Respect for Employees : Co-Creation of Diverse Talent and Work Style Reform

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Respect for Employees : Co-Creation of Diverse Talent and Work Style Reform

Co-Creation of Diverse Talent

In order for the Toyo Seikan Group to enhance its competitiveness and continue to grow over the long term, each employee needs to make full use of their own abilities for their individual growth and for the Group’s development. To this end, it is essential to create a corporate culture in which every one of us accepts both visible diversity, including differences in gender, nationality and disability, and invisible diversity, including differences in perspective.

Focusing on “responding to diversity,” one of the two pillars of the Group’s Long-Term Vision 2050, we are developing a human talent platform that can create new value.

Promoting Active Engagement of Older Workers

While the mandatory retirement age is set at 60, 77.4% of workers at the retirement age in the Group have chosen to continue to work under our re-employment program, which secures opportunities to work up to the age 65.

We are working on the succession of techniques and skills by assigning an educational role to the re-employed, experienced workers. We are also promoting automation in production facilities to reduce a burden of carrying heavy loads so that everyone can continue to work for a long time.

FY2021 re-employment: 455 persons (combined total for seven companies⁽²⁾)

Supporting Sexual Minorities (LGBTQ)

Our Management Creed states that “we will honor dignity and always strive to be fair and unbiased in every way,” while our Guidelines of Behavior emphasizes respecting human rights, accepting diversity, and prohibiting discrimination, harassment and abuse. We are aiming to create a workplace where the human rights and personalities of all workers are respected.

Specifically, the Guidelines of Behavior, established as common standards to be complied with by all officers and employees in our group, clearly states that “we do not discriminate on the grounds of nationality, race, ethnic group, religion, belief, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation,” which is shared among the employees. In addition to this ethical approach, we are taking a regulatory approach to prevent discrimination. The work rules of individual group companies prohibit anyone from causing distress or disadvantages for other workers or harming the work environment with words or actions related to sexual orientation or gender identity.

We have also established internal and external whistleblowing systems that allow employees to report or consult on any kind of harassment or abuse and any other subject while remaining anonymous.

Inclusion of People with Disabilities

We aim to create a work environment that allows all employees, regardless of disabilities, to comfortably work. For example, we are working on improving facilities in the head office building, including barrier-free, multi-functional restrooms on each floor, and introducing a voice-to-text app for the hearing impaired.

Meanwhile, several group companies and plants recruit people with disabilities through training programs at local special education schools. There is also a group company that provides such people with opportunities to work as its employees on contracted farms to help revitalize local communities.

As of June 30, 2021, workers with disabilities accounted for 2.2% of the total employees of the Group. We will continue with our efforts to achieve the mandatory employment rate for the disabled.

Employing Foreign Nationals

We are recruiting international students, returnee students and other talented individuals who can globally contribute to the development of our overseas operations, without setting any restrictions on application.

We also accept trainees from Southeast Asian nations and other countries for both adding our workforce and providing technical support for developing countries under Japan’s foreign technical internship program.

Encouraging More Active Participation of Women

We are implementing the General Employers Action Plan we have formulated under the Japanese Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace and the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children.

Current issues to address

1)The percentage of women in the total labor force is still low.
2)The retention rate of female workers with 10 years of service is lower than that of male workers.
3)The average length of service for women is shorter than for men.

We have set the following targets to address these issues.

Planned period:

Five years from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026

Targets:

1)30% or more female recruits
2)Reduce the difference in average length of service between female and male workers to 3 years or less
3)Achieve 70% or higher retention rates both for female and male workers who were hired around 10 years (9 to 11 years) ago.

Results as of March 31, 2022

1)Female recruit ratio: 17.6% for FY2021 (For both new graduates and mid-careers)
2)Difference in average length of service: 3.9 years (Male: 17.9 years/ Female: 14.0 years)
3)Ten year retention rate: Male: 66.4%/ Female: 53.1% (All workers: 63.7%)

Note:The scope of data includes Toyo Seikan, Toyo Kohan, Tokan Kogyo, Nippon Closures, Toyo Glass, Mebius Packaging and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings.

We will implement specific measures corresponding to individual workers in different career stages, including at the time of joining the company and during maternity and childcare leave, by facilitating information sharing among group companies, especially by personnel departments. We will also develop a scheme to improve communication skills of supervisors and raise career awareness of female workers themselves.

To continue our ongoing initiatives to increase female recruits, we are introducing equipment to reduce workload in production processes and developing and enhancing systems to accommodate diverse work styles.

“Kagayaki” Project to Empower Women in Workplace

Toyo Seikan has been implementing a women empowerment initiative called “Kagayaki” (shining) Project as part of its diversity development efforts to create a working environment in which various members with diverse personalities can demonstrate their different abilities.

In FY2021, stepping up its ongoing efforts, the company defined the year as “the year to change employees’ awareness” and conducted the Starting Female Empowerment Seminar for directors, officers and managers to learn the purposes and necessity of women’s advancement, as well as e-learning programs for the issue. The company also issued a new internal magazine for female empowerment, Shine, which contained a message from the president and the objectives and goals of the initiative and was distributed to all employees. In addition, the company defined March 8th as Women’s Empowerment Day. On the day of 2021, the first year, there were the president’s video message, promotional posters, and programs for sexual harassment prevention, among other themes.

We will continue with our efforts to become a company that allows women to actively work to demonstrate all their abilities and, in turn, a company in which all members can play an active role.

Female Career Training Program

Nippon Closures has been focusing on employee career education to help individuals build their careers with confidence and a clear purpose of work in their lives. In March 2022, the company conducted a female career training program for 26 female employees with 13 to 19 years of service.

The female workers in their 30s, who are struggling with balancing work and home life and other issues amid changes in their life stages, learned and discussed various aspects of career development. There was positive feedback from participants after the program: “The discussion has made me positive about career advancement,” and “The program gave me an insight into selfdevelopment.” The company will implement more measures to support female workers’ efforts to build their careers.

“Kurumin” Certification as a Childcare-Supporting Company

In July 2021, Toyo Seikan was certified by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare as a “Kurumin,” a certified childcaresupporting corporation. Highly evaluated was the company’s efforts to create a workplace in which employees can balance work and childcare, through various measures to reduce total working hours, encourage employees to take paid leave, improve its flexible working hours system, and introduce a teleworking system.

Kurumin Certification is a governmental program to certify companies that meet certain requirements with respect to childcare support, such as formulating and implementing action plans to help employees balance work and child rearing, based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children.

We will continue to be engaged in work style reforms.

Senior Life Plan Seminars

Amid the declining birthrate and aging population, we conduct life plan seminars for employees aged 55 and over to encourage their active participation after age 60 and their preparedness for post-retirement life.

In August 2021, Toyo Aerosol Industry invited a lecturer, with the cooperation of Tokan Kyoei, to hold a life plan seminar at the head office and online to discuss the details of public pension systems and the necessity and effect of life planning, and the participants experienced a life plan simulation.

We will continue to hold such seminars on a regular basis to provide opportunities for employees to learn about life planning methods.

Symposium on Inclusive Employment for Persons with Disabilities

On December 2, 2021, Nippon Closures’ Okayama Plant participated in an online symposium organized by the regional employment centers for people with disabilities in Okayama prefecture. In the symposium with about 90 attendees, Nippon Closures shared the current status of its employment of disabled persons and ongoing efforts, including work assignment by taking into consideration the degree and nature of each individual’s disability and technologies to be utilized. The company will continue to work together with local governments on the employment of persons with disabilities.

Seminar for Balancing Work and Elderly Care

In promoting work style reforms and diversity in the workforce, Toyo Seikan aims to achieve a goal of “reducing to zero the number of employees who leave work for elderly care” by supporting employees in balancing work and caregiving. In August 2021, as part of the initiative, the company conducted an online seminar for employees and their families on preparation for future care. Participants learned necessary knowledge to balance work and caregiving and specific care for the coronavirus diseases.

We will continue to work on creating a workplace that allows everyone to balance work and elderly care, thereby retaining employees with caregiving responsibilities.

Work Style Reform

Introducing a system to support various work styles

Group companies are increasingly introducing a telework system and a flextime system. Toyo Glass has also introduced hourly paid leave, aiming to create a comfortable work environment so that each of the employees can fully demonstrate their abilities.

Reducing Long Hours Working

Based on labor-related laws of relevant countries and labor-management agreements, our work regulations set rules concerning appropriate working hours, rest periods, overtime work and leave. We have been taking various measures to reduce long hours working, aiming to achieve a better work-life balance for individual employees and higher productivity.

Among the measures is the improvement of attendance management systems by group companies in Japan to prevent employees from working long hours. With the enhanced systems, they have improved the accuracy of attendance management, established and promoted flexible work hours and telework systems to allow diverse work styles, and set specific days to encourage employees to take paid leave as well as “no overtime work” days.

Selected as “100 Telework Pioneers” in Government-Led Initiative

In 2019, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings was selected as a “Telework Pioneer” in the initiative led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and in October 2020, it was awarded as one of the “100 Telework Pioneers,” which are given to companies who have established a certain level of teleworking conditions.

To achieve work-life balance and increase productivity, the company has been fully implementing its telework system since fiscal 2017, advancing its work style reform, including streamlining operations, paperless work, widespread use of web conferencing, and setting up satellite offices with group companies. As a result of encouraging all employees to actively use the telework system, the company has also been successfully operating the system as an emergency measure to secure business continuity under the COVID-19 outbreak.

Support for Balancing Work and Elderly Care

We have prepared the “Book for Working While Caring” and distributed its copies to those who wish to have one. We have also posted its content on our company newsletters and our intranet to make it fully known and always available to anyone who needs it. We continue to work on retaining employees who have to care for family members by improving our support systems, aiming to create a work environment where everyone can balance work and care.

Seminar to Support Back-to-Work from Child Care Leave

The Group conducted a back-to-work support seminar for employees who returned from child care leave and their managers from four group companies. The program provided an opportunity for them to think about future career development and to share honest views and opinions from the perspective of each side. There were various feedbacks from participants, including “Well understood the need of career development efforts even while child rearing” and “Desperately felt the importance of mid- to long-term talent development with consideration to an employee’s life events.”

Launching “Enjoy Friday” Initiative

In October 2021, Toyo Seikan launched a new initiative “Enjoy Friday” at its head office to encourage employees to leave office after working hours, abolishing its previous initiative of “no overtime work day” for every Tuesday and Thursday, which had actually not worked.

Enjoy Friday is not just designed to reduce overtime work, but to promote more efficient and flexible work styles and to encourage employees to take paid leave, under the slogan of “Let’s start the week with a special plan for Friday!” Since the new initiative began, the average hours of overtime work on Fridays have been decreasing, leading to a better work-life balance in the workplace.

Support for “White Logistics” Movement

In February 2022, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings expressed its support for “White Logistics” campaign led by Japan’s three industry-related ministries, submitting a declaration on voluntary action toward a sustainable logistics industry.

Thirteen group companies^*, including manufacturers, logistics companies and logistics partners, have issued a declaration for the campaign after detailed examination of content, and will be engaged in cooperative activities. Toyo Seikan Group Holdings is working with other group companies to build hub warehouses in the areas near delivery destinations. We aim to create a “white” working environment in logistics that allows more female and elderly workers to join, by 1) building logistics networks utilizing warehouses near delivery destinations, and 2) using the networks to reduce the number of needed vehicles and achieve stable operation for regular and irregular truck lines.

Based on the declaration, we will advance our efforts to realize sustainable logistics going forward.

Note:The scope of data includes Toyo Seikan, Toyo Kohan, Tokan Kogyo, Nippon Closures, Toyo Glass, Mebius Packaging, Toyo Aerosol Industry, TOMATEC, Nippon Tokan Package, Toyo Mebius, Tokan Logitech, Kudamatsu Unyu and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings.