Employees Health
Social: Employees Health
Policy
【Well-being: Building a healthy workplace】
In our occupational health management strategy, we regard employee health and engagement as the foundations of well-being.
【KOKUYO Health and Productivity Management Declaration】
We have issued the following declaration to signal our commitment to building a healthy workplace as part of our sustainability strategy.
KOKUYO Health and Productivity Management Declaration
We recognize the need to improve well-being both inside and outside our organization in order to implement our sustainability strategy: To build a self-directed, collaborative society, we will present a tomorrow you can’t wait for and lead the way in sustainable business practices.
《Three main strategies for improving well-being:》
- Pitch ideas for new workstyles
- Promote diversity, inclusion, and innovation
- Promote employee health and engagement
Critical to building a healthy workplace is to promote employees’ well-being (a state of being healthy and happy), we need to promote their physical and mental health and improve employee engagement. We will work on this task together with our employees, our health insurance association, and our workforce’s labor union, gleaning insights and best practices for promoting well-being in society at large.
Systems
Six core actions for building a healthy workplace
Organizational framework for building a healthy workplace
We have established the Health Management Taskforce within the Subcommittee for Building an Organizational Framework for Sustainability and Promoting Well-being. This taskforce coordinates actions for employee health in partnership with HR, health management staff, the health insurance association, the labor union, health and safety committees, and group company members involved in building a healthy workplace.
Strategic roadmap for KOKUYO Health and Productivity Management
As part of our strategy for promoting employee health, we set out objectives, tasks, and expected outcomes.
Initiatives in 2021
Recognition as employee-friendly organization: 2021 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization, in White 500 and in Large Enterprise Category
Kokuyo and Kaunet have been listed among the 500 whitelisted companies in an award program run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Nippon Kenko Kaigi, earning the official designation “2021 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (White 500).” Kokuyo Marketing has earned a separate accolade under the same program (“Health and productivity Management Outstanding Organization”). The award program recognizes companies that demonstrate exemplary practices in building a healthy workplace. We will continue to promote employee health and well-being in accordance with the KOKUYO Health and Productivity Management Declaration, first formulated in October 2019 and updated in 2022.
Employee Health Goals: 2021 Results
In 2013, we set concrete goals for promoting health behaviors that help prevent lifestyle diseases. Since then, our internal health insurance associations have worked with the health management office on actions to meet these goals.
The health-promotion activities include tracking employees’ daily steps and weight, organizing fun walking campaigns, and running diet seminars in partnership with public health centers. We also encourage our employees to undergo regular screening for colorectal cancer and breast cancer. To that end, we have installed a mammography unit on the premises. Additionally, we worked to increase the range of health-check options, giving employees more opportunities to go and get a health check. For example, comprehensive medical checkups (called “ningen dock”) are available for employees who want them.
We have had to suspend some services because of the pandemic, but we still worked to promote health consciousness by running an online survey on health behaviors and an e-learning course.
Showcasing KOKUYO’s Health and Productivity Management Expertise through THE CAMPUS Space for Experimenting with New Workstyles
We established THE CAMPUS as a space for experimentation and implementation throughout the whole building with people who have various specialties and experiences to explore the value that will connect to the future with the activities of NEXT EXPERIENCE (= working on solving social issues from a long-term perspective). We widely showcase to society the knowledge and expertise of health and productivity management we have put into practice through THE CAMPUS.
We showcase spaces, furniture, fittings and stationery that can be controlled according to purpose for increasing communication, promoting the building of new relationships beyond purpose and organization, concentration, immersion and relaxation in response to the issue of poor mental health that is getting worse with the advance of telecommuting.
We visualize measures to prevent droplet, contact and aerosol infections based on experiments and verification and the behavior of people who have come into close contact with those who are infected based on behavior analysis utilizing the IoT to prevent infectious diseases.
We are continuing to showcase proposals to protect the physical and mental health, safety, and peace of mind of employees and visitors through THE CAMPUS.
This initiative has been recognized. We were the first complex facility in Japan to acquire the WELL Health-Safety Rating* that evaluates health and safety at a global standard.
*WELL Health-Safety Rating is a certification system newly released by the International WELLBUILDING Institute (IWBI) WELL certification management organization in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A third-party organization conducts a review to evaluate items such as measures against infectious diseases (COVID-19 etc.) as well as other emergency measures, facility cleaning and disinfection, and air and water management methods.
Health Insurance Association: Increased Subsidy for Cancer Screening
- Fitness Challenges That Earn Rewards
We introduced PLAY WORK Mileage, a mileage-based employee welfare program, in 2020. We designed the program with a focus on a menu that boosts the maintenance and promotion of health in the sphere of using miles. This has raised awareness of health and encouraged self-investment in health (usage record: approximately 190 million yen). Meanwhile, we implemented challenge programs in the sphere of saving miles. Employees earn additional miles by completing or gaining progress in health goals (approximately 14 million yen). - Walking Challenge and Walking Campaign
Walking Challenge is a health-promotion program in which employees earn monthly points according to their average number of steps. The program includes fun features. For example, employees can set their own virtual walking course and track their rankings on a leaderboard.
Moreover, we held a Walking Campaign for a limited time to get even more people to put into practice health promotion by walking. - Lifestyle Challenge
In Lifestyle Challenge, employees record their health behaviors to track the healthiness of their lifestyle. There are nine courses and a total of 50 items, including diet, exercise, sleep, quitting smoking, dental and optical health, and physical and mental refreshment. Employees earn points regardless of whether they achieved the goal in question.
We also have a mechanism to award miles if the results of physical examinations are better than those of the previous year. This applied to 539 people. - A smoking awareness campaign in the context of the indoor smoking ban, World No Tobacco Day, and COVID-19
Data from Japan Tobacco’s annual Japan Smoking Rate Survey indicates a high rate of smoking among male employees in our corporate group. On April 11, 2020, Japan banned indoor smoking with some exceptions. In conjunction with the ban, we stepped up efforts to raise employees’ awareness of the risks of smoking, emphasizing that the pandemic has heightened the risks. For example, we now warn employees that smokers are more likely to contract flu, cold, and pneumonia, and that smoking while working at home will expose other occupants to the risks associated with secondhand smoke. - Caring for health when working at home
The pandemic has increased the amount of work performed outside the traditional office. We remotely provided information on how to create a healthy remote workspace such as stretching techniques for relieving physical and mental fatigue and health configurations for tables, chairs and other furniture. A total of more than 2,500 people participated. As well as specific guidance (such as the best screen height and angle to prevent eye strain or neck and shoulder pain), a list of health-related contacts is provided.
Health insurance association, increased subsidy for breast cancer screening
Across the group, rates of screening for breast cancer and cervical cancer are low at 20%. Accordingly, in April 2020, the KOKUYO Health Insurance Association raised the subsidy for breast cancer screening from 5,000 to a maximum of 10,000 yen.
We have made it possible to undertake free cervical cancer risk screenings from 2021. That program also extends to colorectal cancer screenings for those who are 30 years old and over.
We will continue our efforts to help prevent or detect cancer and promote cancer awareness.
Mental health action
Along with the mandatory stress checks, we conduct an employee survey that measures employee satisfaction and compliance once a year.
To promote a culture of self-care in which employees feel comfortable asking for help after this survey check, we have introduced the Employee Assistance Program, an externally run program that encourages employees to recognize the warning signs and symptoms of stress and to seek preventive health services at an early stage.
In addition to the employee survey, we have been conducting the pulse survey monthly since 2021. The purpose of this is to promote fixed-point observation of issues in ways of working and workplaces and to encourage dialogue in teams to build even better organizations.
We identify issues that we will tackle with priority and measures to deal with those issues by business and human resource departments engaging in dialogue while comprehensively looking at these survey results and personnel and organizational data.
View data on health-promotion performance here