SOCIAL
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
We have a code, policy, and guidelines to ensure that our stakeholders’ human rights are always respected in the course of our business activities.
KOKUYO Group Code of Conduct
The KOKUYO Group is subject to various laws and regulations when engaging in business activities. Those laws and regulations govern areas of business including product quality, fair trade and other transactions, the environment, labor, health and safety, accounting standards, taxation business, bribery and information management. We have established the KOKUYO Group Code of Conduct which each employee must follow to engage in corporate activities in accordance with social ethics while complying with those laws and regulations.
We use this KOKUYO Group Code of Conduct globally as the basis of our daily activities.
Key Actions
Supply Chain Actions
Rapid economic globalization has given rise to colossal multinationals. Many are extending their supply chains into developing economies in an effort to drive down costs. This trend has exacerbated socioenvironmental issues. Examples include human rights issues such as forced labor and child labor, widening inequality, and environmental degradation. Along with our supply-chain partners, we are determined to fulfill our corporate social responsibility by creating positive socioeconomic impacts.
Preventing Use of Child Labor and Forced Labor
The KOKUYO Group Code of Conduct explicitly prohibits child labor and forced labor, along with discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, or disability.
To prevent use of child labor, we check the job candidate’s personal identification documents to confirm their age and never employ anyone under the mandatory age of employment. To prevent use of forced labor, we only ever employ willing applicants, state the terms of employment (including remuneration) in writing, and provide an orientation program to new recruits. We always let foreign nationals keep their passports, ensuring that they work in a free and open environment. We provide a group-wide whistleblowing hotline (the KOKUYO Group Hotline) for reporting concerns related to compliance or corporate ethics. The hotline is global and accessible to all employees of the global KOKUYO Group, whether they work in Japan or an overseas location.
Personal Information Protection
We have established the Personal Information Protection Policy.
Anti-harassment Training
In line with the KOKUYO Group Code of Conduct, we have a website with educational content on workplace harassment and provide anti-harassment training, including a course for new career-track employees and rank-specific courses. The website and training programs convey the message that workplace harassment, as well as stopping the victims fulfilling their potential, harms victims’ human rights in that it subjects them to unfair humiliation and personal attack. All employees undergo annual anti-harassment training in late November and early December, in conjunction with Human Rights Week. In this training event, the attendees are briefed about the company’s basic approach and presented with case studies to update their awareness. We also provide a channel for employees to raise concerns about harassment and take other measures to foster an organizational culture in which no employee has to suffer in silence. In 2024, we added to the training content about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), including the message that anyone can be a perpetrator or victim of anti-SOGI harassment and content emphasizing the importance of respect for diversity.
Employee Health and Safety
Eliminating Overwork and Providing a Living Wage
In FY2023, we pledged our commitment to reforming employee management, having identified such reform as a strategic priority. The ongoing reform program has three components: a follow-up process, 1-on-1 consultations, and encouraging leave take-up. The purpose of the reform is to foster an organizational environment conducive to corporate and individual growth. A follow-up process makes employees more aware of the hours they are working, leading to less overtime and a change of mindset toward their own workstyles. We have changed rules related to workstyles. For example, we have provided flextime with no core time, added explicit rules about intermittent breaks, and allowed for hybrid work (mixing work from home with office attendance). We also use objective measures to monitor volume of work and hours worked. Occupational physicians help overworked employees manage their time and help. Employees attend interviews and workshops about their workstyles and break styles to identify working practices that are most valuable for supporting corporate and individual growth.
In remunerating employees, we of course comply with legal requirements on the minimum wage and the payment of such. We also commit to paying a reasonable living wage. To that end, we provide a salary that escalates by year, subject to performance review, and we increases wages across the board above the consumer price index. In fiscal 2024, the average annual salary paid to KOKUYO employees was ¥7.82 million.
Rectification, Redress
Whistleblowing Hotline
We have a group-wide hotline (the KOKUYO Hotline). For inquiries made in Japan, the hotline connects to a third-party whistleblowing service. Suppliers can use the hotline too. Inquiries made outside Japan are received within KOKUYO. In fiscal 2024, the hotline received 25 inquiries (there were also six inquiries that did not need to be reported to KOKUYO), some from inside Japan and some from outside Japan. The inquiries were dealt with appropriately.
