From Catch up to Gear up - JR East Promotes Women in Workplace

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East Japan Railway Company (JR East), one of the major railway companies in Japan, announced its Action Plans for General Business Operators on March 30, 2016, setting out numerical targets for the employment and promotion of women based on a law to promote women in the workplace. In these plans, JR East focuses on the career development and retention of female employees - setting goals for hiring, career development and retention, and promotion to managerial positions - and will promote measures necessary to help women paint a concrete picture of their future careers.

In hiring, the company set a goal of increasing the percentage of women among new graduates to more than 30% by the end of March 2019, and the target for those who wish to become crew in the future is set at more than 40%. Examples of women's participation in the workplace, such as training highly skilled female engineers or involving women in a variety of projects and diverse workstyles, will also be reported on its website.

For career development and employee retention, JR East aims to diversify workstyles and improve work environments, which helps all employees to feel empowered and work actively. Innovative workstyles are to be promoted, including multi-site working, which allows employees to work from any location. The company also seeks to establish more flexible working systems, such as support for irregular working hours due to child rearing or nursing care of family members, and to encourage men's participation in child care.

As for the percentage of women in managerial posts, they set a goal to increase it to 5% by the end of March 2019 from about 3% as of April 1st, 2015. The company will share examples and strengthen networks in the entire JR East group to help employees plan their own career progressions and development, as well as creating workplace environments and opportunities that enable all employees to fully demonstrate their abilities.