Social

Enriching housing and lifestyles for more people

Life is made up of a series of “ARUHI” (Japanese for “one day”).
SBI ARUHI works to help customers, people in the community, business partners and colleagues
working at SBI ARUHI to have a best "One day(ARUHI)" possible.

Financial inclusion

SBI ARUHI enriches the housing and lifestyles of more people through products such as "ARUHI Flat 35" provided in partnership with the Japan Housing Finance Agency.

"Flat 35" (*1) is a housing loan provided by the Japan Housing Finance Agency for the purpose of stable supply of long-term fixed-interest housing funds universally throughout Japan.

If stable income can be expected based on the above requirements specified by the Japan Housing Finance Agency, SBI ARUHI accepts applications without restrictions on the form of employment or years of employment, and provides loans with the approval of the Japan Housing Finance Agency after performing adequate reviews of the certainty of repayment. Through this initiative, we aim to realize a society in which more people can affluently live how they wish.

• *1 It cannot be used for funding the acquisition of investment properties such as properties to be leased to third parties.

Customer first

SBI ARUHI believes that improving customer satisfaction is one of the most important management issues. The “customers” the Company envisages are not only users of funds for housing loans, which is our main business, but also a variety of stakeholders including business partners, local communities and employees.

Customer Satisfaction function has been established to make suggestions on customer satisfaction to all meeting bodies and all departments within the Company in an effort to improve companywide customer satisfaction.

※In-house posters.Click to enlarge the poster

Community initiatives

Starting school life, working as an adult member of society, living with family, having children, enjoying old age...
SBI ARUHI provides housing loans to match diverse customers’ needs and services that support each life stage. Furthermore, we are engaged in the vitalization of local communities by using information and know-how on housing and living, and contribute to the lives and the businesses promotion of our stakeholders.

“Livable Communities Awards” initiatives

Holding events

Using the wealth of data obtained by SBI ARUHI through the housing loan business, a selection committee made up of experts on housing and real estate selects and announces a ranking of the “most livable communities” every year through a fair review of five criteria of living environment, transportation convenience, educational environment, cost performance and potential development from the perspective of “actually living in the region” rather than admiration or image. The Company helps people find the right city for them by sharing reviews and attractive aspects of cities through the “Livable Communities Awards” program.

City promotion

SBI ARUHI collaborates with local governments to promote cities nominated for the “Livable Communities Awards”, by indicating nomination with banners, street lamp flags and posters in front of train stations, in shopping areas and at restaurants to enhance the image of the city and foster civic pride. Furthermore, we contribute to further raising awareness of the top ranked towns by partnering with the media to provide exposure of their appeal on television and the Web.

These activities have actually led to the improvement of the community’s name recognition, attention and image. Coupled with various initiatives by local governments, these led increased revenue due to an increase in the appraised value of land and rising population in Kawaguchi, Saitama, and the first increase in population in Amagasaki, Hyogo in nine years, helping to stimulate local communities.

• ARUHI “Livable Communities Awards” (only Japanese)

TownU

Our lifestyles have changed significantly as more people work from home and they look at work-life balance differently.

Along with this, people now have more diverse perspectives on comfortable cities and houses to live in. To respond to these changes in the environment, SBI ARUHI has developed TownU, which redefines home search as a 'new normal' way to look for a home in a customized manner.

TownU offers Town Information featuring characteristics, reviews, and property prices of cities, and Town Diagnosis recommending new cities based on individual lifestyles and values.

Matching between 'what a city has to provide' and 'what a customer wants'

SBI ARUHI suggests 'the best city' for each customer instead of just providing a typical image of a city that people already know, thus supporting diverse lifestyles of diverse people. It empowers people to find the "right home" for them with AI recommendations of cities suited to their lifestyles and values, instead of a conventional approach to select a city from limited options such as their hometown, familiar cities, and nearby cities.

SDGs goals : Promoting Sustainable cities and communities

SBI ARUHI supports relocation from the central part of Tokyo to suburban areas to help address social challenges such as vacant houses and concentration of housing starts. Through services, The Company contributes to developing cities and building communities, driving initiatives to create sustainable cities and communities, one of the SDGs goals.

• TownU (only Japanese)

“ARUHI Magazine”

ARUHI Magazine is a Web publication communicating information on housing loans, things to know about money when buying a home, and living new lifestyles for people who are looking for housing. With 2.7 million monthly UUs (as of June 2022), the site provides helpful information about residential areas and regions, supporting better housing and living.

• ARUHI Magazine (only Japanese)

ARUHI Awards, short film

Suggesting fulfilling housing and living

SBI ARUHI helps create a society where people can enjoy fulfilling housing and living.

Collaborating with BOOK SHORTS, which invites submissions of short stories as a part of Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & Asia), one of the largest of its kind in Asia, SBI ARUHI organized ARUHI Awards and ARUHI Awards 2022, calling for stories on new life, home, and other life-related subjects.

Excellent works that describe diverse lives at home were featured in ARUHI Magazine to help people find ideal housing and living for them.

Finding and supporting creators

Through the call for short stories project, SBI ARUHI produced two movies: Otanjobi omedeto (Happy birthday, 2020) and Ore no umi (My ocean, 2021), which are available on YouTube.

Short stories were submitted by people of all ages from teens through the 80s from across Japan, among which excellent works were published in ARUHI Magazine. This helped find new creators while providing selected young directors with the opportunity to produce short films and showcase their works.

SBI ARUHI will continue its cultural contribution activities, including support for young creators through various projects.

ARUHI Awards（2019）

Overview of the event (only Japanese)

https://bookshorts.jp/aruhi_award/

List of excellent works (only Japanese)

https://magazine.sbiaruhi.co.jp/aruhi_award

ARUHI Awards（2022）

Overview of the event (only Japanese)

https://bookshorts.jp/aruhi_award_2022

List of excellent works (only Japanese)

https://magazine.sbiaruhi.co.jp/aruhi_award2022

short film “Otanjobi-omedetou(Happy Birthday)”（2020）

short film “Ore-no-umi(My Sea)”（2021）

• Watch the short film here (only Japanese)

Building friendly and rewarding workplace that empowers all employees

Based on work-life-blend, a concept of mixing personal and professional activities as equal life events, we support employees of diverse backgrounds to be able to demonstrate their full strengths, allowing them to work for many years without worries while maintaining diverse lifestyles.

Major examples:

Through these activities, we strive to be a great workplace that empowers employees.

SBI ARUHI established “ARUHI Kashiwa-no-ha Innovation Lab” as its second headquarters to suggest new ways of working to its employees in the new normal age and support diversifying workstyles and lifestyles.

SBI ARUHI's human resources by numbers (as of the end of March 2023)

Age group

Gender ratio

Rate of return from maternity/childcare leave

Ratio of female managers(*1)

The average age of our employees is 39.9, spanning from new grads to older employees aged over 80. Currently, SBI ARUHI focuses on career development for young employees through active talent development programs.
Women represent 50.7% of our employees and over 20% in management. SBI ARUHI offers broad opportunities regardless of gender.
SBI ARUHI has also defined the “General Employer Action Plan” in accordance with the Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life(*2) as a part of its effort to build and expand a foundation for empowering and driving the growth of employees.
In this Action Plan, we set a goal to have women represent at least 25.0% of our management by FY2024. To achieve this goal, we offer seminars to enable diverse career development and build an environment where employees are encouraged to take annual paid leave and achieve good work-life balance.

SBI ARUHI has a working parent community (for communication among employees who are on parental or maternity leave and employees who have returned to work after parental and maternity leave). As many employees wish to work again after having a child, we see 95% of employees return to work after parental or maternity leave.
Employees can take parental leave of up to 3 years. We have expanded eligibility for short working hours, now covering parents having children before graduating from elementary school. Together with remote work and super-flex programs, we support employees to attain work-life balance.

In October 2022, we created a guidebook about maternity and parental leave, which has been shared within our company. This guidebook covers information for expectant mothers, their partners, and managers to help employees better understand maternity and parental leave programs and encourage men to take parental leave as well. In FY2022, 3 employees took paid leave. In FY2023, we have received applications for parental leave from 2 male employees to date. SBI ARUHI will continue working to build an environment where employees feel free to take parental leave. We will also promote initiatives to support every employee, regardless of gender, age, and lifestyle, to feel fulfilled in a friendly work environment by eliminating “obstacles in the workplace” (factors that hinder people from working due to pregnancy, childbirth, childrearing, nursing care, etc.).

Among full-time employees at SBI ARUHI, women earn just 61.7% of what men earn. At the same time, about half of our employees are women, many of whom are on maternity leave or parental leave, or have shorter working hours after returning to work. As shown in the female manager ratio in the table below, men represent a higher percentage in our management while women represent a larger portion among non-managers. The Company has adopted a mission grade system in which employees' career, gender, and age are not a part of the evaluation for determining their grades and wages. Among managers and non-managers excluding employees who are on maternity leave, etc., women earn more than 80% of what men earn. The Company will continue to address unconscious bias regarding gender and age, and drive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE & I) to empower excellent talent.

As a part of its efforts to reduce employee turnover, SBI ARUHI's HR team conducts exit interviews for those who are quitting. We hear from them about the workplace environment and reasons for quitting and give feedback to relevant divisions to create a better work environment.

Our management team is informed of overtime hours and annual paid leave ratio at each division on a monthly basis and works to reduce overtime and encourage employees to take annual paid leave.

In the “General Employer Action Plan” we developed in accordance with the Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life, we have defined target rates of annual paid leave taken. With our FY2024 goal of 75.0% or higher, we encourage employees to a take vacations of consecutive five days or more.

The surveys of employees help us reflect their feedback on management and HR activities. We are building a flat and frank culture where management messages are communicated effectively through business updates and townhall meetings.

• *1 Percentages of women in our management since the period ended March 2021 are the percentages among people managers.
• *2 The Act came into effect on April 1, 2016 to empower women and help them demonstrate their capabilities in the workplace.
• *3 Calculation based on [women's average annual wage ÷ men's average annual wage × 100] Data during FY2022 (April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023)
• *4 The calculation excludes employees who are on maternity leave or parental leave, or have shorter working hours as of March 31, 2023.
• *5 Average overtime hours (per month) calculated based on results from January to December in each year

Employee performance evaluation

For its HR system, SBI ARUHI has adopted a mission grade system where employees' job, age, sex, or years of service are not included in their evaluation. This provides clarity on requirements for promotion as their grades are determined based on capabilities they have demonstrated. For employees who are eager to play a role outside of their own team, the Company has in-house job offers and a career entry program. We provide them with more career development opportunities through periodic one-on-one meetings and other initiatives.

Recruitment

SBI ARUHI requires interviewers to take training to acquire strong talent while standardizing SBI ARUHI's own hiring criteria and ensuring compliance related to job interviews. In addition to hiring people through recruitment agencies and media, we are promoting an employee referral under which existing employees recommend candidates who are a 'good fit for SBI ARUHI' and HR screens the candidates. We offer an opportunity for a 'casual interview' before our official interview process to frankly share with candidates what's good about working for the Company and drive their willingness to apply, thus acquiring top talent.

We also hire non-Japanese employees as a part of our policy to hire people regardless of their attributes. Non-Japanese employees work across sales, clerical, and administrative divisions.

We are also actively hiring people with disabilities. They are working in diverse fields.

As we expand our business, we will ensure diverse management composition by hiring people flexibly regardless of their backgrounds.

Talent development

In 2022, SBI ARUHI established Talent Development Office directly under HR(current HR and General Affairs Department). Through this team specializing in providing education, we offer a broad range of employee training programs. Specifically, we have education programs for each managerial level to help employees develop basic capabilities and skills required for each role, education programs in special fields to acquire capabilities and skills to deliver results in each job, and open seminars and free e-learning programs to support career development.

SBI ARUHI onboards new hires through training and mentor programs to integrate them into the organization and familiarize them with their new roles smoothly.
SBI ARUHI will continue to build an environment for motivating and maximizing the capabilities of employees, thus driving the growth of employees as well as the Company.

• * Measures and data at SBI ARUHI Corporation as of March 31, 2023 (including those on secondment to subsidiaries)