%Work Style Reform
Japan’s recent Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform caps overtime work and obliges employers to ensure that workers take at least five days of paid leave annually. Tosoh has briefed management personnel on the act’s provisions and disseminated details of the act.
We, meanwhile, have been independently improving our work management systems and reducing our working hours. With the act’s introduction, we seek to lower overtime hours and to achieve the act’s fiscal 2021 target of having permanent daytime workers take at least 70% of their annual paid holidays.
To this end, we have introduced various schemes. These include a batch paid leave scheme, where employees take three days of paid annual leave at once, and a refreshment support leave scheme, which encourages employees to take at least five consecutive-day vacations each year. The latter excludes holidays, such as Golden Week, in late April to early May; O-Bon, in mid-August; end-of-year celebrations; and New Year’s.
| Working hours |
FY19 |
| Annual total working hours1 |
1,911 hours/person |
| Annual total overtime working hours1 |
213 hours/person |
| Rate of use of annual paid leave2 |
75% |
1 Data is for nonexecutive level personnel.
2 Data is for employees, and the calculation period is July of the current year through June of the following year.
| Personnel-related data |
FY17 |
FY18 |
FY19 |
| Regular employees |
3,337 |
Male |
3,042 |
3,404 |
Male |
3,102 |
3,501 |
Male |
3,179 |
| Female |
295 |
Female |
302 |
Female |
322 |
| New employees |
118 |
Male |
101 |
163 |
Male |
145 |
215 |
Male |
189 |
| Female |
17 |
Female |
18 |
Female |
26 |
| Employees with foreign citizenship |
8 |
11 |
10 |
| Reemployed employees(*) |
282 |
246 |
231 |
| Disabled person employment rate 3 |
1.83% |
2.03% |
1.91% |
| Average age 4 |
40.3 |
39.9 |
39.5 |
| Average years of continuous service 4 |
14.8 |
14.7 |
14.6 |
| Employee turnover 5 |
0.93% |
0.59% |
0.91% |
| Employee retention rate (three years after joining) |
96.7% |
98.7% |
97.4% |
3 Figures include Tosoh employees seconded to group companies.
4 Figures include employees from group companies seconded to Tosoh but exclude Tosoh employees seconded to group companies.
5 Figures reflect voluntary retirees, excluding mandatory retirees, tranfers to group companies, promotions to executive positions, expiry of sick leave period and punitive dismissal.
(*) Reemployed employees refer to employees who were reemployed by the company upon reaching mandatory retirement.
Work-Life Balance
Tosoh is expanding and upgrading its regulations for a workplace culture that helps employees balance work and life outside work, enabling them to contribute to the company and to society.
We have established childcare and family care leave and extended leave systems, including a reduced working hour scheme to facilitate childcare. In fiscal 2019, we transformed our nursing and family care leave systems into paid leave.
We also issued a family care guidebook presenting basic family care knowledge and information on how to follow government regulations and introducing our support systems in an easy-to-understand format. By making this information widely available, to employees engaged in family care and their coworkers not engaged in family care, we aim for an understanding work environment where all employees can work with peace of mind.
We will continue to establish a workplace environment that, while fostering the motivation and satisfaction of all employees, recognizes and values diverse employee lifestyles.
| Data related to childcare and family care |
FY17 |
FY18 |
FY19 |
| Childcare leave recipients |
Male |
0 |
1 |
22 |
Leave taken: —
Returned: — |
Leave taken: 1%
Returned: 100% |
Leave taken: 14%
Returned: 100% |
| Female |
10 |
13 |
13 |
Leave taken: 100%
Returned: 100% |
Leave taken: 100%
Returned: 100% |
Leave taken: 100%
Returned: 90% |
| Paternity and childcare leave recipients |
105 |
122 |
125 |
| Returned: 80% |
Returned: 87% |
Returned: 82% |
| Employees working reduced hours to facilitate childcare |
12 |
8 |
9 |
| Extended family care leave recipients |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Family care leave recipients |
0 |
1 |
14 |
Health and Productivity Management
At Tosoh, we engage in what translates as health and productivity management.6 In so doing, we hope that the mental and physical well-being of our employees will strengthen our on-site capabilities, which is a key management issue.
Each year, Tosoh’s Health Promotion Committee plans and carries out health improvement activities at our Yokkaichi and Nanyo Complexes to improve physical fitness, lifestyle, and mental health. In addition to health consultations and lectures by public health nurses and medical nurses, the activities involve participation-type campaigns that see employees take part in activities such as walking events. We also seek to improve employee health by providing pleasant workplaces by implementing participation-type campaigns in which employees take part in activities such as walking events. Additional mental health measures that we undertake include employee stress checks. In fiscal 2019, 95.74% of our employees underwent stress checks.
6 Health and productivity management, as translated here, refers to Kenkokeiei, a registered trademark of the nonprofit organization Kenkokeiei, or Workshop for the Management of Health.
Human Resources Development and Diversity and Respect for Human Rights
Tosoh is fostering its human resources to build character; cognitive abilities; and knowledge and skills, not least in safe and stable operation. We systematically develop education and training systems to bring out the best in our employees.
Human Resources Development
In addition to providing young employees with on-the-job training, we are building a human resources program to develop them as core Tosoh human resources and, more, as responsible, adult members of society.
We offer rank-based education and training for all levels of employee, from new to longtime employee on up through our executive ranks. We also emphasize programs whereby employees can advance the skills necessary to perform their duties and learn about compliance. We have upgraded and expanded our educational opportunities within a framework that allows employees to be proactive in enhancing their capabilities. We periodically review and change our education and training and find that this alters awareness and behavior for the better when employees return to their workplaces.
Rank-Based Training
We provide training to match the needs of employees of all ranks.
Young employees in their first five years at Tosoh gain from training that helps build and reinforce basic skills. First-year employees are given introductory and follow-up training to solidify their approach to becoming working members of society. Second- and third-year employees receive training in logical thinking and in presentation to further their basic skills. And fourth- and fifth-year employees are exposed to beginner-level supervisor training through which they can acquire problem-solving skills.
Mid-level employees who have worked at Tosoh for more than five years use e-learning programs to acquire business skills, such as business strategy and marketing skills. Those about to be promoted to management positions benefit from practical, case-based exercises where they apply the skills they’ve acquired through e-learning.
Executives are provided with training that gives them an understanding of the roles of employees at each rank. They also acquire the business skills they’ll need as future management executives.
Diversity
To continue and advance our corporate value, we believe that diversity in human resources is essential.
Promoting the Active Engagement of Female Employees
Tosoh prioritizes the recruitment and active engagement of women. In the last three years, we have added 65 females to its employee ranks, steadily raising the percentage of female employees in our overall workforce to 9.2% at the end of fiscal 2019.
We have in place an action plan based on Japan’s Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace. Our focus is on increasing our ratio of and broadening our job categories for female employees, including cultivating female managers.
| Data related to female employees |
FY17 |
FY18 |
FY19 |
| Number of female employees |
295 |
302 |
322 |
| Number of female new graduate or mid-career female hires |
19 |
20 |
26 |
| Number of management-level female employees* |
7 |
9 |
10 |
| Proportion of management-level female employees* |
0.71% |
0.90% |
0.98% |
*Figures include seconded employees.
Employment of Disabled People
As of fiscal 2018, an aspect of our efforts to employ disabled people includes work transition support in the Nanyo area. These efforts led to our hiring of four employees at the end of March 2019.
Reemployment of Mandatory Retirees
To ensure that essential skills, knowledge, and experience acquired over a lifetime of work is passed on to our younger generation of employees, we are reemploying our mandatory retirees.
Foreign Employees
Hiring foreign nationals is another aspect to diversifying our human resources and pursuing our global development strategy.
Respect for Human Rights
The Tosoh Group Action Policy incorporates respect for basic human rights and individuality. It prohibits all discrimination and any infringement on human rights, such as child and forced labor, human trafficking, slavery, and harassment. We have in fact an internal and external consultation system and committees to combat harassment.
Our introductory training for new employees, conducted at the Nanyo Complex, includes inviting lecturers from the Shunan City Board of Education to educate employees about respecting human rights, in the workplace and in general.