GOVERNANCE Inculcating Compliance
Basic Concepts
Operations across our group are governed by a range of regulatory standards, including those related to quality, business transactions (e.g. fair trading), environmental impact, labor, health & safety, accounting, tax, anti-bribery, and information management. To ensure that we always comply with these regulations and uphold high ethical standards in all our business activities, we have established the KOKUYO Group Code of Conduct, which all employees are expected to follow. This code applies to everyday business activities across the global group.
KOKUYO Group’s value systemSystems
Whistleblowing Hotline
KOKUYO has a group-wide hotline (the KOKUYO Group Hotline). Employees can use the hotline to raise concerns about compliance or business ethics when they feel uncomfortable raising such concerns through the usual channels, or if they doubt that the usual channels would resolve the issue satisfactorily. The hotline is global and accessible to all employees of the global KOKUYO Group, whether they work in Japan or an overseas location.
It is appropriate for the hotline to receive a certain amount of inquiries/reports given that the number of inquiries/reports received by the hotline is an indicator of the hotline’s effectiveness. The number received in the past several years has remained fairly constant. Around half of the inquiries/reports concern management issues like workplace bullying/harassment and personnel evaluations.
Compliance Training
We have also provided guidelines on gifts and hospitality to ensure that our employees never deviate from acceptable business customs when giving or receiving gifts or hospitality. Similarly, we provide annual training to prevent collusion in bid-rigging.
