Sustainability
As a provider of human resource services and CRO services, we will continue to develop in the future.
We aim to be a company that operates a sound business and continues to grow over the long term
A fundamental principle of conducting business is to consider the interests of all stakeholders involved—including clients, employees, shareholders, business partners, and local communities.
This concept used to be said as "sampo yoshi," and nowadays said as "sustainability management." We believe both expressions convey the same essential idea of responsible business.
Today, sustainable corporate growth increasingly calls for a shift from “shareholder capitalism” to “stakeholder capitalism.”
This approach emphasizes that rather than maximizing shareholder returns by pursuing short-term profits and paying out dividends to the limit, long-term growth achieved by enhancing satisfaction across all stakeholders will ultimately benefit shareholders.
Since our founding, we have practiced corporate management based on this philosophy and thus strongly support the principles of stakeholder capitalism.
Corporate value should be understood comprehensively—not only in terms of market capitalization, but also through intrinsic metrics such as profitability, stability, productivity, growth potential, and market share (as a measure of customer satisfaction), and non-financial value.
Our business of temporary staffing and CRO services are based on employing a large number of people. Thus, "people" is a major determining factor in our business. In this context, we believe that the most important responsibilities of the WDB Group are to "provide many rewarding workplaces" and "produce many people who feel joy, grow, and achieve self-fulfillment through their work."
By continuing to provide attractive jobs, compensation, and working environments for many workers, we will continue to be a company that provides satisfying services to our clients, meets the expectations of our shareholders, builds good relationships with our business partners, and contributes to local communities.
By leveraging our strength—unified ownership and management—and practicing value-driven, long-term management, we are committed to operating a sound business that fulfills the expectations of all stakeholders.
Maintain healthy relationships with stakeholders.
Our stakeholders include customers, temporary staff, employees, shareholders, business partners, and the local community.
In order to maintain a healthy relationship with each of our stakeholders, we place great importance on the following.
| Stakeholder | Response policy | Communication method |
|---|---|---|
| For customers | We aim to build stronger relationships with our customers by providing high-quality services through “guaranteed outcomes” and “the creation of new value.” |
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| For registered candidates and temporary staff |
We continue to enhance satisfaction by not only introducing jobs that match individual preferences and supporting staff during their assignments but also by consistently improving compensation and providing highly accessible services through our platforms.
Our goal is to be a temporary staffing agency that makes people want to work for WDB forever. |
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| For employees |
We provide adequate compensation, engaging roles that allow employees to demonstrate their strengths, fair evaluations, and opportunities for continuous learning.
Through these efforts, we aim to become a company where every employee can maintain high productivity and feel a sense of purpose and fulfillment in their role. |
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| For shareholders |
We aim to return profits to shareholders by continuously growing our business, increasing dividends, and enhancing our market capitalization. Through proactive disclosure and clear communication of our management policies, we strive to provide shareholders with the information they need to make informed decisions and maintain long-term investments, even during periods of temporary low growth or declining profits. As more than half of our outstanding shares are held by the President and his asset management company, there is potential for both actual and perceived conflicts of interest with general shareholders. To mitigate this, we ensure fair and transparent governance through oversight by highly independent outside directors. |
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| For business partners | We aim to build long-term, trusting relationships by clearly communicating our expectations and offering fair compensation. While maintaining mutual understanding and respect, we strive to foster a healthy partnership characterized by appropriate tension and professionalism. |
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| For local communities and government entities | We aim to be a trusted and responsible company by first complying with social rules and norms. Through the services provided by our group, we contribute to the creation of local employment opportunities and fulfill our responsibilities by paying taxes as part of profit redistribution. |
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Our approach to human capital
Our human resource and CRO services are grounded in the employment of a large number of people, making “people” the most critical driver of our business success.
At the WDB Group, we believe it is our responsibility to:
・Provide numerous workplaces where individuals can find purpose and fulfillment.
・Foster individuals who grow and achieve self-realization through their work.
To fulfill this responsibility, in addition to top-level discussions on our business domains, we regularly monitor a range of key indicators in strategic meetings. These include employee status, recruitment and turnover of temporary staff, job availability, and productivity improvements driven by platform implementation. Based on this monitoring, we implement additional measures as needed.
Since our founding, we have maintained a merit-based approach to hiring and promotion—placing the right people in the right roles regardless of age, gender, or nationality. This is supported by a variety of HR systems, benefits programs, and training opportunities.
To support the growth and development of both employees and temporary staff, we are committed to ensuring equal access to education and training, and we strive to create an environment that empowers individuals to pursue personal and professional development.
Approach to the recruitment and advancement of diverse talent
At the WDB Group, our recruitment process prioritizes individual capabilities and as such, we do not set numerical targets for hiring women or non-Japanese nationals. However, in response to growing expectations around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), we monitor outcome-based indicators such as the ratios of female employees, non-Japanese employees, and mid-career hires. This approach allows us to identify and address any unintended biases in our hiring practices. In particular, since the majority of our employees are women, we have been long focused on building systems that support flexible work arrangements, enabling women to fully leverage their skills and pursue their careers without compromise.
Human resource development initiatives
In the staffing services business, we will advance the automation of intermediary operations through platformization to the greatest extent possible, reduce SG&A expenses, and secure a stable workforce by passing these savings on to staff through improved compensation and benefits. In the CRO business as well, we will introduce AI and automation technologies to thoroughly streamline routine tasks and concentrate resources on high-value-added areas requiring human expertise.
To realize these objectives, our company is promoting the following personnel development policies and improvements to the work environment.
(1) Human Capital Strategy
In our Group’s core staffing services business, we are working to maximize two sources of value: matching jobseekers with employers and providing support during employment. For the matching function, we aim to automate processes previously performed by people through the introduction of a platform. To realize this, we are strengthening the recruitment of IT personnel and advancing the development of staff who can work effectively with AI. Regarding support during employment, we believe that value delivered by human involvement remains important; accordingly, we recognize the continued importance of recruiting and developing the personnel who provide this support.
In the CRO business, advances in generative AI and automation technologies are expected to rapidly replace routine human tasks. We will address this structural change head-on by continuing to promote process automation and standardization and strengthening center operations that balance operational stability and efficiency. At the same time, we will concentrate resources on high-value areas requiring human expertise—such as operational decision-making, client relations, quality assurance, and multitasking—to establish a new CRO model that leverages AI. In particular, in document support, PMS support, and clinical research support, we will improve consistency and productivity by standardizing work, introducing AI-assisted document creation tools, and advancing process digitization.
To achieve these objectives, we are promoting investment in human resources through both improved compensation and enhancements to the work environment. With respect to compensation, we are implementing sustained pay increases. In addition, to create a more flexible and supportive work environment, we have shortened working hours, introduced a full-flex system and long-term leave, improved working conditions at our head office and other locations, and established systems that enable telework. Many employees engaged in providing support to temporary staff require flexible workstyles; by granting greater discretion over working hours, we are building a framework that accommodates diverse ways of working.
(2) Temporary Staff Strategy
In the staffing services business, business growth depends on increasing the number of temporary staff working through our Group by enhancing recruitment capabilities and retention rates. To achieve this, we will enhance temporary staff skills and market value and improve their evaluations by client companies, thereby enabling higher dispatch fees, and appropriately share these benefits with temporary staff. Through these initiatives, we aim to further strengthen recruitment and retention and create a virtuous cycle.
However, intensified competition for talent in the labor market continues to increase both the cost and difficulty of securing personnel. Our Group has also been affected and is finding it more challenging to secure talent compared to the past. Addressing this challenge is our top priority for sustaining long-term business growth.
To address this issue, we are making investments in human capital across compensation, recruitment, and training. On compensation, we have raised pay by a cumulative 15% over the past four years to strengthen talent attraction and retention. In recruitment, we have introduced location-based hiring without mandatory relocation for permanent-type staffing roles and have developed hiring frameworks that enable diverse talent—including part-time applicants and senior workers—to work more effectively. In training, we provide ongoing technical training based on our proprietary curriculum, creating an environment in which individuals without prior practical experience can pursue their desired careers and enhance their market value. During assignments, we continuously monitor engagement and satisfaction through regular interviews and our platform, enabling temporary staff to work with confidence over the long term.
Going forward, we will further refine these initiatives and enhance our proprietary platform to automate intermediary functions to the greatest extent possible and drive SG&A to minimal levels. By reinvesting the resulting cost savings, we aim to raise compensation for temporary staff to industry-leading levels, thereby differentiating ourselves and establishing a company that earns strong support from temporary staff while achieving continued growth.
Environmental commitment
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As climate change-related risks are increasingly recognized as risks to corporate management, efforts such as decarbonization are regarded as an important social responsibility for companies.
In response to these societal demands, our company regards “maintaining a global environment that enables the sustainable development of business” as a key priority within its sustainability initiatives.
Based on this recognition, we disclose the following regarding governance, strategy, metrics, and targets.
Governance
Our company implements sustainability initiatives across relevant departments.
The status of key items subject to monitoring is regularly reviewed, including by outside directors, and reported to the Board of Directors. The Board deliberates on these matters as necessary.
Strategy
To develop strategies that take into account the risks and opportunities associated with climate change, we analyzed climate change scenarios (the 1.5°C and 4°C scenarios) based on those developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results are summarized below.
| Category | Factor | Overview of impact on our company | Degree of impact | Response measures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5°C scenario |
4.0°C scenario |
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| Transition risk | Carbon tax | Imposition of a carbon tax would increase costs. | Low | Low | Reduce GHG emissions to lower costs. |
| Physical risk | Flooding/damage to buildings and facilities | As natural disasters intensify, company assets such as buildings and facilities may be damaged, leading to restoration costs. | Low | Medium | Implement disaster-prevention measures at minimal cost to control expenses while avoiding business disruption. |
| Physical risk | Increased disaster-preparedness and BCP costs | To mitigate these risks, additional investment will be required in disaster prevention measures and business continuity planning (BCP). | Low | Medium | |
| Physical risk | Revenue decline / losses due to disasters | Intensified natural disasters may damage customers' facilities and public transportation, temporarily preventing our company from providing staffing services. | Low | Medium | Introduce business-interruption compensation clauses in staffing service contracts to minimize impacts on performance. |
| Physical risk | Increased cooling costs due to rising temperatures | Rising average temperatures will increase office cooling costs. | Low | Medium | Minimize cost increases by selecting offices with high air-conditioning efficiency. |
| Opportunity | Increase in environment-related staffing requests | Demand for R&D services aimed at addressing environmental issues will increase, leading to higher sales and profits. | Low | Medium | Establish a system to provide environmental-technical training and secure staff to meet demand. |
Metrics
Our Group monitors GHG emissions and the consumption of energy, water, and paper.
Although we have not set specific targets for these areas at this time, we will strive to reduce them to the extent possible in order to help reduce environmental impact, fulfill our corporate social responsibility, and contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.
Details and data are provided below.
Related information
※The latest progress on the above management policy is provided in our quarterly financial reports.
Please refer to the "IR library" for further details.