Associates
We undertake initiatives to enable associates to work safely and with peace of mind as well as to exercise their diverse potentials and play active roles.
Basic Concept of Human Resources Management and Labor Management
Under the spirit of “Respect for People,” Toyota Industries undertakes a range of initiatives based on a relationship of mutual trust and mutual responsibility between the Company and associates. Our basic concept in this area is to develop and leverage the capabilities of associates and the organization to the fullest by promoting the creation of a highly motivated team.
Major Initiatives
Building Interpersonal Relationships
Toyota Industries believes it important to build good relationships between supervisors and subordinates as well as among associates through sufficient communication. Accordingly, we are facilitating communication in the workplace through various measures. Examples include the promotion of active communication between supervisors and subordinates as well as a mentorship system in which more experienced associates take care of younger associates, giving advice about their worries, including those in their daily lives. We are also promoting informal, non-business communication to cultivate a sense of unity in the workplace and throughout Toyota Industries via various events. These events, some of which are currently suspended due to COVID-19, include social gatherings organized by each workplace as well as sports days, summer festivals and Ekiden long-distance relay races held jointly by some Toyota Industries Group companies as annual activities. Through these efforts, we are creating a workplace where each associate can thrive.
Increasing Associate Satisfaction
Response rate of morale surveys
Toyota Industries focuses on creating a workplace that enables individual associates to demonstrate their abilities to the fullest and find their work rewarding and meaningful. While our basic stance is to solve difficulties faced by associates and their grievances about the workplace through communication between supervisors and subordinates, we also listen to voices of associates through Company-wide morale surveys. In addition, we strive to improve working environments by holding comprehensive labor-management discussions on associates’ suggestions gathered by our workers’ union. As we believe ensuring stable livelihoods for associates is another important matter, we are enhancing our welfare program to realize more enriching and fulfilling lives.
Human Resources Development
Toyota Industries recognizes that to achieve sustainable corporate growth associates’ personal growth and improved skills are essential and constitute the most important factor in work motivation. Recognizing that on-the-job training (OJT) through daily work forms the basis of our human resources development, we hold a biannual supervisor-subordinate interview to discuss various matters, including a challenge of achieving the subordinate’s further growth. To complement OJT, we also provide induction training for new associates, grade-based training for associates being promoted to a higher position and specialized education to cultivate expertise, abilities and skills necessary for carrying out work tasks. We are working to reinforce human resources development by providing a variety of training programs that lead to practical use in the workplace.
■Annual training hours per associate: 4.4 (fiscal 2022)
Supporting Active Roles and Work Styles of Diverse Human Resources
1.Efforts to Support Work-Life Balance
We have been carrying out activities so that associates who are balancing work and family can work with higher motivation and pursue career development. Such activities mainly focus on enhancing systems to support a work-life balance and facilitating an understanding for maintaining a work-life balance.
The enhancement of systems to support a work-life balance includes a day care center; a return-to-work (“welcome-back”) system, which allows associates who have left work to care for children and family members or to accompany their spouse for a job transfer to get reinstated under certain preconditions; a shorter work-hour system for childcare; and a leave system and loan system for fertility treatment. Through these systems, we provide an environment for associates to work at Toyota Industries for longer years with peace of mind. As a means to facilitate an understanding for maintaining a work-life balance, we distribute the Handbook for Balancing Work with Nursing Care to associates above a certain age to help them gain knowledge on nursing care and to create a workplace culture that allows associates to seek advice easily. We also regularly hold seminars on balancing work with nursing care for associates and their families and provide newsletters on nursing care to those who are interested.
As a result of these efforts, Toyota Industries received “Platinum Kurumin” certification from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in August 2019 in recognition of our excellent efforts concerning work-life balance as well as a “Family-Friendly Company” award from the Aichi prefectural government in February 2020.
2．Promoting Active Roles of Female Associates
We aspire to let individual associates to thrive in their assigned work and role regardless of gender. Accordingly, we have augmented our efforts to promote greater roles of female associates.
In 2015, we set up a project to promote more active roles for female associates in office work and engineering positions, comprising males and females from different departments. This project was key for the identification of issues and formulation of policy proposals in promoting active roles of female associates, which formed the basis for the development of a Company-wide action plan in clarifying the initiatives for this project. Under the plan, we are moving ahead with efforts to promote even greater roles of female associates.
Since fiscal 2017, we have held a seminar for a cumulative total of more than 1,500 managers who directly engage in the mentoring and development of associates.
Starting from fiscal 2020, we have been conducting enlightenment activities, such as encouraging associates to participate in pre-maternity leave seminars, to foster an understanding of the environment in which associates, both male and female, are working under time constraints due to nursing care or childcare. We have also worked to raise awareness of human resources development that takes into account their life events. These activities have also resulted in a rise in the rate of male associates taking childcare leave.
In order to create an environment to allow associates who are balancing work and childcare to work with higher motivation and pursue career development, we have enhanced our programs to support the early return to work from a break in their career. Efforts include a full-day work-at-home system launched in October 2016; pre-maternity leave seminars started in December 2017 for associates and their spouses to think about a way of working after returning to work; and a financial aid system for day care costs adopted in April 2018 for associates working while taking care of infants younger than one year old.
As a result of these initiatives, the number of female managers has steadily increased. In October 2016, we received “Eruboshi (“L Star”: L stands for Lady, Labour and Laudable)” certification, which is given to companies making excellent efforts in promoting female engagement in the workplace, from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. In November 2019, we also received an “Excellent Company” award from the Aichi prefectural government under its “Female-Friendly Company” certification program.
Looking ahead, we will continue to make efforts to improve workplaces to offer females a wider range of jobs and higher quality of work and maintain initiatives started in fiscal 2020 to promote active roles of female associates in production operations. We will also support the creation of a better working environment to enable all associates working under time constraints to fulfill their individual potential.
【TOPIC】Promoting More Active Roles of Female Production Associates
We aspire that all associates engaging in production operations fully work and take active roles until an older age. In order for female associates to do so, we need to overcome issues of gender-related differences in physical strength and frame as well as the challenges of working during pregnancy, after giving birth and while raising children. As a means of doing so, we formed a Female Working Group and Experts Working Group in fiscal 2020. These groups have been working to review current issues, identify countermeasures and formulate an action plan for the next and following fiscal years. Since fiscal 2021, we have been clarifying and sharing female production associates’ aspirations and instilling Toyota Industries’ way of thinking regarding the matter broadly among female associates and their supervisors. We have also been holding a work style seminar for female production associates, during which they explore experiences and work styles necessary to continue thriving in their own way and create a plan themselves. We also hold a seminar for supervisors on nurturing female subordinates, giving them an opportunity to think about how best to support their subordinates.
3.Employment of Persons with Disabilities
We respect the idea of people with and without disabilities working together and sharing life and work values. Under this basic policy, we continue to employ persons with disabilities every year. They are assigned to a variety of sections and work with other members to perform their designated task.
■Ratio of associates with disabilities(non-consolidated): 2.48%
4．Creating a Work Environment for Older Associates
In order to enable older associates to work and take active roles in production operations, we have been focusing on creating a better, less physically stressful work environment for them. Efforts include setting up standards for the handling of heavy objects and a work environment that makes it easier for older associates to work, and improvement in processes in production lines with the development of a work analysis system that automatically evaluates the physical load of each work posture using digital technologies and videos. In addition, we hold “Seminars for an Active Life” for associates reaching the age of 50 and 55 to give them an opportunity to envision life and work for the next 10 years.
Basic Perspective on Safety
Based on the idea of building “a homelike atmosphere at work that is warm and friendly” as stated in the Toyoda Precepts, we formulated the Safety Vision in 2013 after holding repeated discussions on the “basic stance on safety” and “optimal safety we seek.” The vision has been instilled at all bases in the Toyota Industries Group.
| Safety Vision Each and every associate in the Toyota Industries Group, guided by the spirit of our corporate creed, aims to create a corporate culture that places a top priority on maintaining safety in all areas and focuses on mutual courtesy and safety as well as realizing workplaces where associates work each day with a sense of happiness and pride. |
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Structure for Promoting Safety and Health
Under our basic policy of placing a top priority on safety and health, we have been striving to eliminate accidents and disorders. As part of such efforts, we have established the necessary committees, including the Central Safety and Health Committee and Plant Safety and Health Committees.
Occupational Safety and Health Management System
In accordance with the concept of an Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS/ISO 45001), we have established a required management structure in each plant (or business division) headed by a general safety and health manager (senior executive officer or another executive) and have been achieving improvements in safety and health activities on an ongoing basis from human, object and administrative standpoints based on risk assessment.
Major Safety-Related Initiatives
Prevention of Accidents and Disorders through Safety and Health Education
In order to cultivate knowledge, awareness and the skills necessary to prevent accidents and disorders, Toyota Industries proactively provides safety and health education, including education designed to foster a safety culture and education required by law in addition to grade-based education and job-category-based education. Through these efforts, we are promoting the development of human resources and workplaces that places the highest priority on safety.
- Education to foster a safety culture
-Safety workshops, education to improve an ability to predict hazards, education to actually experience hazards (safety dojo), etc. - Education based on positions/grades and associated roles
-Induction training, production associate training II, training for newly promoted SX and CX, training for newly promoted experts, safety manager education, etc. - Education for acquisition of qualifications (cultivation of personal skills)
-Licenses, skills seminars, special education, repeated education for capability improvement, etc. - Education based on job categories and business characteristics
-Education on emergency measures, education on equipment lockout, basic education on equipment safety, hands-on safety education using virtual reality (VR), risk assessment, etc.
Preventing Occurrence and Recurrence of Industrial Accidents
Since the occurrence of a serious accident in 2019, we have been undertaking safety and health activities to eliminate accidents and disorders. These activities, however, have not yet led to the total elimination of accidents involving a finger or other body part getting caught between the moving parts of equipment, resulting from failure to shut it down properly in an emergency.
In order not to repeat similar accidents, we have incorporated into our new and existing equipment a mechanism to cut off power without fail when an operator accesses a machine while disabling its safety device. We have also rebuilt our equipment safety assurance system as an effort to upgrade our physical and administrative measures. The system includes visualization of which parts of the equipment are shut down and the control category under which it is operating as well as safety feature checks by equipment safety inspectors possessing the required skills.
Moreover, to make further efforts toward zero accidents and disorders, we believe that it is also important to prevent accidents caused by unsafe behavior of operators themselves, including taking a shortcut or omitting a step in a particular work process and downplaying risks. In the future, we will quantitatively assess tendencies of individuals’ behavioral characteristics, namely Kiken kanjusei (risk perception) and Kiken kankosei (risk-taking attitude)*, through “KK” mapping, and build a system to alter such unsafe behavior and assign the right person to the right position based on the assessment results. Through such efforts, we will endeavor to prevent accidents and disorders caused by human factors as well. We will continue to work toward the development of safe workplaces and safety-oriented human resources based on an approach of the Toyota Production System (TPS), which is to always shut down a machine when something is wrong and take fundamental measures to remove the root cause.
* Risk perception: An ability to recognize a risk as a risk; Risk-taking attitude: Tendency to press ahead even when it involves a risk
Major Health-Related Initiatives
As a task for the medium term, we are promoting health improvement of associates, mainly focusing on prevention of lifestyle diseases and mental health support activities, to counter risks of health problems associated with aging and greater stress. To enable associates to work and take active roles over the long term, we provide support toward the cultivation of an autonomous health-oriented culture in which associates care about their own health and take action voluntarily and willingly.
Prevention of Lifestyle Diseases
As a collaborative initiative of Toyota Industries, its workers’ union and health insurance association, we conduct periodic age-based health education for all associates (every five years, from the age of 30). To provide motivation for better health, we feed back to associates the results of an annual health checkup along with advice to improve lifestyle habits.
In fiscal 2020, we started providing such information as physical fitness propensity scores and countermeasures, how physically fitted for work, assessment of physical fitness age and recommended exercises to increase motivation for promoting physical fitness.
In fiscal 2022, we launched a new initiative called “KENKO Challenge 8 (8 Challenges for a Healthier Lifestyle)” in order to promote the cultivation of appropriate lifestyle habits in daily lives. For preventing and ameliorating symptoms of metabolic syndrome, we provide health promotion guidance to associates at the age of 39 or younger in addition to specific health guidance required by the Japanese government. By doing so, we encourage associates to improve lifestyle habits early on.
【TOPIC】“KENKO Challenge 8 (8 Challenges for a Healthier Lifestyle)”
This is an initiative launched in fiscal 2022 to raise awareness for maintaining and promoting health by defining eight items related to lifestyle habits (1. Desirable weight, 2. Breakfast, 3. Snacks, 4. Sleep, 5. Exercise, 6. Alcohol consumption, 7. No smoking and 8. Stress level) and giving a score to each. For the first year of the activity, we conducted a survey on the eight items for associates and fed back the results and appropriate advice so that they can understand their current conditions.Going ahead, we will adopt measures with a focus on exercise habits to increase health consciousness, validate the effectiveness of these measures through an annual implementation status survey and work to enhance the health and health awareness of associates.
Mental Health Support
As part of mental health support activities, we have in place a system to offer early consultation through a health-related hotline. Other activities include upgrading our self-care/line-care education to prevent new cases of mental health problems and operation of a return-to-work support program for persons on long-term leave for prevention of relapses. We have successfully achieved positive results through these activities.
As for activities for early detection, we put particular emphasis on line care by associates’ immediate supervisors. We have been encouraging them to use awareness check sheets to recognize the sign of a problem of their subordinates early. Coupled with an effort to strengthen the collaboration between each workplace and the departments responsible for health promotion, these activities have resulted in an increase in cases where a problem is detected early and still in the mild stage. Additionally, we have been conducting an annual stress check on all associates since fiscal 2017. We feed back the check results to all participants and workplaces with suggestions for improvement while setting up an individual interview with a doctor for those wishing to do so and providing improvement support as necessary to individual workplaces.
For its efforts related to the health of associates, for the fifth consecutive year Toyota Industries was recognized in the large enterprise category of the 2022 Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program (White 500) jointly promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi.
Response to COVID-19
In accordance with the Risk Response Manual, which has been formulated to prepare for an emergency, Toyota Industries has established a COVID-19 Response Headquarters and has been collaborating with health centers and other public agencies to counter the pandemic.
We have developed and distributed a response manual specifying procedures to follow when infection occurs in a workplace. Other efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among associates include checking body temperature every morning, frequent hand washing and avoiding the 3Cs (closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings) by way of working from home and using a web conferencing system. For associates working from home, we have been encouraging them to get enough exercise by providing information on how to check and maintain physical fitness. In fiscal 2022, we also provided workplace vaccinations to all willing associates. We will continue to collect relevant information and implement measures corresponding to the latest developments regarding the infection status.