Special Feature 2 Local Communities

Although women work in various jobs in the cities of Indonesia, the idea that women, even if highly educated, should stay in the home after marriage is still persists, which makes it hard for women to work outside the home.
Many are also forced to quit their jobs in the face of family opposition.
With a population of 250 million, Indonesia is an attractive market for Yakult’s business.
There are two sales methods in use: direct sales (stores) and sales by Yakult Ladies (home delivery), and sales initially grew mainly by store sales.
However, the importance of intestinal health and lactic acid bacteria is still relatively unknown in Indonesia.
Believing that it was vital to strengthen sales through Yakult Ladies to help spread deeper understanding of product features, the company started to increase the number of Yakult Ladies and revised the training system in 2008.
Sales have been steadily growing since then.

Yakult Ladies conduct sales activities in their respective preassigned sales areas.
For this reason, closeness to the community is given priority in hiring new Yakult Ladies.
Instead of using advertisements and other recruitment methods, employees visit each household within the sales area to look for candidates.
During recruitment, the job descriptions are also explained in detail to the candidate’s family to gain their understanding.
It takes about two weeks on average to hire a single Yakult Lady.
Soon to become a familiar part of the community, Yakult Ladies originate from such steady recruitment activities.

Most Yakult Ladies are homemakers with children.
They are assigned areas that are in the immediate vicinity of their homes to enable them to balance work and private life with family.
In addition, female employees are continuously present at the offices and home delivery centers to closely follow up on Yakult Ladies regarding any questions or concerns they have about sales, as well as their worries at home.
Instead of a morning assembly, a “afternoon assembly” is held every day at the centers. All Yakult Ladies in the sales area attend the afternoon assembly.
Besides sharing information on the daily happenings in the field, they brush up on conversational skills by role playing and conduct study groups to deepen product knowledge, among others, which increase motivation, create a sense of unity, as well as boost their skills as salespersons.
The company also puts emphasis on creating an engaging and enjoyable atmosphere.
At the centers, everyone’s targets are posted on the wall and colorfully decorated.
The Yakult Ladies also hold luncheons once a month, making it a fun working environment.
To close the afternoon assembly, everybody sings an original song to cheer each other on.
Such an atmosphere serves as a driver for communicating cheerfully with customers.
Motivation is also raised through training and events outside the centers.
After three months on the job, follow-up training is held at a plant to help improve communication skills and network with Yakult Ladies in other areas.
In the sales technique competition held once a year, they display skills gained from their daily accomplishments while having fun competing with each other.
As a result of these efforts, many of the Yakult Ladies say they are enjoying their stable jobs, and the job retention rate is increasing every year.
The company will continue promoting these activities to empower local women through our business activities.