Materiality

Materiality

 Under our group philosophy of "... planning the Future: developing people and creating the future," we see the continuation of our business itself as a step toward a sustainable society. We are actively engaged in the fields of childcare, staffing, and nursing care.
 After reflecting on our approach and discussing what sustainability means to us, we’ve identified and prioritized the following key material issues:

Key Issue I

Promoting women's participation in the workforce and eliminating the childcare waiting list

Key Issue II

Addressing the needs of an aging society and preventing people from leaving their jobs due to caregiving responsibilities

Key Issue III

Creating jobs and increasing the working population

Key Issue IV

Protecting the global environment for future generations

Our Contribution to the SDGs

Child-rearing support, comprehensive human resources, and nursing care in common

  • At LIKE Group, 78.8% of the regular employees are women, and 74.7% of our management positions are held by women (as of the end of May 2024). Also, 25.0% of the executives are women, and 25.9% of the board of directors at LIKE Inc. are women.
  • We are working toward switching 100% of the electricity used in our business operations to renewable energy by 2050.
  • Adapting the diversity of lifestyles and the way of working, we promote realizing a company which each person can work in their own way. Regardless of working days, working hours and employment system.
  • There are many people working as regular employees in our company, regardless of their generation, nationality, background. As of the end of May 2024, there are around 370 foreign regular employees from 35 countries, including dispatch workers.
  • Our group expanded their business not only by M&A business alliance, but partnerships between clients and advanced the diversity. We will keep on working to achieve the target of the whole society by sharing our group's track record.

Childcare

  • We supply child-rearing support services for over 11,000 children through public facilities like licensed nurseries and after-school clubs operated by local governments, as well as outsourced childcare at hospitals and companies.
  • We aim for developing a place where people can raise their child, and work with no worries by cooperating with the county, local governments, companies. We solve problems such as children on waiting lists for nurseries and after-school clubs, and parents struggling with childcare.

Human resources

  • Since our business started from 1998, we made effort for job seekers. We gave necessary training courses for each job seeker, despite of their social experience, business experience, age or academic background. To support them for their first step as a member of society by “working”, we enable them to find their own goals.
  • Today, we are expanding our business, and supplying knowledges and know-how’s for all the job seekers to be able to work in the frontline despite their generation, nationality, and experiences. By doing so, we create employments, and solve the decline of working-age population.

Nursing care

  • We run a fee-based nursing home for the elderly with 24h resident nurses, and also able to be present at each elderly’s death. This enables us to supply nursing services for almost 1,400 residents.
  • We aim not only to help prevent people from leaving their jobs to care for family members, but also realizing urban development where all the residents, their family and the care worker can solve their problems and work without any concerns. We will keep close to the region, and cooperate with the country and local government.

Identifying Our Material Issues

 In identifying our material issues, the division in charge of sustainability referred to international guidelines such as the GRI Standards and ISO 26000, while drawing from our group’s philosophy: "... planning the Future: developing people and creating the future."

 We evaluated each issue based on two factors: its importance to our stakeholders, and its relevance to our business. We also gathered external perspectives to ensure objectivity, and selected the issues most closely aligned with our business model and environment.

 Going forward, we will continue leveraging our strengths and working with external partners to tackle social challenges. We are committed to doing our part to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015.