Employee wellbeing and human sustainability: Perspectives of managers in large Japanese corporations

Employee wellbeing and human sustainability have become increasingly acute issues within Japanese businesses. However, large corporations find it difficult to improve employee wellbeing and human sustainability in areas such as work-life balance, flexibility and gender diversity. To investigate the nature of conflicts, we conducted in-depth interviews with 12 managers with corporate social responsibility in eight large Japanese corporations and industries. From the thematic analysis, we identify the nature of conflicts that arise when promoting employee wellbeing: resources, family, stakeholder and partners; meritocracy as opposed to gender equality; indirect discrimination due to uneven care responsibilities; and external pressures on work hours. Additionally, personal and corporate growth was identified as a potential area of synergy. Our findings suggest that while Japanese corporations are unwilling to address these internal and external conflicts, employee wellbeing and human sustainability remain an aspiration.