I have been working as the deputy project manager for a project to design and build a bridge in Hachioji City, located in greater Tokyo. The bridge will be part of the Metropolitan Inter-City Expressway, which will run in a ring from Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture to Kisarazu City in Chiba Prefecture. I was appointed to this position after being involved in the design work for the project before the construction stage. Now I mostly focus on quality control, having specialized in concrete at the Kajima Technical Research Institute. I always wanted to work at a site since the time I joined Kajima, so I feel very motivated for this assignment. I also hope to help young people who would like to work in construction. In December 2008, for example, I gave a talk at a seminar for girls of high school age and up who have an interest in civil engineering techniques. I've benefited from the support of my family and many others over the years, and to repay their kindness, I will keep striving for improvement so that I can become a project manager capable of overseeing projects that will serve society for generations to come.
Kajima is striving to be a company that its employees feel proud to work for, and can achieve a proper balance between their jobs and private lives. In addition, the company works to create a workplace where, regardless of nationality, gender, or disability, each employee is motivated and always makes the most of his or her talents in their performance.
In Japan's construction industry, although female engineers are under-represented compared to some countries, they now have more opportunities for advancement than ever before. At the forefront of this trend, Kajima makes every effort to ensure fair working conditions for its female engineers.
Kajima has established its Human Rights Awareness Committee to focus on such issues as sexual harassment and discrimination against minorities. The Committee holds human rights seminars to raise awareness and understanding of such issues, and works to make sure employees are aware of the Campaign to Eliminate Violence Against Women, carried out by the Cabinet Office's Gender Equality Bureau every year. Following its new policy on the prevention of sexual harassment, the Committee invites outside lecturers to give seminars on the subject, uses videos to conduct educational programs, holds human rights seminars, and conducts special seminars for executives and managers. In addition, the Kajima head office and its branches all have a consultation service and retain outside specialists that employees can call to discuss problems.
Kajima is striving to establish a work environment that enables a diversity of employees—including those changing jobs at mid-career, re-entering the workforce after retirement, and persons with disabilities—to express their individuality and make full use of their capabilities.
Kajima seeks to help build a society where men and women have an equal opportunity to contribute. Toward that end, the company puts women in positions of responsibility and works to ensure an environment where they can fully realize their potential. The construction industry is typically portrayed as being a male-dominated world, and likewise, careers for women at Kajima in the past tended to be limited to the fields of design and research. However, in recent years the company has begun hiring women for positions involving management at construction sites and administrative work. As a result, a growing number of women are now working in these areas as well as managerial positions at Kajima's head office and branches.
As of the end of fiscal 2008, persons with disabilities comprised 1.82% of Kajima's workforce, which meets the target set by the government. The company will continue working to create a workplace environment where everyone can contribute irrespective of whether they have a disability.
Achieving a rich and healthy life
To help employees strike a balance between their work and private lives, Kajima began taking part in Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Program for Model Businesses Promoting Work-Life balance in fiscal 2008, and announced its action plan for the Program in March 2009.
Kajima's basic policy on work-life balance
Since people have only limited time, life and work should be balanced to ensure self-development and self-fulfillment, as well as to provide a rich and healthy life through which they can find purpose and happiness. This should also be the foundation for a company's continuous development.
Action plan to help employees support the development of the next generation
The decreasing birthrate is having an enormous socioeconomic impact in Japan, and Kajima believes it has a social responsibility to help employees maintain a balance between their child rearing and work responsibilities. The childcare leave system adopted by the company in 1992 has been functioning effectively, with not only female employees taking maternity leave but also male employees taking paternity leave. In response to the Law for Measures to Support the Development of the Next Generation, implemented in April 2005, Kajima has recently set specific targets for the second phase of its action plan, and is now taking steps to achieve those goals.
It is important that employees stay healthy for the sake of their families. Kajima is highly concerned about long working hours, and is therefore taking steps to strengthen its health management system. The Human Resources Division and Employees' Association are working together under the company's work-life balance program and Campaign for Shorter Working Hours to ensure that employees use all of their designated holidays and take leave that they are eligible for. The company follows up with employees forced off the job by injury or illness by interviewing them upon their return to work, and by allowing them to take flexible working hours when they first return.
H1N1 influenza
Kajima has been implementing measures to prevent infection and spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus, or swine flu, in accordance with government guidelines, including incorporating the views of industrial physicians.
The company has also set up a special Web site to provide information about the H1N1 virus, a guide for countermeasures, and updates on the latest news.
From the standpoint of business continuity, construction firms constitute a key industry that must remain in operation even during a highly contagious flu epidemic. Therefore, Kajima has stockpiled supplies at its business locations in Japan and abroad to protect employees from the virus, and is now formulating a business continuity plan (BCP) to deal with the outbreak.
