The value of diversity

As indicated in Mizuho's HR Vision, we believe that the personal development of individual employees contributes to the stable and sustainable growth of Mizuho as a whole, and we encourage employees who differ in terms of gender, country of origin, cultural background, and values to understand, respect, and inspire each other. As such, we have worked for many years to promote diversity both in and outside Japan.

We launched our first diversity initiatives the year after the formation of Mizuho Financial Group in 2002. In this early period starting in 2003, our primary focus was on women's empowerment. We expanded the support systems for female employees who qualified for maternity/childcare leave and those who were caring for young children. We also promoted the proactive hiring of more women and established a dedicated office for these efforts at each of our core group companies.

From 2006 we entered a growth period in terms of promoting diversity. We actively encouraged employees to take advantage of the support systems available for working parents, striving to create a work environment where it was the norm for women to return to work after having a child. During this period, our focus shifted from promoting the advancement of women in particular to promoting diversity in a broader sense.

From 2012 our initiatives entered a more developed period. We expanded the work arrangements available in order to create more flexible options in line with an increase in working parents and the diversification of employees' career aspirations. Also, we enhanced the support available for women re–entering the workforce after maternity/childcare leave with the aim of assisting working parents to continue advancing their careers. Our efforts in these areas were recognized in fiscal 2015 with Platinum Kurumin certification, Nadeshiko Brand designation, and inclusion in the New Diversity Management Selection 100, among other awards and recognition.

In 2016, despite having made headway in the acceptance of diversity at Mizuho, based in part on feedback from our outside directors, we concluded that we need more diverse representation (including women and non–Japanese nationals) in positions of leadership with decision–making authority within our corporate management and business. We understood that our current level of diversity would make it difficult to sustainably increase our corporate value given the rapidly changing business environment and the fiercely competitive nature of the finance industry.

With this in mind, a key area to address was our HR management practices, which were built around the assumption of a Japanese, male, management track employee as the norm. We therefore decided to implement fundamental reforms in HR management and make diversity, equity and inclusion a key strategy, with the aim of ensuring the active participation and professional growth of all employees. We have since been accelerating our group–wide efforts.

Moving forward, in order to improve our ability to respond to various environmental changes, pursue proactive reform well into the future, and achieve sustainable growth, we will continue to work together as a group to achieve greater diversity, equity and inclusion.

We aim to ensure that diverse perspectives and ideas are reflected in strategic planning and decision making at the business and management levels. Harnessing our diversity to develop innovative financial products as well as continually refine the services we offer and the business processes which support our organization is essential for continually building our corporate value in the rapidly changing business environment and the fiercely competitive finance industry.

Mizuho's roadmap from women’s empowerment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

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Promoting women's advancement

Approximately half of Mizuho's employees are women. With the aim of creating an environment where female employees are highly engaged and can utilize their capabilities to the fullest, we have established a Basic Policy on Promoting Women's Advancement in the organization centered on the "Four Rs".

For further information on balancing work and family responsibilities, please see Promoting work–life balance.

Women's representation within Mizuho

As a result of Mizuho's expansion of support systems for employees balancing work and childcare, the number of female employees leaving the company due to marriage or childbirth has significantly decreased. Also, our many career education programs for female employees have contributed to an increase in the number of women in management positions. These efforts have received external recognition in a number of ways. In 2016, Mizuho was received the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Award as a "New Diversity Management Selection 100." In 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Mizuho was awarded "Nadeshiko Brand" designation by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, in recognition of our policies, goals, and tangible progress that reflect the promotion of women's participation in the workplace.

ESG evaluation and reputation

Challenges going forward

Advancing a focused management strategy to promote the active participation of women has produced a lot of female managers, particularly in positions up to Assistant manager equivalent and Manager equivalent. On the other hand, we recognize that our future challenge is to further increase the percentage of women in positions of general manager equivalent and above. Thus, we are now advancing efforts to increase the percentage of women in decision-making positions, including management, targeting 30% by early in the 2030s.

Specific measures to strengthen our efforts supporting the career advancement of female employees include career development support programs for women, creating an environment for diverse and flexible working styles, and working to change the mindsets throughout the organization.

We also joined the 30% Club Japan in June 2021 to promote a top–down approach to the advancement of women and created the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Promotion Committee in fiscal 2020 to enhance the cooperation among our business departments and further promote efforts across the entire organization.

Further information

ESG DataBook: Numerical targets (PDF/818KB)

ESG DataBook: Number of management positions (PDF/818KB)

Career education and support for female employees

Career opportunities and advancement for employees of all nationalities

Mizuho is expanding its global network year by year, and the proportion of our consolidated revenue generated from business outside Japan is steadily increasing. Therefore, we are positioning our employees hired locally outside Japan and our non–Japanese employees working in Japan to take on a greater part of our business going forward.

Our offices outside Japan build professional teams with the right expertise for each location by employees hired locally who have insight into local business customs. These offices are also responsible for employee development and regularly implement programs on leadership, management, compliance, and other subjects.

Further information

ESG DataBook:Number of employees hired outside Japan (PDF/818KB)

Talent and Organizational Development Department: Focusing on diverse talent management

In order to better meet the wide–ranging and complex needs of Mizuho's customers and continue to provide them with innovative and sophisticated solutions in the global market, successful management of Mizuho's global network and leveraging of local knowledge and skills are key.

Mizuho believes that giving all staff, irrespective of where they were hired or where they currently work, the opportunity to develop their skills on the global stage enhances the organization's overall performance and ability to provide customers with innovative solutions.

The Talent and Organizational Development Department promotes the hiring, development, and advancement of Mizuho's diverse talent all over the world. We work to ensure optimal allocation of talent on a global basis and to support the career development of global leaders.

Since 2007, we have been continually expanding opportunities for our employees hired locally outside Japan to develop their careers, including by working in offices in countries other than their own. Many of these employees are now taking advantage of our Global Mobility Program. In addition, we have also been implementing a training program developed by the Headquarters for locally hired staff outside Japan while enhancing the cross–cultural communication skills of our Japanese employees and increasing their opportunities to work outside Japan as part of our efforts to develop talent with greater global insight and accelerate our diversity.

1: Global Mobility Program
This program provides global career development opportunities to employees hired locally outside Japan and gives Mizuho greater flexibility to meet global business needs. The program facilitates not only personnel transfers to Japanese offices from offices in other countries, but also transfers between offices in different countries outside Japan.

Promoting the active participation of older members of the workforce

At Mizuho, we believe that career development is not only for younger employees in the early stages of their career. We also offer different career development support programs tailored to employees in their 40s, 50s, and 60s in order to ensure that they have the opportunity to think about their future goals and develop life and career plans in advance. This benefits both employees and the organization as it enables us to fully utilize the extensive knowledge, experience, and capabilities of the older members of our workforce. We also have a system in place to offer continued employment opportunities to employees who have reached the retirement age but would like to continue working. These opportunities enable post–retirement workers to put their skills to use in a variety of fields and are not limited to the area they worked in prior to retirement.

Continued employment

Mizuho offers opportunities for stable, continued employment to employees who have reached retirement age but would like to continue working. Our system for continued employment not only fulfills the requirements of Japan's Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons but also enables us to better fulfill the diverse needs of both workers and our organization in a mutually beneficial manner.

Further information

ESG DataBook: Usage of the continued employment system (PDF/818KB)

Promoting work style reforms

We have published Mizuho's Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, outlining our aim of being an organization that promotes flexible work styles and supports its employees' work/life commitments, goals, and interests, helping them achieve both personal and professional fulfillment. To that end, we are pursuing work style reforms to have 100% of eligible male employees take childcare leave and enable employees to work remotely.

Flexible and diverse working arrangements

Flexible working hours

At Mizuho, we are aiming to improve organizational and personal productivity through a flexible workstyle that transcends time and place, thereby realizing sustainable business growth.

In order to help employees work more effectively and productively, Mizuho offers the option of flexible working hours, such as flextime (options with and without core hours) and staggered working hours, to suit the needs of each workplace.

We also provide systems that support a good work–life balance for employees facing time limitations due to childcare and aging family care, above and beyond legal requirements. For example, employees with young children can select to work full days on some days of the week and shortened hours on other days, allowing them to flexibly adjust their working hours to fit their family's situation, their spouse's work schedule, or other circumstances.

Remote work options

In order to provide employees with flexibility in terms of the location where they work, we have set up satellite offices and introduced a remote work system available for all employees.

We have put in place the necessary framework to ensure that employees can work without coming in to the office, and this has particularly enabled employees facing time limitations due to childcare or looking after elderly family members to make maximum use of the periods of time when they are best able to work. This has not only prevented infectious diseases but also enabled a more efficient working style, demonstrating the benefits of remote work.

Support for working parents

At Mizuho, around 1,000 employees take childcare leave annually, and it has become commonplace in Japan for parents to continue working while balancing work and childcare. With the simplification of our employment track system, from FY2021 we changed our policy promoting the balance of work and childcare from one where the employee continues to work while making use of childcare support systems to one where the employee also achieves professional growth by designing their own medium- to long-term career in line with their unique goals. We have renewed our development and support programs in line with this policy as well.

Seminars on work–life balance and career development

We hold seminars on balancing work and childcare (before childcare leave, during childcare leave, and for those returning to work), providing employees with opportunities to think about balancing work and childcare as well as proactive career development.

For employees taking a leave, we provide pre-leave training to raise awareness of career development after returning to work and provide techniques for balancing work and family responsibilities.

For employees on childcare leave, we invite outside lecturers to provide seminars on ways employees can prepare to make a smooth transition into balancing work and childcare after returning to work.

For employees who have returned from childcare leave and are balancing work and childcare responsibilities, we invite outside lecturers to provide training that introduces workstyles that evolve as children grow up and considers medium- to long-term career development that facilitates ongoing growth through work.

In addition, as another means of extending career development support and assistance for employees to achieve a balance between work and childcare obligations, Mizuho has established a system wherein managers will meet with employees prior to their maternity leave, during their leave, and when they return to work, to ensure that supervisors are able to understand each employee's particular situation and needs with regard to achieving a good work–life balance and are therefore able to provide active support.

We also regularly provide e–learning courses and other means of enhancing all employees' understanding of the systems and benefits Mizuho offers, as well as those guaranteed under Japan's Act on Childcare Leave & Caregiver Leave. These courses aim to reduce any hesitation employees may have about using the systems/benefits available, to ensure smoother communication between those using these systems/benefits and their coworkers, and to prevent harassment.

Childcare leave for male employees

We have set a KPI to maintain our standard of 100% of eligible male employees taking childcare leave. We are working to change the mindset and behavior of all executives and employees by providing five paid business days of childcare leave and by having managers check their male staff’s awareness and intention to take childcare leave when a child is born.

Since July 2019, the presidents of Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Trust & Banking, Mizuho Securities, and Mizuho Research & Technologies have participated in the Declaration for 100% Paternity Leave by Men of Work-Life Balance Co., Ltd.

With the 2022 revision of the Act on Childcare Leave & Caregiver Leave, we have formulated a new action plan to encourage eligible male employees to take childcare leave, and notified all employees of this step. We hold e-learning courses for all employees, and invite outside lecturers to provide seminars on subjects such as the significance of male employees taking childcare leave to employees with a new baby, employees looking to take childcare leave, and managers. We conduct a variety of initiatives aimed at promoting male employees' participation in childcare, including sending congratulatory email messages to employees with a new baby and their supervisors. We also work to provide information to alleviate employee concerns regarding hurdles to promotion that often result from taking childcare leave, for example through the introduction of role models.

On “talentbook” (an external website) we introduce a male employee who took three months’ childcare leave. The article is available at the following link: https://www.talent-book.jp/mizuhofg/stories/48175 (Japanese language only)

By encouraging male employees to take childcare leave, we aim to promote a better understanding and implementation of work-life balance throughout the organization. Our belief is that a strong commitment to achieving a healthy work-life balance leads to a more productive workplace.

Employer-sponsored childcare centers

Given the limited number of childcare centers for children in Japan today, Mizuho provides slots specially set aside for Mizuho employees at more than 400 employer-sponsored childcare centers throughout Japan to enable employees to return to work smoothly. By making it possible for our employees to use childcare centers near their homes or on their way to work, we are expanding the options for employees to choose childcare centers that suit their increasingly diverse work styles and lifestyles.

Childcare support system handbooks

Mizuho has created the Handbook for Balancing Childbirth, Childcare and Work explaining our childbirth and childcare support systems in order to encourage employees to make use of these systems, and to support a smooth return to work. A Work–Life Balance Support Handbook has also been created for management to guide their efforts to provide work–life balance support for members of their team.

We also post videos to help attain a work-life balance, which cover basic facts about working parents, the experience of male employees who have taken parental leave, and roundtable meetings with experienced working parents, to facilitate access to relevant information when needed.

Workplace Family Day

Mizuho has held Workplace Family Days every year since 2008. On these days, employees are invited to bring their children and family members into their workplaces. The event provides family members an opportunity to learn more about the employee’s work and to meet and interact with other employees. On the day of the visit, the employee can return home with their family members by taking a half day of vacation or finishing the day working from home, thus providing an opportunity to spend extra time with their children and family members.

In FY2023, 2,000 children and other family members of employees enjoyed the event.

Support for employees caring for aging family members

Mizuho has established a number of systems to support employees balancing work with caring for sick or aging family members. These include family–care leave and shortened or staggered working hours over and above those required by law, as well as seminars aimed at relieving employees' concerns and anxieties about balancing work and family care commitments.

Informational seminars

To help employees prepare for the possibility of suddenly and unexpectedly needing to care for a sick or aging family member, Mizuho holds seminars covering the basics of balancing work with family commitments, and develop relevant guidebooks.

Family care advisory desk

Mizuho has established an advisory desk staffed by external specialists who can provide advice to employees via email or telephone regarding concerns about caring for sick or aging family members.

Work–life balance support systems

Childbirth and childcare support systems

Childbirth and childcare support systems (Overview)

Caregiver support systems

Flexible human resources management to support a good work–life balance

We aim to ensure that our human resources management supports a good work–life balance, for example by reducing the hurdles employees face when balancing their work with childcare or aging family member care.