We consider diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) to be one of our most important management strategies as we believe that harnessing each employee’s individual qualities and helping them fully demonstrate their abilities are essential for companies to attain sound growth and ensure happiness for all employees. We strive to recognize and accept diverse human resources regardless of gender, age, disability, nationality, as well as lifestyle and personality, and to provide each with the best support and opportunities in a fair manner. We utilize new values and ideas coming from an employee-friendly workplace that accepts such people by combining different “knowledge.”
Since 2013, as our first step toward diversity promotion, we have been putting effort in creating working environment across the company where women can truly thrive and play active roles.
The Group aims to increase the ratio of women, foreign nationals, and career hires to 25% of management positions by 2030. In addition, we have set a new target of 10% women in management positions by 2030 as a more effective indicator for specific organizational restructuring.
This is a selective training program for female employees whose next stage of growth will be managerial positions, to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitude required to become what they want to be. The program embraces the concept “one step forward in a resilient manner while staying true to oneself,” and the first word in the name of the program represents the components that make up the concept: Resilient, Active, I (true to oneself), Smart, and Exceed (one step forward). We have appointed several executives as advisory board members for the program, providing opportunities for trainees to voluntarily seek advice and support for their efforts in the program, and acquire multiple mentors. Trainees will gain the perspective required of managers, and at the end of the training, they will give a presentation in front of the chairman, president and board member. Through the training, we help trainees get ready to become managers and to take on challenges with confidence.
In our Group, there is no difference in the system between men and women, and there is almost no wage difference between men and women in terms of qualifications. However, as a future issue, the ratio of management-level positions in the population is lower for women than for men, and we will make further efforts to increase the ratio of women in management positions in the future.
Number of Female Employees in a Managerial Posts
Proportion of Female EmployeesThe growth of employees leads to the sustainable growth of the company. Based on this recognition, we are working to provide employees with workplaces where they can choose the right career for themselves, enhance their expertise and skills, and continue to make a meaningful contribution.
As part of such efforts, we defined people aged 60 and above as the platinum generation and implemented the Platinum Project from 2018 to 2021 to develop measures that enable all employees, including reemployed retirees, to continue to play an active role in the workplace. A project team was established, comprising members selected through open recruitment, and the following measures have been launched under the Project.
Through this contact, employees who have a national qualification for career consulting respond to calls for advice about career vision, work motivation, life events, etc. The career consultants do not provide solutions but instead help the questioners find answers for themselves.
As a tool to help employees to look back on their past, set their future vision and commit themselves to achieving the vision, we use “My Career.” Employees annually input information about their career to date and their future aspirations into “My Career,” which their managers then refer to in interviewing them to support their career development.
Some employees in the platinum generation are eager to work but do not have confidence in their physical stamina. In response, at some of our plants we have begun to exempt such employees from the night shift upon request, with other employees working at night instead.
Number of Retirees Reemployed under the SystemWe established Nittoku Smile Co., Ltd. in order to promote employment of workers with disabilities and it was certified as a special subsidiary in January 2018. We aim to create a comfortable environment for workers with disabilities.
The percentage of employees with disabilities at the end of FY2023 was 2.75%, reaching the mandated employment rate of 2.3%.
We continue to create a better working environment by promoting understanding of employment of workers with disabilities within the company.
Percentage of Disabled EmployeesWe are promoting the employment of foreign nationals in our effort to adapt to the rapid progress of globalization and encourage diverse talent to play active roles. For new graduates, we have been employing, recently with a special focus on the employment of foreign nationals who have studied the Japanese language at overseas universities and want to work in Japan, in addition to those who have studied in Japan.
In order to help newly-hired foreign national employees smoothly adapt to life in Japan, we offer them various supports, including a help site Nittokupedia created by their senior colleagues, a work buddy program to work with Japanese peers, teaching of Japanese language and cross-cultural training. With non-Japanese new graduates and mid-career employees, including both engineers and office personnel, demonstrating their abilities at our workplaces, we can increase our diversity awareness across the company.
We are recognized as a company that has been proactively employing highly-skilled foreign professionals,* and our efforts shown above are covered in "Fifty Japanese Companies Providing Successful Careers for Highly-skilled Foreign Professionals" released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and in a publication issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to introduce a collection of successful case examples that help improve employment management to create an attractive working environment for highly-skilled foreign professionals. In addition, we have been selected for the Japanese government project "Visionary Management 2021," which selects about 100 companies from all over Japan that are working on employing highly-skilled foreign IT personnel, that is to say, a new management method of hiring excellent talent regardless of nationality.
*Highly-skilled foreign professionals: foreign human resources with advanced expertise and skills
Our human resources policy states that we respect the diversity and individuality of our employees, and we aim to create a workplace where LGBTQ+ employees can also play an active role with pride.
The department dedicated to diversity issues takes the lead in promoting various initiatives.
To ensure that our employees have the correct knowledge on LGBTQ+, we provide training and disseminate information through our in-house e-newsletter.
In FY2022, we co-sponsored Nagoya Rainbow Pride, an LGBTQ+-related event, and held an in-house training session with invited speakers. The training provided a valuable opportunity for employees to deepen their understanding of LGBTQ+ issues by listening to LGBTQ+ persons about their experiences and discussing issues with them.
Our human rights policy explicitly states that we will not discriminate on the grounds of LGBTQ+. In addition, consultations on LGBTQ+ and other sexual harassment are given by both labor and management at the consultation desks set up at each plant and via the Corporate Ethics Helpline. Prompt action is taken by the Anti-Harassment Committee.
We are making efforts to promote understanding of DE&I so that we can realize an environment in the workplace where everyone can continue to play an active role in their own way.
The Human Resources Department issues a monthly “Diversity Forum” to all employees to provide various information on DE&I and our company's activities. We strive to promote understanding of DE&I through regular dissemination of information on DE&I.
In February 2024, we held “DE&I WEEK” as a period to think about and promote DE&I with employees. In the lecture given by an outside director, he talked about what DE&I is and the necessity of “inclusion.
This was an opportunity for employees to think about “inclusion” as a personal matter.
The name of this training, “mimi-tako (MT),” is derived from a Japanese phrase meaning “hear enough.” To raise managers’ awareness, the MT training is held repeatedly under the themes of, for example, diversity, the Nittoku Way, and compliance to the extent that trainees feel they have heard enough.
In order to respect the diversity and individuality of our employees, we are promoting initiatives not only for systems and rules, but also for facilities and equipment.
We use genderless uniforms with a unified design and color.
We have installed multipurpose toilets that anyone can use at our head office, Komaki Plant, and other locations.
Komaki Plant N-Forest has set up lactation rooms for employees who need to nursing or express milk.
Even at bases that do not have lactation room rooms, we have taken measures such as creating rest spaces for women.
Prayer rooms have been set up at the head office and Komaki Plant N-Forest for employees who need to pray during working hours for religious reasons.