The active participation of diverse human resources will drive the future growth of the Group. In order to create workplaces where anyone can work comfortably and a more diverse range of human resources can participate fully, we are transforming workstyles that enable a work-life balance to raise creativity and realize diversity to expand the variety of talent available. We are advancing the following specific initiatives.
We also promote educational activities regarding respect for human rights, which is a foundation for respect for diversity.

Promoting Active Participation by Women

We have worked to create environments where women can participate actively by improving frameworks and systems that support the balancing of work with family commitments such as child and nursing care. As a result, the percentage of female managers and percentage of female managers is rising.
We will continue to promote the active participation of women by monitoring the situation in order to identify issues and then formulating and implementing measures to address these issues.

■Percentage of Female Managers

Encouraging the Recruitment of People with Disabilities

Nipponham Career Consulting Ltd., which is engaged in career development support, established an Osaka office in April 2019 to support the employment of persons with disabilities. In November 2019, it was certified as a special-purpose subsidiary of NH Foods Ltd.
The Osaka office is engaged in sorting, delivery, and collection at the mail center, printing and setting up of promotional tools, converting these materials into a PDF format, and replenishing stock of items sold in-house. Going forward we plan to expand the scope of operations that are aligned with the skills of persons with disabilities as we work to create workplaces in which diverse human resources can participate.

■Employment Rate of People with Disabilities

Creating a System for Receiving Foreign Workers

For the purpose of ensuring thorough employment management and proper reception of foreign nationals, as part of NH Foods Group, the NH Foods Ltd. Human Resources Division and the responsible department screen working conditions and residence cards, etc., when hiring foreign nationals as Group employees.
As an example of the Group's efforts in terms of labor management, we provide work support regularly conduct safety and health training programs, and offer training to improve skills and knowledge in the native languages of our workers.
In addition, in terms of lifestyle support, we opened a consultation office that offers service 24 hours a day, conduct one-on-one interviews, and escort employees during shopping and hospital visits.
And we will continue to create environments in which our foreign employees can work with peace of mind.
In addition, since 2023 we have endorsed the Basic Guidelines for Receiving Foreigners established by the Federation of Consumer Goods Industries & Consumer Associations (Seidanren)*.

* The Federation of Consumer Goods Industries & Consumer Associations (Seidanren) is composed of companies, trade associations, consumer groups, and NPOs, among others, and makes recommendations to governments and administrations, as well as disseminates information to the public, in order to protect the lives and livelihoods of the public

Seminars on Removing Unconscious Bias

As part of our efforts to create workplaces where diverse human resources can fully demonstrate their abilities, we are holding seminars on removing unconscious bias from workplaces, particularly for management personnel, so that we can become a Group where all employees can participate actively.

Creating a Workplace with a Healthy Work-Life Balance

In order to do this, we are reducing total working hours, providing support for balancing work with childcare, nursing care, and hospital visits, and enabling flexible workstyles. In this way, we are creating workplaces that provide employees with a healthy work-life balance.

We believe that it is essential to reduce scheduled working hours and overtime work, and to increase the use of annual paid leave in order to reduce total working hours. Therefore, we will continue to advance initiatives to achieve this.
Specifically, we are working to reduce working hours by establishing a Company-wide Working Hours Committee and holding working hours management meetings for each department. We are also carrying out training that incorporates the concept that reducing work hours is an effective way to improve productivity. We also encourage employees to take some of their annual paid leave for employee events or on special days as celebratory leave.

In order to provide workplace environments that enable employees to balance work and family commitments such as child and nursing care, we are enhancing systems that support this balance, including childcare and nursing leave, special paid leave, and shortened working hours, and we are also sharing information and carrying out awareness-raising activities to foster a corporate culture that makes it easy to use these systems.

Status of Working Hours and Use of Annual Paid Leave

Condition of Utilizing Child and Nursing Care-Related Systems

Flexible Workstyle Initiatives

To date, NH Foods Ltd. has been promoting flexible workstyles that support employees balancing work with child and nursing care and as part of these efforts, it has been trialing work-from-home and child and nursing care flextime systems for interested employees. Also, from fiscal 2020, the work-from-home system trial was accelerated to include all general employees and employees of partner companies due to the spread of COVID-19 in Japan.

Creating Comfortable Workplaces that Promote Employees' Mental and Physical Health

We are advancing measures to support physical and mental health based on the Health and Safety Declaration. At NH Foods Ltd., measures to support physical health include recommending followｰup action based on physical examination results and preventing conditions from becoming more severe by expanding the scope of employees who are eligible for various types of health guidance. It is also striving to prevent mental health issues through measures such as making improvements to workplaces based on group analysis of stress check results.

Furthermore, it is working to increase the effectiveness of these measures by raising health literacy through activities such as information sharing and employee education.

And about occupational safety, we have built a database containing the occurrence of occupational accidents and countermeasures that can be implemented Group-wide to prevent similar accidents from happening. We also regularly hold study sessions and lectures, especially for employees responsible for safety, in order to build knowledge and strengthen coordination.

Creating Healthy Workplaces

Promoting Education on Respect for Human Rights

We promote raising awareness within the Group with regard to respect for human rights, which is a foundation for respect for diversity. We have introduced various training opportunities for officers, managers, and new employees, as well as e-learning programs and more.

Respect for Human Rights