The PERSOL Group Launches a Global “Work, and Smile” Survey

TOKYO, JAPAN (November 30, 2020) – PERSOL HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. announces that the PERSOL Group is participating in a ground-breaking global survey, in collaboration with the Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation, to help each working individual realize our Group’s vision, “Work, and Smile.” This survey is being conducted in 118 countries around the world between April 2020 and March 2021 as part of the Gallup World Poll, the world’s largest public opinion poll. Through this global survey, we hope to capture the extent to which people are “working and smiling” worldwide, with the results to be announced in September 2021.

■Backdrop to the Global Survey

In October 2019, the PERSOL Group established a new vision, “Work, and Smile,” with the aim of enriching society by ensuring that work can contribute to happy and fulfilled lives. To realize our Group’s vision, we redesigned our cycle of corporate activities and social contributions to align with a “Value Creation Story.” The Group’s key mid-term strategies, which were announced in August 2020, are to focus on each individual, to innovate through technologies and to extend our value globally. By understanding each working individual’s needs over their life course, we can realize a world where people can flourish throughout all their years.

Through the Gallup World Poll, the PERSOL Group is studying international patterns of wellbeing among working individuals, and the impact these patterns have on society which in turn will help advance the frontiers of wellbeing science. Furthermore, we will promote the importance of “Work, and Smile” to society through the activities of our Group.

■Overview of the Global “Work, and Smile” Survey

Objective:  Study international patterns of wellbeing among working people and its impact on society

Partner:    Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation

Target:     Currently planned for approximately 1,000 individuals x 118 countries

Period:     April 2020–March 2021

Approach:  Adding three new questions on “Work, and Smile” to the Gallup World Poll                         

Sample survey questions: [Answer choices; “Yes/No/Don’t know/Don’t want to answer”]

①Do you enjoy the work you do in your job every day, or not?

②Do you think the work you do in your job significantly improves the lives of other people outside of your own household, or not?

③Do you, personally, have many choices regarding the type of work you can do in your life?

■What this Survey Brings Going Forward

By applying the data obtained from this survey, we will research what the value of “Work, and Smile” brings to society, and to disseminate the concept of “wellbeing through work” to the world. By spreading these insights to society through the activities of the PERSOL Group, we anticipate improving our corporate value as well as the value being offered to our clients.

■Comments on this Survey

Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation Representative Director, Yoshiki Ishikawa

Up until now, Western researchers have been taking the lead in conceptualizing and measuring people’s wellbeing. However, there are diverse viewpoints and cultures in the world, and as such many perceptions of wellbeing. Together with Gallup and researchers around the world, we launched the Global Wellbeing Initiative with the aim of reconceptualizing wellbeing while reflecting global diversity. I have especially high expectations for the joint work with the PERSOL Group, as it will bring important baseline data to understand as well as measure the wellbeing of working individuals.

PERSOL HOLDINGS Representative Director, President and CEO Masamichi Mizuta

 To realize a society in which “work” leads to smiles, we believe it is necessary to increase awareness and support for the Group Vision “Work, and Smile” around the world. At the PERSOL Group, following the joint research between PERSOL RESEARCH AND CONSULTING and Keio University Maeno Lab, “Happiness Project for Working People” announced in July 2020, we have added questions to the Gallup World Poll to measure the level of “Work, and Smile.” By measuring the relationship between work and wellbeing parameters, we intend to raise individuals’ awareness of “Work, and Smile” and encourage them to share knowledge of this Group Vision.

■About the Gallup World Poll 

The Gallup World Poll, created in 2005, is the most comprehensive and farthest-reaching survey of the world. The survey connects with more than 99% of the world’s adult population through annual, nationally representative surveys with comparable metrics across more than 140 countries and 145 languages. The Gallup World Poll is the only global study of its kind and provides exceptional infrastructure for surveying the world’s population on a variety of topics.

■About the PERSOL Group

Under the Group Vision “Work, and Smile,” the PERSOL Group engages in diverse services concerning people and organizations, which include temporary staffing service “Tempstaff,” career improvement service “doda,” IT-outsourcing, and design development. We are also working on the next generation of innovations by integrating human resource services and technologies, offering services such as career improvement service “MIIDAS,” an IT event information site and an event & community space “TECH PLAY,” and a cloud-based mobile POS cashier “POS+.” The fiscal year ended March 2020, the PERSOL Group generated revenue of 970.5 billion yen. The PERSOL Group was established in 1973 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. PERSOL HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. is the holding company and is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (security code: 2181).