Employee-Friendly Workplace Sustainability

We are committed to preventing overwork and increasing the rate at which employees take annual paid leave in order for them to achieve work-life balance and appropriate working hours that allow them to work in good health and with a sense of fulfillment.

Preventing Excessive Work

Starting in FY 2020, we conducted a review to drive work efficiency improvements. Through the introduction of network restrictions and a telework program, we are taking steps to reduce overtime work for all employees. In terms of managing working hours, PC startup and shutdown times are recorded daily, and the log data is delivered to supervisors automatically to raise their awareness of how their subordinates work. If any employees work in excess of a certain benchmark, the Human Resources Department reaches out to the managers and supervisors of the relevant department and requests that they establish remedial measures.
To develop a flexible work environment and promote the prevention of overwork, we introduced staggered working hours in FY 2021 and launched part-day paid leave in FY 2022. Also in FY 2022, despite efforts to reduce annual overtime hours for all employees, working hours increased as our business expanded, resulting in annual overtime of 155.5 hours per employee. In view of this, we are promoting further efforts to reduce working hours in FY 2023. Specific measures include integrating computer login times with time and attendance (time card) times and rendering a visual representation of the results.

Trends in employee overtime hours are also reported once every three months to the ESG Management Committee.

Improving the annual paid leave utilization rate

We are working to improve the rate of annual paid leave taken in order to maintain and improve employee health and to create employee-friendly workplaces. Each department has set a target of achieving an annual leave utilization rate of at least 75%, with the head of the department taking responsibility for promoting the use of paid leave. A list of annual leave utilization by department is circulated every month, and the rate of progress is shared companywide.

The annual paid leave utilization rate for FY 2022 was 83.3%.

We provide employees with various kinds of support so that they can balance work and childcare and/or family caregiving. In terms support for childcare in particular, we have enhanced systems beyond statutory requirements, including allowing employees to work shorter hours until their children start fourth grade at elementary school. In addition, regarding childcare leave and other programs, we ensure that each employee who is pregnant or whose spouse is pregnant is familiar with these programs and we confirm their intentions. In FY 2022, following revision of the Childcare and Caregiver Leave Act, we introduced a leave program for childcare at birth from October. Prior to the start of the program, to help expand the program and create a culture within the company, we held two separate seminars encouraging male employees to take childcare leave, one seminar for managers and one seminar for all employees. Since the new system limits employees as to when and how long they can take leave, it offers employees more options, such as taking regular childcare leave beyond the limits of the childcare leave at birth program, and contributes to an increase in the number of employees taking childcare leave. In FY 2023, we will also conduct an employee survey on work comfort and use that feedback to further improve the workplace environment for employees.

Seminars Encouraging Men to Take Childcare Leave

In FY 2022, following revision of the Childcare and Caregiver Leave Act, we held two separate seminars encouraging male employees to take childcare leave, one for managers and one for all employees. Designed to help expand our childcare leave programs and create a culture of childcare leave within the company, the hybrid seminars were held in April both in-person and online. Subsequently, the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave reached 67.4%. We will continue to improve the workplace environment making it easier for male employees to take childcare leave, such as by disseminating easy-to-understand information on the programs and by facilitating understanding among employees.

Parent’s Consultation

In June 2021, we established a “Parent’s Consultation” support desk for employees who are raising children. Until now, in accordance with the Japanese Act on the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life, we had been enhancing support for female employees who had reached the childbirth/childcare stage of life, and with the establishment of this support desk, one of our main objectives is to accelerate the participation of male employees in raising children. In FY 2022, we endeavored to inform employees of the programs available to them and to promote their use of the programs, such as through distribution of an internal e-newsletter and flyers and one-on-one consultations.

GOLDWIN is focused on creating workplaces where employees can enjoy working and can demonstrate their abilities with pride and a sense of solidarity. In order to put into practice our policy of prioritizing sports and the environment and living life without a boundary between work and play, it is essential that we respect the values of our employees and create an environment where they can choose diverse work styles. By pursuing rewarding workplaces that reflect GOLDWIN’s unique character, we will increase employee engagement which will lead to sustainable growth.

Promotion of Diverse Work Styles

As individual employees have diverse needs in terms of work styles, we believe that giving employees greater flexibility in when and where they work will result in improved work efficiency and productivity. We have launched various programs that support diverse work styles so that all employees can have greater job satisfaction and opportunities for personal growth. In FY 2022, GOLDWIN introduced a part-day paid leave program in addition to the existing staggered working hours program. We subsequently conducted a survey of all employees, including those at Group companies, on work comfort, and received responses from 65% of employees. The results of the survey revealed various issues, such as increasing awareness of the program, creating a workplace environment that is conducive to employees taking the leave, and improving the application process. In FY 2023, we will leverage that feedback as we strive to create an even more comfortable workplace environment.

Some of the survey results

With an aim of improving work-life balance, GOLDWIN is proceeding with the automation of work that can be replaced with robotic process automation (RPA) to reduce overtime hours and alleviate long working hours, creating a workplace for employees that is more comfortable than ever before. RPA is a technology that uses software robots instead of human workers to automatically process standard computer-based business processes that were previously performed manually by people. This drastically reduces human error in simple or high-volume routine work, and leads to an alleviation of long working hours and a reduction in the psychological burden on employees. In addition, any time saved from the introduction of RPA can be applied to high-value-added work that can only be performed by people, resulting in an expected increase in productivity. Led by our Information Technology Department, we are holding regular meetings with RPA personnel from human resources, finance, accounting, production management, ecommerce, general affairs, and other departments to discuss the introduction of RPA. Since beginning to introduce RPA in FY 2019, the number of departments adopting the technology (1) has tripled from four to 12, and the number of business operations using RPA (2) has increased from 12 to 40, a 330% increase. The number of people involved in RPA training to support this technology adoption (3) has increased from 12 to 29, a 240% increase, and the scale of activities is steadily expanding. In addition, the number of hours saved per adoptive department (4) has increased from 200 hours to 719 hours, a 350% increase, and the total number of hours saved has increased from 800 hours to 8,941 hours, an 11-fold increase.

In this era of 100-year life expectancy, planning for life and putting that plan into practice is important in order to maintain a fulfilling lifestyle after retirement. At GOLDWIN, based on this belief, we regularly hold Life Plan Seminars for employees in their 50s and older.