Our Japan team has been certified as a “Great place to work” for the third time

SThree Japan has been recently awarded "Best Place to Work" company by the Great Place to Work(R) Institute Japan, which conducts surveys of over 7,000 companies in 60 countries around the world.

The Great Place to Work(R) Institute Japan recognises selected companies as a Great Place to Work on a monthly basis and through that, the top 100 companies surveyed will be awarded “100 Best Workplace to Work” at the end of the year.

As an organization that continuously strives to provide the best working environment we can to our people, we’re very honoured and grateful that this is the third time our Japan team has been recognised as a Great Place to Work not just by our employees but by external institutions too.

Congratulations to all companies who were awarded Best Place to Work For 2022. Click here to see the full list of the Best Place to Work 2022 from here.

What do the employees at SThree Japan think?

Apart from the survey which the Great Place to Work Institute conducts, we also conduct an employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) survey internally on an annual basis, which aims to provide a more detailed picture of employees’ satisfaction within their workplace. This covers a myriad of themes including diversity and inclusion, mental wellbeing, supportive working environment, management support, development opportunities and many more. Some of the results have shown that:

• 95% of employees have "confidence and trust in the leadership";
• 96% of employees feel that "SThree values diversity";
• 91% of employees views that "SThree is an inclusive employer".

Along with the feedback that we receive from these annual eNPS surveys, we work as an organization to ensure that we are not only listening to our people but using their feedback to implement changes that can help our people function better.

Below are some of the ways in which SThree Japan is committed to make us a Great Place to Work.

Appreciation and recognition

Apart from a transparent and meritocratic system that shows details on how one can promote to the next level alongside clarity on salary and compensation, we also place a high value on showing our appreciation as an organisation through many different ways.

Some of these include but not limited to:

• Highly transparent commission schemes
• Pay structure that is second to none
• Opportunities for career progression strictly based on their performance
• Monthly recognition for Most Valued Person (MVP) and Operating Principles Champion to give a shoutout to employees who have made a significant contribution to the company
• Monthly lunch clubs which is based on an exclusive invite to either dine at a luxury restaurant or enjoy an unforgettable experience with other consultants who have achieved certain milestones or targets
• Luxury incentive trips for top performers which are organised once or twice a year by the Global, Asia Pacific and Japan offices respectively
• Invitations to lunch on your first-year anniversary and dinner on subsequent lengths of service
• Global Recognition Day which is a one day off on a company-defined day for everyone globally

Work-life balance

Work-life balance is extremely important to many of us. As such, we have several initiatives and policies put in place to ensure that our people have the opportunity to work in an environment that is healthy and sustainable for them. Below are some of these initiatives:

• Flexible working environment

We listen to our employees and strive to create a flexible working environment for everyone. In addition to the introduction of telecommuting, we have made it possible for employees who wish to work in the office due to family or personal reasons while maintaining social distance.　

Even after the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, we will continue to support our employees to work from home or in the office according to their convenience by introducing the "hybrid working style" guidelines. This has officially been implemented in October 2021.

• Maternity buddy scheme

Although we already have a system in place that allows employees to be flexible about their working hours and the nature of their work according to their life events, we understand that being a new mum can be daunting. As such, this maternity buddy scheme can allow mothers access to a settling-in period where they can return to work periodically and partially, for example once a month, before fully returning back to work. This transition can help ease all mothers back into work.

• Variety of social activities to build your internal network

We have a Book Club, Beer Club, Boardgame nights and many other internal activities that are open to all employees, regardless of their positions. The company also subsidises some of these costs to make it affordable for everyone. We use this as an opportunity to encourage communication through all seniorities by providing an environment in which employees can communicate easily with senior management staff through social activities.

New learning and development platform

In 2021, we’ve launched SThree Academy which is a learning platform where up to 16,771 courses are made available 24/7 across all experience levels and job roles. With a variety of learning topics for employees to choose from, they can now enroll in a programme that’s relevant to their industry, job function or even areas of interest whenever they want, wherever they would like. The system also applies machine learning to an individual’s learning history to provide "recommended content", helping to offer learning opportunities that are in line with an individual’s preferences.

Improving employee wellbeing

It is very important for us to ensure that we are constantly improving our employees’ wellbeing. This became even more crucial during the pandemic. Below are some initiatives that were either already in place or implemented after the pandemic:

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP): This program is designed to support employees to improve their physical and mental wellbeing by providing specialist counseling on work, colleagues, managers, family, friends and other relationships. It is an anonymous hotline that employees can dial into at any time.

• THRIVE: After the spread of the new coronavirus disease, THRIVE was launched as a program to maintain employee wellbeing. Specifically, THRIVE has organised guest lectures and question sessions with financial planners to help alleviate financial worries, and has set aside time for running and yoga across the office. We also plan to hold seminars on mindfulness and other topics with guest speakers.

• Aspirational Leaders: We regularly invite speakers (both internal and external) who are role models to speak on a range of topics including career, childcare, female leadership and more.

An active participation towards ESG activities

As a global company, SThree is actively involved in ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) as part of our activities to embody our high ethical standards as a company. This commitment is also a reminder of our Code of Conduct: 'Build trust, Care then act, and Be clear then aim high’.

To encourage our people, all SThree employees are able to take five days of paid leave per year to volunteer or participate in any ESG activity of their choice. In addition, we organise local ESG activities to ensure that our people have an opportunity to engage as a team or organisation in activities that might interest them.

Some of these include:

• Visited homes for underprivileged children in the Philippines in 2018
• Participated in a charity futsal match organized by NPO Esperanza, a sports club for children with disabilities in 2019
• Participated in a 500km charity bike ride organized by Knights in White Lycra while raising funds to donate to a children's home in Fukushima in 2019

Our initiatives and participation for ESG has also been recognized at the 2019 Recruitment International Awards as we were awarded Best CSR Initiative.

What are our people saying about us?

Our consultants share their opinions about working for us:

"I like the environment where you can communicate freely with your manager and share any concerns you may have.” – Tomohiro Tsunenari / Real Life Science

“The people in the company are very personable, and even if things don't go well or you feel down, you can talk to someone and it will help and cheer you up.” – Saya Kondo / Computer Futures Japan

Of the 40 employees who have joined us in 2021, at least half of them have been referred by our employees. We are proud of this as it suggests that our employees have a fulfilling working environment that they too are referring their friends.