Sustainability ESG Management: Social Issues / Human Capital

Basic Approach

Guided by our management philosophy—A Company Centered on Technology Development That Contributes to Society—we believe that helping to resolve social issues faced by society and our customers will lead to the sustainable improvement of our corporate value.

For this reason, it is essential that we continue to be a company that is trusted and is relied upon both by society and our customers. So, we position the sincerity and seriousness of our corporate culture and human resources (human capital) as the source of our value creation.

Based on these strengths, we will work on recruiting, human resource development, compensation and evaluation systems, and the creation of a comfortable working environment to foster employees’ willingness to take on challenges, support autonomous growth, and improve engagement. Guided by being “a group of employees who have a bold and challenging spirit” as the pillar of our human resource strategy, we will boost corporate value by upgrading our human capital even more.

Strengthening Human Resource Development

Developing Human Resources through Education

The Group believes that the trust and support of society and customers through the sincerity and integrity of our employees is the source of value creation, and that it is important to develop human resources that encourage a spirit of challenge based on these principles.

As a specific policy, we are working on on-the-job training, one pillar of our development, and our corporate culture is supported by a system where the entire workplace carefully attends to and educates every employee individually.

In addition, we are striving to develop leaders through offsite training based on varied job levels with the intention of implementing human resource strategies. We are also conducting practical training for every department. In addition, we will reinforce the development of the next generation of management executives through training for senior managers and others.

Also for human resource development, since 2008 the Group has accepted many technical trainees from IKO Thompson Vietnam Co., Ltd., and is promoting skill exchanges. We position this training as a contribution to the development of human resources who will be responsible for the economic development of their region, and will also lead to develop internationally-minded employees through the diverse experiences of our personnel, something that we will continue to work in the future.

Supporting Self-Directed Career Growth

From the viewpoint of supporting employees’ autonomy and encouraging their desire to grow, we promote initiatives to support self-development. From this perspective, we help our employees to acquire national qualifications, such as technical skill tests, and every year we see a large number of employees gaining qualifications. With the improvement of employee skills through these activities, we aim to further improve quality and provide high value-added products. In addition, from FY2023, we will establish a new incentive system for public qualifications to support the autonomous growth of our employees.

We will continue to examine training programs suited to the work and needs of our employees while working to build an education system that develops individuality.

Creating a Rewarding Work Environment

Bolstering Systems to Support Employees’ Sense of Security

We believe that the execution of our human resource strategy requires human resource development from a medium- to long-term perspective and that an environment where employees can work with a sense of security is essential to achieving this goal.

To foster a sense of security among employees, we consider benefits to be an important issue. So, we focus on improving programs, such as housing and meal subsidies, in cooperation with labor unions, with which we maintain a good relationship, in order to increase the level of employee satisfaction. In addition, we are working to improve employee engagement by fostering individual growth and realizing career plans through interviews based on a self-assessment system and a target management system.

Through these initiatives we have been able to keep our turnover rate low for many years and have been able to develop human resources from a medium- to long-term perspective. We will examine current systems and approaches to continue supporting our employees’ sense of security.

Support for Balancing Childcare and Work

Balancing childcare and work is a major barrier to employees’ career plans, and to foster a sense of security among employees, we provide childcare support while paying close attention to them as much as possible.

We have set up systems based on this perspective, and our childcare leave and shorter working hours for childcare exceed the legal requirements. We also support employees who take childcare leave to balance work and childcare by working closely with their departments and the HR Department to address their individual concerns, as much as possible.

We will continue to consider ways to provide better childcare support by listening to our employees, and at the same time, we are promoting the use of childcare leave for men.

Efforts for Supporting Development of the Next Generation

The Company has formulated the following action plan to help employees who are raising children achieve proper Work-Life balance to support the development of the next generation.

1. Plan period

April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025

2. Plan contents

[Goal 1] Increase the usage rate of annual paid leave for all employees to at least 70%.

From April 2022: Grasp the annual paid leave usage level for each employment management category over the past three years.
From July 2022: Conduct education activities that encourage employees to take planned annual paid leave via inhouse newsletters.
From February 2023: Disseminate information about planned usage for managers.
From April 2023: Continue the above initiatives.

[Goal 2] Promote the use of the infant care leave system.

From April 2022: Create briefing materials that give an overview of the infant care leave system, etc.
From July 2022: Inform all employees of the support system for infant care leave, etc. via inhouse newsletters.
From September 2022: Revise the briefing materials that give an overview of the infant care leave system, etc., and share it again.
From March 2023: Confirm the usage level of infant care leave, etc., and introduce usage examples to employees.
From April 2023: Continue the above initiatives.

[Goal 3] Increase the usage rate of infant care leave by male employees to at least 85% by the end of FY2031.

Implemented systems

Support name	Contents
Infant care leave system	Can be used up until a child reaches 2 years old.
Reduced working hours system for childcare	Work can be shortened up to two hours a day up until the end of March of a child’s third year of elementary school.
Childcare leave system	Childcare leave for when a pre-school-age child is sick or injured. Up to 5 days a year for 1 child and up to 10 days for 2 or more children. Can be used in half-day units.
Family care absence system	Up to 186 days can be used for one family member.
Reduced working hours system for family care	Working hours can be shortened up to two hours a day for one family member up to two times within a period of three years.
Family care leave system	Up to 5 days a year for 1 family member and up to 10 days for 2 or more family members. Can be used in half-day units.

Promoting Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)

Basic Approach

We believe that it is essential to ensure diversity, for example when appointing employees, to prevent biased thinking and to generate sustainable profits. Diversity is important for the development of technology useful to a global society, making products at appropriate prices, sales for proposing and supplying high value-added products, and the administrative departments that support them.

For this reason, the Group promotes diversity and inclusion (D&I) to boost corporate value from multiple perspectives, including gender and other diversity and skills, and we strive to create an environment where every employee can work on their own initiative with a sense of fulfillment.

Moreover, to respond to the diversified needs of society, we consider securing diversity in human resources to be an important issue. Accordingly, we will work to develop employees by supporting them guided by their own career goals in harmony with their respective work styles, based on the principle of providing fair opportunities for skill development and career advancement to all employees regardless of gender, age, nationality, work experience, etc.

Specific Initiatives

Guided by our Basic Policy on Diversity and Inclusion, we are committed to ensuring diversity in our hiring and appointment of employees.

The Company, as a manufacturer, especially in the machinery industry, tends to have a high percentage of male employees. To overcome this situation, in recent years we have hired a set percentage of female employees with the measures such as holding company information sessions for women. As a result, the percentage of females among all employees and among core personnel has steadily increased.

As we continue to implement such activities, and will strengthen support for raising children in order to ensure diverse personnel including promoting the hiring of women as core personnel.

Initiatives for promoting the success of women in the workplace

To promote participation by women in the workplace, the Company will strengthen the hiring of women and establish a rewarding workplace based on the following.

1. Plan period

April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025

2. Current status of the Company

(FY2022)

(1) Percentage of females among hired employees
 25.9% (Full-time employees)
 92.9％ (Contracted and part-time employee)

(2) Usage rate of paid leave
 62.8％

3. Goals and initiatives

[Goal 1] Steadily increase the percentage of women among all full–time hires to 20% or more

From April 2022: Hold briefings primarily for women at least twice a year.
From April 2023: Implement internships primarily for women at least twice a year.
From April 2024: Share examples of female managers and supervisors as role models.

[Goal 2] Increase the number of women in management positions and above by 1.5 times or more compared with March 2022

From April 2022: Exchange opinions about women's activities for management.
From September 2022: Review the training curriculum for developing managers.
From April 2023: Provide training for women who are candidates for managers.
From April 2024: Conduct interviews about career plans for women who are candidates for managers.

[Goal 3] Increase the number of women in management positions and above by March 2030 to at least 5 times or more compared with March 2022

Certified as a “Seki City Approved Workplace for Women”

NIPPON THOMPSON’s main factory at the Gifu Factory complex was certified as a “Seki City Approved Workplace for Women” by the Seki City Hall. This indicates that the Company meets 13 specific conditions including preparing and stipulating rules for child/nursing care, maternal health management for female employees, and protection for mothers.

At the Gifu Factory complex, there are currently around 500 female employees. We will make efforts to improve the environment so that employees who are raising children receive consideration at each workplace, and make it easy for them to use leave for school events and when children are sick.

Occupational Health and Safety Initiatives

Basic Approach

We see our human capital as a source of value creation, and especially as a manufacturing company with many employees engaged in production, and we consider safeguarding the health and safety of our employees to be one of the highest priorities for corporate management. Therefore, we aim to harmonize our business activities with employee health and safety based on the principle of minimizing physical hazards and adverse effects on the health of all people participating in our business activities through the participation of all employees in health and safety programs.

Health and Safety Initiatives

All members of the Group are aware of the importance of “safety first” and are engaged in health and safety programs that maintain safe, comfortable workplaces that enable employees to work with enthusiasm and vigor. Specifically, we are working to prevent accidents by holding regular factory safety patrols, by conducting risk assessments, and distributing information at safety and health committee meetings and council meetings. In addition, we are working to raise awareness of accident prevention by displaying accident-free records (number of days) at every workplace within the worksite.

At the same time, by establishing a mental health consultation desk and monitoring long working hours, we will further promote the health and safety of all employees, as we consider this a priority issue.