Shinohara founded Persol Holdings (formerly Tempstaff) in 1973, leading the company until she retired while taking on the role of chairman emeritus in 2016.
[5] In 1973, Shinohara founded Tempstaff from a one-bedroom apartment after returning to Japan after living abroad in Europe and Australia where she saw women working as temps.
[10] She has described her management approach as "start small, grow it large” explaining that "women have the knack of steadily building a businesses as well as being able to give form to ideas that are close at hand.
[16] In 2016, she donated $140 million of stock to endow the Yoshiko Shinohara Memorial Foundation which would fund scholarships for students studying to become nurses, social worker or day-care staff.
[2] Her decision to retire from Persol Holdings to focus on philanthropy has been cited as an example of women being more likely to donate than men of equal means.