Breaking Down Job Market Bias & Barriers to Help 30M Job Seekers Get
Hired
Commitment to Society
Help 30 million people facing barriers in the labor market
around the world get hired ― barriers such as education,
criminal records, disability, military experiences and
others*2
The only requirement to be hired for a job should be that you have
the skills and abilities necessary to perform it. However, bias and
barriers in hiring can make it harder for many job seekers to find,
get, and keep a job.
At Recruit Group, we are committed to breaking down these biases and
barriers by advancing our platforms, partnerships, and our own
efforts at our organization. By increasing access to quality
opportunities, we strive to make a positive, equitable, and
sustainable social impact by connecting people to better work to
create better lives.
To make progress toward this goal, since FY2021, we have focused on
working to reduce five barriers: education, criminal records,*3
disability, prior military service experience,*4 and lack
of access to essential technology and transportation necessary when
it comes to securing a job.*5 In FY2023, as geopolitical
tensions increased globally and significantly impacted society, we
added a sixth barrier: refugee*6 backgrounds. Moving
forward, based on the efforts made by our Strategic Business Units
(SBUs), we are working to support the employment of refugee job
seekers in collaboration with international humanitarian
organizations.
Initiatives for Job Seekers with Refugee Backgrounds
Recruit Group has been actively supporting the employment of
refugees, primarily through our business operations in Europe. Since
2022, we have deepened our collaboration with international
humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Tent Partnership for
Refugees (TENT), expanding our support to people who have fled
conflicts from around the world, including Ukraine.
HR Technology SBU
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Indeed established a
working group across the company aimed at supporting Ukrainian
refugees. They initiated a program based on four pillars: support
for job seekers, support for employers, support for refugee aid
organizations, and support by Indeed employees. For example, to
ensure there were no communication barriers, Indeed launched a
Ukrainian language version of the website.
Indeed also deepened its collaboration with international
humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR and TENT, focusing on
gathering information about the situation of refugees. Consequently,
in December 2022, a job fair was held in Poland, spearheaded by
Indeed’s European team members in partnership with international
bodies such as UNHCR and the International Organization for
Migration (IOM). This initiative contributed to rebuilding the lives
of Ukrainian refugees by assisting them in finding jobs in their
host countries. Subsequently, throughout 2023, five more job fairs
were organized across Europe for refugees of all backgrounds. Across
the 2022 and 2023 job fairs, there were approximately 700
offers/hires made (figure based on measurable data).
Data measured through surveys of event participants and employers.
Refugees often face significant barriers to employment. Meanwhile,
in recent years, many European countries have experienced a
significant labor shortage. Over the past few years, our European
Staffing SBU subsidiaries have been leveraging their expertise in
migrant support to assist refugees in finding employment. We have
helped many refugees from countries including Afghanistan, Eritrea,
Somalia, Turkey, Iraq, and Ukraine, integrate into the local labor
market as staffing personnel.
For example, at RGF Staffing Germany, an international recruitment
team has been established to advocate for the employment of refugees
to corporate clients while providing various employment and job
retention support for refugee job seekers and workers. This includes
job referrals, interpreting and translation tools during interviews,
assistance with administrative procedures and tax documents, and
arranging housing. As a result, particularly in supporting Ukrainian
refugees, we have facilitated employment for 325 people as of April
2024.
Moving forward, we aim to enhance our activities to provide
long-term support for refugees, working in collaboration with
corporate clients to enable more flexible working arrangements
tailored to each refugee's circumstances.
Veterans who are looking for a new opportunity or transitioning from
service to civilian life; they may have difficulty matching their
skills and experience to the job market.
While our challenge is just beginning, we are proud to have been
able to help 6.9 million job seekers facing barriers get hired*9
through the end of FY2023. We will continue to respond to the
growing needs of employers for Inclusive and skills-first hiring*10
by further improving our platforms.
Other Initiatives at Group Companies
Matching & Solutions SBU: Initiatives at Recruit
Recruit of Matching & Solutions SBU, which operates mainly in Japan,
is providing "WORK FIT", an employment support and career education
program for justice-impacted people such as those in prisons and
juvenile detention centers, and starting in 2023, to those at
probation offices. The program has been offered at schools and local
employment support organizations since 2011. To solve the issue of
recidivism among the justice-impacted, Recruit is conducting a
program where self-reflection and preparation for a new life in
society are encouraged.
Staffing SBU has launched a global social program that supports
underserved people with education, training, and employment
opportunities called“RGF Connect”.
Florida, where one of our Staffing SBU group companies, CSI
Companies, is located, is a case in point. The state has a large
population of racial and ethnic minorities and, like many other
states in the U.S., struggles with ongoing disparities in education
and job opportunities. Against the backdrop of these disparities,
CSI Companies is working to provide job opportunities and career
development support in the tech industry for college and high school
students in the region who are relatively disadvantaged from a
hiring perspective. By April 2024, 60 interns completed the CSI
Connect Internship Program. The company plans to grow the program by
investing in the local High School Technology Magnet, exposing
students to tech, encouraging them to choose IT majors in college,
and then offering them college internships.
On this webpage, the number of years stated are reflective of the
number of Recruit Holdings fiscal years, which begin on April 1,
each year and end March 31, of the following year. All figures
displayed here are approximate.
The initiative as of today includes providing assistance through
the company's online job platform, and through partnerships with
NPOs and other organizations with whom the company collaborates.
The company may also aim to reduce other various barriers,
including newly emerging issues in the labor market by FY2030.
In the United States, approximately 79 million people out of 330
million US population have a criminal record of some sort (source:
Prison Policy Initiative, 2024), and the jobless rate of job
seekers with a criminal record is approximately five times higher
than the U.S. average (source: Prison Policy Initiative, 2022).
A U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study from 2016 found that
53% of veterans are unemployed for four months or longer after
leaving the military. We recognize that veterans who are looking
for a new opportunity or transitioning from military service to
civilian life may have difficulty matching their skills and
experience to the job market.
This indicates barriers that hinder job hunting, such as being
unable to connect to the Internet, a resultant lack of access to a
job platform, and/or lack of transportation to interviews and
work.
Refugee definition from the UNHCR: individuals who fled their own
country to escape conflict, violence, or persecution and have
sought safety in another country.
Source: Accenture, Grads of Life, Harvard Business School (2017),
“Dismissed by Degrees: How degree inflation is undermining U.S.
competitiveness and hurting America’s middle class.”
Source: Wendy Sawyer, Peter Wagner (2020), “Mass Incarceration:
The Whole Pie 2020”
Represents the number of hires made on Indeed reported from both
job seeker and employer sources through our Hired Signal
measurement, from May 1, 2021 - March 31, 2024, globally for job
seekers who faced at least one of the following barriers:
education, criminal record, military experience, disability or
lack of essentials such as a computer or internet access. Job
seekers with refugee backgrounds will be included in the count
from FY2024.
Inclusive hiring indicates a company’s efforts to realize improved
fairness in recruitment in order to achieve a workplace that
reflects the diversity of society, as well as ensuring all people
have access to economic opportunities. Skills-first hiring is a
method of selecting job candidates based on their skillset at an
early stage of the hiring process. Unlike the traditional
selection method, which first ‘screens out’ candidates based on
their academic background, skills-first hiring ‘screens in’
candidates first by evaluating their skills. The aim is to allow
employers to hire people with the right skills and abilities to
perform their jobs, all in a shorter period of time.
