Advocating for Reform and New Approaches to Work

Creating an Employee-Friendly Environment

To ensure that all employees can balance their work and personal lives and continue to work and thrive with peace of mind, we are promoting work style reforms to create diverse working arrangements that will allow for work-life balance.

Reducing Overtime Hours and Promoting Paid Leave

To ensure that every employee is mindful and in control of their work hours, we are actively identifying and addressing departments and individuals with excessive overtime, and improvement measures are planned and implemented to reduce overall working hours. We are also enhancing work-life balance by instituting measures such as a weekly No Overtime Day for each department. And by monitoring the usage of paid leave across each department, we strive to guarantee all employees can reliably take paid leave.

Average Monthly Overtime Hours and Rate of Paid Leave Usage (%) (Over 5 Years)

Note 1) Overtime hours for general office employees are defined as those worked in excess of 7.5 hours a day.
Note 2) This paid leave usage rate is calculated as the number of days of paid leave taken (under Article 39 of the Labor Standards Act) times 100, divided by the total number of days of paid leave granted to employees.

Utilization of Various Programs (Over 5 Years)

*Scroll horizontally to see more.

	FY2018	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
Rate of male employees who have taken parental leave	42.9%	25.0%	28.6%	60.0%	35.7%
Rate of female employees who have taken parental leave	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Rate of female employees who have returned to work from parental leave	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Note:The parental leave usage rate is calculated based on the ratio of leave taken to the total number of births.

Program Details

General	Flextime (with core hours)	Standard daily working hours are set at 7.5 hours, shorter than legally required, enabling a flextime work schedule (with core hours during which employees are required to be at work) where employees have flexibility in their arrival and departure times.
Childcare	Childcare leave	Employees caring for children who have not yet graduated from elementary school are entitled to leave, which extends beyond the period specified by law.
Childcare	Reduced working hours due to childcare	Employees caring for children up to the end of fourth grade in elementary school may reduce their daily working hours to six hours.
Long-term care	Family caregiver leave	Employees are entitled to up to five days of leave per year for the care of a family member.
Long-term care	Reduced working hours for long-term care	Employees can apply to reduce their work hours to six hours a day for up to two periods within a requested three-year period for the long-term care of a family member.

Kurumin Certification

The Soken Group obtained Kurumin certification as a company that implements measures to support employees with children. The Kurumin certification is awarded by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare to companies that provide action plans formulated in accordance with the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children and that meet specific standards as a company that supports employees and their childcare needs. At Soken, we remain committed to creating an environment that allows our employees to balance their childcare responsibilities and their careers.

Employee Benefits

Employee Housing Support
We provide individual corporate housing for new graduates who are moving from other domestic or international locations. We aim to help new employees ease their transition into corporate life by providing economic assistance and opportunities to interact with senior staff. This program is also available for long-term trainees.
Support for Health and Well-Being
Regular health checkups are conducted at least once a year, and we promote and subsidize the cost of comprehensive medical examinations for employees aged 35 or older and their dependents.
We also subsidize the cost of one influenza vaccination each year for employees and their dependents.
Furthermore, we organize annual lectures by occupational health physicians to enhance employee knowledge and understanding of health management.
Support for Mental Health
At each of our offices, employees are able to receive counseling from specialized counselors and consult with occupational psychiatrists. Additionally, through mental health measures such as annual stress tests, we focus on the prevention and early detection of mental illness. This approach not only supports employees' mental health and well-being but also ensures a system is in place for the prompt treatment of symptoms.
Other Support Services
- Club Activities (Sowakai):
  We offer a variety of activities to help employees and their families strengthen bonds and enjoy leisure time together through the Sowakai club.
- Recreational Facilities:
  As a way to relax during time off, employees have access to recreational facilities affiliated with the health insurance association at discounted rates.
- Corporate Memberships for Amusement Parks:
  As a way to make the most of their time off, employees can enjoy access to contracted amusement parks and leisure facilities.
- Amenities:
  We have equipped our offices with amenities that include shower and washroom facilities, laundry machines, and rest spaces. We encourage our employees, especially those at our factories, to make full use of these facilities as part of our commitment to rigorous hygiene practices.
- Temperature Management in Factories:
  As part of our commitment to ensuring a safe and comfortable working environment, we have installed air conditioning systems to maintain suitable indoor temperatures and prevent heat stroke among our factory employees during the summer months.
- Employee Workwear and Uniform Policy:
  We supply our factory employees with anti-static workwear and protective equipment, and also provide uniforms to female administrative staff upon request.