Human Resources Development
Toward Achieving “Sustainable People”
With the recent trend toward globalization, it has become essential for companies to secure diverse human resources, and initiatives for diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DE&I”) have become even more important. The Daicel Group has positioned DE&I as one of its key management issues, and is creating a system that enables each of its diverse employees to maximize their unique abilities and individuality.
Initiatives to Promote Diversity
In FY2016, Daicel promoted the use of childcare leave for female employees and established paid leave incentive days. Since then, Daicel has introduced working from home and satellite working to create a workplace environment where not only women but diverse employees of all kinds can play active roles. In addition, Daicel and Polyplastics
began collaborative efforts in FY2021 in order to further accelerate the promotion of diversity throughout the Daicel Group.
Specifically, starting with the 2021 female employee networking event, Daicel and Polyplastics have been jointly hosting an “LGBTQ Seminar” since 2022 with the aim of acquiring basic knowledge about sexual minorities, and in FY2023, both Daicel and Polyplastics introduced a “Same-Sex Partnership System.” In addition, a “Female Managers’
Networking Event” was held, where all female managers from Daicel and Polyplastics gathered together to exchange information, and discussed the future growth of the company and their own careers while exchanging opinions about their respective futures.
Diversity promotion & work style reform (overall structure)
The Rate of Female Managers Tripled
These efforts have raised the percentage of female managers at Daicel from 1.6% in FY2016 to 5.6% in January 2024, and brought the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave to over 90%. We will continue to create a comfortable work environment that facilitates independent career development for employees regardless of gender.
Based on the DE&I Declaration
Daicel is working on recruitment activities with a 30% diversity rate target, in order to further ensure the diversity of the Daicel Group. We have introduced a mentor system for female managers and continued to hold roundtable discussions between executive officers and female managers, with the aim of developing female executive officers within Daicel. Based on equity, in the sense that everyone has a fair opportunity to take on challenges, we released our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Declaration (DE&I Declaration) and expand the circle of value co-creation at a higher level throughout the Daicel Group.
DE&I Promotion Office, Human Resources Department
Action Plan for Promoting Women’s Activities
To create a system and environment at Polyplastics in which female employees can work to the best of their abilities over the long term, we created the following action plan and are implementing various measures.
FY2022 Results
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- Conducted a networking event for female managers
- Established a system considers those who do not wish to be transferred, etc.
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- Shared childcare leave information for eligible male employees and their supervisors
- Publication of a database of fathers’ childcare leave stories
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- Conducted individual follow-ups with employees with particularly low usage rates
Aiming for Open and Easy-to-Understand Communication
In order to create a work environment in which diverse human resources can work together and demonstrate teamwork, it is important to have open and easy-to-understand communication. At Leuna Plant (Germany), all employees ranging from production to the administrative department were trained to improve their communication skills in
practically useful ways.
This training program aimed to improve skills in interactive communication and self-reflection, including “active listening” and how to give appropriate feedback.
This training has helped employees reaffirm the importance of teamwork, and has helped to create workplace environments where diverse employees can play active roles.
Creating Workplace while Respecting Individual Differences
Polyplastics (Japan) is promoting initiatives to create a work environment where sexual minority employees can work without suffering disadvantage or discrimination. Following the LGBTQ seminar held in FY2022 for managers with an invited lecturer from a certified NPO, the LGBTQ seminar was expanded to all employees in FY2023.
The seminar consisted of a course on basic knowledge about LGBTQ and other sexual minorities, followed by a workshop to help participants relate to LGBTQ issues personally and act on them, including an exchange of opinions on specific ways to treat sexual minorities and how to respond if they witness harassment in the workplace.
We will continue our efforts to create a workplace where all employees can work while respecting each other’s differences.
Past Activities
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| FY2022 |
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Support System for Employees with Disabilities
Our Job Support Team consists of eight employees with intellectual disabilities and three employees as advisors who assist them in their activities, performing a variety of 50 different tasks.
In order to ensure that employees perform their work safely, advisors provide support such as assigning work based on their
aptitudes, giving advice on learning the work, and discussing any problems that may arise. They communicate according to each employee’s personality and characteristics, so that the team can work smoothly.
They are also considering new work within the company for the future, and we will continue to provide a wide range of services for employees with disabilities.
Diversity Seen from Data
We aim to create a workplace where diverse human resources can play an active role and work while feeling happy. As a foundation for this, we are striving to develop and enhance a system that makes it easier to take paid leave, a system for reappointment and rehiring, and a system for childcare and nursing care leave.
We were granted “Kurumin Certification” by the Tokyo Labor Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, as a company that supports child raising. We earned certification for the fourth consecutive time, after 2017, 2019, and 2021.
In FY2023, 100% of eligible women and 90.9% of eligible men took childcare leave. The rate of male employees taking childcare leave is 73.8% higher than the national average.
Our rate of employees with disabilities in FY2023 was 2.51%, exceeding the statutory employment rate of 2.3%. We will continue to exchange information not only with local special-needs schools but also with organizations that support people with disabilities, to expand our recruitment activities more widely and to actively recruit people with physical disabilities (upper limbs and lower limbs), in addition to people with intellectual disabilities.
