Lacto Japan has made all employees aware of the Corporate Code of Conduct and the Code of Conduct for Officers and Employees. At the same time, we are creating multilingual versions of both codes of conduct. So far, we have produced English and Chinese versions and shared them with overseas staff. These codes of conduct mention respect for human rights and stipulate the exclusion of all kinds of discrimination and harassment whether inside or outside the Group. In addition to dealing with the prevention of harassment as part of compliance training, we are also conducting training that includes the prevention of corruption.
Furthermore, as a whistleblowing system, we have established a contact system for consultation with the General Manager of the Human Resources and General Affairs Department and lawyers. If a notification is made, a report is provided to the responsible officer, as required, and it is responded to while paying attention to ensuring that the whistleblower is not disadvantaged.
Lacto Japan currently recruits employees that work in Japan within Japan. Staff at overseas factories are locally recruited and managers are not only sent from Japan but also promoted from among local staff. Going forward, we will promote the localization of overseas bases and we aim to establish a system where managers can also be recruited and fostered locally. Moreover, we have started discussions aimed at the globalization of our human resources including the head office. After retirement, there are opportunities for staff to play a role as an advisor for one to two years depending on the needs of the person concerned and the work site.
Lacto Japan's mission is to contribute to people's health and enjoyment of food by providing a stable supply of safe and reliable ingredients to our customers based on strong relationships of trust with our business partners around the world. In order for our employees to become the people who can carry out this mission, we provide training programs for each job type and stage, including training for new employees, rank-specific training for experienced employees, and overseas training.
Lacto Japan started recruiting women that had newly graduated for career track positions in FY2019. Overseas, promotion of women including managerial positions is advancing, and as of FY2022, the ratio of women in managerial positions is about 20% on a consolidated basis. Systems such as childcare leave have been in place for some time, and the rate of returning to work after maternity leave has been maintained at 100%. In addition, we provide shorter working hours and an hourly paid leave system, and have created an environment that makes it easy to balance work and childcare. Our nursing care leave system has not actually been used yet but, as an issue going forward, we will encourage staff to make use of it.
In addition, as job transfers and overseas assignments are essential for employees to advance at Lacto Japan, we plan to consider the best way to create comfortable workplaces from various perspectives including balancing work and family life.
We have also been hiring people with disabilities since FY2022.
Lacto Japan has introduced various systems to enable employees to maintain a good work-life balance.
The “Bronze Week Program,” which we introduced in FY2017, obligates employees to take four continuous days of leave, including Saturday and Sunday, once a year. Furthermore, as we manage leave applications and approvals based on a system, we have established an environment where it is easy to take leave. As regards the management of working hours, the status of Company-wide overtime is shared at management meetings, and appropriate measures to control overtime are taken.
Moreover, we are promoting the switch to notebook PCs for business use and the introduction of smartphones for business use. We are also considering making the telework and staggered workday systems introduced to prevent COVID-19 infection permanent as a way to address risk and accommodate diverse work styles.
Lacto Japan provides health checkups and stress checks for employees once a year. We have maintained a rate of 100% for receiving health checkups while employees’ spouses and dependents can also receive medical examinations with Company assistance. As part of the Company’s welfare program, we also pay for vaccinations. In addition, occupational physicians visit the head office once a month and employees can consult them freely.
Overseas factories conduct safety checks every morning at morning meetings. During processes, there are operations that are potentially dangerous such as the temperature of the melting pot that melts the cheese becoming high. Therefore, we thoroughly alert employees about danger and we are working to improve safety further by improving equipment and implementing other measures. It should be noted that to date no serious work-related injuries or deaths have occurred.
