Interview with companies in the past [Takashimaya Yokohama store]

Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Takashimaya") was founded in 1831 (Tenbo 2) and will celebrate its 190th anniversary next year. Currently, the department store business, corporate business, mail-order business, etc., has 17 stores in Japan and 4 overseas stores. The number of employees on a non-consolidated basis is 8,358, of which 137 are disabled.
The Takashimaya Yokohama store (hereinafter referred to as the “Yokohama store”) opened in October 1859 and celebrated its 60th anniversary last year. The number of employees is 1,197, of which 23 are disabled. ※As of June 1, 2020

The number of employees with disabilities working at the Yokohama store is 9 people with physical disabilities (including 6 people with severe disabilities), 13 people with intellectual disabilities (including 5 people with severe disabilities), and 1 person with mental disabilities. ※As of June 1, 2020
We have been working on the employment of persons with disabilities for more than 30 years, but at the beginning, the scope of work was limited, such as washing places in employee cafeterias and accepting telephone orders at sales floors. In the store, there were other people with acquired disabilities after joining the company, but we have not yet worked enough.
In 2006, the employee cafeteria was reduced or closed, and this was a turning point. At that time, two employees with disabilities were working in washrooms, etc., but due to the closure of the cafeteria, it became necessary to match the job development of the two people and the appropriateness of work in response to the departure phenomenon associated with aging.
At that time, the Human Resources Group Manager consulted with the Yokohama City Employment Support Center for Persons with Disabilities and hired an in-house job coach for the first time in the company. With the goal of "stabilizing employment of persons with disabilities within 10 years", in March 2007, a working team consisting of one job coach and two people with intellectual disabilities was established at a corner of the Human Resources Group office. For the work of the working team, job coaches went to the sales and back departments in the store to conduct interviews, and steadily and steadily carried out the preparation work associated with sales at each sales and back department.

The working team at the Yokohama store consists of a team manager, three job coaches or vocational life counselors for persons with disabilities, and 18 employees with disabilities, for a total of 22 employees, working at the office and working at the grocery floor where office work is performed. I work in charge of food, etc.
When the Working Team was launched in 2007, the number of employees with disabilities started with two new graduates, followed by hiring mainly new graduates. Our members have been working for 13 years. In addition, some of the older employees have been working for more than 35 years due to relocation from the old employee cafeteria. Currently, it is mainly in the early 20s and early 30s, with an average age of 34.5 years.
Considering the significance of the "working team" in our company, there are two.
The first is "stable employment of persons with disabilities and job development." Since it is a private company, it is naturally necessary to pursue profits, pursue profits, and produce results. Under such circumstances, employment of persons with disabilities is positioned as an important force, not a sense of duty or contribution. Some people with disabilities are assigned to the workplace by belonging to the sales floor in the store or the department behind it, but the working team has the work content and amount of work obtained by accumulating power.
The second is "creating sales hours for sales staff at sales floors." Currently, the working team is undertaking about 400 types of work in the backward work and backward department, but as a result of the backward work on behalf of the sales staff at the sales floor, the time for sales staff to serve customers at the store has increased. We call this "sales support" or "sales support" at the Company.
In the working team, in the office, light work such as output / printing on a personal computer, enclosing and sealing, assembling boxes, laminate products at the grocery store, clearing baskets, and transporting goods by courier in the evening etc. I am doing work.

Since the declaration of a state of emergency, the Yokohama store has been operating only on the food floor. The grocery members of the working team went to work as usual, carrying out items, collecting delivery items, and transporting courier services in the evening.
On a daily basis, we have received tremendous trust from the sales department, and there are strong requests from the field to continue working regularly, and members also felt enthusiasm for their responsibilities and went to work every day to support sales floors.
On the other hand, employees working in the office were waiting at home (temporary closures were taken). Some employees took a lot of time and effort after leaving their work for a long period of time, but job coaches took sufficient time to provide guidance, focusing on repetition of basic work and reflection on practice. Currently, I am able to work the same as before COVID-19.
In addition, as part of our job development, we worked to improve motivation through new job challenges, such as cleaning tables at employee cafeterias as a countermeasure against the spread of COVID-19.

The members of the Yokohama store working team are classified as part-time workers, but the personnel system for part-time workers was also revised this year, and an promotion (promotion) system was introduced. Regarding human resource development, we provide opportunities for all employees, except for a part of the training system, regardless of the type of employment or disability.
For example, there are 150 types of correspondence education that anyone can choose to improve their interests and skills. As for group training, we strive to be able to respond to disabilities as much as possible when consulted individually.

In addition to working teams, we respond individually to the working conditions of persons with disabilities in the store.
In the case at the Yokohama store, employees with lower limbs who had been working in the washing area of the old employee cafeteria for many years have gradually increased their fluff during walking due to muscle weakness due to aging, and in consideration of safety, they were unable to accept reassignment because they had no experience in clerical work. In addition, employees with intellectual disabilities who have worked for many years on the grocery floor have been unable to do what they had done so far, due to a decrease in work speed and sustainability as they age, and many mistakes.
We asked each employee to participate in the working team as an in-house training program, and the job coach grasped the work suitability of the individual and determined the work environment. By objectively grasping his own abilities, he gradually understood the necessity of reassignment, moved to the working team, and now he is further improving his skills.
In addition, the working team was assigned immediately after joining the company, but some employees took advantage of their experience and transferred personnel to the sales department.
In this way, through the working team, we are working to further improve the skills and achieve results of employees with disabilities in the store by flexibly accepting and reassigning training.

The Group supports the SDGs toward the realization of a sustainable society, and has formulated the Takashimaya Group SDGs Principles to contribute to solving social issues through its core business and to achieve both business growth.
To achieve the SDGs in 2030, we have set up five priority themes: consideration for the global environment, community development, access-free and stress-free products and facilities, provision of sustainable products and services, and creation of job satisfaction.
We are working to create an environment in which diverse human resources, regardless of age, gender, disability, or nationality, can play an active role in creating job satisfaction. From September of this year, the working team was assigned to the Human Resources Department to build a system that can support both hardware and software so that people with disabilities can work and demonstrate their abilities with peace of mind.

As a result of continuing to hire several people each year, the work content and work volume increased at an accelerating pace, and the number of working team members increased, so the office moved to its current location, and from March 2017, I became a member of the Business Department of the Sales Department.
From September 2020, he joined the Human Resources Department with the aim of stabilizing the employment of persons with disabilities, and worked with the Diversity Promotion Office and the Personnel Group at the Head Office to share issues and expand horizontally throughout the company.

As stated in the SDGs, no one will be left behind regardless of age, gender, disability, or nationality. I would like to make the company a place where everyone can work and a rewarding place, not just the working team.
The environment and system designed for employees with disabilities will lead to improvements in work productivity for all employees, and we aim to achieve this philosophy at an accelerating pace.