Diversity

Rakuten’s corporate mission is to “contribute to society by creating value through innovation and entrepreneurship.” We foster a culture that provides equal opportunities to those who share this founding philosophy and take on the challenge to transform society, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or any other status. Diversity is one of Rakuten's core strategies and a driving force for innovation. To continue to provide innovative services, we strive to respect the uniqueness and values of every one of our employees, located all around the world, and to create environments where they are able to demonstrate their full potential.

Our fundamental commitment to promoting diversity is stipulated in our Human Rights Policy, a part of Rakuten Group Regulations.

To Be a Truly Global Company

To realize Rakuten’s vision to be a global innovation company, we provide environments where our diverse workforce can thrive together as one team.

Common language: Englishnization

In 2012, as Rakuten accelerated its global expansion, we implemented “Englishnization,” the adoption of English as our official corporate language. Having a common language for the whole organization was an essential step for Rakuten on its journey to becoming a truly global company. Englishnization has exponentially expanded our pool of potential hires and enabled us to recruit and promote talented people from all over the world, supporting our business development on the global stage. In addition, the sharing of ideas and information among employees from different countries and regions has become smoother, enabling us to run our businesses with a sense of shared purpose, beyond geographies and language barriers. It has made gathering information easier and more effective, thus allowing us to quickly grasp the latest technologies and overseas trends.
Englishnization has contributed not only to deeper internal communication, but also to improving the skills of our employees, and to strengthening exchanges with world-class engineers and businesspeople outside the company.

Accelerating Innovation: Rakuten Mobile

In December 2017, Rakuten announced its entrance into the Mobile Network Operator business. Many saw it as a reckless challenge to build a network with a limited preparation period of only around two years before the service launch. However, we successfully completed the full-scale commercial for 4G service in April 2020 by building an unprecedented, innovative, fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network, and quickly installing base stations across Japan.

We believe that doing something nobody thought possible is the definition of innovation, and Rakuten Mobile’s innovation was notably made possible by Englishnization. Unlike other Japanese network operators, English is our official language, and so we were able to hire diverse talented employees from around the world, and to work as one team towards a shared goal. Today, Rakuten Mobile has employees from over 50 countries and regions, who continue taking on unprecedented challenges together.

Shared values and mutual understanding

Having English as a common language has facilitated communication among our employees with a wide variety of backgrounds. However, to be able to truly leverage Rakuten’s diversity, it is also essential for our employees to deepen their mutual understanding, while sharing the set of common values at the core of our corporate culture. Rakuten provides a variety of opportunities for them to do so, fostering the “One Team” spirit essential to our success.
For example, our Rakuten Shugi Workshops help all employees to fully understand Rakuten Shugi and how to embody its principles in their daily work.
Rakuten also places great focus on developing leaders who have the mindset and ability to effectively lead team members with diverse backgrounds, nationalities, skills and needs. In our cross-cultural management training, these future leaders learn practical frameworks for developing diverse teams, learning from Rakuten-specific case studies.

Respecting and Supporting a Diverse Workforce

Rakuten's diversity is supported by internal systems and work environments that enable every employee to work in the way that suits them best.

Nationality and ethnicity

Internal systems and work environments

Since Englishnization was implemented, the proportion of non-Japanese employees has grown significantly. Rakuten Group currently has employees from over 100 countries and regions. Our office is an open workplace where diverse people and ideas thrive.
In addition, Rakuten has realized its vision of working environments that allow employees around the world to share ideas as if they are under the same roof, regardless of the time or place, through an advanced video conference system. The in-house cafeterias at our Tokyo headquarters, Rakuten Crimson House, offer a wide range of meals free of charge to accommodate employees with different cultural, religious and dietary needs.

Employee networks

Employee networks at Rakuten are groups of employees based on shared characteristics, interests and life experiences.
The Cross-Cultural Network aims to facilitate culturally diverse communication within the company and promote cross-cultural understanding through discussions about everyday issues, workshops by external speakers and study sessions. Employees have learned about different communication styles including the Japanese concepts of honne (one’s true thoughts and feelings) and tatemae (what is actually being said). While travel has slowed significantly during the pandemic, employees have been able to experience different cultures overseas by participating in Network-led virtual tours.

Employee nationality ratio

Number of employee nationalities

Total Number of Employees by Region

  • Data boundaries:
    • Employee nationality ratio: Rakuten Group, Inc.
    • Number of employee nationalities and total number of employees by region: Rakuten Group
  • Data as of December 31, 2021

Gender

Support for women

In order to support the women who work for Rakuten, who are often more likely to have their career paths affected by life-stage changes, we offer career sessions, distribute regular email updates, hold a range of seminars (e.g. offering support before maternity leave and before returning to work), and distribute a newsletter for employees currently on childcare leave.
We also have a Mothers' Room in Rakuten Crimson House to support employees returning to work after maternity leave. The number of employees taking maternity leave at Rakuten has been increasing each year, with about a third of them returning to work within 8 months of giving birth. This is a big step for many mothers, as they are not only returning to full-time work, but they are also often still nursing their babies. The Mother's Room is designed to provide a comfortable and private space with chairs, tables and curtains. There is also a freezer where mothers can store milk to take home at the end of the day.

Support for employees with children

In-house childcare center

To support the balance between work and parenting, Rakuten provides Golden Kids, an in-house childcare center for the children of employees. In addition to allowing employees to leave their children with peace of mind, Golden Kids provides a unique educational curriculum that makes the most of Rakuten's unique identity. We place great importance on “Educare,” the combination of education and care.

Flexible work style

Rakuten offers a flexible work system, including various flextime and reduced working hours, that allows employees to adjust their working hours to suit their needs, as well as work from home arrangements for employees to work remotely during pregnancy, childcare, nursing care and periods of injury or illness.

Employee networks

The Family Empowerment Network connects employees under the theme of family, taking a proactive role in providing support for employees’ work and family life through collaboration with human resources and other departments. For example, the network conducts return-to-work seminars, guest talks and introductions of fellow working parents.

Support for LGBTQ employees

Internal systems and work environments

In 2016, Rakuten revised its definition of spouse under the internal employment regulations to include same-sex partners*1 in addition to spouses recognized by a marriage certificate under Japanese law. As a result, the benefits Rakuten offers are also extended to those with a same-sex partner.
We support LGBTQ*2employees with tangible and intangible approaches, such as the installation of multi-purpose restrooms available regardless of gender, and the introduction of content that helps deepen the understanding of the LGBTQ community, included in training for all employees.

Employee networks

The LGBT+ Network that connects LGBTQ employees and their allies*3 provides information and support systems. To realize safe and supportive work environments for everyone, the network has set up information desks where employees can receive information about LGBTQ-friendly services, related internal systems, and other forms of support, in addition to seminars to raise awareness of the issues faced by the LGBTQ community.

  1. 1 Same-sex partner: Refers to partners whose legally registered sex (on their family registry or identification card) is the same as the employee.
  2. 2 LGBTQ: General term for sexual minorities, and abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer. This is not, however, limited to just these five groups, but is used more broadly to refer to a diverse spectrum of orientation and identity.
  3. 3 Allies (singular, ally): Refers to those who openly support rights and protections for LGBTQ and other sexual minorities.

Employee gender ratio

Manager gender ratio

  • Data boundaries: Rakuten Group, Inc.
  • Data as of December 31, 2021

Employees with disabilities

Rakuten’s subsidiary, Rakuten Socio Business, Inc., was founded to provide a lively and welcoming working environment for people with disabilities. Rakuten Socio Business conducts a variety of essential tasks for Rakuten as an internet company, including data maintenance, operational improvements and website maintenance. At the same time, it also contributes to many other aspects of daily life at Rakuten, including cultivating vegetables at an indoor farm that supplies the in-house cafeteria. The employment rate of people with disabilities has exceeded the legally required disability employment rate since 2015.

Please see here (page in Japanese) for details.

Ratio of employees with disabilities

  • Data boundaries: Rakuten Group
  • Data as of December 31, 2021

Religion

The diversity of our employees has been increasing every year, and therefore the number of cultures and religions represented at Rakuten has also been increasing.

To support our Islamic employees, we offer halal-compliant meals at the in-house cafeterias. Prayer rooms are available for all employees regardless of religion, as well as a foot washing station for cleansing before praying.

Age

Rakuten believes that the experience and knowledge of elderly employees are valuable assets. We have a re-employment system to provide opportunities for employees who wish to work even after compulsory retirement.

Employee age ratio

  • Data boundaries: Rakuten Group, Inc.
  • Data as of December 31, 2021

Diversity Awards

  • In January 2023, the ESG performance of Rakuten received the rating of "AA" from MSCI, placing the company among the "Leaders" category. Rakuten has also been listed* as a component of major MSCI ESG indices, including the MSCI ESG Leaders Index and the MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index (WIN), which lists Japanese companies that exhibit a commitment towards promoting and maintaining high level of gender diversity among their workforce.
    1. The inclusion of Rakuten in any MSCI index, and the use of MSCI logos, trademarks, service marks or index names herein, do not constitute a sponsorship, endorsement or promotion of Rakuten by MSCI or any of its affiliates. The MSCI indexes are the exclusive property of MSCI. MSCI and the MSCI index names and logos are trademarks or service marks of MSCI or its affiliates.
  • work with Pride
    In 2022 and for the seventh consecutive year, Rakuten achieved Gold Level in the work with PRIDE INDEX, an organization that promotes LGBT diversity-management initiatives in Japan.

Diversity Data

External Assurance

A selection of the social data indicated on this page has been verified by a third party.