However, unconscious biases can breed a culture that dismisses diversity, hinders fair evaluation, and lead to human rights abuses such as harassment. Fast Retailing is implementing various initiatives to create a company culture in which employees from all backgrounds feel accepted and where their skills can be maximized. One such initiative involves inviting outside instructors to conduct training to eliminate unconscious biases that hinders diversity.

In the training for women, the focus was on creating self-confidence, which is necessary for career-building. In general, women tend to evaluate themselves using much stricter criteria than they would others. This can result in a lack of self-confidence which may hinder career advancement. The training was a good opportunity to become aware of prejudices against oneself, to build confidence through correct self-evaluation, and to think about one’s own career path.

The training was well received, with one of the participants commenting, “I was reminded that even if I am careful about discrimination and prejudice, there are many decisions made by unconscious impressions, which may be negative for business.” Another participant said, “The survey results that show women's own perceptions are a major reason why women are not playing more active roles at work were really eye-opening. I was able to reaffirm the importance of having self-confidence.” In the future, we plan to further expand the number of people eligible for unconscious bias training.

In addition to unconscious bias training, we will promote diversity and inclusion so that all employees can work comfortably and demonstrate their full potential, while fostering a corporate culture that respects and accepts diverse people.