Interview with management "E-Tue Info Co., Ltd."

Founded in 2005 as a web system development company with three people and is now in its 13th term, Eto Info Corporation. Since its founding, we have accumulated trust from various clients with the strength of open source customization. Today, we are expanding the scope of our business, including the construction of e-commerce sites and the development, maintenance, and operation of applications. There are a total of 15 employees. Of these, eight are female employees. Riko Harae, who became the representative in 2014, is one of the founding members. Mr. Hara, who works hard to balance work and family life, talked about women's work styles in the IT industry and their thoughts on recruitment.

I have never been conscious of men and women when it comes to recruitment. I feel that if we hired excellent human resources, the percentage of female employees happened to increase. Our company has many opportunities for engineers to communicate with customers, so we have hired people with good personality and those who are not good at it to overcome it. As a result, the number of women may have increased. In 2014, we participated in the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency's initiatives called the “Small and Medium Enterprise New Power Excavation Project” and accepted training for three women, one of whom joined the company. At this time, when I saw the girls who said, "I originally worked as an engineer, but it is difficult to re-employ after giving birth," I felt that it was really wasteful, and I myself had the same experience and wanted to do something. Engineers tend to have a large number of men due to sudden trouble response. However, women are actually suitable for engineers, such as being able to give consideration to the details. However, there is a situation in which it is impossible to return due to blanks such as childbirth. In addition, in the wake of the 2011 earthquake, the number of women raising children who applied for "I want to work in a local area near my home" has increased.

First of all, we conduct interviews with them and try to work as desired as much as possible. Also, during the interview, there was an opinion that "Children have fever, but I want to work because I am fine." We introduced telework so that we can work. Also, it is important to deepen exchanges among employees on a daily basis and create an atmosphere that facilitates cooperation. That said, if there are more housewives, it would be difficult to hold a drinking party on the way home from work. Therefore, we try to communicate with each other at lunch meetings once a week. At that time, everyone can share information and knowledge about work, so that they can study to some extent within working hours. Also, balancing work and family can be done for the first time with the cooperation of family members. Family members are also invited to company events such as employee trips, year-end parties, New Year parties, and barbecues. The other day, about 10 children alone participated.

The office will be clean (laughs). The atmosphere of the company will also be brighter. Also, the consciousness of male employees has changed, and the number of employees who can be attentive has increased, such as buying sweets as souvenirs when they go out. In addition, I think it has had a positive impact not only on our internal attention but also on our customers. In the end, when employees become better and the atmosphere of the company becomes brighter, customers can easily rely on their jobs with peace of mind. We will continue to value this sense of unity in the future. By the way, we do not have employees stationed at our clients, but develop them in-house. Also, regarding issues, system development will be busy when the delivery time is near, and we must respond even in the middle of the night when a failure occurs. In such a case, if the number of employees with time limit increases, the burden on employees without time limit will inevitably increase. How to take care of this area is an issue for the future. At the idea level, for example, employees who are not good at morning may be able to provide a more convincing work style by thoroughly implementing work sharing, such as going to work in the afternoon and working until night.

I don't think it's too much of a woman. I think some women want to value work-life balance, while others want to work hard with a top priority. Even marriage and childbirth, not everyone wants it. In addition, it is meaningless if it becomes difficult for male employees to work by making it easier for women to work. Isn't it important to support people with various positions and various ideas, regardless of gender? However, on the other hand, the depletion of engineers in the IT industry is a major problem. Even if you submit a job advertisement, you may not even receive an application. In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises don't have enough time to recruit and nurture inexperienced people. At that time, housewives who have skills and experience but are not working due to childbirth or childcare blanks are really valuable forces. In that sense, I feel that promoting the active participation of women is increasingly important in the future.

Before I moved to this company, I was working in marketing at an advertising agency in Tokyo. However, as the children went up from nursery school to elementary school, commuting from Yokohama, where their home is located, to Tokyo became more difficult both in time and physical strength. So I started looking for a company in Yokohama, which is easy to get to from my home, and found our company. In addition to the location of Minato Mirai, there were many female employees due to the size of the company, and the cozy atmosphere was also a decisive factor for joining the company. Currently, as a sales business, we ask customers for interviews and provide support services for maintenance. I like the fact that everyone is trying to make it better not only for work but also for creating a comfortable working environment. My future goal is to grow together as the company grows. Women who are wondering whether to change jobs. I can't do it. First of all, take the plunge and take a step forward.

E-Tu Info Corporation
9F, Yokohama Hanasaki Building, 6-145 Hanasakicho, Nishi-ku, Yokohama
https://www.e2info.co.jp/ (external site)
Industry: Web system development/software development
Number of employees: 15 people
Female Support System: Maternity leave system / childcare short working hours system / childcare leave system / nursing leave system