Kimura: The Childcare Team aims to create a workplace where people can work with mutual respect whether they are bringing up children or not. Key activities include regular Fathers' Parenting Leave Seminars and talks by male celebrities who have taken childcare leave. In May 2020, when schools were closed due to the spread of COVID-19 in Japan, we held an online social event for telecommuting employees who were raising children. In October, we organized a seminar to discuss truancy and bullying among children. We have also launched new initiatives for younger employees, such as events to discuss about careers with partners. We work with a wide range of target groups, including employees who are already raising children, and employees who will face the challenge of raising children from now on. I was one of several leaders for the first half of fiscal 2020. I reported on activities and made recommendations to President and CEO Yoshida and other top Corporate executives and organized regular meetings. The leader does not steer all initiatives. Instead, individual members often suggest what they want to do, and we decide who will lead each event.

Tabuchi: The purpose of the Nursing Care Team is to encourage employees to think about nursing care as a personal, close-to-home matter in preparation for when they may suddenly face the issue in the future. It aims not only those who are currently involved in nursing care, but also those who may be involved in the future, think about nursing care from now on. Actions include providing information on balancing work and nursing care, and arranging film screenings, lectures, and workshops. We also hold round-table sessions to make it easier for employees involved in nursing care to enlist supporters. Another activity that cuts across the Childcare, Nursing Care, and Global teams is a D&I awareness survey for all Group employees in Japan, and the data obtained from the awareness survey questionnaire is fed back to DIVI@Sony for regular activity reports.

Michael: I am currently the leader of the Global Team, which works to create a workplace environment that is comfortable for non-Japanese employees and to foster a global mindset among employees. I am primarily involved in the following four programs: (1) General workshops support the lives of international employees in Japan by providing information about the social insurance system in Japan. (2) E-learning designed to enhance Japanese employees' basic knowledge of different cultures and help them solve international communication problems. (3) Intercultural communications workshops. To facilitate the dialog between international and Japanese employees by covering examples of customs that are commonplace in Japan but can create mixed feelings among foreigners. (4) Role model interviews with non-Japanese employees to describe the development of their careers so far and provide advice for other international employees.The interview articles are posted in the DIVI@Sony internal website and in addition we also host a panel discussion. We also host panel discussions involving the participants who appear in these interviews.

Michael: If you look at the ratio of international employees at Sony, it's about 30% in Europe and more than 60% in the U.S., while in Japan it's much lower at 8-10%.In light of this situation, Japanese employees have commented in awareness surveys that there were few opportunities to communicate with foreign employees, that they would like to know more about the problems facing international employees working in Japan, and that the ratio of international employees working at Sony in Japan should be increased. I get the feeling that awareness of the issues is increasing among Japanese employees because our activities are gradually penetrating the workplace. As a result of panel discussions among non-Japanese employees and workshops on cross-cultural communications, many people have commented that they want more opportunities like this. Positive feedback is the driving force behind our subsequent activities.

Kimura: DIVI@Sony is a bottom-up activity, but we promote D&I from the bottom and the top through regular reports on opinions and proposals to top management, and requests for messages from them. At a talk event held last September, top management serving as advisors to DIVI@Sony shared their thoughts on male employees taking childcare leave. We are working to create a workplace where everyone who wants to take childcare leave can do so. I believe we will be able to deepen understanding of D&I in the workplace by demonstrating our commitment to promoting D&I not only at the grassroots level but also as a corporate group. I think the program is also helping to alleviate the concerns of male employees who feel unable to take childcare leave because they are worried about gaining the understanding of their workplace colleagues and the impact on their careers.

Tabuchi: All our programs are online, but about 750 people attended the screening of a film on caregiving and about 230 people attended a lecture about the film. The number of participants in our weekly round-table sessions on nursing care has increased since the film screening and lecture, suggesting growing employee curiosity and interest in caregiving. One of our most recent initiatives that left a lasting impression was an Ideathon on how to use technology to resolve nursing care issues. We were able to identify issues together, share solutions from a variety of perspectives, and become acquainted with various ideas.

Tabuchi: I like to keep abreast of what is happening with D&I at other companies and around the world, and want to contribute to the company's efforts to achieve diversity as one of its core values from the standpoint of the Nursing Care Team. Also, we know from survey results that awareness of DIVI@Sony activities among younger employees is low, so we intend to engage in activities to remedy that. I hope that all of these activities will ultimately increase corporate value.

Michael: My hope is that top management's understanding of workplace issues will be enhanced by presenting employee opinions gathered through DIVI@Sony activities. I would also be happy if we could trigger changes within the company by submitting proposals on necessary actions to top management.
Sony provides products and services to the entire world. Diversity among employees is essential for understanding our customers' diverse needs. I will be happy if DIVI@Sony activities promote understanding of D&I throughout the company and lead to greater diversity among employees.

Kimura: DIVI@Sony activities extend across Sony group companies in Japan , but the circumstances at individual companies vary. I think promotion of D&I would be more effective if groups of companies and individual organizations worked on their own themes in collaboration with DIVI@Sony. Furthermore, DIVI@Sony currently takes issues relating to childcare, nursing care and global employees as its primary themes, so others appear to perceive it as relevant only to those involved. We should be able to involve all employees in our activities if we expand the scope of our themes and activities so that people around those affected realize the problems impact them, too.
The environment at DIVI@Sony is such that we can propose plenty of measures to address issues that we feel are relevant to ourselves and implement them while cooperating with other members. I encourage employees to actively participate in improving their work environment and making it a more motivating place to work.