Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Work–Life Balance

In order to create a workplace environment where employees can work with peace of mind, it is essential to improve the work-life balance and to take into full consideration the safety and health of employees. So, labor and management are working together on a range of initiatives to improve welfare for employees.

Welfare for Employees

We have various systems in place, including savings for asset building, employee stock ownership plan , travel assistance, company housing/on-site dormitory, congratulatory/condolence payments, group life insurance, and group non-life insurance.
We also conduct asset building seminars on defined contribution pension plans and investments to support employees in planning for their future and managing their assets after retirement.

Additionally, we are subsidizing club activities that employees are interested in doing so as to boost employee satisfaction, improve their health, and encourage mutual friendship.

Holiday/Leave System

As part of our efforts to achieve a better work-life balance for employees, we are encouraging employees to take their annual paid leave. Since FY2019, we have been systematically giving employees five days of annual paid leave each year, while making it easier to take that leave including introducing a system that allows employees to use their annual paid leave on an hourly basis. We have also introduced a refresh leave system at each milestone of long service (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years), as well as three days of summer vacation leave that can be taken between June to October each year, and a company holiday to commemorate the anniversary of our founding. If an employee is injured or becomes ill outside of their work and needs to take leave, we allow them to use the expired annual paid leave from the last ten years as special leave so that they can focus on their treatment and recovery. We have also set up a volunteer leave system, provide funds for activities, and make other efforts to actively support the social contribution activities of our employees.

To ensure employees can continue working with peace of mind while balancing childcare, nursing care, and other responsibilities, we are expanding our work-life balance support measures. At the same time, we are promoting understanding of these systems among employees through the publication of internal pamphlets and the conduct of information sessions, as part of efforts to create an environment where anyone can easily utilize these systems.

Support for Balancing Work and Childcare

Overview of our childcare support systems

Holding paternity leave information sessions

We regularly hold information sessions aimed at deepening understanding of paternity leave, with a goal of achieving 100% of male employees taking paternity leave by 2030. These sessions are open to male employees whose spouses are expecting a child, as well as their direct supervisors, managers, and even their spouses who are not part of the Company, serving as an opportunity to foster greater understanding among those around such employees.

Percentage of employees who took at least 1 week of childcare leave

Gender	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024
Men	15.6%	65.7%	86.0%	86.7%
Women	100%	100%	100%	100%

• Percentages are calculated using the number of employees who took at least 1 week of childcare leave (our proprietary target) as the numerator

Support for Balancing Work and Nursing Care

To allow employees to continue performing at their best while balancing work and nursing care responsibilities, we have introduced systems such as nursing care leave, staggered work, reduced-hour work, and nursing care leave of absence.
We hold nursing care-related seminars and provide e-learning training on achieving work-life balance to create opportunities for employees to deepen their understanding of nursing care and to promote such understanding among managers as well.

Overview of our nursing care support systems

Family members requiring nursing care	Spouse, biological parents, adoptive parents, parents-in-law, children, grandparents, siblings, grandchildren
Nursing care leave	Five days per year for one family member; ten days per year for two or more family members Can be taken on an hourly basis.
Work styles	Restrictions on late-night work, non-scheduled work, and overtime work Staggered commuting and reduced-hour work
Nursing care leave of absence	Can be taken six separate times, up to a cumulative total of 93 days per family member Can be extended up to a maximum of 365 days
Nursing care support services	Nursing care consultations, support hotlines, referral to nursing care facilities, etc.

Although the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave has increased compared to the past, there remain issues to address, such as solo parenting and taking childcare leave only for the sake of doing so, as well as the need to improve work styles and workplace cultures that pose a challenge to balancing work and family life.
We aim to create a workplace environment where we can move away from solo parenting, where one parent bears the full burden, and work together to raise children together!

We believe that an environment where employees can work with peace of mind over the long term is essential for a company’s sustainable growth. Going forward, we will continue to strive to improve our systems and foster a workplace culture with the goal of balancing a comfortable working environment with job satisfaction.