Top 10 best APAC companies to work for – if you’re a woman

May 24, 2024

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Opening its doors as a family business in Ginza, Tokyo, in 1872, Shiseido started out as Japan’s first western-style pharmacy and has since transformed into a global beauty giant currently operating in 120 countries and regions around the world with regional headquarters in Japan, China and across APAC, the Americas and EMEA.

Shiseido is ranked 120th in Forbes’ World’s Top Companies for Women.

More than 80% of Shiseido Group employees are women, and 58.1% of women across the global organisation are in leadership roles, with 37.6% in the Japanese operations. Not just that, but 40% of directors and auditors are women.

As Shiseido puts in: “We believe that empowering women can help generate innovation and in turn promote further growth at Shiseido and allow employees to fulfil their potential.”

This has been a belief of the company since the early 1990s, when, even before the introduction of childcare and family care laws, Shiseido implemented childcare leave and shortened working hour systems. Specifically, they opened two in-office childcare facilities for employees, as well as local businesses and residents. Further, to provide flexible childcare, in April 2023, they opened Kangaroom, a comprehensive childcare service offering mainly babysitting services, with the scope of services set to be extended to include elementary school students.

Among other initiatives, Shiseido runs a female leader development programme called Next Leadership Sessions for Women. In 2022, 63 female employees participated in the programme and in the six years since launch, 49% of the participants have suiccessfully been promoted.

To further increase the ratio of women in management positions to 50%, Shiseido expanded to three new programmes for candidates for next Group Managers, Department Heads and Executive Officers. Finally, the firm runs Speak Jam, a mentoring programme linking executive officers with female employees and between 2020 and 2022, 117 employees took part.

The company iso also working improve the working environment, including offering flextime with no core hours, remote work for Japan employees, and the Hybrid Work Style.