Kao Receives the Best Human-Resources Prize
at the Nikkei Smart Work Awards 2025

Nikkei Inc. conducts the Nikkei Sustainable Comprehensive Survey, Smart Work Management Edition, among listed companies and leading non-listed companies. 830 companies, of which 774 were listed entities, responded to the survey. After reviewing survey findings, external judges assessed respondents based on a comprehensive evaluation of their human capital utilization measures, investment capacity into human resources, technology utilization and other factors, selecting excellent companies leading the next generation.

Kao obtained a score of 4.5 stars (deviation value: 65–69) because of its low male-female wage differential and high ratio of women among regular employees and workers hired, which earned it high marks in the ‘promotion of diversity’ category. Kao is very progressive in that it places no limits on employees having side-jobs, which also supports diversity. The company also has an excellent record of disclosing comprehensive parameters regarding human resources, and adopts a coordinated management and human resources strategy for which it sets KPIs.

Women’s empowerment, for which Kao was positively evaluated, is grounded in the company’s diversity policy, which affects the largest number of employees and emphasizes “creating a workplace environment and fostering a corporate culture where everyone can move beyond assumptions about gender roles and leadership and which enables them to fully demonstrate their individual motivation and abilities and be themselves regardless of their gender.” This policy is implemented throughout the Kao Group companies within Japan, based on the principles of “developing potential future leaders,” “offering support for balancing work and childcare to promote engagement” and “creating an environment enabling unbiased training and promotion opportunities.” Specific measures that are being implemented throughout Japan are as follows:

1. Development of potential future leaders
Women leaders’ online panel discussion
Directed at Kao women employees, this panel discussion introduces a range of female leaders at Kao, giving examples of career formation, presenting leader profiles and communicating the fulfillment that can be gained from being a leader, to stimulate women’s awareness of career building.

2. Support for balancing work and childcare to promote engagement

3. Creation of an environment enabling unbiased training and promotion opportunities
This is a mandatory e-learning course held at regular intervals so that all employees can learn about psychological safety and unconscious bias.

At Kao Corporation, these measures have contributed to an 88.9% disparity in male-female pay (Kao Annual Securities Report for the year ended December 31, 2023) and a female employee employment ratio of 30.0% (Kao Sustainability Report 2024). Additionally, mandatory parental leave (10 days paid leave), which must be taken by the final day of the month of April that follows the employee’s child turning one year of age, was introduced, resulting in a 100% take-up rate among eligible male employees.

Over the past 130 years, Kao has worked to improve people’s lives and help them realize more sustainable lifestyles—a Kirei Lifestyle. The Japanese word “kirei” describes something that is clean, well-ordered, and beautiful all at once. For Kao, this concept of “kirei” not only describes appearance but also attitude—a desire to create beauty for oneself, for other people, and for the natural world around us. Aiming to realize a more sustainable way of living, in April 2019, the Kao Group established its ESG strategy known as the Kirei Lifestyle Plan. By 2030, Kao aims to empower at least 1 billion people, to enjoy more beautiful lives. Kao also strives to have 100% of its products leave a full lifecycle environmental footprint that science says our natural world can safely absorb.
Please visit the Kao sustainability website for more information.

Kao, a Japan-based manufacturer of personal care and household products, cosmetics, and specialty chemicals creates high-value-added products and services that provide care and enrichment for the life of all people and the planet. Through its brands such as Attack laundry detergent, Bioré and Jergens skin care products, Laurier sanitary products, Curél, SENSAI, and MOLTON BROWN cosmetics, and Oribe hair care products, Kao is part of the everyday lives of people across Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Combined with its chemical business, which contributes to a wide range of industries, Kao generates about 1,630 billion yen in annual sales. Kao employs about 32,600 people worldwide and has more than 130 years of history in innovation. As an enterprise that provides products people use on a daily basis, the Kao Group takes responsibility to actively reduce the environmental footprint of its products throughout the product lifecycle. This is laid out in Kao’s ESG strategy, the Kirei Lifestyle Plan, which launched in 2019.
Please visit the Kao Group website for additional information.