First face-to-face Cross-cultural annual event in 2 years!
February 28, 2023
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Hi, this is Ryota from the Cross-cultural diversity committee at Accenture Japan.
With offices in 50 countries around the world, Accenture continuously promotes Inclusion & Diversity (I&D). In Japan, we are working to foster our culture where our diverse people respect each other and everyone can thrive while focusing on following 5 key areas: Gender equality, Disability inclusion, LGBTIQ+ Inclusion, Cross-cultural diversity and Well-being. The Cross-cultural diversity Committee is continuously working to acquire a mindset and work style in which our people from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds can create new positive values together.
As one of these efforts, the committee regularly provides opportunities for those with multi-cultural backgrounds and nationalities working in Japan to interact casually outside of work.
On December 8th, 2022, the Cross-cultural diversity committee held its first in-person Cross-cultural event in 2 years! Our people with diverse backgrounds gathered at the Accenture Innovation Hub Tokyo, one of the most fabulous offices in Tokyo.
In this blog, I am going to report on the event which was full of enthusiasm along with real voices from the participants.
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1. Event Overview
This event was open to anyone working at Accenture Japan and became a gathering of people with a rich cross-cultural diversity background. Majority of the attendees came from all parts of life outside of Japan, as well as Japanese employees who work on projects together with those from various parts of the world.
The conversation during the event was primarily in English, however at certain key points the follow-up was provided in Japanese by the event management team. We often saw people who wanted to practice their Japanese language, chatting excitedly in Japanese, as well as employees talking in Hindi, Chinese, Tagalog and even French to exchange interesting topics from their project life to home etiquettes.
Here is the agenda of the event:
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The event was held with COVID-19 preventative measures including countermeasures against becoming affected such as serving food with individual dishes and disinfectant wipes and sprays were provided. This was done to ensure that all participants enjoyed the event free of concern. Additionally, we prepared a wide variety of halal and vegetarian dishes to provide employees with more options versus standard menus which might cause concern.
Fun ice-breaker activities provided an excellent opportunity for participants to exchange words with employees from all parts of the world. This was conducted by the event management team and was designed to encourage fluid conversations among the participants who had never met each other before.
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2. Participant Voices
Here are some comments from the participants.
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I truly enjoyed the Cross-cultural event held on the 8th of December. It was a great and fun meeting so many people face to face for the first time despite knowing some of them from online meetings. The team's attention to detail was stellar, especially the food which included halal and vegetarian options. As a vegetarian myself, this made me extremely happy as I was able to eat and enjoy the food without any concern. The bingo-getting-to-know-you game is truly a fun way to get to know new people with original questions that you’d probably never ask in normal conversations. It also allowed for people to get to know each other when they came, with for example, to facilitate conversation initiations instead of people sticking to groups they knew before they came. Aside from general cross-cultural networking events, having had the opportunity to present my expertise, I also connected with a few other colleagues I had not spoken to before who were interested in my sustainability knowledge and experience. All in all, a fun, creative and inclusive event. I look froward to the next one!
– Sophie L, MGR, Industry X–
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At the event I could meet a multinational group of members that I wouldn’t have any opportunity to interact with normally. Since I am a member of the Event team from Cross-Cultural Diversity Committee, I welcomed many people at the reception desk on the day of the event.
At the time I joined to the team, all in-person events had been halted because of the pandemic, this event was my first time for me to see the people in-person. I felt incredibly happy and pleased that the people greeted me with smile when I said “Hello” at the reception, which couldn’t happen at an online event.
Even after the event was concluded, many people stayed to enjoy talking and taking photos together. This made me motivated more to make opportunities of thriving where the people can interact lively through the activities of the Cross-cultural diversity.
Stay tuned as I and my fellow members of the committee continue to work with you to create opportunities to enjoy this diverse culture and environment!
– Nene S, SNR ANA, Accenture Technology –
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3. Looking to the future
The Cross-Cultural Diversity Committee provides networking opportunities to create an environment and culture where our people from diverse backgrounds can thrive.
Let me introduce the members of the Cross-cultural annual event planning team.
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The Cross-cultural diversity committee will continue to focus on creating opportunities for diverse encounters, both online and offline.
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[Related links]
Information of Accenture’s Inclusion & Diversity
https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/inclusion-diversity-index
Accenture Japan Life Blog: Stories of Accenture people’s activities
https://www.accenture.com/jp-ja/blogs/life-blog
And if you are interested in pursuing a career with Accenture, please refer to the links below:
https://www.accenture.com/jp-ja/careers/life-at-accenture/entry-level-english
