BellSystem24 has acquired a patent related to Call Center Virtualization, a next-generation workstyle solution leveraging mixed reality (MR) technology.

In the nonprofit organization J-Win's 2021 J-Win Diversity Awards sponsored by the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Noriyuki Hayata, a senior managing executive officer of the Company became the first in the call center industry to receive the individual Leader Award. The goal of the awards is to commend people promoting Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), in particular, individuals who break through gridlock, bring new perspectives with a spirit of taking on challenges and the ability to execute, and contribute remarkably to the promotion of the successful careers of women. Hayata has promoted personnel system reforms to create people-friendly workplace (community) where diverse employees are able to enjoy working in a safe and supportive environment, one of the Company's principles of conduct since he was appointed to be an executive in charge of personnel affairs management in 2017. He reformed the personnel system to improve the working conditions of contract employees, encouraged male employees to take childcare leave, created a culture of bottom-up promotion by forming the cross-functional D&I Project, and made contract employees regular employees. The selection board noted his passion and ability to execute which has resulting in a variety of initiatives and results.

BellSystem24 received the gold ranking from Work with Pride, a volunteer organization promoting and improving diversity management which impacts sexual minorities including LGBTQ individuals (hereafter "LGBTQ") on November 11, 2020. The gold ranking is the highest ranking in the PRIDE Index, which is an indicator evaluating LGBTQ initiatives in businesses and organizations' workplaces. BellSystem24 received the Gold ranking in the previous year, making this the second consecutive year.

The PRIDE Index has five evaluation indexes: "Policy," "Representation," "Inspiration," "Development," and "Engagement/Empowerment." We received high ratings in all evaluation items because of our personnel labor management rules and advocacy activities in consideration of our employees that have same-sex partners or are in common-law marriages.

CTC First Contact, a BELLSYSTEM24 HD group company, (below referred to as "CTCFC") was certified at the highest level in the Eruboshi system. In the system, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare certifies businesses that excel in the promotion of the successful careers of women under the Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace. CTCFC will revise its personnel affairs system, formulate a training policy for manager candidates, and establish a follow-up system that enables employees to return to their job after childcare leave to increase the percentage of managers that are women to 35% by 2025.

BellSystem24 won the 2020 J-Win Diversity Awards Basic Achievement Award (hereafter "the award"), the highest award in the Basic category. The awards are organized by Japan Women's Innovative Network (hereafter "J-Win") and sponsored by the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and BellSystem24 is the first in the call center industry to receive the award. We have set "Creating people-friendly workplace (community) where diverse employees are able to enjoy working in a safe and supportive environment" as a part of our corporate vision. The award was given to us to recognize top management's efforts to promote D&I by positioning it at the core of BellSystem24's corporate vision, its forms of employment (including regular and contract employees) through which more than 30,000 employees across Japan from diverse backgrounds have been hired, its implementation of personnel system reform to accommodate gender diversity, its continuous development of a system for the appointment of female managers, and other initiatives.

In 2019, BellSystem24 became the first company in the call center industry to receive the PRIDE Index's top honor, the gold award. The PRIDE Index is an index established by Work with Pride, a volunteer organization supporting the establishment and promotion of diversity management for LGBT employees and other sexual minorities (hereafter "LGBT"). It assesses companies and other organizations' efforts regarding LGBT issues. In 2018 BellSystem24 received the PRIDE Index bronze award, and since then we have carried out LGBT initiatives, for instance, revising rules for the personnel system to include employees that have same-sex partners or are in common-law marriages and participating in job fairs with the involvement of LGBT-friendly companies.

BellSystem24, Inc. (Representative Director, President, CEO: Tsuge Ichiro; headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; hereafter "BellSystem24") received the Recruitment Excellence Award at the 8th Japan Challenge Awards sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Toyo Keizai Inc., Business Publishing, Inc., and ProFuture Inc. BellSystem24 is the first in the call center industry to do so. The goal of the Japan Challenge Awards is to commend businesses that proactively carry out novel and excellent HR initiatives under its catchphrase, "Bold efforts in the field of human resources will energize Japanese society." SUDAchi, an employment support program that provides education about work, corporate culture, and other matters for contract employees before they are assigned," was praised for its progressive approach towards the creation of an environment that enables employees to stably work long-term and address the labor shortage.

The Japan HR Challenge Awards Recruitment Excellence Award logomark

We will continue to improve the working environment, as "supporting the enrichment of society through innovation and communication" is our corporate vision to "create a people-friendly workplace (community) where diverse employees are able to enjoy working in a safe and supportive environment" as a company with approximately 30,000 employees.

BellSystem24 was selected in FY2018 for Nadeshiko Brand certification, which is jointly organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange and certifies the companies that proactively promote successful careers of their female workers. BellSystem24 is the first in the call center industry to do so.

The Nadeshiko Brand certification began in fiscal 2012 for the promotion and acceleration of the successful careers of female workers, which the Japanese government positions at the center of its growth strategy. Companies with the proactive initiatives for the success of women are selected as attractive stocks.

BellSystem24 has carried out the measures to support work-life balance of employees who raise children/nurse family members and realize flexible work styles, having commenced D&I Project across the company in 2011. BellSystem24 has supported proactive development of female personnel, reviewed the personnel system, and promoted work styles free from time and place through full flextime and teleworking systems to increase the female manager ratio and materialize more successful career of female employees. That is why our stock was certified as Nadeshiko Brand.

BellSystem24 received the bronze award in the PRIDE Index from the volunteer organization Work with Pride (hereafter "WwP"). The PRIDE Index established in 2016 by WwP is the first index in Japan evaluating businesses and organizations' workplace initiatives supporting LGBT and other sexual minorities (hereafter "LGBT").

BellSystem24 has made efforts to establish an environment that enables LGBT individuals to continue working for us without worries. For instance, we introduced an e-learning program in fiscal 2018 that we encouraged all employees to take to enable employees to understand the basics of LGBT issues. We directly train the employees in charge of personnel affairs at the Contact Centers to increase their understanding.

Kagawa Prefecture certified BellSystem24 for registration to the list of the companies declaring Kagawa Women Kirasapo because of our employee consciousness reform.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare awarded BellSystem24 Kurumin certification in November 2009 as a company supporting the work-life balances of employees raising children. We initiated the project to promote diversity in 2012 and established the Diversity Promotion Office in 2016. In April 2018, the ministry presented us with the highest level Eruboshi certification as a company excelling in the promotion of the successful careers of female workers. In July 2018, Development Bank of Japan Inc. financed BellSystem24 based on its DBJ health management ranking, a first for the call center industry. We are proactively working to ensure our working environment is easy to work in.

We are striving to establish a working environment that enables women and other employees to work with security for the long-term.

BellSystem24 was certified as a company supporting a healthy work-life balance in Hiroshima. Hiroshima Prefecture has a system for the registration and certification of businesses that support employees who are balancing work and their family lives.

Through this system, the prefectural government certifies the businesses that have offices within the prefecture and support their employees to balance work with their families and caring for children or other family members within communities under the strong leadership of top management.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare awarded BellSystem24 Kurumin certification in November 2009 as a company supporting the work-life balances of employees raising children. We initiated the project to promote diversity in 2012 and established the Diversity Promotion Office in 2016. In April 2018, the ministry presented us with the highest level Eruboshi certification as a company excelling in the promotion of the successful careers of female workers. We are working to establish a working environment that enables women and other employees to work with security for the long-term.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare presented BellSystem24 with the highest level Eruboshi certification for the promotion of the successful careers of female employees under the Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace.

In the Eruboshi system, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare certifies businesses that exhibit excellence in the implementation of prepared and submitted action plans under the Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace. Applicant companies are reviewed for certification focusing on five areas: 1) recruitment, 2) continued employment, 3) work styles including working hours, 4) percentage of people in managerial positions from specific groups, and 5) diverse career courses. Certified companies are assessed and classified on a three-class scale. Having satisfied all of the criteria, we were classified in Grade 3, the highest grade.

Having initiated a project to promote diversity in 2012 and established the Diversity Promotion Office in 2016, we have sought to establish a working environment that enables women and other employees to work with security for the long-term. We are creating a corporate culture that supports the successful careers of women. We opened our first in-house day care in Toyosaki, Okinawa in April 2017 to support employees returning to work after childcare leave and we reviewed our mobile work system in May of the same year to enable employees to balance work and their families free from restriction on time or place while caring for children and other family members. To train female managers, we initiated 202020, a project to increase the percentage of employees in managerial positions that are women to 20% by 2020, in 2016.

Pocke Inc., a BellSystem24 group company, received the Good Work-life Balance Award, a special prize awarded at the 4th White Company Way Awards on January 22, 2018. 　White companies are companies that places importance on employees' well-being, the significance of work, and social contribution.

Pocke is an IT company providing an array of content that aids or amuses users, such as fortune telling services and Zutool. Because Pocke is an IT company it has automated routine work and increased the efficiency of its operations. As a result, the average monthly overtime of its 85 employees is 5 hours, and they take 86.6％ of their paid leave. These are reasons why the company won the award. Another reason is that Pocke is expected to be a model employer enabling new and enjoyable work styles in the IT industry. Ten employees are balancing childcare with work, and no one has left the company in the last four years.