With Employees

1. Efforts to strengthen management of human capital

1. Building a strategic human resources portfolio that maximizes the value of human capital

In line with The DIC Way, which represents its fundamental management policy, DIC in Japan works with regional headquarters overseeing operations in Greater China, the Asia–Pacific region, and the Americas, Europe and Africa to promote the effective management of human resources. The DIC Vision 2030 long-term management plan, announced in February 2022, recognizes human resources as capital that is crucial to the execution of management strategies. In this plan, the Company identifies three strategic priorities for building a strategic human resources portfolio that maximizes the value of human capital—“Foster human resources,” “Ensure mobility (hiring, retention and succession)” and “Improve engagement and organizational cohesiveness”—and calls for the building of a personnel management platform that underpins these priorities through framework creation, risk management and efforts to enhance its corporate culture.

DIC Vision 2030: Three Strategic Priorities and a Personnel Management Platform

2. WSR 2020

In fiscal year 2021, Work Style Revolution (WSR) 2020, which was launched in the previous fiscal year as a limited-time project to develop new work styles with the aim of boosting employee job satisfaction and productivity, was transformed into an all executive–led committee in which all employees will participate. The rapid advance of digitalization, together with the advent of COVID-19 and projections for the postpandemic “new normal,” have highlighted the need to revamp work styles to ensure job satisfaction and productivity, a task to which DIC executives have committed themselves. With the shift to a committee status, the project’s existing working groups have been realigned to create the Job Satisfaction Improvement Reform, Workplace Reform and Process Reform working groups, a framework under which executives will work as one to promote decisive measures.

WSR 2020 Committee Reforms and Targets

3. Basic Personnel Statistics (DIC)

2. Three Priority Strategies

1. Foster Human Resources

①Global-Based Talent Management

One of the basic strategies outlined in the DIC Vision 2030 long-term management plan for realizing its redefined vision statement is to establish a more robust global management configuration. Guided by this strategy, the Company will work to firmly establish its next management selection process, as well as actively consider various new systems and procedures, with the aim of enhancing its management configuration. These include creating a global talent management committee and establishing selection and monitoring processes for high-potential employees.

②Configuration for Fostering Human Resources

To respond flexibly to dramatic changes in business conditions and continuously create new value, it is crucial to offer working environments that ensure all employees maintain a high level of expertise and empower them to reach their full potential. To realize such environments, in fiscal year 2020 DIC formulated four basic policies for fostering human resources. In fiscal year 2021, the Company explored and implemented specific programs based on these policies and this configuration.

Leadership Training

DIC chooses talented employees with the goal of systematically cultivating the leaders of the future and dispatches them to a variety of external institutions providing training in diverse areas, including liberal arts. In fiscal year 2021, the Company added the IMD to its slate of selected external training institutions and dispatched its first management candidates to the Swiss school, albeit online. Moreover, the Company revised the content and target of the English-language component of its in-house training program, relaunching it as global leader communications training. DIC is also planning global leader skills training designed to impart the knowledge and skills critical to management with a view to launch in fiscal year 2022.

Global Talent Development

DIC places significant emphasis on global talent development, that is, training to improve English-language ability. Having positioned its existing global communications training program as an important part of its new configuration for fostering human resources, the Company revamped the program’s content and format and relaunched it with practical content and a focus on the short-term, intensive acquisition of global standard advanced communications skills. DIC has traditionally used TOEIC as the benchmark to evaluate English-language proficiency, but in fiscal year 2021 the Company also began using the Versant English Speaking Test to gauge speaking ability, which is particularly important in actual business situations. DIC also continued to enhance the content of the English-language study and selfdevelopment support programs.

Overseas Trainee and GCD Programs

The Overseas Trainee Program was established with the aim of cultivating human resources capable of functioning in global business environments. Under this program, DIC dispatches young employees from Japan to work at an overseas DIC Group company, helping them to improve their language and communications skills through local on-the-job training. Under the Global Capability Development (GCD) Program, employees from oversees are sent to work at Group companies in Japan for a specified period to gain experience and develop a more international mindset. Unfortunately, owing to COVID-19 no employees are currently participating in either program and new applications are not being accepted. DIC looks forward to restarting both programs as soon as possible once the pandemic situation improves.

VOICE

This is what I learned as a participant in the second round of the Next Global Human Resources Development Program.

Ever since I joined DIC, I have felt a need for English in my work and wanted to do something about my poor English skills, but before I realized it 20 years had passed! When I was given the opportunity to participate in the second round of the Next Global Human Resources Development Program, I saw it as my last chance to study English seriously. About 80% of the 11-month program was conducted in English, so it was tough going and I spent a lot of time feeling puzzled and stressed, but under the guidance of the program’s knowledgeable, experienced and passionate instructors I not only improved my English, but also acquired key skills necessary to function in a global business environment. I found the three global communication skills assessment sessions particularly useful as they helped strengthen my English-language presentation, negotiating and communication skills. I’m proud to say that I was definitely among the most enthusiastic and studious participants! The benefits of the Next Global Human Resources Development Program were not limited to improved skills. The extremely challenging nature of training encouraged participants to commiserate. As a result, we all got to know colleagues from other departments, creating a network of program participants that will surely be a valuable asset going forward. I will continue to build on what I learned in this program, as well as to polish my English so that I am ready when the opportunity to work overseas arises.

General Manager, Performance Material CS Group, Performance Material Products Group Kengo Sakamoto

Taking part in this program expanded my horizons and reinforced m VOICE y professional drive.

As a participant in the Overseas Trainee Program, I spent fiscal year 2017 at DIC (Guangzhou). While I had been to the PRC numerous times on business, taking up a post there gave me a better understanding of how Chinese people think, as well as an appreciation of historical and cultural context, which has enabled me to communicate on a deeper level in business situations. One thing I did while I was in Guangzhou was to plan a variety of cross-department recreational activities involving both local staff and staff from Japan. This activity helped me build strong professional and personal relationships with my colleagues, as a result of which I really enjoyed working together. On my days off, I also participated in get-togethers organized to help Japanese expats in Guangzhou get to know each other. There are a lot of us in the area under similar circumstances and I found the opportunity to socialize with compatriots in various businesses, industries and positions—people I would likely never have met if we were all in Japan—extremely valuable, and it encouraged me to reflect again on myself and on the Company I represent. I really believe in the value of the Overseas Trainee Program as an initiative that expands one’s horizons. I hope that many employees are able to take advantage of this challenging and rewarding opportunity in the years ahead.

High Performance Chemicals Sales Department 1, Polymers Product Division Keisuke Saji

Diversity: What I learned in India

As a participant in the Overseas Trainee Program, I spent a year working at DIC India Ltd. At first I was taken aback by the many differences between India and Japan, including the relentless 40ºC-plus temperatures every day and the crazy traffic conditions, with six cars abreast across three lanes! Perhaps the biggest hurdles I faced on the work front were how fast Indian people speak English and the basically top-down approach. It was also difficult to get local employees—who have different assumptions when it comes to the work environment—to understand the thinking behind a Japanese-style human resources system. No matter how many times I explained the system, my colleagues would dismiss it as "not up to global standards." Roadblocks such as this were understandably frustrating. I eventually realized that the only way to promote understanding of each other was through discussion, and so I started working to improve my ability to function in English, build trust and learn to argue logically. I also tried to become more tenacious, recognizing this as crucial to earning assent because Indian people love to debate! I still have a ways to go, but after a year here I feel that I have improved in all of these areas. My experience here has also taught me that respecting diversity means not judging business practices and customs as "good" or "bad," but rather having the ability to accept differences and fill in any gaps. It is also the ability to talk to people and bring them around to your point of view on issues you simply cannot concede. I also learned anew that the old adage "no man is an island" really is true. Given the top-down approach in India, the help of your superior is essential to getting things done. Today, my colleagues and I are working as a team with the goal of identifying efficient ways to work. I really believe in the value of DIC’s Overseas Trainee Program as an initiative that will expand the horizons of young employees and contribute to the further globalization of the DIC Group. Looking ahead, I hope that many employees are able to take advantage of this challenging opportunity.

In charge of Global HR Planning, General Affairs and HR Department Yuto Fujisawa

Reskilling to Maximize Human Resources

DIC provides support for career building that allows individual employees to design their own careers and provides an arena for them to continuously expand and polish their skills. As part of this endeavor, in fiscal year 2021 the Company offered “self-career dock” training for employees on a trial basis for employees reaching the age of 50. Additionally, as part of its reskilling strategy the Company introduced a new e-learning self-help program that was unlike other programs it offers, including GLOBIS Unlimited and Udemy for Business, is subscriptionbased, allowing employees to freely choose the courses they need from a wide selection.

2. Ensure Mobility

With the objective of diversifying its Group human resources portfolio and managing it effectively and in accordance with its business needs, DIC recognizes the need to create a human resources system that bolsters mobility within the Group, enabling employees to fully exercise their abilities beyond national, regional and departmental boundaries. To this end, DIC has identified three key courses of action: Actively recruit individuals from different industries and people with digital capabilities, expand available career paths and promote succession planning.

①Actively Recruit Individuals from Different Industries and People with Digital Capabilities

To accelerate the diversification of its human resources portfolio, DIC is stepping up efforts to recruit experienced individuals, primarily from different industries. For the past three years, the percentage of new recruits that were experienced mid-career hires has remained steady at 40%-plus. (Calculation: Experienced mid-career hires / (New graduates + Experienced mid-career hires)). The Company is also intensifying efforts to hire people with digital capabilities to secure the human resources necessary to spearhead the DIC Group’s digital transformation. Of note, in addition to seeking experienced mid-career individuals who it expects will be able to hit the ground running, in fiscal year 2023 DIC will adopt recruitment by job category for new graduates, underscoring its medium- to long-term perspective toward growing and raising the overall level of its human resources portfolio.

②Expand Available Career Paths

Beginning in fiscal year 2022, DIC scrapped its one-size-fits-all career path format whereby all employees became generalists and established a new format that includes paths for specialists and professionals who wish to forge a career in areas requiring particular expertise and/or qualifications. The expansion of career paths available to employees allows for the assignment of individuals to positions that leverage their strengths, broadening the scope for employees to achieve self-realization in their careers while at the same time facilitating the allocation of human resources in a manner that responds to the Company’s needs.

③Promote Succession Planning

Since fiscal year 2018, DIC has defined the principal management positions for the DIC Group and promoted succession planning, including systematic, long-term efforts to foster talent and elevate the leaders of the future. Going forward, the Company will work to expand the positions and eligible employees included in its succession plan, as well as increase mobility and ensure it has the right people in the right places across the Group.

3. Improve Engagement and Organizational Cohesiveness

In fiscal year 2021, DIC conducted a survey of domestic Group companies as part of the WSR 2020 project’s efforts to improve engagement and organizational cohesiveness. Based on the results, the Company explored a variety of responses and resolved to implement the formalization of a system of one-on-one meetings and promotion of the taking on of business-related challenges as measures to improve engagement.

①Promote Communication and Use Empathy and Trust to Cultivate Solidarity

One issue highlighted by the fiscal year 2021 survey to improve engagement was a lack of communication between superiors and subordinates. In response, the Company made the decision to introduce a system of one-on-one meetings beginning in fiscal year 2022 with the aim of promoting communications between these two key groups. As well as the concrete moves necessary to establish a system of one-on-one meetings in the period under review, DIC developed a management communications training program for employees at that level, as well as training for all employees in how to conduct one-on-one meetings for subordinates as a prerequisite to higher office. In fiscal year 2022, the Company plans to further invigorate communication in-house by implementing a variety of new measures that go beyond enhancing that between managers and subordinates to focus on building the capabilities of individual employees.

②Advance Innovation by Encouraging Enthusiasm about Taking on Challenges

Early in fiscal year 2022, DIC substantially revamped its personnel system. This included replacing its existing qualification–based compensation system for regular employees, which is predicated on experience, with a system that emphasizes exercise of abilities, among others. The Company’s system for evaluating performance was also revised, with business goals clarified and quantified, and the weighting of performance and process amended so that performance is given more emphasis at the time of evaluation. In addition, DIC has introduced a system whereby points are added to the evaluations of both regular and management-level employees who have taken on challenges in their work.

3. Framework Creation: Personnel System, Global Human Resources System and Work Style Reform

1. Promote Personnel System Reforms to Facilitate Autonomous, Multitrack Career Building

In January 2022, DIC revised its personnel system for both management-level and regular employees with the objective of enhancing organizational capabilities to support the advance of qualitative reforms in existing core businesses and the successful commercialization of new businesses. In revising these systems, the Company identified seven key policies for improving organizational capabilities that are designed to improve added value and productivity, encourage a performance- and challenge-oriented focus, and support career building, in line with which it dramatically revamped its qualification-based remuneration and evaluation systems. Going forward, DIC will continue working to ensure the proper administration of these systems, as well as to cultivate a corporate culture that further encourages employees to take on challenges and seeks to realize growth for the Company through the growth of its people.

①Qualification-Based Remuneration System: Encouraging Autonomous Career Building and Maximizing Performance

● Job- and Performance-Oriented Qualification-Based Remuneration System

To ensure employees clearly understand DIC’s mission and are able to fully realize their potential, the Company defined rank- and job-specific roles, necessary abilities, and performance expectations for management-level and regular employees. At the same time, DIC revised its qualification-based remuneration system, making it more job-oriented, disclosing the roles and abilities expected of higher-ranking employees to make it possible for individual employees to map out their own career prospects. The new system also places greater emphasis on performance, making it possible to reward employees who have achieved significant results at an earlier stage of their career than ever before.

● Multitrack Career Building

As part of the revision of its qualification-based remuneration system, to facilitate multitrack career building DIC introduced a system for fostering specialists, that is, employees with highly specialized or unique capabilities, to accompany its existing system which seeks to cultivate generalists. As well, the Company created a scheme that divides managementlevel employees, depending on their particular role/job, into either people managers or professionals, facilitating promotion in accordance with individual strengths and aptitudes.

②Evaluation System: Inspiring Employees to Achieve Results and Take on Challenges

● Revision of Systems to Enhance the Performance-Oriented Nature of Evaluations

To further advance its emphasis on performance and evaluate the challenges taken on by employees, DIC partially revised its approach to setting targets and completing evaluation sheets, creating a mechanism to facilitate a more quantitative assessment of performance, and reviewed conduct and process assessment procedures to encourage more autonomous action. To further encourage employees to take on challenges, the Company will introduce a mechanism whereby points are added to the evaluations of employees who have taken on challenges that yield results over the medium to long term, as well as those with short-term benefits.

● Adoption of Career Goal Sheets

DIC recently adopted a career goal sheet for regular employees to plan and track their own career development. Using these sheets allows individuals to take stock of their own careers at present and envision where they want to be in the future by setting goals for one year and three years ahead. This enables individual employees to design their own careers and set appropriate goals with the assumption that their superiors will comment on career goal sheets and incorporate them into one-on-one meetings to assist employees in building fulfilling careers. Career goal sheets will also be used in planning of job rotations and training programs.

● Introduction of Meetings with Evaluators

Beginning in fiscal year 2022, the individuals responsible for evaluating performance will hold meetings with regular employees with the aim of ensuring the integrity of evaluations and increasing the visibility of standards used to identify talented human resources. In addition to promoting the fair and impartial administration of the evaluation process in each department and division, these evaluator meetings will be used to support the planning of job rotations and training programs.

2. Create a Global Human Resources System and a Standardized Group Framework

With the rapid expansion of its global operations, DIC recognizes that securing and fostering human resources around the world and ensuring the right people are in the right places across the DIC Group are essential to bolstering the value of Group human capital and effectively carrying out management strategies, and has sought to integrate global human resources management. To this end, the Company has promoted the adoption of harmonized personnel systems and management approaches. In January 2018, DIC and DIC Graphics unified qualification standards for their approximately 1,300 management-level—i.e., manager and above—employees, replacing traditional ability-based standards with role-based standards. As a consequence, consistent duty- and role-based standards are now used for the majority of such employees in the Americas and Europe, the Asia– Pacific region, the PRC and Japan. In contrast, with a few exceptions that manage Group human resources, human resources systems have not been integrated. Addressing this issue—which DIC sees as critical to the achievement of global human resources management—will require considerable effort going forward.
With the growth of ESG investment, DIC is also increasingly expected to provide accurate disclosure regarding human capital, as a key component of the nonfinancial information investors demand. This further underscores the importance of centralizing the management of human resources information within the Group. Looking ahead, DIC will continue working to build a global human resources system and achieve a standardized Group framework.

3. Step Up Work Style Reforms to Enhance Job Satisfaction and Productivity

①Implement Reforms to Improve Job Satisfaction

The WSR 2020 Committee—originally launched in fiscal year 2020 as a limited-time project to develop new work styles with the aim of boosting employee job satisfaction and productivity—has since been transformed into an all executive–led committee in which all employees will participate. The committee is charged with creating workplaces that embody The DIC Way by encouraging enthusiasm about taking on various challenges, evaluating performance fairly and recognizing personal value. To this end, the committee’s Job Satisfaction Improvement Reform Working Group is spearheading the implementation of a variety of measures to improve workplaces from five perspectives, namely, “diversity,” “inner branding,” “communication,” “career support” and “sense of belonging.”

One key inner branding initiative, dubbed “Dreams of the Challengers,” involves a regular series of video messages to employees from executives and other Group management leaders about experiences that gave them true job satisfaction and motivation. This has been well received as an initiative that encourages employees to really think about and feel the unique satisfaction that comes with working for DIC.

②Increase Productivity through Workplace Reforms

In January 2018, DIC launched the DIC Telework System, which is available to all employees regardless of position of workplace. In response to the emergence of COVID-19 in fiscal year 2020, the DIC Telework System’s limit of two days per week was abolished and telework encouraged wherever possible to help prevent the spread of the virus. This remains in effect in recognition of the reality of COVID-19 as a permanent part of life.
With an eye to life in a post-pandemic world, in fiscal year 2021 the Office Reform Working Group was established under the umbrella of the WSR 2020 Committee with the aim of realizing diverse work styles. To facilitate a shift to highly functional, rational new work styles, DIC embarked on various office reforms, beginning with its corporate headquarters in Tokyo.

The concept behind these reforms was to incorporate advanced office design elements suitable for a facility serving as a corporate headquarters with the goal of facilitating highly autonomous work styles that enable employees to choose the workplace that they find most comfortable and which is best suited to their jobs. Moreover, by promoting efforts to go paperless, which is essential to such a flexible work environment, the Company is also encouraging smart business processes with the objective of improving one of the key intangibles that underpins the job satisfaction felt by employees. With the debut of its new corporate headquarters offices in fiscal year 2023, which will truly allow employees to choose the most appropriate location, functions and work environment, DIC also aims to further improve productivity.

4. Diversity and Inclusion

Promoting Diversity, a Source of DIC’s Competitiveness, and Inclusion, Essential to Making Diversity a Competitive Advantage

The DIC Group actively pursues diversity by employing a broad spectrum of individuals without regard to such considerations as gender, nationality, physical limitation or age. The Group works to foster a corporate culture that draws on its understanding and respect for diversity to produce creative ideas and to incorporate the concept of diversity into management. Specifically, through the WSR 2020 Committee the Group is promoting measures to encourage communication and providing career support, thereby fostering a sense of unity through empathy and trust and creating workplaces that enhance job satisfaction for all employees. In fiscal year 2021, DIC conducted a Groupwide survey to enhance the visibility of engagement with employees. Analysis of the survey results enabled the Company to gauge the status of efforts to engage and reflect this when formulating plans for diversity initiatives in fiscal year 2022. Specifically, while to date DIC has focused on bringing diversity to the workplace, survey results reiterated the fact that inclusion is essential to further instilling awareness of diversity, as well as to improving productivity and job satisfaction. Accordingly, initiatives going forward will focus on advancing inclusion.
In its DIC Vision 2030 long-term management plan, DIC identifies diversity and inclusion as a key component of its personnel management platform, and vows to nurture inclusion, recognizing this as essential to making diversity a competitive advantage. As part of its ESG management initiatives, DIC has set, and discloses information regarding, quantitative targets not only for the diversity of executives and employees but also for key aspects of work–life balance such as childcare leave for male employees, which it recognizes as essential to the promotion of diversity overall. This includes establishing KPIs designed to measure diversity awareness. The Company’s DIC111 medium-term management plan, which concluded in fiscal year 2020, included ambitious targets for the percentage of the management team accounted for by women. While the absolute number of female managers has risen gradually, the percentage of management positions occupied by female employees remains below the target level.

Similarly, the percentage of employees accounted for by foreign nationals remains short of the target level, hindered by the spread of COVID-19. In formulating DIC Vision 2030, DIC has reset these targets and will step up efforts to ensure their achievement by reinforcing awareness of diversity and inclusion through measures focused particularly on the later.

VOICE

The DIC Group and diversity

As of December 31, 2021, the DIC Group had a total global labor force of 22,474 employees, of which 3,345, or approximately 15%, are employed by the parent company. With operations in 62 countries and territories, the Group’s labor force is highly diverse. With the aim of tapping into this diversity to power innovation, we promote a variety of exchanges among Group employees.
Female employees account for a significantly smaller percentage of DIC Group’s labor force than men. In many regions, including Japan, women represent only about 20% of Group employees. In terms of the percentage of management positions occupied by women, most regions are above 20%, but DIC in Japan lags sharply behind. While we have set a target of 6.3% for this particular metric for fiscal 2022, we will do whatever we can to exceed this level.

Executive Officer; Head of ESG Unit, In Charge of Diversity, DIC Corporation 　Kuniko Torayama

1. Diversity Road Map

2. Hiring Foreign Nationals

With the objective of securing talented individuals with advanced specialized capabilities, global perspectives and language capabilities, DIC actively promotes the hiring of international students completing undergraduate or graduate studies at Japanese universities, as well as Japanese and foreign nationals who are completing undergraduate studies at overseas universities or have extensive specialized experience and expertise. At present, 43 foreign nationals are employed in various capacities at DIC. To support the careers of employees who are foreign nationals, DIC translates key in-house materials into English. The Company also holds networking conferences to foster ties among non-Japanese employees and provide information on the personnel system, employment conditions and efforts to improve workplace environments. DIC will continue to regularly conduct surveys of and meet directly with these employees to ensure their views and actual workplace conditions are refl ected in measures implemented. In fiscal year 2022, the Company plans to also step up efforts focused on enhancing awareness of the importance of inclusion.

VOICE

I look forward to helping address social imperatives with a desire to grow personally and take on new challenges.

When I was looking for employment after graduation, my goal was to find a job in finance and accounting at a global company. I found DIC attractive because of its extensive network of overseas bases and its significant global market share in a number of specific areas and decided to accept their offer. Since joining the Company, I have gained diverse experience, as well as met colleagues from Japan and overseas with various backgrounds, thanks to assignments not only in the area of finance but also in the Marketing Management Unit and the New Business Development Headquarters. All of this has enabled me to learn and grow every day. Additionally, various measures in recent years, including the promotion of flextime and telework, the introduction of an in-house job challenge system, and the creation of networking opportunities for non-Japanese employees, have made for increasingly comfortable work environments for foreign nationals, as well as for female employees striving to balance the demands of their career and childcare. The revision of the personnel system this year has also made it possible for young employees and employees returning from childcare leave to take examinations for promotion early. These efforts have definitely improved employees’ job satisfaction and intensified their desire to take on new challenges, as well as provided greater opportunities for them to exercise their abilities.

P-1 Project, Next-Generation Packaging Business Unit, New Business Development Headquarters, DIC Corporation Xin Zhou

As someone helping to drive further diversity at DIC, I look forward to contributing to the evolution of both the Company and society.

I began looking for a job in Japan while I was working to complete my doctorate here, but not many companies were actively hiring students whose Japanese-language skills were not particularly good. DIC was one of the few keenly promoting the recruitment of students from overseas. This is truly an outstanding company, with a wide range of businesses, facilities and affiliated companies around the world. Since joining, I have been involved in the development of different products at three sites, allowing me to learn from experts with a variety of backgrounds and grow in my role. I also think DIC is one of the best companies in terms of creating work environments conducive to continuous service for female employees. I believe DIC’s diversity is what has enabled it to respond flexibly to the dramatic changes sweeping the world. For example, in addition to swiftly reinforcing measures in the workplace to prevent the spread of COVID-19, DIC also quickly embarked on the development of a variety of products with antiviral functions. As someone helping to drive further diversity at DIC, I look forward to contributing to the evolution of both the Company and society.

Color Materials Technical Division, Central Research Laboratories 　Thimthong Narumon

DIC is a company that evolves constantly to respond to the needs of the times.

DIC is a company that is bold in its pursuit of dreams and innovations and evolves constantly to ensure its ability to respond to the needs of the times. In recent years, we have seen a substantial increase in the number of female managers and employees who are foreign nationals, both of which are the result of practical efforts to promote diversity. Employees with diverse backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses work together to create comprehensive teams that can adapt to whatever challenging business scenarios may arise in the future. I am impressed with DIC’s commitment to diversity in all its forms, which is one factor that makes it stand out among companies that have been in business for more than a century. I am proud to be a member of the DIC family.

SC Project, Kashima Plant, DIC Corporation　Siong Wan Foo

DIC’s flexible work environment enables employees to accommodate work plans.

As a new graduate, I wanted to find a job with a company that would help me grow as a citizen of the world. As an organization with bases around the world, DIC was the ideal choice. The group I was assigned to is tasked with developing PPS compounds, which are key engineering plastics used widely in automotive components. Because DIC produces PPS compounds at five sites worldwide, including in Japan, we interact frequently with colleagues and customers from overseas. Several members of our team have experience working in other countries, which makes for a lot of unique personalities. DIC has introduced a variety of working arrangements, including flextime and working at home. This creates a work environment that enables employees to, for example, adjust work hours to accommodate work plans, or use earphones at their desk when they need to concentrate, making it much more flexible than most Japanese companies. It is encouraging to see the idea of not being constrained by preconceived notions—something those of us in technical positions often hear—is gradually finding its way into efforts to reform work styles at my own workplace.

Polymer Processing Technical Group 2, DIC Corporation　Sia-Er Tan

Thanks to the support of my supervisors and colleagues, I learned to really love my work.

I met a number of DIC employees at an academic conference when I was in graduate school and was really impressed by their positive attitude and broad expertise, so when I started looking for a job after graduation DIC was my first choice. My first assignment was in a department involved in developing LC products, which is completely different from my area of specialization in university and something I really did not know much about. Thanks to the support of my supervisors and colleagues, I was able to overcome any difficulties I faced and play a key role in developing products and learned to really love my work. To me, DIC’s true appeal is its willingness to entrust important tasks to young employees and the fact that I have so many colleagues I can talk to about anything, whether work-related or personal. In April of this year, I was transferred to a department involved in gravure inks development, so I am once again working hard to learn new things with the aim of quickly becoming a useful part of my new team.

Dispersion Technical Group 1, Tokyo Plant Keumhee Jang

TOPICS

Networking Conference for Non-Japanese Employees

In July and December 2021, DIC held a networking conference to foster ties among non-Japanese employees. Both of these conferences included a study session regarding the careers of employees who are foreign nationals, during which presentations were given by three non-Japanese employees about their own careers, after which the floor was opened for a free discussion on efforts to encourage cross-culture understanding at workplaces, the preparation of welcome packages designed to promote inclusion, and the issue of unconscious biases. Feedback was largely positive, with participants commenting that they had gained information that would be helpful in formulating their own career plans and that the conferences were a good opportunity to deepen mutual understanding.
Because of COVID-19, both networking conferences were conducted online. However, recognizing the importance of face-to-face contact for individuals who may be feeling alienated or lonely, DIC looks forward to returning to a live format in the future to facilitate more effective communication.

Networking Conference for Non-Japanese Employees

In December 2020, DIC held a networking conference to foster ties among non-Japanese employees. The Company will continue to organize these conferences on a periodic basis with the idea that it may be constructive for people who feel alienated or lonely to know they have colleagues with the same concerns.
On the day of the conference, presentations were given on Japan’s public and private pension systems, as well as on frequently asked questions about DIC’s personnel system, after which the floor was opened for a free discussion. Feedback was largely positive, with participants commenting that the event had given them an understanding of pension systems and enabled them to build networks, and that they looked forward to learning about the career plans of other non-Japanese colleagues.

DIC Executives Participate in Diversity Roundtable Discussion

President and CEO Kaoru Ino and other DIC executive officers based in Japan took part in a roundtable discussion on the theme of diversity at corporate headquarters in Japan. Designed to enable participants to share information on initiatives in various departments with the aim of improving the effectiveness of initiatives going forward, the discussion was moderated by managing executive officer Masaya Nakafuji and focused on efforts to promote career opportunities for female employees and activities conducted in line with the Company’s diversity road map. During the discussion, interview seminars for female employees held by production departments and other specific initiatives were presented as case studies to illustrate the importance of creating work environments that are conducive to diverse human resources, as well as to encourage collaboration and foster a sense of solidarity among diverse employees.

Roundtable discussion

3. Expanding Career Opportunities for Women

In line with its commitment to promoting diversity, DIC implements a variety of initiatives to expand career opportunities for female employees. Having established a full-scale program to support employees in balancing the demands of a career and childcare in 2007, since fiscal year 2016 the Company has pushed ahead with measures to transform employee mindsets and its corporate culture, as well as to provide training designed to encourage the drive and determination of female employees and broaden the range of jobs open to women. While efforts in fiscal year 2021 were curbed as a result of the pandemic, DIC introduced various systems whereby it seeks to support diverse work styles, provided training and information to support career advancement for female employees, and conducted joint training with companies in other sectors with the objective of encouraging the building of personal contacts. In fiscal year 2022, the Company will implement measures to resolve issues that have come to light through employee surveys as part of its commitment to actively expanding career opportunities for women.

①Broadening the Scope of Positions Available to Female Employees

Since first assigning four female employees to line shift jobs at the Chiba Plant in 2008, DIC has gradually increased the number of female employees in production and utility control groups across Japan. At present, there are 27 female employees—including five performing shift jobs— on 14 production lines at seven sites in Japan. The Company has already made changes to improve site working environments, including establishing break rooms and locker rooms for women, and will continue taking similar steps with the goal of further broadening the scope of positions available to female employees.

②Initiatives Aimed at Expanding Career Opportunities for Women

③DIC Recognized as Nadeshiko Brand for Fiscal Year 2021, Earning Selection for the Fourth Consecutive Year

In recognition of its superb achievement in expanding career opportunities for women, DIC was selected as a Nadeshiko Brand for fiscal year 2021, the fourth time it was honored under this program, which is sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). The Nadeshiko Brand initiative aims to introduce TSE-listed companies judged to be outstanding in terms of efforts to empower women in the workplace as attractive stocks for investors who emphasize medium- to long-term improvements in corporate value with the objective of accelerating such efforts. The initiative assesses approximately 3,700 companies across all TSE sections based on what they do to promote diversity-conscious management and on their disclosure of related information, and selects Nadeshiko brands in each industry category. In fiscal year 2021, 50 companies were selected for this honor, including four from the chemicals sector.

TOPICS

President and CEO Kaoru Ino and W-LDP Participants Hold Lunchtime Roundtable Discussion

In May 2019, DIC president and CEO Kaoru Ino participated in DIC’s Woman Leader Development Program (W-LDP) lunchtime roundtable discussion. In addition to a presentation by Mr. Ino on DIC’s efforts to promote diversity, the event featured a discussion that covered a variety of matters, including modifying work environments to accommodate aging societies with declining birthrates and an increasing number of two-income households, approaches to helping the next generation of employees balance childcare and their career, and what is lacking in DIC’s current efforts to promote diversity. Participants reacted positively, commenting that the event had been a valuable opportunity to learn what senior management is thinking and to gain a proper understanding of the Company’s diversity promotion program.

Lunchtime roundtable discussion

VOICE

What I learned through participation in a J-Win program designed to advance career opportunities for women.

I participated in a 23-person working group organized on the theme of collaboration among companies with the goal of group members fortifying knowledge and experience through a variety of activities, including document studies, visits to various companies and the examination of case studies. To me, the most exhausting part was the discussing of matters until every member was satisfied. As individuals with nothing in common other than the fact that we are female and businesspeople, I think we all found team building and the alignment of goals difficult. The opportunity to share information with people from different companies and systems was stimulating and provided an opportunity to reflect on one’s own company. Participation in this working group also enabled me to build a network of contacts that I will always value. Going forward, the challenge will be to transform this important experience and the connections I made into something that effectively benefits DIC.

Publicity Manager, PR Group, Corporate Communications Department Yukie Yano

④Advancing the Employment of Individuals with Disabilities

DIC is committed to creating inclusive work environments that help individuals with disabilities enjoy active and fulfilling careers. One initiative is an internship program, organized in collaboration with special needs schools, that is designed to transition into full-time employment. In fiscal year 2021, both regular hiring in April as well as needs-based hiring at individual sites met with success. As of December 31, 2021, individuals with disabilities accounted for 2.6% of DIC’s total labor force, noticeably above Japan’s legally mandated quota of 2.3%.An additional three individual with disabilities are expected to join DIC as part of the Company’s regular hiring in April 2022. Going forward, DIC will continue working with the Japanese government’s Hello Work public employment offices, as well as with special needs schools and organizations that promote the hiring of individuals with disabilities, and will take further steps to enhance work environments to increase workplace accessibility.

VOICE

I look forward to further broadening the scope of my work and challenging myself to take on new job responsibilities.

While I was in school, I took part in two on-site training sessions at DIC’s Sakai Plant and on April 1, 2019, I was hired to work in the Polymer Production Planning Section of the plant’s Production Group 1. To do well at work, you must first be healthy. In addition to an early-to-bed, early-to-rise lifestyle, I eat breakfast every day in the company cafeteria and work continuously to improve my physical fitness. As a result, I am always able to approach my work with energy. At first, my main job was container cleaning, but now I assist with a variety of tasks, including refilling tanks, as well as organizing and storing documents. I am a stickler for adhering to Principles of Safe Conduct and for using the process of ho-ren-so* for all matters, no matter how small, to prevent quality issues. I’m very lucky to be surrounded by grandfatherly individuals who have been reemployed after reaching retirement age who are always happy to help me with anything, as well as bosses and colleagues I can always approach for advice.
Recently, I have begun training in the preparation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) on a computer, which will enable me to do desk work as well as on-site jobs. My future goals are to master the use of computers to prepare SOPs that are clear and easy to understand and that can be used by anyone. I also hope to expand the scope of my tank refilling work.

• Ho-ren-so, a mnemonic acronym in Japanese business culture, is an abbreviation of hokoku (report), renraku (inform) and sodan (consult), a basic rule for smooth workplace communication.

Polymer Production Planning Section, Sakai Plant Production Group 1, DIC Corporation Seigo Hirao

I look forward to sharing the basic principles of safe workplace conduct that I have learned with new employees and interns.

I joined DIC Estate in April 2020 and was assigned to the Business Support Department. However, as COVID-19 spread, normal operations in the mailroom became increasingly challenging. Nonetheless, despite feeling somewhat uneasy about the future each time an increase in infections was reported, we have continued to collect and deliver mail, as well as to coordinate courier services. In this environment, I have tried to keep two things in mind. The first is to be sure to always greet colleagues with a smile and a cheerful greeting. The words of gratitude from colleagues in response are a great encouragement. The second is to employ “pointing and calling,” that is, gesturing and verbalizing important indicators, which is a key principle of workplace conduct for avoiding mistakes that helps ensure the accurate sorting and delivering of internal and regular mail. This means carefully checking the name and department or company of the sender and receiver, and the address for each piece of mail, taking responsibility for preventing erroneous or delayed deliveries.
My goal going forward is to properly convey to new employees and trainees what I have learned over the past year about basic principles of safe workplace conduct. I will also continue observing these principles in my own work.

Business Support Department, DIC Estate Co., Ltd.　Ryosuke Maruyama

Words of gratitude from colleagues are a great encouragement and give me a sense of satisfaction.

I joined DIC Estate on April 3, 2017, and was assigned to the mail room, which is part of the Business Support Department. My responsibilities include collecting and delivering mail, coordinating courier services and maintaining employee-use tea dispensers. Each requires paying close attention to key priorities. When collecting and delivering interoffice and regular mail, we need to ensure that each item is delivered to the appropriate department not only correctly but also safely. In coordinating courier services, we must ensure packages can be carried safely by keeping a close eye on weight and number. When maintaining tea dispensers, it is important not to miss water droplets and dirt so that the machines are always pristine. Words of gratitude from colleagues when I am at work are a great encouragement and give me a sense of satisfaction in doing a good job. My goal is to be like the mail room team leaders, that is, someone who can discern what needs to be done and act swiftly and who is thoughtful and considerate of everyone around them.

Business Support Department, DIC Estate Co., Ltd. 　Ryo Nakagawa

The kind voices of other employees and DIC executives give me a sense of pride in my job.

I joined DIC Estate in February 2017. My responsibilities are primarily the preparation and serving of tea to guests and the maintenance of employee-use tea dispensers situated on each floor of the DIC Building in Nihonbashi. Maintenance of the tea dispensers includes cleaning the drip trays and filters and replenishing supplies of tea and sugar. I prepare and serve tea to guests in the executive reception room on the third floor and clean up after the guests have left. Other employees always thank me for keeping the employee-use tea dispensers clean. DIC executives tell me that guests compliment my proper tea serving etiquette. Compliments like these give me a sense of pride in my job. I will continue working to keep the tea dispensers in tip-top shape for my colleagues, as well as to further improve my ability to prepare and serve delicious tea that pleases guests.

Business Support Department, DIC Estate Co., Ltd. Akari Tanaka

⑤Reemployment after Retirement and Support for Retirement Planning

DIC has deployed a system that facilitates the reemployment until age 65 of individuals reaching retirement age (60) and wishing to remain with the organization. With available options including full-time work, short-time work and work sharing, this system enables reemployed individuals to maximize their experience and make full use of their accumulated technological capabilities and specialized expertise, thereby contributing to sustainable growth for the DIC Group and the training of subsequent generations.
DIC also offers classes for employees within a year of retirement that helps them prepare for life after their careers. These classes provide assistance with retirement planning and education regarding the national pension system, as well as offer retirement lifestyle simulations.

5. Management of Governance and Compliance Risks

1. Reinforcing Human Resources Governance

To strengthen its human resources governance, DIC’s corporate headquarters is involved in making decisions defining principal management positions for the DIC Group, as well as for clarifying authority for nominations and dismissals, evaluating performance and determining remuneration. The Group divides its operations into four regions—Japan, Greater China, the Asia–Pacific region, and the Americas and Europe. The parent company, which is directly responsible for Group operations in Japan, works with regional headquarters in each of the other three regions to reinforce human resources governance across the entire Group.

2. Respect for Human Rights

The DIC Group actively supports global codes governing human rights,^*1 in line with which in fiscal year 2018 it formulated the DIC Group Human Rights Policy and began promoting related initiatives. The DIC Group Code of Business Conduct, which outlines standards that DIC Group employees are expected to observe, lays down provisions prohibiting human rights violations and requiring respect for diversity, two philosophies that are the foundation of the Group’s corporate activities. DIC Group employees are obliged to understand and provide written pledges to abide by the code.
In fiscal year 2010, DIC became a signatory to the UNGC, pledging its support for the Ten Principles of the UNGC, which includes tenets regarding human rights and labor. The Company continues to implement related initiatives in all areas of its corporate activities to reinforce respect for human rights in the human resources management practices of all Group companies and prevent the occurrence of violations.
In response to the Modern Slavery Act 2015,^*2 DIC is reinforcing training regarding human rights due diligence,^*3 cognizant of the issue of human trafficking and the risks it poses to companies with operations in the United Kingdom. The Company also promotes awareness among DIC Group company executives and enhances corporate headquarters’ inspection and monitoring structure as part of an ongoing effort to bolster Group management capabilities.

• The International Bill of Human Rights, comprising the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights (the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights); the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work; the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; and the Ten Principles of the UNGC.
• Under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, companies with operations in the United Kingdom must report on the existence/nonexistence of slavery, human trafficking or other critical violations of human rights in their supply chains, related risks and steps they are taking to address such practices. “Modern slavery” encompasses debt bondage, forced labor and servitude; human trafficking; and exploitation (including sexual exploitation and forced organ donation).
• Human rights due diligence is an ongoing risk management process that a company needs to follow in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how it addresses its adverse human rights impacts.

① The DIC Group Human Rights Policy

② Initiatives in Fiscal Year 2021

A total of 58 DIC Group companies in Japan and overseas implement voluntary human rights and labor practices inspections. In fiscal year 2021, initiatives focused on promoting awareness of the DIC Group Human Rights Policy across the Group. Having analyzed and verified the results of voluntary inspections conducted to date, the Group implemented supplementary surveys in priority areas while at the same time conducting surveys and providing guidance as necessary regarding making improvements and promoting efforts to raise awareness. The DIC Group also conducted human rights due diligence at three Group companies in Malaysia. This confirmed the absence of issues and enabled the Group to provide guidance on points to consider in order to curb the manifestation of risks.

③ Principal Human Rights Challenges Facing the DIC Group

④ The DIC Group’s Human Rights Due Diligence System

The DIC Group has created a human rights due diligence system, which it employs on an ongoing basis.

⑤ Due Diligence Initiatives to Address Principal Human Rights Challenges

3. Building Trust with the DIC Employees’ Union

DIC’s management and representatives of its employees’ union meet regularly with the goal of ensuring healthy industrial relations based on mutual trust. In addition, through labor–management councils and casual management conferences, DIC shares management information and its vision for the future with union representatives and encourages the frank exchange of opinions. A total of 71.7% of parent company employees belong to the DIC Employees’ Union (99.2% of eligible employees).

6. Work–Life Balance/Safety and Health

1. Work–Life Balance

DIC views a healthy work–life balance as essential to both self-realization and sustainable corporate growth. Accordingly, from the standpoint of corporate health management,* the Company continues to expand systems intended to facilitate such a balance. In response to falling birthrates, the Japanese government has launched a drive to promote work style reform, with the goal of helping individuals balance the demands of their careers and childcare or nursing care, increasing productivity and ensuring effective corporate health management. Since before such developments, DIC has promoted initiatives meant to enable all employees to achieve both active and satisfying careers and a fulfilling life outside of work, in line with its belief that positive workplaces lead to higher productivity.

• An approach to employee health management that emphasizes a corporate management perspective and the implementation of strategic measures.

① Enhancing Programs that Help Employees Balance the Demands of Work and Home

In 1986, DIC blazed a trail for chemicals manufacturers in Japan by implementing a childcare leave program. Since establishing a program to support employees in balancing the demands of a career and childcare in 2007, the Company has continued promoting measures that make it easier for employees to make use thereof. In 2008, DIC acquired the Kurumin Mark, which recognizes companies that promote initiatives designed to assist employees in raising children. The Company has also deployed a system that gives regular employees the option to accept or refuse transfers requiring relocation and, since 2012, a system that allows management-level employees to limit the locations to which they will accept transfers, making it easier for individuals who are unable to accept transfers that involve relocation because of childbirth, childcare, nursing care or other responsibilities.

In 2008, DIC was accorded the Kurumin Mark, which recognizes companies that actively promote initiatives designed to assist with child rearing, by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

②Promoting Measures to Retain Employees with Nursing Care Responsibilities

In Japan, one of the social ramifications of falling birthrates and lengthening life spans is an increase in the number of people requiring nursing care, as a result of which more people find themselves having to leave their jobs to take care of family members.
Steps taken by the government to help address these issues include revising the Child Care and Family Care Law in 2016 to make it easier for individuals to take leave or time off and increasing benefits for temporary absences from work. To encourage use and promote knowledge of its related leave programs, in June 2017 DIC began distributing the Childcare and Nursing Care Handbook. DIC has also revised the rules of these programs, including making it possible to break up nursing care leave, as well as to extend the period over which they may shorten their workday from one year to three years, thereby making them easier for employees to use.

③Significantly Expanding the Flextime System

To facilitate flexible work styles, in fiscal year 2017 DIC resolved to significantly expand its flextime system and in April 2018 made the system applicable to all areas of operations other than production floors. The system makes it possible for employees to determine the time at which they end their working day to the extent that it does not hinder business efficiency, as well as to simultaneously make use of telework, with the goal of promoting the independent execution of duties and enhancing self-management capabilities.

VOICE

Thanks to the new telecommuting system, both my professional and private life are more fulfilling.

The way salespeople work has changed from back in the day and responsibilities other than visiting customers continue to increase. In addition to dealing with internal paperwork, I have to deal with environmental and legal/regulatory inquiries, so one or two days each week are taken up with deskwork. More than a few of these tasks are conducive to telecommuting. Like most other salespeople, I also work when I have a free moment between business trips and when I’m out of the office. Telecommuting allows me focus before I leave for a business trip or when I get home, so I’m able to be much more efficient. I look forward making further use of the telecommuting system to achieve a work–life balance that suits me and helps ensure a more fulfilling professional and private life.

Manager, Tokyo EP Sales Group, Composite Material Products Division Takuro Mikami

④Introducing a Leave to Accompany Spouse Overseas System

To ensure its ability to secure and retain talented human resources and enhance employees’ work–life balance, in January 2019 DIC introduced a system allowing employees to take leave to accompany spouses on overseas work assignments. Programs such as this help employees balance their careers and private lives without having to leave their jobs.

⑤Establishing a System to Help Employees Balance Medical Treatment and Work

In January 2020, DIC introduced a system to support employees undergoing medical treatment who wish to continue working. To guarantee this system functions effectively, the Company formulated guidelines to ensure employees making use of this system receive the ongoing support necessary to balance medical treatment and work through job-related accommodations and considerations.

⑥Programs that Help Employees Balance the Demands of Work and Home

⑦Use of the Childcare Leave and Leave to Assist with Parenting Programs

Owing to the introduction of various programs to help employees in balancing the demands of work and home and the creation of an environment that encourages employees to take advantage of such thereof, the percentage of DIC employees who return to work after making use of the Childcare Leave Program is currently 100%. In addition, the number of individuals using the Leave to Assist with Parenting Program, which enables male employees to take time off in the weeks after the birth of a child to assist their partner, has risen.
Thanks to efforts to enhance these systems, the average years of employment for female employees has increased and continues to exceed the average for male employees. Beginning in fiscal year 2022, the Company will encourage male employees to more actively make use of the Childcare Leave and Leave to Assist with Parenting programs.

Note: Figures in parentheses are the number of male employees included in the total number of employees using the Childcare Leave Program.

VOICE

Balancing a career and childcare is a challenge, but I feel happy and fulfilled.

When I first joined DIC as a salesperson, I was a bit taken aback by the attention given to the fact that I am a woman, but it was never uncomfortable in any way. The biggest test came after I became pregnant, had my baby and then returned to work after taking maternity leave and childcare leave. First, there were all the unexpected and bewildering changes that come with pregnancy. Then I was up to my ears looking after a new baby, a situation that was compounded by anxiousness about being away from work for so long. Since coming back to work, the limits of being a working mother have been a source of some pressure, but everyone in my department and family has been really encouraging. Balancing a career and childcare is certainly a challenge, but it’s one I took on readily and I feel happy and fulfilled in both roles. I’m really grateful to have such support, and I will continue to do my very best both at work and at home.

Advanced Technology Marketing Dept. Naoko Nakajima

⑧Average Years of Employment (Including Individuals Seconded to Group Companies)

⑨Reducing Extreme Overwork and Encouraging Employees to Take Annual Paid Leave

DIC has deployed an electronic management system that tracks employee working hours based on sign in/sign out data extracted from IC cards. To prevent extreme overwork, if an employee appears likely to exceed the overtime limit (including weekends) agreed upon by labor and management, or if their monthly overtime has exceeded 70 hours, their supervisor and the senior executive in charge are automatically notified. The supervisor is required to submit a report outlining the employee’s work responsibilities and factors behind the excessive hours, and presenting specific measures to ameliorate the situation, which is shared with the DIC Employees’ Union. This process is designed to curb/reduce excessively long working hours.
The Company has also instituted a mandatory “no overtime day” every Wednesday and on payday, which in Japan is once a month at month-end, in a bid to encourage efficient work practices and further bolster productivity. (Sites can opt to switch to a different day as appropriate.) In addition, employees are encouraged to take annual paid leave, with sites recommending appropriate timing for leave and having employees plan dates for such leave.)

⑩Average Monthly Overtime Hours Worked and Annual Paid Leave Taken

2. Employee Safety

①Measures to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19

Between February 2020, when COVID-19 first emerged, and December 31, 2021, a total of 31 internal notifications were sent under the heading “Measures to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19.” Efforts ranged from promoting internal initiatives to prevent infection to detailed instructions regarding individual employee behavior.

②Pandemic Countermeasures Implemented by the Corporate Headquarters’ Employee Cafeteria

The employee cafeteria at corporate headquarters in Tokyo took a variety of steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ensure peace of mind for users.

③Corporate COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics

Between June and August 2021, vaccination clinics for DIC Group employees were conducted at corporate headquarters in Tokyo, as well as at several other sites, with the aim of protecting employees from infection and helping curb the spread of the virus and prevent those who do become infected from suffering severe illness. Approximately 2,800 employees chose to take advantage of these clinics for both their first and second vaccinations.

3. Corporate Health Management

① Corporate Health Management Initiatives

In line with its Health Management Declaration, the DIC Group works actively to support the physical and mental health of its employees, as well as to create a work environment conducive to job satisfaction. Looking ahead, the Group will continue to promote imaginative and original health management measures, recognizing that the health of its employees is essential to the realization of sustainable growth.

② Framework for Promoting Health Management

The DIC Group in Japan promotes health management through a framework that is based on collaboration with the DIC Health Insurance Society and under the supervision of the president and CEO. Going forward, the Group will step up efforts to work with related organizations and promote effective initiatives across the DIC Group.

③ Key Health Management Initiatives

④ Mental Health Management Initiatives

DIC takes steps to create environments in which employees feel physically and mentally supported and works to ensure that its labor management practices comply with relevant laws. The Company places a high priority on caring for psychological and emotional well-being and has established a comprehensive mental health program, highlights of which include engaging an in-house occupational psychologist, promoting initiatives aimed at warding off mental health problems and extending support to ensure a smooth return to work for employees taking leave. In particular, access to counseling provided by an occupational psychologist has had a considerably positive impact in terms of ensuring employees get treatment and are able to return to work as quickly as possible.
DIC has also offered voluntary stress checks since fiscal year 2013, well before the passage of related legislation in Japan in fiscal year 2016, and promotes active, systematic efforts with the goal of preventing mental health disorders. Of note, the Company conducts seminars led by an inhouse physician for employees who have scored above a certain level in stress checks and offers counseling meant to help employees improve communications with supervisors, colleagues and family members and at enhancing stress tolerance through self-care. In fiscal year 2021, DIC organized online self-care training on the theme of stress management and sleep seminars in collaboration with a sports gym. DIC will pursue the continued systematic promotion of these initiatives going forward.

TOPICS

DIC Earns White 500 Certification for the Fifth Consecutive Year

DIC earned certification in the large enterprise category of the 2022 Health & Productivity Outstanding Entities Recognition Program (dubbed the “White 500”), which is organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Nippon Kenko Kaigi.^*1 This is the fifth consecutive year the Company has been certified under this program, which seeks to shine a spotlight on outstanding enterprises working to advance health and productivity management, creating an environment that ensures such enterprises gain enhanced public recognition—i.e., from employees, jobseekers, related companies and financial institutions—as organizations that approach employee health and productivity from a management perspective and promote strategic initiatives.
In addition to looking at whether enterprises stipulate health management in their corporate mission and disclose pertinent information, the White 500 program assesses performance based on grasp of employee health–related issues and consideration of actions, establishment of a foundation for the practical implementation of health and productivity management measures and work engagement,^*2 promotion of efforts to help ensure the physical and mental health of employees, quality of initiatives, and evaluation and improvement.
DIC will continue to implement measures designed to promote physical and mental health as part of its commitment to creating work environments that empower employees to reach their full potential.

• Nippon Kenko Kaigi (“Japan Health Council”) is an organization that liaises with private companies, with the full backing of the government, to put effective measures in place to prolong the healthy life expectancy of citizens and to ensure sound medical services in Japan.
• A concept used to measure employees’ mental health, work engagement is described as a positive, fulfilling work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption. “Vigor” is taking pride and experiencing a sense of satisfaction in one’s work; “dedication” is feeling strongly involved in and focused on one’s work; and “absorption” is being actively engrossed in one’s work.

⑤ Initiatives to Support Employee Health

DIC analyzes the results of employees’ annual physicals and provides assistance to employees for whom lifestyle improvements have been recommended by providing introductions to hospitals and clinics, and individual guidance on lifestyle improvements. With the aim of promoting healthy eating, the employee cafeteria at DIC corporate headquarters in Tokyo has introduced a new healthy cafeteria menu dubbed “DIC Irodori Care+” (“DIC Colorful Care+”). DIC’s General Affairs and HR Department, the Healthcare Office and the company responsible for the operation of the cafeteria collaborated to develop this menu based on the health needs of employees. The Company also devised innovative ways of presentation, including producing distinctive signage that encourages recognition and names that clearly communicate the health benefits of menu selections, such as reduced calories or low cholesterol. In addition, DIC Irodori Care+ makes use of familiar meal components such as kobachi (small bowl) side dishes, transformed into a nutrient-packed “Supplement Bowl,” to promote greater awareness of food’s role in improving overall health.
DIC will continue implementing measures designed to help ensure the physical and mental health of its employees as part of its commitment to creating a work environment in which all employees can fully exercise their abilities.

A healthy cafeteria menu selection

DIC Group Site Employee Cafeterias Earn Smart Meal Certification

The employee cafeterias at DIC’s corporate headquarters, Osaka Branch Office and Sakai Plant earned certification in the “Meal Program” category of the fiscal year 2018 Smart Meal Program, earning the highest possible rating of three stars. The Smart Meal Program, which is administered by a consortium of 13 academic associations, including the Japanese Society of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Japanese Society of Nutrition and Food Service Management, was established to recognize restaurants, corporate facilities and other establishments that promote the continuous provision of nutritionally balanced menu options—i.e., “smart meals”—in healthy eating environments. Under the Smart Meal Program, restaurants, corporate sites and other establishments that satisfy essential requirements, which include a menu that meets Smart Meal standards and the creation of an appropriate management system and easy-to-understand efforts to communicate benefits, and 10 or more optional conditions related to the promotion of healthy diets and eating environments, earn certification with a three-star rating. Smart Meal Program certification is divided into two classes: “Wholesome” (450–650 kcal) and “Hearty” (650–850 kcal). DIC’s corporate headquarters was certified in both classifications, while the Osaka Branch Office and the Sakai Plant were certified in the “Wholesome” class. At corporate headquarters, these efforts focus on developing menus that take into account the results of annual employee health checkups. At the Osaka Branch Office, the focus is on promoting health consciousness by providing clear, age-specific information on energy consumption, while at the Sakai Plant the emphasis is on creating menus that reflect the results of employee polls and make use of regional ingredients.

TOPICS

DIC Gives Presentation at Conference of Specific Meal Service Facilities

With the aim of improving the nutritional management capabilities of specific meal service facilities (defined as cafeterias or restaurants with a maximum seating capacity of 250 people), the Tokyo metropolitan government stages a conference introducing case studies of such facilities. DIC, which received a fiscal year 2019 Tokyo Metropolitan Governor’s Award for Nutritional Improvement at Specific Meal Service Facilities, gave a presentation on its initiatives at the February 2020 conference, held at Tomin Hall in Shinjuku, representing the 10 fiscal year 2019 award winners. DIC’s presentation, titled “Helping Improve the Health of Employees,” focused on the DIC Irodori Care+ menu introduced at the corporate headquarters’ employee cafeteria and the development of innovative healthy menu items such as “Supplement Bowl.”

TOPICS

DIC Earns Tokyo Metropolitan Governor’s Award for Nutritional Improvement and Specific Meal Service Facilities

In fiscal year 2019, DIC was pleased to accept a 2019 Tokyo Metropolitan Governor’s Award for Nutritional Improvement and Specific Meal Service Facilities from governor Yuriko Koike. Each year, this program evaluates the implementation of dietary guidelines and application thereof to menu items, as well as the status of efforts to enhance nutritional management, at specified meal service facilities across Tokyo and presents governor’s awards (certificates of appreciation) to those that have contributed to improved nutrition. In most years, approximately 10 such facilities are so recognized, with hospitals and care homes dominating. Business establishments received none of the 11 awards conferred in fiscal year 2018, but accounted for three of the 10 given in fiscal year 2019. DIC’s award reflected high marks given the DIC Irodori Care+ (“DIC Colorful Care+”) menu offered at the Irodori Café on the 12th floor of the Company’s corporate headquarters, and the contribution of healthy menu items such as the nutrient-rich “Supplement Bowl” and “Colorful Deli®,” developed with attention to the color of ingredients, which prompted the Chuo-ku public health department to recommend the café for an award.

Comment

The corporate headquarters’ employee cafeteria has taken a variety of steps during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve operations and prevent the spread of infection.

Our company has operated the employee cafeteria at DIC’s corporate headquarters since the opening of the new DIC Building in 2015. So far, our menu has been well received and as of February 2020 we welcomed approximately 900 guests a day and offered seven daily menu selections, including one “healthy set” option. However, with the emergence of COVID-19 and society’s general shift to teleworking, the number of guests at the end of March was half that of the previous month. When the first state of emergency was declared in Tokyo, the number dropped to roughly 50 a day.
Given these massive changes, we had no choice but to also cut cafeteria staff by about half. This of course was a difficult decision, but insofar as we have been given the responsibility of running this place, we did not have a choice. But when I see our remaining staff going about their work with a smile, I am encouraged.
Despite the harsh environment, after multiple meetings with the people responsible on the DIC side, the decision was made to keep the cafeteria open— a nod to its importance to the health and energy of DIC employees. We were also able to agree on a reduced menu of four choices, which changed daily. In addition, we implemented a number of decisive measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Accurately predicting the number of meals that will be needed every day has become difficult using conventional metrics, but we are working to adjust fl exibly on a daily basis by asking the Company to let us know each morning how many employees are on-site that day. This has helped us reduce food loss and unnecessary processes as much as possible.
Thanks to the understanding and cooperation of many people, we succeeded in adjusting the format of the corporate headquarters’ employee cafeteria. We will continue to increase measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to ensure employees are able to dine safely and with peace of mind. We will also continue exploring new offerings that will ensure a delicious and enjoyable dining experience even with the current limited menu.

Manager, Aim Services Co., Ltd. Emi Ota

Comment

I look forward to continuing to devise distinctively DIC menu options and provide meals that support employee health.

The employee cafeteria at DIC’s corporate headquarters offers Smart Meal–standard, DIC Irodori Care+, Supplement Bowl and other healthy, nutrient-rich menu options. Our efforts to contribute to employee health also include making cafeteria meals more enjoyable by introducing new choices and organizing a variety of events. In October 2019, for example, we held a blood vessel age calculation clinic, which attracted quite a few participants. This provided an opportunity for employees to think about the importance of not only diet but also awareness of one’s own body. I look forward to continuing to support employee health by devising attractive menu options and organizing events, as well as by promoting new initiatives.

Registered dietitian, Aim Services Co., Ltd. 　Makoto Sanpei