Yukari Horie, 30, is managing director of Arrow Arrow, a Tokyo-based NPO that offers consulting to companies with female workers who are in the later stages of their pregnancy or who have just become moms and are wondering how to adjust their work styles to accommodate their life needs. Horie's group, set up in 2010, is in high demand these days, as more than 60 percent of women in Japan leave the workforce after giving birth, due to difficulties they face in balancing life and family. Arrow Arrow advises companies on how to review workers' jobs and streamline them, which often results in cuts in overtime and improved efficiency across the organization, she says. Horie also organizes discussion groups for individual workers so they can share work-life balance (WLB) issues and find solutions.
How did you become interested in helping women get back to work?
Well, our generation entered the workforce in the so-called "Ice Age" for new graduates, so we had a really hard time finding jobs. My friend from university got a position in the marketing division or something of a clothing company, which she had listed as her first choice. I was very happy for her, but she ended up rejecting the offer, saying she wouldn't have felt confident about raising a kid while working for that company. I got into a big fight with her, but I also wondered whether I was right to criticize her. In Japan, many people with babies can continue working only if they don't mind doing lots of overtime. I thought that if there's no environment for working mothers to continue their jobs, I should be the one to help create it.