中小企業における「くるみん」の意味と機能 : 企業選択のてがかりとしての有効性

Currently there are needs in Japan for the state, businesses and workers（job seekers） to engage in the challenges concerning work styles andsupport for child rearing. It is difficult for workers （job seekers） to obtaininformation on the work environment of businesses with 300 or lessemployees. Furthermore, it is said that businesses with 300 or less employeeshave difficulty obtaining and retaining competent human resources.Contemplating on such issues, I came to a conclusion that the "Kurumin"certification could be a means to publicize externally that a company isengaged in promoting work-life balance（WLB）and child-rearing support.This is because"Kurumin"is a logo that is given to businesses that arecertified as a"business supporting child-rearing"by the Minister of Health,Labour and Welfare of Japan.From September 2012， I interviewed ten "Kurumin"－certified businesseswith 300 or less employees and elucidated the background and reasons fortheir obtaining the "Kurumin" certification, and its advantages, role inpromoting female work involvement, positive factors, challenges andproblems. Based on the findings, reasons that triggered the obtaining of thecertification could be divided into four categories. Furthermore, it was foundthat all companies valued utilizing the abilities of female workers and gaveheavy consideration to work styles, and that the CEOs, upper-levelmanagerial staff and personnel/administration staff were all actively engagedin WLB promotion and their efforts were producing results. However, it wasalso revealed that most businesses did not find the certifi cation to have anyexternal publicizing effects, and that it was not used as a reference forcompany selection by job-seeking students. In brief, in order for small－andmedium-sized businesses certified as"Kurumin" businesses to sociallypublicize their policies and for job seekers to be able to select companieswith work environments that enable them to fully exercise their abilities, theawareness of"Kurumin"must rise and small－and medium-sized "Kurumin"businesses must receive recognition from the society.The"Kurumin"program is scheduled to be implemented only until 2015．However, the Japanese Government has stated its intentions to activelyengage in this program. At a time when the state, businesses and workers（job seekers）are all faced with the need to give serious consideration towork environment from their respective positions, I believe the"Kurumin"certification has the potential for serving as one of the means for evaluation．