For working women, happiness may mean doing a fun job and spending blissful time with their children. In recent years, some have said that working and raising children alone is not enough. As globalization progresses, we are entering an era that we must also compete with women from other countries. French career women seem to enjoy two things at the same time: time to concentrate on work and time to spend blissful time with their children. French career women outsource housework and childcare as much as possible. It seems that many female managers in Japan are doing their best to balance housework and childcare. On the other hand, there is also research that shows that happiness levels decrease in Japan when you become a manager.
Sekisui House conducted a “happiness” survey of all employees in 2023. This survey was conducted under the supervision of Professor Takashi Maeno of Keio University, who is also a leading expert in happiness studies in Japan. From November 6th to 27th, 2023, we received responses from 23,117 people, including those from group-related companies. The content of this survey was different from the common sense of general Japanese companies in a good way. In the “happiness” survey, the scores of female managers exceeded those of male managers, male general employees, and female general employees. The results showed that female managers had the highest “happiness” in the workplace. In Japanese companies with a large gender gap, interest was focused on corporate management in which women have an advantage.
Sekisui House will have 158 female managers in fiscal 2023. A female manager in the design planning group talks about her job satisfaction. She says that she has more opportunities to say “thank you.” She is happy when she entrusts her subordinates with work and the results are better than expected. Her male subordinates, who are often thanked by her, also feel rewarded. It is said that happiness spreads the circle of happiness. Indeed, a virtuous cycle of “happiness” seems to be occurring in this workplace. Of course, as a manager, she is attentive to supporting her subordinates. If she leaves a subordinate in trouble, the situation will only get worse. She meets with new employees once a week and does not miss out on detailed communication. The woman who became a manager said that before she was appointed, she “thought it would be difficult” when the workload increased. However, once she became a manager, she commented, “I never expected to feel so happy.”
