Our diversity promotion efforts began in FY2002/3, when the Company started its initiative to promote women's empowerment with the goal of creating an organization where women can demonstrate their abilities and play active roles.)
Later, in FY2013/3, Morinaga appointed the Diversity Promotion Team, and In April 2020, established the Diversity Promotion Office under the direct supervision of the President.
Based on the philosophy set out in the Morinaga Group Diversity and Inclusion Policy, we will promote the creation of inclusive workplaces that enable diverse human resources with various differences, not only in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, and presence or absence of disabilities, but also in values on work and life, individual character, and previous work experiences to give their strengths full play.
“Leverage each person's individuality”
To deliver happiness to ever more people, the Morinaga Group aims to be a sustainable company that keeps growing. Our employees are the driving force toward achieving that aim: implementing diversity and inclusion maximizes that force. Therefore, we place those values at the core of our management strategy.
We take the approach of “leveraging each person's individuality” and at the same time develop relationships of mutual trust. In that way, we will create conditions where everyone can demonstrate their strengths and play an active role. By enhancing our ability to respond to changes (resilience) and creating new value (innovation) through augmenting the diverse knowledge generated by various individuals, we will continue to address those customers' and society's challenges.
Established: April, 2021
Revised: April, 2024
For all employees to embody our Diversity and Inclusion Policy and the five guidelines, the Group is advancing initiatives to promote understanding and encourage concrete actions per the policy.
To promote understanding, we continue to conduct training to spread the Diversity and Inclusion Policy among supervisors, in addition to holding lectures on psychological safety, and organized training on unconscious bias for executives and all employees in an effort to improve basic skills and obtain knowledge useful for promoting D&I.
Regarding concrete actions, supervisors take the lead in confirming issues at each workplace and created action plans and put them into practice. Furthermore, to accelerate initiatives in the Production and Overseas Sectors, we conduct interviews with managers and followed up on the formulation of action plans.
In addition, as a prerequisite for promoting D&I, the Human Resources Division is focusing on various initiatives to advance self-sustaining career development and encourage the active participation of women and seniors to increase the momentum for all employees to play an active role.
The Diversity Promotion Office of the Corporate Strategy Division and the Human Resources Division will continue working together to advance D&I.
Morinaga has established a workplace environment in which employees in different life stages can demonstrate their abilities and play an active role, while feeling motivated to grow further. This environment was achieved through the implementation of various employee programs, including the childcare leave program that is available to both male and female employees, as well as other programs that reduce the workload of employees who have an infant, child, or parent who needs care (see the table on p. 30).
Furthermore, Morinaga has been certified by the government as a “parent-friendly company” for the sixth
consecutive term since 2007, and has continuously achieved the Platinum Kurumin certification criteria since September 2017. In FY2020/3.
Meanwhile, to increase the percentage of male employees who take childcare leave, we have been making efforts including revising manuals, cooperating with the All Morinaga Labor Union, and speaking individually with employees.
20% for ratio of female managers*
*Morinaga & Co., Ltd. (non-consolidated)
| Program Title （For Women） |
Scheme Outline |
|---|---|
| Outpatient/ morning sickness leave | A leave of up to 7 days if it is difficult to work during pregnancy or within 1 year after giving birth |
| Prenatal and postnatal leave | A leave of 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after childbirth |
| Program Title （Regardless of gender） |
Scheme Outline |
|---|---|
| Childcare leave at the time of birth | A leave of up to 4 weeks in total within 8 weeks after childbirth (can be taken in parts) |
| Childcare leave | A leave of up to 30 months (can be taken in parts) |
| Shorter work hour system for childcare | 4 working hours until the child reaches 18 months of age; 6 working hours until the child completes the third grade of elementary school |
| Child nursing leave | Up to 5 days a year in the case of one child or up to 10 days a year in the case of 2 or more children in the third grade of elementary school or younger |
| Long-term nursing care leave/ short working hours for nursing care | A total of up to 1 year for each family member in need of nursing care, if the long-term nursing care leave and the 4-short working for nursing care are combined |
| Nursing care leave | Up to 5 days a year for one family member or up to 10 days a year for two or more family members in need of nursing care; available in units of 1 day |
| Angel Return Program | Employees may rejoin the company after their voluntarly turnover |
Under the company policy of providing a place where each employee can demonstrate their personal qualities and skills, we have employees with disabilities playing an active role in a range of workplaces within the company from the Administration and Sales Divisions to the Production Division. In the future, we will continue to proactively create employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
With the decline in the domestic labor force, there is a growing need for seniors to play an active role at work. With this in mind, we began conducting unlearing training mainly for employees in their 50s in FY2022. After the training, individual interviews will be held to continuously follow up on behavioral changes. Furthermore, with the aim of grasping the current situation regarding the active participation of senior human resources, we surveyed the heads of each division about the degree of participation in the workplace by senior human resources ages 56 and older. We will implement initiatives to resolve problems based on the results.
Morinaga has introduced a retiree reemployment system. As a general rule, all retiring employees who wish to do so are reemployed for the period until they reach the age of eligibility for pension benefits. We have also introduced a senior ranking system and evaluation system in the expectation that employees will continue to demonstrate their expertise even after retirement age, encouraging motivation and the desire to take on challenges.
To promote self-sustaining career development among employees, we conducted e-learning on the protean career, to build career proactively and flexibly, for approximately 2,400 employees, including those from Group companies, in FY2022, focusing mainly on the concept behind the protean career. Ahead of e-learning, the President sends out a message on self-sustaining career development to raise awareness among employees. In October 2022, we established the Career Guidance Office, where staff from the Human Resources Division with career counseling qualifications provide career guidance to employees that request it. Prior consultation with superiors is not required for guidance, and we have put in place a system that allows guidance both face-to-face and online, making it easy to use. In FY2023, we intend to conduct new training aimed at improving supervisors’ career support skills. By learning key points in dialogue with subordinates and methods for creating opportunities, we aim to educate supervisors on how to establish the knowledge and skills necessary for providing career support to their employees.
Sharing a number of similarities in their business models, history, and personnel issues, a group of six food companies, including Morinaga, formed a collaborative network in an effort of promoting diversity and inclusion beyond organizational boundaries and contributing to the improvement of corporate value and the development of the food industry. In the Network, they jointly organize a wide range of events such as the Diversity Forum.
(The six food companies: Sapporo Holdings Limited, Nichirei Foods Inc., Nisshin Seifun Group Inc., Morinaga & Co., Ltd., Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd., and Lotte Co., Ltd.)
Initially, the group focused on the promotion of active participation of women in society. Later, they came to the view that, in order to create a vibrant industry that can continue to provide new value to its customers, each and every employee, irrespective of gender, must fully demonstrate his or her strength. Based on the view, the group expanded the scope of their activities to the promotion of the spirit of diversity and inclusion. In January 2020, a Diversity Forum entitled “SPIRAL UP!—What is Kaisha for you?” was held at 64 satellite venues nationwide, and participated by approximately 900 people in total.