Basic Approach
The Maruha Nichiro Group recognizes that respecting each other's differences in gender, nationality, values, age, lifestyle, disability, etc., and allowing each and every employee to fully express their abilities, are crucial to our sustainable corporate growth.
Above all, we have put in place a policy aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion, and are implementing various measures toward that end.
Maruha Nichiro Declaration of Action for Diversity and Inclusion
To support the sustained growth of the Group through the creation of value, the Maruha Nichiro Group, preserves a corporate culture that respects the diversity in society and creates a work environment that enables all employees to demonstrate their individual strengths and reach the full potential of their abilities.
Management Structure
At Maruha Nichiro Corporation, under the supervision of the Managing Executive Officer, each department works together to determine important policies and measures to promote diversity and inclusion. Personnel Department is responsible for formulating, managing, planning, and implementing various policies, collecting and disseminating information, and promoting education and awareness. In addition, a Diversity and Inclusion Officer has been appointed in each department to share information on the policies and measures planned by the Human Resources Department and to gather opinions within the workplace.
Vision for 2030 (KGI) and Achievement Targets (KPI)
Materiality: Building work environment that diversified employees can work with a sense of security
Ideal state in 2030 (KGI): A workplace environment where diversity is respected, and employees feel safe and comfortable to work
| Materiality | Building work environment that diversified employees can work with a sense of security | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KGI（Vision for 2030） | A workplace environment where diversity is respected, and employees feel safe and comfortable to work | |||||
| KPI | Percentage of female employees by maintaining 50% female employment ratio (MN*1) | Percentage of Women on Board of Directors (MN*1) | Female management job ratio(MN*1) | Establishment of Maruha Nichiro Human Resource Development Program and targets set 2030 targets (MN*1) | Establish employee engagement assessment methodology and set 2030 targets (MN*1) | |
| Target | Target Year | 2030 | 2030 | 2030 | 2024 | 2024 |
| Target Value | 35% or more | 30% or more | 15% or more | － | － | |
| Progress in FY2022 | Progress Results & Comments | Recruitment ratio in FY2024: 50% female | Ratio of women to all directors and corporate auditors: 15.4% (April 2024) | Increase the ratio of female managers from 5.5% in April 2023 to 7.7% (April 2024) | Develop an overall HR policy and a JD*2 for the section manager level as the basis for the program | Engagement survey to be conducted, evaluation analyzed and validated |
| self-evaluation | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Responsible department | Personnel Department, Maruha Nichiro | |||||
*1 MN: Maruha Nichiro Corporation
*2 JD: Job Description
Note: The department in charge is Personnel Department, Maruha Nichiro Corporation.
Message from Representative
Akira Abe
Personnel Department
General Manager
Personnel Department has set forth three action themes in the medium-term plan as "proactive investment in human resources": "enhancement of human capital," "human resources development," and "visualization and utilization of human resources," and by the end of FY2024, we will establish the foundation of a system to produce the human resources necessary to achieve the next mid-term plan, and by April 2025, we will establish a system that will enable us to recruit, assign, and train human resources in accordance with our management strategy. By April 2025, we aim to establish a system that will enable us to hire, assign, and train human resources in accordance with our management strategy.
In addition, we will work to foster a corporate culture in which the strengths of each individual can be fully demonstrated by promoting the activities of diverse human resources, health management and wellbeing, and flexible work styles. Furthermore, we aim to create an organizational culture that facilitates innovation and collaboration, and to achieve continuous growth and increase corporate value through a win-win relationship between the company and its employees.
Main Initiatives
Promotion of Culture Reform
Maruha Nichiro's Corporate Culture
Maruha Nichiro Corporation aims to foster the following culture through culture reform.
- A culture that respects individual careers and lives, including various life events.
- A culture of autonomous career thinking that allows individuals to communicate their wills and align them with the company's path.
- A culture of psychological safety where challenges and failures are allowed and appropriate feedback is provided.
- A culture that understands and respects diversity.
Human Resource Development for Management Leaders
Workplace with High Psychological Safety Resulting from Culture Change
A workplace with high psychological safety is specifically a workplace with the following conditions
Employee Engagement
Maruha Nichiro Corporation regards employee engagement as an important factor in raising corporate value, and has conducted a pulse survey to measure employee engagement levels once a month since FY2021, and once every two months since FY2023. The results are used as a tool for managers to reflect on their own management, and are also used to grasp the level of engagement from a company-wide perspective on a case-by-case basis.
In the future, we will expand this survey to the entire Group in FY2023, and in FY2024, we will establish a Group employee engagement evaluation method and set targets to be achieved by FY2030.
Initiatives Related to Improving Employee Engagement
Department Introduction (Japanese only) (PDF: 494 KB/ 1 page)
For the success of all staff members lectures (Japanese only) (PDF: 609 KB/ 1 page)
Conduct 1-on-1 meetings (Japanese only) (PDF: 333 KB/ 1 page)
Mentor System (Japanese only) (PDF: 319 KB/ 1 page)
Women's Empowerment
Maruha Nichiro considers efforts to "promote women's activities" to be an important issue as a step toward fostering a highly motivating and comfortable work environment for all employees, and as a solid stepping stone to becoming a sustainable corporate group in the promotion of diversity and inclusion.
In FY2017, we established the Diversity Promotion Office (now the Diversity & Inclusion Office) and are working to create a workplace environment where diversity is respected and employees can play an active role with peace of mind, and to maximize the potential of each individual regardless of gender.
Acquisition of "Eruboshi" Certification
In FY 2017, Maruha Nichiro Co.acquired the "Eruboshi" certification from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which is issued to companies with excellent status in promoting women's activities under the certification system based on the Law Concerning the Promotion of Women's Activities in the Workplace (Women's Activities Promotion Law). The certification is based on the evaluation of the company's efforts to create an environment in which women can easily play an active role. Of the five evaluation items, the company meets the criteria for three of them: "continuous employment," "working hours and other working styles," and "diverse career courses. In addition, in March 2021, we formulated a general business owner action plan (2021-2025) based on the Law for the Promotion of Women's Activities.
Click here for details about "Database of companies promoting women's activities" (Japanese only)
Ratio of Male to Female Employees at Maruha Nichiro Co.
The gender ratio of new graduate employees who joined the company in April 2023 was 47.7% (41 men) and 52.3% (45 women), and the ratio of women hired has been over 50% since fiscal year 2022.
We are also actively working to promote non-regular employees to regular employees, and the proportion of those promoted during the most recent three-year period was 97.1% (one male and 34 female). Furthermore, the percentage of women taking childcare leave continues to be at the 100% level.The percentage of women among our employees has been increasing year by year, and as of April 1, 2023, the percentage of women was 28.1%.
We will continue our efforts to promote women in various fields, including the appointment of women to managerial positions, the appointment of non-regular employees, and the assignment of women to overseas locations, in order to further develop customer-driven management, and to ensure that diverse opinions are reflected in decision-making and management participation.
Ratio of Male to Female New Graduates (Male:Female)
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62.7：37.3 | 60.3：39.7 | 50 : 50 | 47.7：52.3 | 50:50 |
*Scope: Maruha Nichiro Co.
Changes in Female Managers
| FY | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People | 34 (4.5%) | 42 (5.5%) | 54 (7.0%) | 59 (7.7%) |
*Scope: Maruha Nichiro Co.
*All figures are actual as of April 1.
Childcare Support
Acquisition Rate of Childcare Leave
Maruha Nichiro has maintained a 100% rate of women taking childcare leave from FY2017 to FY2023. In addition, 69.7% of men used the childcare leave system in FY2023.
Percentage of Employees Taking Childcare Leave
| FY | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Male | 12.60% | 9.10% | 33.30% | 42.50% | 35.50% | 52.30% | 69.7% |
*Scope: Maruha Nichiro Co.
Promoting Male Employees to Take Childcare Leave
To encourage the development of a corporate culture that makes it easier for men to take childcare leave, in FY2022 we endorsed the "100% Male Childcare Leave Declaration" and joined the "Ikubosu Kigyo Renmei" (Alliance of "Ikubosu" companies). In addition, we held a "Management Seminar for Promoting Male Childcare Leave" for management and managers, which was attended by about 350 people, and the seminar was broadcast on our intranet site.
Promoting Male Childcare Leave (Japanese only) (PDF: 387 KB/ 1 page)
Joined the "Ikubosu Enterprise Alliance" (Japanese only) (PDF: 430 KB/ 1 page)
Support before and after Childcare Leave
The situation changes rapidly from pregnancy to childcare leave, from childcare leave to return to work, and after returning to work. Employees in the childcare period are faced with endless anxiety. These anxieties are generally said to be "anxiety about balancing work and family" and "anxiety and impatience about future career development." We support employees from childcare leave to return to work by eliminating the above concerns, fostering motivation toward returning to work, and using our intranet site to visualize their careers while raising children, viewing childcare leave as a period of preparation for balancing work and family.
Acquisition of the Certified Employer Mark for Childcare Support (Nicknamed "Kurumin") Certification
Maruha Nichiro Co. acquired the fourth "Kurumin" certification from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare in fiscal 2022, in recognition of the high rate of female and male employees taking childcare leave (including short-term leave).
Going forward, we will continue to implement a variety of measures, not limited to childcare leave, to support employees in balancing work and childcare as their children grow up, and to promote further participation in childcare by men as well as women, and to promote understanding among supervisors.
Promoting Reforms in Work Styles
Maruha Nichiro Corporation has multiple systems in place to allow all employees to choose a variety of work styles to suit their individual circumstances while cherishing their own lives. By FY2021, all departments will be working flextime with no core hours. Telecommuting, which was in the form of test operation until FY 2019, has been institutionalized from FY 2020, and from FY 2022, it is possible to work not only at home but also at the home of the employee's parents. We also introduced a new personnel system in FY2022, which includes a three-day workweek and a side job system.
We will continue to strive to create a system that enables employees to work while flexibly responding to their life events.
| System | Overview | FY2023 (people) |
|---|---|---|
| Maternity Leave Before and After Childbirth | The maximum length of leave is 14 weeks. A system that compensates employees on maternity leave with a portion of their wages through our health insurance association. | 23 |
| Childcare Leave | A system of absence until the child reaches the age of 2 years. This system can also be used by male employees. | 39 (29 females, 10 male) |
| Employees returning from childcare leave | Employees returning to work after childcare leave | 57 (24 female, 33 males)*1 |
| Short-term Childcare Leave | A system of absence until the child reaches the age of 2 years. Salary can be claimed without reduction for up to a maximum of 10 days. | 13 |
| Paternity Childbirth Leave | A leave system that can be used when an employee's spouse is giving birth. Salary can be claimed without reduction for up to a maximum of 5 days. | 20*2 |
| Childcare Working Hour Leave | A system to exempt an employee from work for up to 1 hour 40 mins in a day, until the employee's child finishes the third grade of elementary school. | 96*3 |
| Nursing Care Leave | A system for approving an aggregate leave of up to 1 year for each family member who requires nursing care. | N/A |
| Return to Work Program | A system to support employees who have left work due to various reasons such as marriage, childbirth, providing nursing care, work relocation by their spouse, or career enhancement to play an active role again and utilize the expertise, personal connections and experience they have gained during their absence, in addition to the knowledge and experience they built up before leaving work. | 1 |
| Flextime System | A system for improving productivity and contributing to employee welfare by entrusting the starting and ending times for an employee's appointed monthly working hours to the individual discretion of the employee. | 1,851*3 |
| Shortened Work Hours Program for Nursing Care | A system for shortening the prescribed working hours in 30 minute increments by up to a maximum of 2 hours per day.The total amount of leave that can be taken under the Shortened Work Hours Program for Nursing Care and Nursing Care Leave system is limited to 3 years for each family member who requires nursing care. | 0 |
| Short-term Nursing Care Leave | A system allowing employees to utilize up to five days a year of accumulated time off (up to 10 days a year if two or more family members require nursing care) before annual paid leave is used. | 7 |
| Post-retirement Reemployment | A system for rehiring retirees who meet specific qualifications and express a desire to be reemployed. | 52 (34 female, 18 males）*3 *4 |
Scope of coverage] Employees of Maruha Nichiro Co.
*1: 100% of employees whose leave expired between April 2023 and March 2024
*2: Male employees with spouses who had children in FY2023
*3: As of April 1, 2024
*4: Including seconded employees
Nursing Care Support
Information on nursing care is solicited via the intranet for employees who wish to receive such information, and information and seminars on nursing care are provided on a regular basis. We have also introduced a cafeteria plan as a benefit plan, which allows employees to customize as needed regarding nursing care.
Employment of People with Disabilities
We are actively promoting the employment of people with disabilities with the aim of becoming a company where a diverse range of human resources, regardless of gender, nationality, age, or disability, can play an active role.
Employment Ratio of People with Disabilities
| FY2018 | FY2019 | FY202 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.89% | 2.01% | 2.12% | 2.00% | 2.32% | 2.31% | 2.50% |
* Scope: Maruha Nichiro Co.
