Sony Group’s Valuable 500 Commitment:
Under the Purpose to “fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology,” Sony Group conducts a wide range of businesses, encompassing entertainment, electronics and direct to consumer services.
People are the key to Sony’s continued success. In delivering a workplace where every single employee can feel valued and respected, and fostering a corporate culture that respects the diversity in society, Sony hopes to be a place in which people of all backgrounds can flourish, resulting in new and exciting innovations and value creation for our company and society at large.
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”Diversity” as one of the Values
It is in Sony’s DNA – and a source of our innovation – to value different perspectives and backgrounds as we conduct our business activities globally and rise to new challenges.
In addition to the Purpose, there are four Values which Sony employees cherish in the everyday work. One of them is “Diversity: Pursue the creation of the very best by harnessing diversity and varying viewpoints.”
With this Value in mind, Sony promotes diversity across the group as a key management strategy by ensuring an inclusive work environment and by recruiting, hiring, training and promoting employees from diverse backgrounds.
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Accessibility and Usability
Accessibility and usability are essential aspects of quality at Sony. Sony aims to create products and services that people can use with ease—independent of age and disabilities.
Ongoing work includes:
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Conducting worldwide user research including home visits and user interviews in order to develop products and services that meet users’ essential needs.
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Representatives of product and service designers across the Sony Group meet to formulate UI design standards for interactions, use of words and icons on devices and screens, etc.
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Holds forums and seminars led by experts to increase employee understanding of human-centered design and accessibility.
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Employment of people with disabilities
Sony supports people with disabilities to play an active role in society. Masaru Ibuka, One of Sony’s Founders, once said that “One should hold the belief that persons with disabilities should be treated under the same standards without requiring any special privileges, and still be expected to accomplish work of even better quality than able-bodied persons.” We continue to carry this philosophy and are striving towards the employment for people with disabilities that helps them feel truly valued, and that gives a sense of inclusion by taking the focus away from the disability.
Ongoing work includes:
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Supports individuals with disabilities in compliance with the laws, regulations, and rules of the countries and regions in which it operates.
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Endeavoring to create inclusive working environments that enable employees to build successful careers regardless of any disabilities they may have.
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Holding inclusion workshops aimed at providing opportunities for elementary and junior high school students with and without disabilities to experience together the fun of science firsthand.
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Leveraging the experience of over 40 years in working together with people with disabilities through Sony Taiyo Corporation and Sony Kibo/Hikari Corporation in Japan, which provides working environment for people with disabilities. The knowledge is now being introduced to other Japan offices, factories in China, Thailand and Malaysia to enhance the recruitment of people with disabilities.
Sony actively promotes and respects diversity, in areas such as ethnicity and nationality, religion and beliefs, disabilities, gender, age, birthplace, sexual orientation and values, and work styles. We will continue to drive these initiatives globally. To learn more, please visit us at https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/diversity/.
I want the world to be inclusive. I believe fostering diverse human resources, inclusive of people with disabilities, will lead us to contribute to a healthy and sustainable society in the long run.
CEO, SONY Group
Sony is proud to be a Valuable 500 Iconic Leader company, and is currently working with the Valuable 500 team to co-create an inclusive Media Hub, one of the Iconic Solutions.
Discover more about the Media Hub.
