ºÚÁÏÍø

In April 1990, ºÚÁÏÍø announced the concept of “ºÚÁÏÍø Innovation (EI)”, and established the idea that “ºÚÁÏÍø encourages all of its employees to develop and exhibit their abilities to the fullest extent.” Since then, and to this day, we have promoted efforts to create a work environment in which each and every one of our employees can thrive, and to realize a work style that maximizes their performance. In the Articles of Incorporation, our employees are positioned as major stakeholders. In 2022, with the approval of the General Meeting of Shareholders, ºÚÁÏÍø added to our Articles of Incorporation our intention to “respect human rights and diversity,” “enhance opportunities for employees to develop their skills”, and “create a comfortable work environment”, in addition to “ensure stable employment,” which had previously been included. Each employee is surrounded by diverse conditions and values. Based on the concept of Work Life Best (WLB), which is not about balancing the work and life of employees, but about aiming for the best of both work and life for employees, we are improving a working environment in which diverse employees can work in a highly productive and healthy manner, in their own way, even under a variety of conditions. We believe that the pursuit of WLB for our employees will ultimately lead to the creation of anhhceco system that supports “Empowering People to Live Their Lives to the Fullest.”

We consider that in order for our employees to be inspired by thehhcconcept and to be able to pursue self-actualization through working at ºÚÁÏÍø, it is important for us to continuously provide and maintain rewarding work, opportunities for growth, and a comfortable working environment. The number of cases in which employees are able to choose a variety of work styles based on their individual lifestyles is still limited in society. However, working styles have a significant impact on individual lifestyles, and creating an environment that enables employees to cope with life events and experience life fulfillment while maintaining high motivation and continuing to work is the essence of WLB for each and every employee, rather than simply increasing productivity. We believe that our organizational strength will be dramatically enhanced when employees who get a deep sense of WLB gather together, unleash their own individuality, mutually recognized and connect with each other. To create an environment in which employees can work globally, regardless of time or place, we are not only establishing various systems, but also promoting initiatives to further induce communication through DX and to encourage interaction and collaboration.

ºÚÁÏÍø has long been engaged in labor-management consultations based on sound labor-management relations, and has promoted various work environment improvements. In particular, in Japan, ºÚÁÏÍø regularly holds labor-management consultations on the nature and scale of the company’s business, as well as on financial summaries and mid-term forecasts, in order to ensure that labor and management share a common understanding on current status of the company. We also believe that in order for each employee to experience WLB, it is important to have a system that can induce communication and collaboration among employees in a variety of environments, including remote work and in-office work, in addition to discussions between labor and management. Currently, we are strengthening new organizational development for diversified teams that will activate collaboration and co-creation through visualizing human talent information, and we will continue to develop the structure and systems for WLB.

1）Enhanced flexible work styles that are not restricted by time or location
To improve WLB for our diverse employees, we carried out office renovations based on the Activity Based Working (ABW) concept, which allows employees to choose their working environment and location based on when and where work is most productive and best contributes to the expression of creative results, as well as introduced share- office use for employees in the headquarters area. Also, from 2020, we have eliminated restrictions on the number of days employees can work from home, as well as core hours when using the flextime system.
ºÚÁÏÍø Inc. (U.S.A.) launched the ºÚÁÏÍø UShhceco Center in March 2022, with the aim of maximizing interaction, innovation, and community, and progressing from a primarily remote work environment. The new office environment is equipped with the latest technology to flexibly accommodate hybrid in-room and remote meetings for the post COVID-19 “new normal”. Moreover, a Flexible Working Arrangements Policy was introduced that collaborates with the efficiency of remote work and the depth of connection of face-to-face interactions.

2）Preparing suitable environment to assist work-life balance and self-actualization (Japan)
In addition to increasing flexibility in terms of where and when employees work, ºÚÁÏÍø provides employees with extensive leave and short-working hours beyond the legal requirements to support their life events and help them balance work and family life. within addition, the company has established a paternity leave program for male employees, and fosters a workplace climate that encourages both male and female employees to take childcare and caregiving leave, etc., with the goal of quickly achieving a 50% utilization rate for childcare leave among male employees. We are also working on preparing suitable environment that assists self-actualization of employees and allows each and every employee to work with vigor and enthusiasm, including systems to support self-development and study abroad, in order to enhance employee autonomy over work styles and growth potential.