Good afternoon. It is time for us to get started, so thank you for joining Recruit Holdings Mizuho Securities Update Day three, Prosper Together. I am going to be the emcee, Ayano Senaha, from IR and PR. First, our Director and CEO, Hisayuki Idekoba, will be talking about the third pillar of Recruit Management Strategy, Prosper Together, along with the five sustainability commitments that bring the strategy to life and provide visibility into our sustainability governance structure. Then, together with the external members of the Sustainability committee, Honda-san, Aaron-san, and Yves-san, they will share highlights from recent committee discussions, provide perspective on future challenges, and provide insight on the governance supporting this strategy. We will also answer questions from the participants right at the end. As to the Q&A session, we will be receiving your questions through this Google Forms.
At the same time, you'll be able to raise your hand on Zoom in asking questions later stage. Now, this session will be recorded. And also, the presentation material that will be rejected will be obtained from our website. Now, let's begin with Senaha's presentation. So I am Senaha, Ayano Senaha, Director of the Board and CEO of Recruit Holdings. Thank you for joining us today. So it is our first initiative to invite the external committee members of the sustainability committee to explain and also to discuss over the topic of sustainability efforts at Recruit. But before then, I would like to take this opportunity to explain in brief what we do in terms of our sustainability efforts before we enter into the panel discussion, the third pillar of our management strategy, Prosper Together, which is all about sustainable growth shared by all the stakeholders.
Recruit Holdings, from the time of the founding of the company back in 1960, we have been trying to address all the negative aspects of the society at large. From 2021, coinciding the launch of the new management as the matching leader in the space of HR, we wanted to display and also make leverage on the influence that we can cast over the society and connect that to the sustainable growth of ours as well, based on the pillar of Prosper Together. At the same time, we have announced the five sustainability commitments. As to the environment, in a short run, carbon neutrality is to be achieved. In long run, by 2030, inclusive of all the value chain, we have a set goal to achieve for carbon neutrality.
As to the social impact by FY 2030, we would like to, by far, shorten the time required to match the job seeker to the job. In other words, we want to halve the time required to get hired. So in other words, the matching is not going to be enhanced because there are numerous challenges that we cannot address by just enhancing the matching. So this is why, in the labor market, there are challenged job seekers that are facing barriers. So we would like to help 30 million job seekers facing barriers get hired by 2030. Another goal is that by FY 2030, all the board members and also senior management, as well as management and employees, we would like to increase 50% of the women occupying those roles in order to achieve gender parity.
Progress on these five goals for FY 2023 will be reported in May when we make an announcement for Q4 and fiscal year 2023 earnings result briefing. We'd like to share some of our sustainability governance structure. The sustainability committee has been established as one of the advisory bodies to the Board of Directors to discuss over the topic of various different sustainability challenges in light of social trends, in addition to discussing progress of the five ESG goals. As to the members of the sustainability committee, I am the chair of the committee.
We have Hisayuki Idekoba from the executive committee, CEO, and also chairman of the board, Minegishi-san, also CEOs of the management companies of the three shapes we use, and leaders in charge of promoting each sustainability goal, and in addition to the three external experts or the external members who will be joining us today. Now, as to the sustainability initiatives, we are gratified in expressing that we have now been recognized as the leading global companies in sustainability initiatives. We are happy that this perception is increasing. And also, this is really thanks to the professional advice that has been provided by the external committee members. And also, they question us, they challenge us. And thanks to their challenge and questions and also their feedbacks, we have been making such progress.
We would like to, of course, talk about what goes on at the committee level, what is the atmosphere like, and what do we discuss at the committee level so that we can reinforce our effort in achieving our goals of sustainability. And also, at the same time, we'd like, of course, to entertain your questions, right, at the end of this session. So from here onwards, I would like to introduce the three external committee members who are participating today and ask them each a brief question. So we'd like to start with Aaron.
He is the President CEO of BSR, a nonprofit organization established from sustainability in the global businesses. The BSR company is a nonprofit organization and has been providing consulting services in ESG-related matters. Since 2021, you have been on the sustainability committee. Regarding BSR as a company, there are about 300 members to BSR. BSR is providing consultation services to these members. In the global perspective, you are very well-versed in the roles related to ESG. I think you are one of the most knowledgeable persons in this area. There will be translation available into Japanese. We'll be switching over to the Japanese line now.
Thank you for coming all the way to Japan to be with us today.
It's a pleasure to be here, and I appreciate your kind introduction.
And now, as an introductory question for the day, from the perspective of an expert who knows this world inside out, meaning the sustainability themes, how do you evaluate our efforts?
I think Recruit Holdings has done a wonderful job of understanding global trends in sustainability and also the fast-changing set of disclosure regulations that are being established in many jurisdictions around the world. In the sustainability community, that's just one example of how Recruit is bringing in perspectives from outside the business, understanding what's most relevant to business today, to Recruit today, and also understanding how things are changing and what will be important in the medium term and the long term. The other thing I would say is that Recruit has done an exemplary job in focusing on the matters that are most material, most relevant to its business, which is, I think, a very.
Switching over to the English line now. So Senaha-san, go ahead, please.
I'd like to move on to Mr. Yves Serra. And Yves-san has been living in Japan for some years, so you're very fluent in Japanese. Well, not that much. Well, and I think you're very Japanese in that response already. So Yves-san, I would like to introduce Yves-san to you as well. So Yves Serra-san is heading Georg Fischer, which is based in Switzerland. And he was serving as the president CEO until 2019. And since 2020, he has been serving as the chairman. And since 2020, Yves-san has been on the sustainability committee. And the company Georg Fischer, it has various business lines, including piping systems used to transport water and other materials.
In 2020, in the Wall Street Journal's most sustainable company ranking, Georg Fischer became number nine in the world. So it has very advanced ESG initiatives. And Yves Serra has been leading that initiative as the management team. One more thing is, I think Europe is most advanced in terms of initiatives in sustainability and also in terms of regulations. So based on his experience, we are being given some advice from Yves Serra. So question to you, Yves Serra. So you have been leading Georg Fischer. And I think, including your company, there are many leading companies in Europe in ESG. So compared to the European companies, how do you assess the sustainability initiatives of Recruit Holdings? Please be frank in your views. Thank you. Well, in my opinion, at Recruit, you're not engaged in sustainability activities just because there are regulations and laws.
The topic of sustainability is something that you address in a very proactive way, which is very critical. Having done that, you are integrating sustainability into management in a very good way. For example, you have very well-thought-through goals. For example, having the time to get hired, that goal is a goal that is very much in line with the business model that Recruit has. I think the employees are motivated to work towards that goal. Also, as you achieve that goal, I think you are also able to differentiate yourselves with the competitors. That is going to be a major source of increased revenues for you. At the same time, well, you are able to make the best social contribution and the best economic contributions at the same time. In that sense, you have hit the sweet spot. Exactly.
Europe, in the area of sustainability, you advance in that area. Thank you. Like you mentioned, so we want to really contribute to the society as we do our business. We want to contribute to society as we do our core business. We want to generate the economic returns. We are often excited about that. We always want to go back to that basic and engage in our activities. Next, I would like to invite Ms. Keiko Honda. Ms. Keiko Honda has been the member of the sustainability committee since 2020. Since 2022, she has been serving as the outside director of the board of our company. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Ms. Honda. Thank you very much for joining. Thank you. So Ms.
Honda has been initially working with the foreign financial institutions and McKinsey and Company before becoming the vice president and the CEO of the World Bank Group's MIGA, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Currently, she is an adjunct professor and adjunct senior research scholar on ESG investing at Columbia University. Based on her experience, she has been providing us advice as to how our ESG initiatives can also contribute to the enhancement of our corporate values and also how that can be communicated to the external world. So Honda-san, you are the only person among the members of the sustainability committee who is also serving on the board and also in other committees that are reporting to the board. Maybe you can talk about the discussion that takes place in these different bodies of Recruit. What is the atmosphere? Thank you.
Well, at the board meeting and also in the sustainability committee meetings, there are some things that I wrote two things that I was very surprised about. Number one, the executives and the employees have very high aspirations and lofty goals. And secondly, the discussions are very frank and candid. There's very candid discussions. And that's very active. And I think that it is a testament to the fact that the diversified perspectives are being respected in the decision-making process because it seems that if you have members who are like-minded, then you are more likely to come to an agreement and consensus. And maybe it's more efficient. However, there are some things that you may overlook or miss. So you have highly inspired employees or members in the committees.
In the initial phase of the Sustainability Committee, I said that there are many ways you can contribute to the society. But I said that there should be some things that should be prioritized. That is, the corporate value enhancement should be something that should be taken into account when you try to solve the societal challenges. But although it's very challenging, you have been able to embrace that concept and very grateful. Now, Simplify Hiring is one of the goals that you have set that is halving the time to get hired. It's a challenging goal, but you are trying to pursue that as an initiative. That's very excellent.
In reality, that is so too. At the Sustainability Committee, we are always pressed for time because our discussion becomes so active. I'm terribly sorry that I do not do a good job of timekeeping as the chair. It's just that people do not kind of speculate and give a negative kind of consideration to others, in other words. This is why. Thank you very much for your contribution at all times. Now, let us now move into panel discussion. So Senaha, over to you. So as to the panel discussion, the first topic on the extension of what we have been discussing so far, we would like to talk about the Sustainability Committee activity itself. So as a premise, at the time of Sustainability Committee, what kind of agenda has been the topic is what I want to share at the outset.
At our company, we hold sustainability committee meeting twice a year. In this fiscal year, we held the first committee meeting in November and then second just recently in early March. At each sustainability committee meeting, we report on and discuss the progress of our 5 ESG goals. At the end of this fiscal year, in other words, by end of this month, it will be 3 years since we set the 5 goals and we discuss the progress we have made thus far. As I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, we will report on our progress when we announce the 2023 fiscal year financial results briefing session in May.
At the committee, in addition to the progress that we have so far made on the five ESG goals, just as has been mentioned by Aaron Cramer earlier, we discuss global trends in sustainability. And that's what we discuss. And in the case of this year, so sustainability disclosure regulations, the laws have come into force. And so therefore, we have discussed about the response and also materiality assessment as well. We are also discussing how we are promoting the responsible use of AI as well in response to the AI-related regulations that are moving ahead in Europe. So with that being said, let us get on with the discussion. So looking back on this year's discussion that we had at the committee level, is there anything that is particularly memorable and what questions or comments you had and you had kind of shared?
If we can get started with Yves Serra. Well, as an impression, well, Recruit is really acting as one. When it comes to this sustainability topic, you are fully committed. In other words, it is totally aligned to the purpose of your company. I think all your goals are very much aligned to the purpose. And this is really truly motivating for all the employees. And the second thing is that the discussion is very open. Back in November of last year, the topic that we have discussed was those 30 million people who face challenges, obstacles in getting a job. We had discussed what can be done. So in order for you to make a positive contribution to the globe, you need to incorporate the refugees category into such effort. I made a mention of that.
Already in March of this year, you have made enough preparation to incorporate this category of refugees as part of the 30 million job seekers facing barriers and obstacles. So being an external committee member, I'm truly grateful that you do pay a lot of respect to our opinions. Well, thank you. As a matter of fact, talking about these refugees, supporting the refugees, in other words, how we can go about supporting them. At the time of the committee meeting, we have discussed over this topic. And you have given us the feedback. And there were a number of efforts that have already been put in place in supporting 30 million job seekers that are facing barriers to allow them to get a job, get hired. At our German affiliated company, we have created this new kind of organization that works on international recruitment.
Of course, we have some language barriers. Therefore, they're making use of devices to help with the translation and supporting all these refugees, not just matching against the jobs, but also after they have started to work at whatever the workplace it may be, we are also extending the helping hands in assisting them so that they can blend in to the workplace. Therefore, it is great that we receive these kind of feedbacks and also opinions from the external members at the committee level. And we have been able to discuss over these topics. So it was truly valuable for us. Thank you, Yves-san. Aaron-san, over to you. We'll be switching the interpretation device now.
Aaron, could you share your most memorable moments from this year's sustainability committee discussions?
I have had the privilege of serving for three years. I would say overall that Recruit does a very good job of bringing data forward in soliciting real opinions. Therefore, the discussions, I believe, have a great deal of integrity. In this year's series of meetings, we did focus on the climate objective. Of course, Recruit is not a heavy manufacturing company. But the company has taken on the important task for every company everywhere in the world of reducing emissions, including ultimately Scope three, and aiming for carbon neutrality. This is a Paris-aligned goal. This takes on Scope three. It's an illustration of the ambition that I think is present. One of the things that we discussed this year that I found to be particularly important is the role of carbon credits. Carbon credits are used by great many companies.
There are serious questions about the availability, the ultimate cost, and ultimately the integrity of carbon credits. So this was a very, very important topic because the ultimate goal should be absolute emissions reductions transcending ultimately the need for carbon credits. That's a conversation that we had over the course of our meetings in the most recent series.
Thank you. As you mentioned, I think we all discussed and agreed that actual reduction is much, much more important than utilizing carbon credits. So we'll keep having that discussion going forward. Anything else?
Well, we also spent time on ESG ratings and rankings. If you track the performance of Recruit over the last several years, the trajectory is up. And it's very impressive. We know that this has been an area of focus. Of course, having high ratings are very good. Recruit can take pride, whether it's MSCI or Sustainalytics or others, in an overall increase in ratings, focusing on a wide range of ratings and rankings. So no cherry-picking, no selecting only certain ones, but looking at things comprehensively, which is very important, engaging the entire organization in delivering information. That is, I think, an underrated aspect of the ratings and rankings because this is a mechanism for having the entire company involved in the sustainability journey and sustainability objectives.
This is a way that the ratings and rankings are also very important in terms of internal process. But at the end of the day, a good score, it's a little like education. Good grades are great, but the learning is the most important thing. I think the progress that the ratings reflect for Recruit is something that I think is a very good signal.
Thank you. Okay. Switching the translation line again. Senaha-san, please.
Okay. So finally, Honda-san, I have a question to you. What has impressed you in the committee meeting discussions?
Well, for me, I have four points, actually, regarding the sustainability committee of Recruit. One is that you have quantitative targets. Number two, so many companies do have quantitative targets, but you also have deadlines for that target. So other companies do not have timelines, but you do. Number three, as Yves and Aaron have been talking about, you actually very closely monitor the progress. And generally speaking, you are making progress. But there are variability in the progress. And you do monitor it and report it to us honestly. And finally, you disclose it not only to us, the members of the committee, but also to the investors.
So as Ayano Senaha-san just mentioned, during this year's sustainability committee meetings, we did look back on the past three years since we set these sustainability goals. And like I said earlier, the progress can vary. I mean, all five goals, you have made progress, which is an impressive thing, especially in you are very open in sharing that with the stakeholders. And I have a very positive view about having disclosing it very openly. I think everybody will enjoy it. Well, thank you for these positive comments. But I want to be honest here. For example, last year in July, we had an ESG fireside chat. And there were some delays in some of the goals. And we were very open and revealed what is making that delay in making progress. We share that with investors. And ultimately, some of the institutional investors had made a comment.
You have very lofty ideals. But there are some challenges that you're facing. You're very honest about some of the good points, but also the challenges that you're facing. The aggressive goals. Sometimes we cannot make the progress that we would like to make. But we want to prosper together. That together part is very important. So including the market participants, we want to work together with you and also share what is not going well. Yes. So progress is not the same across the board. There are some that made good progress, but others where there's some progress, but maybe more room for the future. Well, another thing that I'm impressed with, one thing we talked about in the committee is compared to three years ago, the understanding and concepts on sustainability is much different in a society in general.
The goals that you set three years ago, well, sustainability in the society is something that Recruit can consider. But maybe you don't need to pursue those from the current concept. For example, the emissions of greenhouse gases, for example, it's not really that relevant. But gender parity is more relevant because it's really at the core of your business at Recruit. And it's very important that you make progress in gender parity. So as you go along, there may be some challenges. And then you may have ideas about how do you go over these challenges. So of course, you want to try to promote employment. And I think those goals can also contribute to the employment and hiring of the people. So I think that's very great. And I'm looking forward to your progress. And I am rather senior.
I think that even before the Equal Opportunities Law enactment in Japan, I know that it has been very difficult to achieve gender parity. But I met in one of your group companies who was a female. So I'm sure you've had a lot of experiences. But at the same time, you have had experiences in how to overcome these problems. And I think you can leverage those experiences. And I think that can contribute to your company, to Japan, and also the world for that matter. Thank you very much. We talked about this all the time. But we want to contribute to society while we also enhance our core business and make profits. We always talk about it in the Sustainability Committee meetings. Thank you very much. Now, I'd like to move on to the next question.
In the first question, we talked about what we talked about during the sustainability committee meeting this year. But secondly, the future. So what will be the important topics in terms of ESG and sustainability going forward for Recruit Holdings? So, well, Honda-san, please, can you tell me? So sustainability can have different definitions. Actually, there's no globally standardized definition of sustainability, meaning that each company has their own definition of sustainability. And when they do that, they try to also understand what they can contribute to the society from their perspectives. But I think Recruit, I want you to be a step ahead of that. As Senaha-san was saying, and I always talk about this, but you know what? Recruit can do in your initiatives. It should contribute to the corporate value of your company. And that should be a part of your core business.
That's what you should be doing. Because I think what I like about Recruit is having the time to get hired. That is a goal that you have set. For job seekers, if you're not working for three months, it'd be very difficult to make a living. It may go over the poverty line in some cases. From the employers' point of view, there's a shortage of workforce, which is a big issue in Japan and also globally. It's not just Japan, but in Korea, China, Italy, or Germany, or Spain, or Portugal, the population is decreasing. There is a huge issue of a labor shortage. Because of labor shortage, you cannot do business or there is a lost income. There are some issues like this.
If you can break through that, then it will be beneficial to not only Japan, but all the industrialized countries and the developing countries. So I think you're going to come up with a good answer. Thank you. Yeah. Having time to get hired. That topic is something that I talked about in the fireside chat. It's actually data that nobody has ever gathered before. And we are still trying to overcome some of the challenges associated with measuring data in this area. So having the time to get hired, that's matching efficiency. And that means that you can double the opportunities for monetizing. That is one of the motivations of setting the goal. But even after three years, we have not been able to measure this accurately yet, I'm afraid. But we are making some progress little by little.
In May, we will provide you with an update. Please look forward to that. Thank you very much. I have a question to Aaron. Let me now change the translation line.
Next, I would like to ask Aaron the same question. What do you think will be very important for us, for the company in the future, among the numerous sustainability themes?
I think that the rise of regulation on sustainability is one of the most important developments in this aspect of business for a very, very long time. And so this is something that is going to take some years to work its way through the system. And so for Recruit to be ahead to understand and be ahead of the regulations and to be prepared, you spoke about verifying information to be ready for a world where that is going to be more important. And quite frankly, in our network, we have over 300 member companies. Many of them are either a little bit behind or maybe taking a very narrow compliance-oriented approach. Now, of course, compliance is important. But I would say it's necessary but not sufficient.
I think Recruit is already and I believe will continue to think not only about the letter of the law, whether it's what's required by the Japan Securities Agency or European regulations in the CSRD, the landscape is changing. And to think about the spirit of the laws and think about how working within these regulations can actually strengthen your ambition and help inform your strategy.
Thank you. I think that point is critically important. So yes, we do need to comply. But also, we do need to understand the intent behind the establishment of the regulations so that we can act appropriately as a corporate citizen. So thank you for that point. Anything else?
I think we may want to talk about AI and the intersection of human rights and artificial intelligence. This is something that is already on the agenda of the Sustainability Committee, already on the agenda of the company. Clearly, it's relevant for Indeed's business. It creates opportunities to deliver better products, to help more people, to help more employers. How that's done, however, is crucially important.
Thank you for the other topic too. I think we have unique data sets, especially at Indeed. We operate in over 60 countries. And we have data from job seekers and also employers. And we use them to better match job seekers with the jobs. But I think because we utilize those data more and more, we do need to make sure that we use AI responsibly. So I think that's something that we keep having open dialogues with many stakeholders.
We have just switched over the translation line. Back to Senaha again. Any kind of topics that we need to be mindful of going forward? I think there are two topics that we need to be mindful of in thinking about the future of Recruit. We have set wonderful, of course, sustainability goals, why we would continue to do our best in achieving this. But also, we have to think about the monetization of this effort as well. And the second is how to respond to the increasingly stringent sustainability disclosure rules as well as AI regulations as well. I really want you to be good at responding to these moves. These are the two. Thank you. As a matter of fact, thank you very much for mentioning the topics such as AI, the regulatory landscape changes.
You have mentioned all these topics to be of importance to Recruit going forward at the time of sustainability committee as well as today. So how much of resources, inclusive of energy and passion, needs to be dedicated to these topics? So how we can progress and advance our products and services and introduce them to society and thereby making contribution to the society at large. So we would like to, of course, continue this discussion going forward at the committee level. I would like to ask more questions to the three of you. But I think time is running out very fast. So therefore, at this point in time, we'd like to move on to Q&A session, entertaining questions from the participants. So we'd like to entertain questions from the floor now.
Please, we do receive your questions through Google Form as well as raising of the hands. Those people who are participating through Zoom, we are going to be entertaining your questions. If you have questions on Zoom, please do raise your hand. We have received a lot of questions through Google. Let us entertain the first question. I think it is a very important topic to be responsible in making use of the AI. There seems to be a move towards stringentness to be introduced for the AI regulation. What are we to do? How are you responding as Recruit? Thank you for the question. Well, on this topic, to begin with, this topic of AI, so after all, it is machine learning. So therefore, in the society where we reside, of course, there is a constant and continuous machine learning.
The bias that exists in the society, there's a risk that AI may amplify this bias. So this is something that we need to take seriously. And this has been discussed as one of the very important topics at the Sustainability Committee. And that's where we stand. We do take this matter very seriously. And this is quite unique because it is very rare that we have been discussing over this topic at two different committees. And just as has been mentioned, so the EU's AI Act is going to be enforced. And the hard law, in fact, is now being institutionalized. And because the technology is advancing really fast, so it is not just about compliance to the rule. That will not be sufficient. So it means that we have to be ahead of the curve.
This is discussed at the Risk Management Committee as well as sustainability as a result. So these are the steps that we are currently taking. Now, going into the specificity of the activities and also the direction at the Recruit level, what happens? So we do have the human rights policy. So based on the human rights policy, for example, at Indeed, so we do have the principle of human rights as well. But also, we do have the Recruit's direction and policy as well. So at each of the businesses, SVUs, whatever that proves to be relevant, we have put them together as policy and directions. Now, going into further details, which is something to do with the product and services. So before the product or services get released, so we would assess the bias, the nature of the bias, magnitude of the bias.
Fairness monitoring will be conducted through human eyes. We'll be measuring from data to output. Is it safe enough or is it not biased? Now that the topic was raised in your question, I would like to share something that came to our joy. AI may perhaps amplify the bias. And how can we avoid this? I think was your question. After all, AI, more than human, it seems as if that they are less in terms of the bias as compared to human. We would be, of course, conducting various different tests in order to measure this magnitude of the bias. In the case of domestic market in Japan, we do have the agent business in Japan. Of course, we do function to be the agent between the job seekers and the employees, rather than matching by human eyes.
As a result of AI matching between the two, in the case of this exercise, the bias against age was reduced as a result of making use of artificial intelligence. So in conjunction to this responsible way of making use of AI, in fact, we'll be able to lessen the bias as a result of using AI. So this was a very positive sign. So it is important for us to continue to study this so that we'll be able to make use of AI so that it will be for the better and will bring about positive contribution. So at the committee, Aaron was kind enough to share.
Sure. I think what you just said was very important. The learning process, because this is changing so rapidly, as you say, changing faster than regulation can possibly keep up. So the kind of testing and learning that you just described is very important. What I would say is that for Recruit, as for any company, it's important to think about an approach that involves three different elements. Number one is what can you do as an individual company, which you just described. I'm sure this will be an ongoing topic of discussion with your investors. The second is what are the industry ecosystems? Because every company has an interest in seeing the technologies advance, in making sure that there's societal support for innovation. I believe that industry understandings will be very important.
This is not an area that has to be subject of competition, that other companies will also have an interest in seeing guidelines and principles established. And then the third is being an active participant in public policy setting because governments may not have the same understanding of the technology that the developers of the technologies do. So business has an important role to play in terms of how a common and one that Recruit can contribute to.
Thank you, especially for the second point. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Next, I have a question also from Google Forms. So next question is about the board. So in the board, in the committees, there are outside directors and members. Are they able to speak up? And there are many former CEOs and executives. So is there a risk that they are focused on the executive side? Or are they really making an effective contribution in the discussion? That's a very interesting and good question. Thank you very much. So first of all, well, on the contrary, there are people who are experienced in business and corporate management in other companies. So that means that they also have a different perspective or they have very critical minds. So we appreciate that. So the diversity of the views, board diversity, is something that Honda-san talked about. So why we need that diversity? We need the diversity of opinions.
That's why we have all these different diversities like gender and age groups and the nationalities as well. Another thing is we don't talk about this too much to the outside world. But the advisory body to the board, the committee such as the Sustainability Committee, or there's a Nominating Governance Committee. And the chairperson is an independent board member, is Naoki Izumiya. Also in the Compensation Committee, the chair is Totoki-san from Sony. So the chair of these committees are independent directors. The members of these committees, the majority of them are the outside directors. And the executive side is on the minority side. So the oversight function, they are very, very strict in their oversight functions. They are really they have their eyes very widely open to monitor us and oversee us.
From an independent perspective, maybe could you share with us your very candid views?
Well, Honda-san, yes. Recruit board, there is two differences between the major companies in Japan. No CPAs among the board members. And secondly, both the inside and outside board members are diverse. So outside directors, they're in gender diversity, the nationalities, diversity. And also age is also relatively varied. Well, some of the companies listed in Prime of TSE. I know there are some members who are in their 70s, 80s, but Recruit. There are people in their 30s even. Or maybe recently, he has matured to become in the 40s. And there are some in the 70s. And also the educational background is also very different. So people don't just have like-minded members. So there has to be a lot of discussion before they come to a decision, which may not be efficient.
I think there are very candid discussions and very heated discussions, which I think would be something very interesting to the investors. Yes, that's true. In the discussions in the board and also in the executive side, there's a diversity of opinions. That's true. So it can get everywhere. I mean, the discussions can go to all these different places. However, that is probably the cost of diversity because of the diversity of communication. But they may be differing opinions. But if you discuss enough and come to a decision, disagree but commit. So there are a lot of different views. But once you make a decision, then that's the important part because then you can go ahead with that decision. And we can do that in board meetings. And it's probably a secret to good corporate governance. Thank you.
Would I like to entertain one other question from Google Forms? Indeed, PPA has concluded, I understand. So social impact target was, of course, half the time required to get hired. So would it impact this PPA's closing? Is it going to impact this? Well, such a good question, which means that this person has a keen interest in the development of businesses. Thank you for your interest. So some people may not know about this PPA, Pay Per Application. At Indeed, by a click, you'll be able to get hired. So this is what we are aspiring to achieve. So this is part and parcel of the effort for simplifying hiring. So in order to shorten the period that is required to get hired, we have carried out a test. So Pay Per Application, PPA, was conducted as a test. So it was a test.
The result was pretty positive. And this was why we had expanded the scope of the test. But the way in which PPA was utilized, unfortunately, was something that was some part of it was not expected. So therefore, it was a PPA, so per application. So those customers who had made the job seekers who had made use of PPA as a result, they were able to shorten the time required to get hired. And thereby, we thought that we would be able to make positive contribution to the social impact target, I think, was the question. At all time, you see 500 or so A/B tests is up and running at Recruit. So PPA was one of these 500 or so may perhaps be out of our expectation as well. So we would continue to evolve our product and services.
In so doing, we would like to conduct tests along the way as we do right now so that we will be able to expand the scope of the tests going forward if it gets closer to go live. So at some point in the future, we'll be able to share the outcome of these tests. So please look forward to it. And that's all I can share at this point in time. Sorry about this. Okay. Thank you very much. So we would like to entertain some of the questions that have been put forward through Zoom. So please ask the question through Japanese line. Should you have a question in Japanese? And please make sure that you choose the right language in asking the question. So from J.P. Morgan Asset, Omisan, over to you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I have two questions to ask.
First of all, so in your management target, you have incorporated sustainability effort in order to enhance enterprise value that was mentioned during the course of this session. In order to accelerate this effort and also to enhance enterprise or corporate value further, is there anything more you can do? I'd like to ask the question to Idekoba-san, especially. And that is the first question of mine. And the second question is, and this is a question that I'd like to ask Honda-san about. So I know that you have become the committee member as an outside expert. But now that you have come on board as well, you are the independent director, is there any kind of new kind of discovery on your part and any advice that you have provided as a result? Thank you very much for asking the question.
Well, as a secretariat, well, I have been instructed to answer or respond to the question, first of all, by Senaha and then over to our committee members. But I think you have asked Idekoba-san to respond. So let us ask Idekoba-san to respond to this question. So Recruit has set the wonderful target and objectives. So it is important for you to realize it and also achieve it. And thereby, you'll be able to generate the value. And I'm sure economic value thereby will be generated, which means that you'll be able to, of course, uplift, raise the top line as well as the profit. So therefore, I think on a company-wide basis, acting as one, I really want you to exert your effort in, of course, achieving the goals, wonderful goals. That is, I think, very much needed.
The second question, the new kind of findings on the part of Honda-san, so over to Honda-san.
For me, well, my specialty area is to assess the corporate value. And then I went to our World Bank and started to get involved in sustainability-related areas. So the first thing I thought of when I joined the Sustainability Committee is, like I said earlier, within the framework of sustainability, there were some things that you thought were important. And you set goals in that framework. But the audience, I think, here are institutional investors. So most of it is material factors. Some were not material factors, however. So having said that, the material factor is being sought. And then based on that material factor, you try to understand how that is relevant to your core business. And we all thought about this in a discussion in the Sustainability Committee and then tried to leverage it in the core business of Recruit.
That's what we have been doing in the last couple of years. So I actually would like to ask Senaha-san how you feel, Senaha-san. Well, for me, so the advice that has been provided to us from directors and outside members of the committee, well, I'm always constantly thinking about how the sustainability is relevant to our business. And we really get very critical advice from the members. When we first set our target, we wanted to contribute to society, of course. And many companies do. And many companies want to also make profit. But the growth of the business should also be good for the society. So doing both. And that's very challenging to achieve. But exactly because of that. But that's the reason why we think it's valuable to take 10 years to address and achieve these challenging targets.
I think the strongest value from these members of the committee is that what we can do to contribute to society, make everybody happy through our core business, we get questions all the time during the committee meetings. And we always are able to go back to basics and go back to the track that we are on. I would like to say a few words also. Senaha-san, you're very modest. But you've been saying that well, if I look at it neutrally, measuring the time to get hired, I think you're making progress in that area significantly. And also in the business units, well, sustainability in the headquarters, of course, but the actual operating companies of the business, now you're taking your time to address this. And my impression is that we are able to work together with the people in the business units. Thank you very much.
Thank you for that question. So we have many more questions on Google and also Zoom. Sorry. As usual, we're running out of time. I'm very, very sorry. We have to close this question-and-answer session at this point in time. I'm very, very sorry. So Senaha-san, could you start to wrap up now? Yes. Actually, it's past the allocated time. So the outside members of the sustainability committee, if you have any additional comments or advice, could you ask Aaron-san, first of all?
I will be very brief. Recruit will, I believe, stay ambitious, stay humble, and stay focused on business relevance.
How about Ide-san? So in a short time period, I think you were successful integrating the sustainability goals onto the management goal. So I want you well, congratulations on mobilizing the entire company in that regard. I want you to continue this journey going forward. Thank you. So Honda-san, so closing remarks from you. So employment is about earning your bread and butter, after all. And in order for you to keep your living, I mean, I think it is absolutely necessary for ones to be employed. So this is why it is one of the important social factors. And there is a great probability of impacting the corporate value as a result. And this is why I have great expectations of Recruit. Thank you. So the time is over. So one hour went really quickly. So over to Senaha-san again. So with this, thank you very much.
We have carried out this investor update over the three days. Thank you very much for participation. This concludes the session. Thank you so much for joining us.