Associates
Initiatives under Our Human Resources Strategy
Basic Perspective
TICO and its associates build a sincere relationship of trust, under which we fulfill our respective responsibilities toward the shared goal of achieving sustainable corporate growth. We believe individual growth will lead to organizational growth, which in turn will lead to corporate growth. Based on this belief, TICO seeks to become a company where all associates take active roles by drawing out their full capabilities and backing up their willingness to grow. To achieve this goal, we have been developing human resources and creating an appropriate work environment under our human resources strategy comprising four themes as shown on the right.
Executive Leadership Development
In proactively promoting globalization and undertaking M&As, it has become increasingly important to nurture diverse leaders both in and outside Japan. In response, we systematically provide leadership training for future management leader candidates in a planned manner to share TICO’s vision and the Group’s common values and to develop human resources who will drive innovation.
Major Initiatives
Sharing values (Training session on our founder’s spirit and the Toyoda Precepts)
As our workforce is becoming more diversified, we have been carrying out initiatives to reaffirm our founder’s spirit and the Toyoda Precepts (corporate creed) in order to share values throughout the TICO Group. For senior managers, we offer training around the world so that they can set an example and instill our values in their respective workplaces when guiding their subordinates.
Succession planning
At TICO, as well as our global affiliated companies, we specify succession candidates for leader positions, including heads of departments or companies, and formulate development plans designed to cultivate a range of experiences through initiatives such as transfers across business boundaries. In this way, we are promoting the early and planned development of leaders. Our leader requirements are clear and consistent globally, and we provide an opportunity for relevant parties to discuss our leader development once a year.
Global leadership development program
To nurture management leaders who will drive the global growth of the TICO Group, we provide a select group of senior managers from TICO and overseas affiliates with a program of individual pre-training assignments to be worked on over a period of about six months and a two-week group training. Through the program, participants gain the basic knowledge and perspectives required of the TICO Group’s global leaders, a deeper understanding of TICO and its envisioned leaders, and an enhanced ability to shape a better future.
Training for senior management
To nurture human resources who have a broad perspective, a higher viewpoint, a global mindset, and the ability to exercise leadership toward innovation, we provide a nine-month training program to managers recommended by respective business divisions. It’s a combination of classroom training and projects to be worked on individually and as a team with the support of external facilitators.
Leadership development program in North America and Europe
To facilitate the development of leaders in the Lift Truck and Logistics Solutions businesses, in which we have been proactively promoting globalization through overseas M&As, we provide training to managers who are expected to take on more active roles. The program consists of multiple modules and a group project and lasts for 12 months in the United States and about six months in Europe. Through the program, participants gain a deeper understanding of these businesses and TICO.
Expanding Expertise and Sphere of Activities
We believe that expanding the expertise and sphere of activities of each associate will lead to TICO’s improved competitiveness. Under this belief, we provide opportunities for growth and active engagement beyond the workplace, on-the-job training (OJT) in each workplace, and various training programs that complement OJT.
Providing Opportunities for Growth and Active Engagement beyond the Workplace
In order for associates to show their full capabilities and thrive, we believe that it is crucial to respect the individual’s aspired growth and role. As such, we hold a dialogue between a manager and a member (subordinate) to discuss the aspirations of the member and expectations of the workplace. Based on the dialogue, the manager formulates a career plan for each member. To provide opportunities for associates to grow and thrive beyond their workplaces, we proactively offer various engagement opportunities. These include a temporary transfer system, a system for overseas training, an internal job posting system, an in-house side job system, and participation in in-house skills contests and national skills competitions.
Major Initiatives
Dialogue between a manager and member and individual career plans
We hold one-on-one dialogue semiannually between a manager and a member to discuss the member’s aspired growth and role and to review their capabilities. We increase work motivation and encourage further growth and greater roles by formulating an individual career plan for individual members in each department based on their respective aspired growth and the roles confirmed through dialogue. We carry out their development, including job rotation, according to the plan.
Temporary transfer
We have a job rotation system to temporarily rotate core human resources among different business divisions/departments. They will gain experience in different business operations and environments and eventually return to their original department after a certain period of time. The system is designed to both achieve personal growth and improve organizational capabilities.
Overseas trainee program
In order to continuously develop human resources who can be active globally from early on, we dispatch early-career associates recommended by their respective workplaces as overseas trainees.
[Aim of training]
To learn/gain the following by living and engaging in practical training overseas:
① Local ways of work, characteristics, and business practices
② Excellent communication capability to engage with local staff on an equal footing
③ Local perceptions and perspectives
④ Ability to adapt to local culture and living environment
Internal job posting system and in-house side job system
We help increase associates’ motivation for personal growth and greater roles through an internal job posting system, in which associates themselves can apply for job rotation, and an in-house side job system, in which they can gain experience in different departments without leaving their current roles.
Participation in in-house skills contests and national skills competitions
An in-house skills contest is an opportunity for early-career production associates from within TICO and its affiliated companies to hone their skills. The contest is also an opportunity for us to nurture human resources who will be leaders in monozukuri (manufacturing) operations. As such, we hold the contest every year to enhance knowledge and skill levels, increase the motivation of production associates, and mutually acknowledge skill levels among business divisions. Additionally, through participation in national skills competitions, we develop advanced skills and nurture workplace leaders with outstanding expertise and character, thereby contributing to the advancement of monozukuri both within TICO and in Japan.
On-the-Job Training (OJT) and Training Systems
Under the belief that OJT is the basis of our human resources development, we engage in human resources development in each workplace with a focus on the OJT cycle consisting of three steps: setting a role and theme for each associate, giving guidance, and providing performance evaluation and feedback. As tools to support OJT, we implement training and a 360-degree feedback system, both of which target managers responsible for OJT. We also conduct gradebased training to convey TICO’s expectations and required knowledge at the time of promotion and other career milestones.
Training for managers
Major Initiatives
Training for newly promoted general managers and training for newly promoted group managers: We provide group training for general managers and group managers to cultivate an overall understanding of their roles, encourage mutual enlightenment and recognition among participants, and facilitate changes in behavior through these accomplishments.
Training for executives of affiliated companies in and outside Japan: Associates from functional departments at the Head Office give lectures to newly promoted directors and executive officers in affiliated companies on their respective responsibilities and roles in terms of legal affairs, accounting, public relations, human resources management, and compliance in order to cultivate awareness that they take the responsibility of managing affiliated companies and facilitate an understanding and practicing of matters that should be observed.
360-degree feedback system
This is a measure for associates in managerial positions (general managers and group managers) to receive feedback about their normal conduct from parties other than their immediate supervisors. The aim is to let them reflect on their actions and achieve further growth by recognizing how they are perceived by people around them and getting to know their strengths and weaknesses from an angle different from the one observed by their immediate supervisors.
Mentorship system and general manager interviews(for new associates)
We assign one senior member in the workplace to each new associate to help them learn the basic rules as a working person and ensure smooth assimilation. After one year from the posting, the general manager interviews each new associate to eliminate difficulties and convey growth expectations.
Grade-based training
We provide e-learning and group training to associates being promoted to new positions. This allows them to gain an understanding of the roles associated with each grade and the needed knowledge and skills and put their understanding into practice in the workplace. These training programs are also made available to associates of affiliated companies in Japan, depending on their needs.
Other Initiatives
We provide a basic skill program and a skill advancement program to raise the basic level of engineers and accelerate their growth. Digital training is also provided to nurture human resources capable of understanding and utilizing digital technologies. Through our personal development system, which supports associates’ willingness to learn, we offer broad learning opportunities regardless of their relevance to their current roles.
Major Initiatives
Basic skill program and skill advancement program
We provide a basic skill program to all new associates in engineering positions to cultivate the basic skills required of TICO’s engineers. For associates with two or more years of service, we offer a skill advancement program to gain more advanced skills and nurture the growth of motivated associates.
Digital training
We provide practice-focused training to continuously utilize digital technologies in business operations. Separate courses are offered for early-career associates, experienced associates, and innovation leaders (managers), in which associates recommended by their respective workplaces participate. These courses facilitate the adoption of digital technologies by involving each workplace in the practical work provided during the training and supporting the workplace’s initiatives to utilize digital technologies even after participants complete their course.
From FY2026 onwards, we will implement development measures for all associates in order to secure the target number of digitally proficient associates.
[FY2031 target]
To secure 5,500 human resources who will promote the improvement of operational efficiencies by utilizing IT and digital technologies
Support for Personal Development
We provide opportunities and venues for personal development and voluntary study to increase associates' willingness to expand their knowledge and perspective and to learn independently. We also provide financial aid to support their personal development.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
To generate new value by flexibly responding to the changing business environment and diversifying customer needs, we aim to create an organization that allows human resources that are diverse and proactive to exercise their abilities to the fullest and make accomplishments through co-creation.
We are promoting initiatives to realize a corporate culture in which associates accept and respect each other's differences, including gender, age, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual expression, disabilities, experience, sense of value or any other invisible difference.
Empowerment of Female Associates
We aspire to let individual associates take active roles regardless of gender. Accordingly, we have been undertaking a range of initiatives from various aspects, such as changing the mindsets of associates, providing career support for female associates and promoting flexible working practices.
As health support for women, we have implemented initiatives such as providing basic knowledge videos for all associates and setting up a health consultation service with specialty doctors.
As a result of these efforts, Toyota Industries received Japan's “Eruboshi” certification and an “Excellent Company” award under Aichi Prefecture's “Female-Friendly Company” certification program.
Employment and empowerment 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. Before hiring, we offer them the opportunity to gain work experience (internship) so that they can feel reassured about joining Toyota Industries. After employment, we implement various measures to ensure that they receive fair opportunities for achieving growth and taking active roles. These include dispatching sign language interpreters when they receive training, providing tools to support communication, such as Boogie Board digital writing pads and UD Talk (a real-time speech-to-text app), having supervisors and senior members pay special attention to them and assigning counseling staff in the General Affairs Department at each plant, bachelors dormitories and the Human Resources Department in the Head Office. Through these efforts, we have established a system to support their workplaces.
Moreover, we invite persons with disabilities as lecturers to each of our grade-based training programs to foster a deeper understanding of persons with disabilities and nurture a supportive workplace culture.
Ratio of associates with disabilities: 2.68% (non-consolidated)
Creating an Age-Inclusive Workplace
The ratio of older production associates (ages 50-64) working in manufacturing departments reached about 70% (or 1,300 persons) at the end of FY2025, and we expect that the percentage will continue to rise. In order to enable them to work and take active roles in production operations, we have been creating better, less physically stressful production lines 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 improvements in processes using digital technologies. The number of processes updated in a worker-friendly way reached 2,400, and we plan to continue undertaking further improvements.
Fostering a mutual understanding among associates from different countries
To foster a mutual understanding among associates working in different countries and regions, TICO dispatches associates to overseas TICO Group companies on temporary assignments and as expatriates and trainees. Additionally, we accept associates from different countries by proactively utilizing the Intra-Company Transferee (ICT) system*1, under which associates of overseas affiliated companies work at TICO for a certain period. In FY2026, we will start accepting non-Japanese trainees at our production floor.
*1: System to dispatch associates to TICO based on the concept of intra-company transferees as defined in the Immigration Control Act
Strengthening mid-career recruitment
We have been reinforcing mid-career recruitment to incorporate external knowledge. For office work and engineering positions, in particular, we have reinforced the recruitment of individuals with a few years of work experience to bring out their potential and adopted a referral recruitment system*2 in addition to our conventional recruitment of work-ready persons with specialized knowledge. As a result, we increased the ratio of mid-career associates in office work and engineering positions to 32% of all main career track associates in FY2025. They are assigned to their desired business divisions or job categories and after finishing induction training, they take active roles in each workplace. We plan to increase the ratio to 39% in FY2026. For our production floors, we actively promote short-term workers to full-time associates to ensure stable production by securing excellent human resources.
*2: A system of recruitment to receive referrals of potential associates from TICO associates
Creating an Environment to Encourage Active Roles
We have been enhancing our support to enable associates to demonstrate their full potential and find their work rewarding in each stage of life. Based on the results of our annual morale survey, we have been improving the workplace environment to foster organizational growth. Additionally, we support associates’ more active roles by creating an environment where they can work with peace of mind both in terms of equipment and systems. In order to support the promotion of personal and trustworthy relationships among associates outside work hours, we periodically provide opportunities for associates and their families to interact with others.
Major Initiatives
Efforts to support work-life balance
We are working to enhance our support systems to match individual situations. Efforts include shorter work hours for childcare and an in-house day care center, which are available until the child graduates from elementary school; a leave system to allow parental care of children with illnesses, which can be flexibly used to participate in school events; and a leave system and financial aid for fertility treatment. We also hold an interview before reinstating an associate, in which the associate, their supervisor, and the human resources and general administration departments participate, in order to help eliminate the anxiety involved in returning to work. As for family care, we offer systems that surpass legal requirements, such as a system of 732-day leave and eliminating the upper limit on leave taken in smaller increments.
We also distribute a handbook, on-demand videos, and newsletters to provide basic knowledge on family care, facilitate an understanding of the relevant systems, and cultivate an appropriate workplace culture.
As a result of these efforts, TICO received Japan’s “Platinum Kurumin” certification and won a “Family-Friendly Company” award from the Aichi prefectural government.
Support during pregnancy, childbirth and childcare
| Pregnancy | Distributing Handbook for Balancing Work with Nursing Care On-demand pre-maternity leave seminars |
|---|---|
| Childbirth | Leave system for spouses whose partner is giving birth Providing childbirth gift money Leave system for birth of grandchildren |
| Return to work | Interview with supervisor before returning to work to discuss how to work after being reinstated |
| Work-life balance | Shorter work hours for childcare (until the child graduates from elementary school) In-house day care center Financial aid for childcare costs (for using babysitters, travel by family members, and daycare center fees) Leave system to allow parental care of children with illnesses Telecommuting |
| Other | System to reinstate associates who have left work to provide child or family care or to accompany their spouses for a job transfer Inviting family members to Company events (plant tours, sports days, summer festivals, etc.) Leave system for associates who are accompanying their spouses for a job transfer |
| Support for family care |
|---|
|
| Support for fertility treatment |
|---|
|
Support for engagement of men in childcare
In order to support the engagement of men in childcare, we have been working to foster a culture that allows associates to take parental leave more easily by providing a video describing our parental leave system, stories of other male associates who have taken leave, and training for supervisors to prevent paternity harassment*3. We have already created an environment where all associates wishing to take such leave can do so.
*3: Harassment that infringes on the rights and opportunities for men to engage in childcare
Realizing flexible work styles
To realize flexible work styles, we offer various work style options for associates, allowing them to demonstrate high productivity no matter their lifestyle. For example, we have introduced a flex time system without core-hour requirements, a telecommuting system with no limits on the number of days, and a discretionary system that allows associates to determine the allocation of work hours and the work methods to achieve desired results.
Promoting a well-focused way of working
In addition to the legally mandated labor management practices, we have set a target regarding overwork as part of efforts to restrict long working hours. We also make periodic announcements to encourage associates to plan for their annual paid leave, and as a result, the ratio of associates taking the leave reached 94% in FY2025. Our efforts are geared toward enhancing the private lives of associates and their families and creating an environment where associates can work with peace of mind and vitality while remaining healthy. These include newly constructed company dormitories and housing to provide secure and comfortable living conditions; operating company-built welfare facilities available at a reasonable cost; and welfare facilities with a restaurant and other services.
Associate morale survey
As an initiative for workplace improvement, we conduct an associate morale survey in all departments every year. The survey collects various perspectives, including “Being proud of the Company,” “Rewarding work / Growth achieved through work,” “Culture of own workplace / Sense of organizational unity,” and “Supervisors’ management / Feeling of trust.” We review our questions each year to adapt to changes in the environment surrounding TICO. The survey results are disclosed to all associates and, with department heads taking responsibility, members of each department are making concerted efforts to improve their workplace.
Promoting personal and trust relationships outside work hours
In order to help promote personal and trust relationships among associates outside work hours, we are keen to conduct activities to facilitate communication. For example, social gatherings in the workplace, for which TICO pays a part of the expenses, are utilized as an opportunity for members to deepen interactions. More than 15,000 participants, including associates’ families and local residents, come to festivals held at each base every year. Our annual All-TICO ekiden long-distance relay race is a grand event in which many teams, including those from our affiliated companies, participate. Through these efforts, we work to deepen a mutual understanding among associates and cultivate a sense of unity across the entire Company.
Safety and Health
Basic Perspective
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. |
|---|
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 occupational 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 (ISO 45001), we have established a required management structure in each plant (or business division) headed by the chair of each Plant Safety and Health Committee (responsible senior executive officer) and have been achieving improvements in safety and health activities on an ongoing basis from human, object, and administrative standpoints based on risk assessment.
Safety and Health Education
In order to cultivate knowledge, awareness and the skills necessary to prevent industrial accidents and occupational disorders, TICO proactively provides education required by law to cultivate relevant knowledge and skills and to raise safety and health awareness, in addition to grade-based and job-category-based education. Through these efforts, we are promoting the development of human resources and workplaces that place the highest priority on safety.
Prevention of Occurrence and Recurrence of Industrial Accidents and Occupational Disorders
In seeking zero serious and semi-serious accidents*1, TICO has been engaging in a range of activities to prevent the recurrence of accidents and the occurrence of similar accidents.
In particular, we have implemented various measures to eliminate accidents related to powered machinery, which are highly likely to turn into serious accidents. As one physical measure, we have incorporated a mechanism into all applicable machinery and equipment that cuts off power whenever an operator accesses it. As human-related measures, we have laid down internal rules to consider individuals’ behavioral tendencies*2 in order to ensure the assignment of appropriate personnel for dealing with irregularities (including restoring irregular conditions) based on the risk level of each. We have also been educating operators to instill an approach of always shutting down a machine (cutting power) and making sure to prevent accidental operation by others (enforcing lockout) when accessing powered machinery. Through these measures, we work to reduce the risk of the occurrence of serious accidents.
We also implement the Ecology, Safety and Health Material Investigation System, our original environmental management information system (EMIS), to assess the hazard and toxicity risks of relevant chemical substances and approve or disapprove their usage. The assessment is based on various conditions, such as material-specific properties, volume handled, and frequency and methods of use. Additionally, we strive to prevent occupational disorders caused by chemical substances (acute/chronic intoxication, organ/nerve damage, chemical injuries, etc.) by providing operators with precautions on use and information on legally required management methods (including the use of protective equipment).
Health
Basic Perspective
We are promoting the health improvement of associates, mainly focusing on the prevention of lifestyle diseases and mental health support activities, and, as a task for the medium term, we are working to nurture associates and workplaces that can think about mental and physical health and adopt required practices on their own based on the idea of health and productivity management*3. While positioning FY2025 as the first year of our efforts to nurture healthy people and workplaces and 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.
*3: Health and productivity management is a registered trademark of the NPO Kenkokeiei
Formulation of Philosophy of Health Management
Under our basic policy of placing a top priority on health and safety, we have been striving to eliminate accidents and occupational disorders. As part of such efforts, we have established the necessary committees, including the Central Safety and Health Committee and the Plant Safety and Health Committees.
Toyota Industries Group Declaration of Health Commitment
At Toyota Industries, we want every one of our valued employees and their families to live healthy and fulfilling lives, both mentally and physically. The health of our employees and their families not only ensures vitality within the company, but also leads to sustainable corporate growth.
We aim to contribute to making the earth a better place to live, enrich lifestyles, and promote a compassionate society by supporting industrial and social infrastructure around the world through the continuous supply of products and services that anticipate customers' needs. We therefore declare our commitment to creating a company where everyone can be happy and active in their work, while maintaining good mental and physical health, in accordance with the spirit of our corporate creed.
April 2024
Koichi Ito, President
Toyota Industries Corporation
Toyota Industries Group Declaration of Health Commitment PDF 197.0KB / 1pages]
Structure for Promoting Health
To reinforce our health improvement activities, we have established the Subcommittee for Promoting Health Creation, for which the Safety & Health Promotion Department and our health insurance association serve as an administrative office. At the subcommittee, with participation from related departments and our workers’ union, we have been holding a series of discussions on systems and measures related to associates’ health improvement. We will continue to hold more in-depth discussions and provide ongoing support to enhance the well-being and health of associates.
Health & Productivity Management Strategy Map
We have created a health & productivity management strategy map, identifying the management issue to be resolved through health & productivity management as “achievement of associates well-being and maximizing individual and organizational performance." Our ultimate goal indicators are "reduction in presenteeism," "reduction in absenteeism," and "improvement in work engagement," and we are conducting activities based on these objectives.
As a key initiative, we are focusing on lifestyle disease prevention through "KENKO Challenge 8," strategically implementing and evaluating measures that lead to changes in associates awareness and behavior.
Health & Productivity Management Strategy Map PDF 224.0KB / 1pages]
Health-Related Indicators and Reasons for Selection
We have selected the well-being of associates as our main key performance indicator (KPI). Toward achieving our targets in 2030, we will promote health improvement activities with a focus on the KENKO Challenge 8. Because the word “wellbeing” is defined as being healthy mentally and physically as well as socially, we aim to nurture human resources with a balanced set of lifestyle habits, mental health, and communication capabilities and have accordingly included relevant indicators in our health KPIs.
| Evaluation item | Results (FY) | Target (FY) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2031 | ||
| Main KPI | Well-being*4 | 12.2 | 12.4 | 13.0 | Above 16.0 |
| Sub-KPI | Presenteeism*5 | 17.3% | 18.0% | 16.0% | Below 10.0% |
| Absenteeism*6 | 1.16% | 1.09% | 1.00% | Below 0.70% | |
| Work engagement*7 | 3.00 | 2.98 | 3.10 | Above 3.50 | |
| Activity KPI | KENKO Challenge 8*8 | 5.67 | 5.37 | 5.85 | Above 6.50 |
| Health literacy*9 | - | 17.9 | 19.0 | Above 20.0 | |
The above data is taken from valid responses from full-time associates.
*4: The World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5); Highest score: 25
(Average of 14,272 full-time associates with a response rate of 98.2%) *5: Productivity loss percentage under Single-Item Presenteeism Question
(Average of 12,900 full-time associates with a response rate of 88.7%) *6: Percentage of associates absent from work due to non-occupational injuries/ diseases for four or longer consecutive days
(among 14,705 full-time associates) *7: Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES); Highest score: 6
(Average of 14,257 full-time associates with a response rate of 98.1%) *8: Number of habits exercised among the eight lifestyle habits; Highest score: 8
(Average of 14,180 full-time associates with a response rate of 97.5%) *9: Measurements based on the Communicative and Critical Health Literacy (CCHL)
Scale (Average of 14,266 full-time associates with a response rate of 98.1%)
Communicating Our Health Improvement Activities
We have created two original corporate characters for promoting health and productivity management, and by soliciting their names from associates, have been working to familiarize associates with the idea of health improvement. We also hold health-related events on a periodic basis as an effort to communicate and increase recognition for our health improvement activities involving external parties, including associates’ families and our business partners.
Focused Measures
KENKO Challenge 8
Since FY2022, we have continuously been promoting the “KENKO Challenge 8 (8 Challenges for a Healthier Lifestyle)” initiative to promote the cultivation of appropriate lifestyle habits in daily lives by defining eight lifestyle habits and giving each a score. We have provided health education to associates during a TICO Safety & Health Meeting in order to improve and facilitate their health literacy*10 and behavior change and encouraged each to make “My Health Challenge Declaration.” As an effort to promote health improvement activities in each workplace, an industrial physician gave a lecture at a meeting of the Plant Safety and Health Committee to show data trends for each plant/department and provide improvement advice on lifestyle habits with low practice rates. While striving to increase the recognition of the initiative, we will also work with our health insurance association and workers’ union to increase the practice rate of the “Exercise” habit, which has remained lower than the other seven habits.
*10: Knowledge, willingness, and ability to obtain, understand, and utilize healthrelated information
Milestone Health Class
As a collaborative initiative of TICO, its workers’ union, and health insurance association, we conduct the Milestone Health Class, a periodic age-based health education for all associates. In FY2025, we revised the program to match the health issues that vary by age or job type (production associates and those in office work/engineering positions). We are focusing on the “Exercise” habit, the practice rate of which is the lowest under the KENKO Challenge 8, and working to increase the rate by giving advice on the tendencies of individual associates’ physical fitness, needed measures, and recommended exercises to enhance fitness.
Beyond exercises, we have added “dental checkups” to the items of our KENKO Challenge 8 and have been providing health education broadly on lifestyle habits in general. To maintain and further accelerate behavior change, we also ask associates to set a lifetime health goal to achieve well-being and visualize specific targets and actions for improving lifestyle habits. In a questionnaire survey conducted after the class, 87.5% of the participants said that the class was effective in improving their health. Our continuous support has thus helped to improve associates’ health literacy.
Mental Health Support
As part of mental health support activities, we have in place a system under which associates can easily seek advice on their health through a health-related hotline. The system allows us to receive consultation requests broadly via e-mail, telephone, and other means.
As a result of our focused efforts to reinforce line care by associates’ immediate supervisors since 2019, the cooperation between each workplace and the Health Promotion Department has been strengthened further, leading to an increase in cases where problems are detected early while still in a mild stage. In the future, we plan to further enhance our education in this field with a focus on preventing the onset of problems.
We also conduct an annual stress check and give feedback on the results to all participants and workplaces with suggestions for improvement. As personal support, we make a recommendation to associates showing a high level of stress in the internal check to seek medical advice and set up an individual interview with a doctor for those wishing to do so. To help workplaces, we provide improvement support where applicable.
Health Support for Associates Working Overseas
As we regularly have 160 to 170 associates working overseas, we are currently setting up a health support system for them, which is similar to the one provided in Japan. For example, the system includes an interview with an industrial physician after arrival at the post, a periodic check on physical conditions through a health management questionnaire, and health education at each base. Because associates start working overseas while adapting to a new culture and environment, we recognize the need to show additional care for their mental and physical health management and are working to further reinforce our support system.