J. Front Retailing believes that work-life balance is important to keep employees healthy both mentally and physically. For this purpose, we implement the following initiatives.

Flexible Work Styles That Allow Employees to Work Anytime, Anywhere

The Group strives to provide flexible work styles and create a system that supports them to increase the productivity of the organization.
J. Front Retailing and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores adopt a flextime system and a telework system. By combining these two systems, it has become possible for employees to adjust working hours and workplaces on an hourly basis and work efficiently to suit their work and family circumstances. Parco made a contract with satellite offices considering employees’ home environments.
We also aim to promote communication and streamline operations using IT such as cloud services and video conference systems.
In addition, we strive to promote the use of paid leave and reduce overtime. J. Front Retailing and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores give their employees consecutive days off to promote the use of paid leave. They can take ten consecutive days off twice a year by combining regular days off and paid leave.
Our measures to reduce overtime include the promotion of the use of the flextime system and the telework system, time management by individual employees using IC cards, and the adoption of No Overtime Days.
Going forward, we will create an environment that allows employees to work flexibly to realize their Well-Being Life and increase the productivity of the organization.

Promotion of Teleworking

The Group promotes the use of telework from home to create a pleasant work environment aimed at improving productivity. To this end, we improve a work environment by introducing mobile PCs, smartphones, and video conferencing systems. Telework allows employees to work flexibly and efficiently. Furthermore, using telework combined with the super flextime system, we have realized more flexible work styles.
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the national and local governments requested companies to reduce the number of workers in offices and to implement telework. Most employees in our administrative divisions were able to switch to telework smoothly and we could continue our business. At the same time, we added video conferencing systems and made use of group chat to facilitate smooth communication among employees. Through telework, employees who raised children were able to work while their children took long-term school leave. We will continue to build a safe work environment for employees from the perspective of business continuity (BCP*) and further promote the use of telework that leads to improved organizational productivity.
*BCP: Plan for business continuity or early recovery in the event of a disaster

In March, 2021, J. Front Retailing improved and expanded its telework system and created an environment that allows its employees to work independently anytime, anywhere according to their duties. We expanded the eligibility for telework to include all employees including officers and employees in management positions and eliminated the restrictions on the number of permitted telework days.

Encouraging the Taking of Paid Leave

The Group is actively striving to promote the taking of consecutive days off to increase the taking of paid leave. Eight statutory holidays can be combined with paid leave as two 10-day or four 5-day consecutive holidays each year. Workers at Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores can use three of their paid leave days as event leave.

Employees reaching the ages of 30, 40, or 50 can take consecutive holidays as refreshment leave. The utilization rate of paid leave in fiscal 2022 at Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores was 57.5%.

Reducing Overtime Work

J. Front Retailing, Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, Daimaru Kogyo, and Dimples' are reducing overtime by adopting diverse working shifts and a super flexi-time system with no core times. The super flexi-time system allows all employees to adjust their working hours. Outside training or sales work can be attended straight from home with no need to return to the workplace afterward, for a more efficient use of time. Employees engaged in child or family care can match their work styles to their individual circumstances, by adjusting job times in units of hours so that they can attend events or meetings without having to lose an entire day of work.

Other measures include keeping track of individual working times with IC cards, warning on computer screens, and no overtime days. Teleworking is also being considered for use in operating companies, to further reduce overtime.

Average monthly overtime(Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores)

* Calculated as the prescribed overtime work

Prevention of Employee Turnover by Supporting Balancing Childcare and Family Care and Work

The Group implements various initiatives to create an environment that allows its employees to balance work and childcare and family care. J. Front Retailing and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores have in place support systems that exceed statutory limits and strive to create an environment in which employees can continue to work while raising children and caring for their families. Using a flextime system and a telework system combined, employees can work flexibly.
Going forward, we will create an environment that allows employees to balance work and childcare without leaving their jobs or taking long leave, and in addition, we will help individual employees maintain and improve their careers.

Systems related to child care and family care exceeding statutory limits at Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores and the number of takers in FY2022

Encouraging Men to Take Childcare Leave

The Group aims to create an environment in which each employee can balance work and family life, while enjoying a fulfilling and rewarding career, without being constrained by conventional gender role divisions, and to realize Well-Being Life for employees.
The Group aims to create an environment in which all employees who are raising children, including women, men and LGBTs, can take childcare leave by 2030. To this end, we aim to achieve paternity leave usage rate of 100% by 2023.

Approach to Paternity Leave

We believe that the employee’s leave of absence will lead to further improvement of work efficiency and teamwork, as both the employee taking a leave of absence and the workplace seek and influence each other to find the best way to cover that employee’s work. Everyone has the possibility of taking a leave of absence for some reason, not limited to childcare leave. In addition, workplaces are constantly changing due to organizational changes and personnel transfers. It is essential for work-life integration to have a workplace that can respond flexibly to such changes.

Establishment of Childcare Leave at Birth (Paternity Leave After Birth)

＜Outline of the system＞
・An employee can take up to four weeks of leave within eight weeks after birth in addition to the standard childcare leave.
・The leave can be taken in two installments if so requested for both at the same time before the leave begins.
・In principle, the application should be submitted up to two weeks before taking the leave.*
・An employee can work during the leave to the extent agreed by the employee only if a labor management agreement exists.*

*The details vary depending on the operating company.

J. Front Retailing and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores provide “childcare participation incentives” based on the number of days of childcare leave at birth to encourage their employees to take longer leave.
Parco gives incentives to its employees who took childcare leave regardless of gender.

Childcare Support Leave

J. Front Retailing and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores encourage their employees to actively participate in childcare by providing childcare support leave that can be taken regardless of gender. (Employees with a child up to the end of the month in which the child enters elementary school can take three days of leave each year.)

Number of users of male childcare-related systems in FY2022 (Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores)

Optional working hours system

We adopt a system that allows employees to choose shortened working hours for child care, family care, hobbies to enrich senior life and other reasons.

(Purpose and period: Up to the last day of the month in which the child enters an junior high school for child care, a period in which the employee needs to take care of his/her family member for family care, etc.)

Area Limited Employee System

In light of diversified values and lifestyles of workers, we introduced the “Area Limited Employee System” that allows employees to limit their work areas by their free will. By increasing work options, we aim to build a foundation on which employees can autonomously think of the balance between their career formation and life and act accordingly. Employees can choose to work in one of five areas including Sapporo, Tokyo, Kansai, Chubu and Shizuoka.

Reasons for application for an area limited employee are not restricted and an employee who converted to an area limited employee can return to a regular employee. The number of times of such conversion is not limited. When this system was introduced in September 2017, 696 employees became area limited employees, which accounts for approximately 18.5% of the employees of Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores (including seconded ones). In August 2019, 591 employees converted to area limited employees. 642 employees became area limited employees in the end of February 2023.

Creation of the status of “dedicated employee”

In order to further empower fixed-term contract employees of Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Sales Associates and secure more stable employment status, we created the status of “dedicated employee” by not only making the employment period indefinite but also improving part of the working conditions.

Specifically, they are entitled to leave allowance*1 and absence deduction*2 like regular employees. When the system was introduced in June 2017, out of a total of approximately 1,800 fixed-term contract employees, approximately 1,600 employees who had met the requirements changed to be employed for an indefinite period at once.

*1 80% of daily amount is paid for the period of sick leave.

*2 60% of daily amount is paid for the period of absence including maternity leave.

Changing work styles

As a holding company, J. Front Retailing strives to change work styles so that employees can create something new. On the occasion of the relocation of the head office in January 2018, we reduced documents by approximately 50% and adopted a “free address system” that allows workers to freely choose their seats. We also promote paperless operations by digitalizing meetings, that is, “seeing meeting materials on a computer screen instead of printing them.”

Optional working hours system

Placing importance on employee engagement, which is also the intent of work style reform, we have provided Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores and some other operating companies with “organizational checkups,” which ask questions that measure “organizational health,” the “degree of excitement and satisfaction in job” and others, for about 15 years. Beginning in 2020, the coverage of the survey was expanded to include all companies in the Group and the results are used to share organizational management issues with the management of these companies.

System to Support Volunteer Activities

As part of its social contribution activities, the Group has introduced a system of short-term and long-term volunteer leave to support employees' voluntary participation in volunteer activities.

【Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores】
・Short-term volunteer leave: 10 days a year (splittable)
・Long-term volunteer leave: more than one month and within one year

Social contribution activities

Realization of Work-Life Integration

• Initiatives to Realize Work-Life Integration

• Promoting Health and Productivity Management

• Support to Help Employees Develop Their Careers

• Social Data