personnel regardless of their career with the Company, age, or experience. We unlock our employees’ potential and expect them to revitalize personnel throughout the Company.

In-House Awards System

To motivate employees, we have an in-house awards system to recognize and reward employees who achieve excellent results.

Creating Ideal Workplaces

In response to management challenges such as workforce shortages caused by depopulation and the promotion of diversity, there is a growing movement in society to review work styles and implement diverse ways of working.
Aiming to be a company that is pleasant and rewarding to work for, IBJ is also striving to improve the work-life balance and workplace environment by reducing long working hours and proactively introducing new systems as part of the IBJ work style reform, including a fully flexible system that allows employees to choose a flexible work style to suit their life stages and a five-day consecutive leave system for refreshing both body and mind.

IBJ’s Systems

Personnel Data

Personnel-Related Data

Employee Status

	Number of employees (consolidated)	Number of employees (non-consolidated)			Average age of employee (non-consolidated)			Average years of service (non-consolidated)
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
2019	611	143	281	424	32.3	35.2	34.1	3.8	4.5	4.0
2020	679	133	273	406	32.6	35.8	34.7	4.1	3.9	4.0
2021	721	138	308	446	32.8	35.6	34.8	4.4	3.8	3.9
2022	780	157	348	505	32.8	35.0	34.3	4.3	3.8	4.0

*As of December 31, each year

Number of Employees by Segment

	Number of employees (consolidated)	Number of employees (non-consolidated)
Directly-Managed Lounge Business​	401	188
Matching Business​	146	146
Affiliate Business​	92	92
Entire Company (shared)	55	55
Life Design Business​	86	24
Total	780	505

*As of December 31, 2022

Diversity-Related Data

Ratio of Female Executives (Non-Consolidated) *Department managers and above

	Ratio of female executives (non-consolidated)
	Whole	Women	Ratio of women
2019	39	10	25.6%
2020	22	8	36.4%
2021	18	8	44.4%
2022	21	8	38.1%

*As of December 31, each year

D & I (Diversity & Inclusion)

Basic Approach

For a company to create innovation through “reform” and “challenge,” it is essential to increase diversity within the organization and promote inclusion, where employees are respected and encouraged to make the most of their individuality to demonstrate their abilities and motivation. IBJ positions the promotion of D & I (Diversity & Inclusion) as an important management challenge and aims to create innovative services by building a system for harnessing the talents of diverse human resources regardless of gender, age, nationality, or disability and by promoting a culture that respects the human rights of individuals.
We also aim to strengthen our ties with society and contribute to the SDGs that the world is addressing by expressing our top management’s commitment through our support for relevant initiatives.

Support for of Initiatives and Progress of Efforts

Promoting Women’s Participation

Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)

IBJ is a signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), jointly developed by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and UN Women, which are a set of principles for companies working to promote the advancement of women.
As diversity is increasingly valued internationally and the promotion of women’s participation is becoming an essential issue in society, the CEO has demonstrated a resolute determination to create a working and social environment in which women can demonstrate their abilities in society and is working to promote the advancement of women.

Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)

1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality
2. Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination
3. Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers
4. Promote education, training and professional development for women
5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women
6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy
7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality

Support for the Male Leaders Coalition for Empowerment of Women

Since 2018, we have been supporting the Declaration on Action by Male Leaders Coalition for Empowerment of Women promoted by the Cabinet Office, and have expressed both internally and externally our commitment to providing support for women’s advancement under the direct supervision of our top management.
The Declaration states, “We will take actions and send messages ourselves, disrupt the status quo, and develop networking to accelerate the promotion of women’s participation in society!” We believe that if more companies support the initiative, it will accelerate the gender equality progress and the promotion of women’s participation in society in Japan, and we are working on educational activities, such as sharing the initiative supporters’ best practices and holding symposiums.

Progress within the Group

IBJ, where women account for approximately 70% of all employees, believes that the Company would not flourish without the active participation of women and has been encouraging career progression for its female employees since before the issue of gender equality was even raised. The number of women working proactively has increased today, as motivated and capable individuals are given positions early on, regardless of their year of employment, so they can naturally chart their career paths.
We also actively support the work-life balance and encourage flexible work styles that enable work and childcare, such as maternity leave, a childcare leave system, and shorter working hours to suit individual circumstances.
Also, in 2020, we appointed a new female board member. We expect that adding new perspectives to Group management will strengthen our management structure.

Tackling Discrimination against LGBTI PeopleTackling Discrimination against LGBTI People

Support for Standards of Conduct for Business: Tackling Discrimination against LGBTI^* People

IBJ supports UN’s Standards of Conduct for Business: Tackling Discrimination against LGBTI people and aims to foster further a corporate culture where diversity is more respected and promote understanding of LGBTI^*in society.

*LGBTI: An acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex, so-called sexual minorities.

Standards of Conduct for Business (Five Standards of Conduct for Businesses to Tackle Discrimination against LGBTI People)

1. Respect human rights
2. Eliminate discrimination
3. Provide support
4. Prevent other human rights violations
5. Act in the public sphere

Progress of Initiatives within the Group

As the concept of family diversifies and new family formats become visible, IBJ introduced a Partnership Certificate (issued from July 2020) for same-sex couples by the Famiee Project into its benefits program, expanding the coverage of benefits for employees with same-sex partners.^*
Under IBJ’s management philosophy of “Bringing happiness to all the people who share a connection,” we shall continue to embrace diverse family formats and aim to create a more pleasant work environment for our diverse employees.

*Same-sex partners: Partners whose gender on IDs, such as family register and residence card, is the same.

Global Recruitment Initiatives

For overseas business, positioned by IBJ as a future growth investment, we have an unconsolidated subsidiary in Taiwan, where locally hired personnel play active roles.
In Japan, in addition to making K Village Tokyo Inc., which operates a Korean language school business, a consolidated subsidiary and hiring many people from South Korea as instructors, a project to hire talented people in India, South Korea, and other countries began in 2019 to build a foundation as a global company, and we are hiring non-Japanese university students through participation in fairs and interviews in those countries.
As a result of our proactive recruitment activities, we already have hired nine non-Japanese recruits (as of the end of September 2021), and the globalization of our work environment in Japan is having a positive impact on our Japanese employees.
IBJ will continue to actively recruit non-Japanese hires who “create new value with a broad perspective and can be active anywhere in the world” by striving to build an environment where overseas personnel can integrate into the organizational environment and life in Japan by conducting follow-up training and interviews, and by developing a system to respond to inquiries and consultations in English regarding rules and regulations, personnel procedures such as business trips, visa acquisition methods, and operation of employee dormitories.

Human Resources Development

Basic Approach

IBJ recognizes that employees are a vital management resource of any company and that it is extremely important for the Company’s sustainable growth to hire and train personnel to pass on the passionate ideas embodied in IBJ’s management philosophy to future generations. To this end, we actively promote year-round employment and the recruitment of new graduates.
To develop human resources who have a deep understanding of our management philosophy and can practice our credo (behavioral guidelines) at a high level, we regularly and systematically implement various programs led by the Education Supervision Department, which specializes in training employees. With an eye to the long term, we are striving to advance our human resources.
We also provide programs to develop each individual’s qualities and abilities required to work in each job with a high degree of specialization and expertise.

Education Programs