Hi everyone, this is Marina (@suzumari) from the PR Team! Earlier this month, 50 new graduates joined Mercari. More than 40 of these new graduates came from overseas, and the atmosphere within the company has become very lively.

Mercari’s employees don’t just come from Japan—we have members from a variety of nationalities and backgrounds. Of course, as the number of employees increases, points of view within the company become more diverse. One challenge that stems from this is mutual understanding; it would be very unfortunate for employees to have a disagreement over a small misunderstanding. So how do we go about creating an environment where people from various backgrounds can all work happily? I’m one of the core members of the team formed to address this challenge, the Diversity & Inclusion Team (D&I Team). Today I would like to introduce this team and what we do.

VP of People & Culture Shunsuke Karasawa introducing the D&I Team at the recent new employee orientation

The D&I Team began as a club launched by employees knowledgeable about diversity and employees representing different minorities. We started off by sending out surveys and holding seminars on a volunteer basis, and this August we were recognized by the company as an official project.

People all have different sets of values regarding gender, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. The D&I Team’s goal is to work toward the inclusion of diverse employees in order to create an environment where everyone can exemplify Mercari’s values: Go Bold, Be Professional, and All for One. The D&I Team itself has members from diverse backgrounds; of our eight members, about half are international. Not only do we believe in different religions, we also have members of different sexualities, as well as transgender members whose gender identity is different from their assigned sex.

D&I Team meeting from our volunteer days

Below are the D&I Team’s four main activities.

1. Understanding our employees: Understanding the diversity among employees through surveys
2. Increasing representation of minority groups: Creating a friendly work environment where no one faces discrimination because of their nationality, gender, status as a sexual minority, religion, etc.
3. Raising awareness (and increasing knowledge): Sharing information and holding seminars to increase knowledge and understanding of D&I
4. Impacting society: Sharing knowledge outside the company and creating an impact on society

Examples of D&I’s activities

The members of the D&I Team meet every week to identify issues and talk about ways they can be improved. Below is the team mission that the members came up with together.

D&I Team Mission
Increase representation of diverse groups and ensure that everyone, regardless of background, can thrive at Mercari.

Recently we conducted an internal survey to identify what problems our employees are facing, and we have held workshops on halal (objects and foods that are recognized as permissible in the teachings of Islam) and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) topics. In fact, after an opinion was raised during an information session with an LGBTQ advisor, we modified the gender choices on the Mercari app to add “no response” as an alternative option to “male” and “female.”

The D&I Team will continue working to create an environment that respects all kinds of diversity and inclusion. We’ll keep you updated with our new activities on Mercan.

See you again for more articles about #メルカリな日々!