Policy and basic philosophy

Work Environment Policy

  • We aim to build organizations that allow individuals to make the most of their abilities, respect each other, and are united by mutual respect as we work toward fostering a corporate climate in which individuals and organizations can enjoy constant evolution as existing businesses are renewed and new businesses created one after another.
  • To achieve these goals, the office environment and work flow, which constitute the foundation upon which employee engagement will grow, must be continuously reviewed to ensure the development of an environ- ment unrestricted by time and location and in which employees can maintain and improve their health and work safely.

Overview

Human resources are what enable Kanematsu to provide solutions. It is therefore essential to create work environments in which diverse human resources cooperate and respect each other as equals and are able to build diverse careers and in which those who take on challenges are rewarded. Based on the DE&I approach, the Company has established four core values to improve employee engagement—Leverage Individuality, Equality & Respect, Support Ambitious Efforts, and Work Style Options—and strives to cre- ate an organization that maximizes the abilities of each and every employee.

Visual of the Core Values for Organizational and Corporate Development Leveraging Human Resources

Diverse Work Styles

Full Flextime System

In FY2022, we introduced a full flextime system with no core time. In the past, core hours (hours that employees must work) were set, but in order to accommodate flexible work styles, core hours were abolished. In principle, employees can now freely set their own arrival and departure times according to their own workload, enabling them to work more efficiently in accordance with their own work schedule than ever before.

Overview of the Full Flextime System

  • Employees are, in principle, free to decide what time to start and end work within the hours of 5 am and 10 pm, with a minimum work time per workday of one hour.
  • To use this system, in principle, employees must submit notice of their planned start and end times by the end of the previous week. However, after such plans are submitted, they may be revised as needed to accommodate urgent errands, illness, or other individual circumstances.

Telework System

To promote employee well-being and to enhance work efficiency by, for example, reducing time spent in transit when visiting sites out of the office, we established a telework system encompassing working from home and from satellite offices in April 2023. Aiming to respect employees’ autonomous work styles while improving corporate performance, we position telework as one work style option.

Measures to Be Taken in the Event of Long Working Hours

For employees who are found to be working long hours, the Company requires them to meet with an industrial physician, who will give the Company advice and guidance in order to prevent health problems. Employees and the Company are to comply with this policy to avoid working long hours if at all possible. Also, the Human Resources Department will conduct hearings with the relevant organizations as needed. Through these efforts, we are working with each organization to examine measures to improve long working hours, not only ensure compliance with laws and regulations, but also promote reducing long working hours.

Childcare Support

In addition to maternity and childcare leave systems, we have a number of systems in place to allow parents to continue working while pregnant or raising children. These include reduced duties and time off for doctor’s visits during pregnancy, time off to care for sick children, a system of shortened work hours and flextime after returning from leave, and a system of providing discounts on babysitting services. After returning from leave, employees are eligible for reduced work hours up to the end of the child’s third year of elementary school and may work reduced hours with no reduction in pay until the child’s third birthday. Many employees take childcare leave, and when they return to work, as a rule, they are placed in the divisions in which they worked before. These measures are taken to create a pleasant working environment. The Company also has a rehiring system for retirees who left because their spouses were temporarily transferred to other locations, and has introduced a system that allows employees to choose from a variety of career paths.
Furthermore, on October 1, 2022, we launched a new childcare leave system called “Hello Baby” leave. This system grants employees up to eight weeks of special paid leave within the eight-week period starting the day after their child is born. The maximum legal requirement for providing paternity leave after childbirth in Japan is four weeks, unpaid. By offering leave that is up to double that length and paid, we are promoting employees’ active involvement in childcare and fostering a culture in which employees can actively participate professionally regardless of gender

Family Care Support

Family Care Support

In addition to the conventional family care leave system, Kanematsu provides special paid holidays for family care (“special family care holidays”).
We have also created a handbook for using support systems for balancing work and family care as part of efforts to provide information to employees who have concerns about family care. In addition, we have not only contracted with an external family care consultation service that employees can use at any time, but appointed a childraising and family care consultation officer, enabling oneto-one consultation on these matters.
Information about Kanematsu’s family care-related systems is publicly available on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Ryoritsu Shien no Hiroba website. In recognition of such systems, in 2021 Kanematsu was granted “Tomonin” certification as a company that provides work environments that enable employees to balance work with family care.

Paid Vacation System Bronze Week

Since FY2017, Kanematsu has maintained a "Bronze Week" system for systematically encouraging the use of annual paid vacation days. This is intended to make it easier for employees to take off the time they are entitled to and create workplaces that are more comfortable and rewarding.
From FY2021, we have upgraded the system, renaming it the Bronze Week Plus System; removing the system of having employees choose from designated candidate days off, allowing for easier usage. We also increased the minimum number of days employees are required to use through the system to five days, to ensure compliance with the Revised Labor Standards Act's requirement that employees take at least five days of paid vacation per year. Since the system's introduction, the rate of annual vacation days used has risen steadily, reaching 73.8% in FY2020. We will continue working to create even more employee-friendly workplaces and further increase the paid annual vacation usage rate.

Bronze Week Plus System Outline

  • Makes it easier to take off a bridge day between two ordinary days off, the day before or after a three-day weekend, or take two days before or after a normal weekend, effectively extending the number of consecutive days off for the individual to four or more.
  • This system is aimed at helping employees have special experiences that are difficult to realize with one or two days off so that they will feel refreshed and have new ideas that they can then put to use in their work.
  • At the start of each fiscal year, employees schedule at least five days of paid vacation for that year.
  • Applies to all employees, in principle, excluding those on secondment within Japan, stationed overseas, or on leave.
  • The system, which encourages the use of paid annual vacation, especially multiple consecutive days off , is named "Bronze Week Plus" in reference to the yearly clusters of public holidays in Japan popularly known as "Golden Week" and "Silver Week."

Please click here for data on the annual vacation usage rate.

New Dress Code

As a measure against global warming and out of consideration for the environment, we have made changes to the office dress code to allow employees to work in clothes that fit the season and weather. We hope to enhance our employees’ independence, productivity and creativity by allowing each person to autonomously choose clothes that they feel comfortable working in.

Engagement

Engagement Survey

As part of Kanematsu’s efforts to improve employee satisfaction, the Company conducts periodic engagement surveys of all its employees. The first survey was conducted in fiscal 2019, the second in fiscal 2022, and the latest in July 2024. Based on the analysis of the survey’s results, we work to further improve engagement through the steady implementation of the PDCA cycle, in which issues are identified and countermeasures are considered, implemented, and assessed.

Measures to Improve Engagement

Relocation of the head office, ABW

We relocated the head office in November 2022 and introduced Activity Based Working (ABW), which allows employees to freely choose where and when to work depending on the type or objective of their work. This has helped improve work efficiency and vitalize communication between departments.

Relocation of the head office, ABW

Culture Design Project

In December 2023, Kanematsu launched TANEMATSU, a Companywide project that aims to establish a corporate cul- ture unique to Kanematsu based on the further permeation and reinterpretation of the Company’s founding purpose. Through TANEMATSU, the Kanematsu Group will continue to clearly formulate its vision and establish a culture that will serve as a foundation for its employees.

Hitotsubu Club

Kanematsu has launched Hitotsubu Club as a community to create and promote the commercialization of new business ideas. We not only provide the "time" and "place" to challenge the creation of new businesses through participatory events and Teams groups, but also provide support and assistance for the realization of ideas as long as the participants demonstrate passion.

New Personnel System

In April 2024, a new personnel system was introduced in which each employee can set challenging goals for themselves and be rewarded for their efforts and achievements. The new personnel system clarifies the priorities of roles and evaluation items by rank, and rewards contributions to performance improvements achieved by taking on new challenges. Instituted with a view of promoting both business expansion and new challenges while maintaining fairness and transparency, the system is designed to reflect employees’ roles and contributions in their compensation.

Relationship with Labor Union

Policy and basic philosophy

Kanematsu Corporation respects the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining granted by law to its employees in order to realize its corporate philosophy, "Our purpose as a Company is not only to build a sound and flourishing business, but to fulfill our responsibilities as a corporate citizen, contributing to society and the security and well-being prosperity." as stipulated in "Our Beliefs."
The Kanematsu Labor Union was established on August 1, 1967 to maintain and improve the working conditions of its members, to enhance their economic and social status, and to promote their common welfare.

Organizational structure

Kanematsu and the Kanematsu Labor Union have concluded a union shop agreement; the union has 568 members (employees/non-consolidated :812) as of March 31, 2024. The organization of the labor union is as shown in the figure below. Headquarter officers, who serve as the executive body, and delegates, who serve as the resolving body, are decided through elections. All general members of the union are able to express their opinions in workplace discussions.

Organizational structure

Negotiation with the labor union

In accordance with Article 7 of the Collective Agreement, labor-management negotiations are always to be held when establishing, revising, or abolishing the Rules of Employment and related regulations. Salaries and bonuses for employees are also to be determined after discussion between labor and management. The right of employees to earn a living wage as well as a wage above the minimum wage is to be respected.
In addition to the above, we also hold collective bargaining sessions and personnel system council meetings on an irregular basis to discuss various topics related to the creation of a better working environment for our employees.

  Labor and management agenda items discussed in the past
Bonus system
Management Strategies and goals
Domestic salary system
Overseas salary system
Systems related to work style
Welfare programs

Dialogue between the union and the president

A dialogue between the union and the president is held as a way to promote two-way communication between union members and the president.
The president and union headquarter officers engage in a dialogue to discuss from various perspectives how Kanematsu can become a better company and how it can approach its ideal corporate image.

  Topics covered in the dialogue between the union and the president
Telecommuting system
Management Strategies and goals
Salary system
Bonus system
Systems related to work style
Employee turnover