Sustainability

With the aim of fostering human resources capable of playing active roles overseas, Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara Shuzo International provide support for employees to visit language learning schools or take English lessons online as we strive to help employees acquire the language skills required for business.  we allow them to take multiple language-related courses through correspondence education programs. 

In FY2022, 3 employees attended language schools and 4 employees took online English lessons, bringing the total number of participants to 76. When employees are posted overseas, in addition to supporting their attendance at language schools before and after their assignment, we also support them by offering programs to learn how to prepare for life overseas and the culture and lifestyle of the country to which they will be posted.

We also allow new hires to take the TOEIC® tests and provide an English language learning program for our prospective employees before they join us, working to foster a corporate culture to actively promote our global business expansion.

All Takara Group are working on promoting the active involvement of female employees in line with our Action Plan based on the Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace (Female Empowerment Act). In particular, Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara International have appointed 22 new female officers or assistant managers as of April 2023 based on their plan to hire at least 50 new female directors by fiscal 2030 as a new medium-term goal (the number of female directors as of April 2021 is 39). Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara Bio all disclose their female empowerment initiatives on their websites.As of April 2023, the ratio of female managers stood at 6.7%, and we plan to raise it to 10% or more by the end of fiscal 2025. Information on the efforts of Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara Bio is available on their websites.

Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, Takara Shuzo International, and Takara Bio have established a post-retirement reemployment system that allows all employees who wish to continue working after the retirement age of 60 until age 65. Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara Shuzo International have rehired 81% of their employees after retirement over the past three years (FY2020-FY2022), while Takara Bio has rehired 89%. In addition, as an initiative to ensure employment opportunities up to age 70, Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara Shuzo International introduced a system of continuous employment up to age 70 in October 2022, while Takara Bio introduced the same system in April 2023.

When hiring people with disabilities, we ensure that our workplaces are conducive to allowing these individuals to exercise their talents. Approaches to doing so include understanding the individual’s work skills, establishing and developing a range of work tasks suited to the person’s circumstances, and improving the workplace environment. Additionally, people with disabilities participate in professional work alongside able bodied employees as we strive to create an environment in which they will feel a sense of purpose in their job.
As of April 1, 2023, Takara Holdings employed 8 persons with disabilities (6 persons legally employed, 2.78% employment rate), Takara Brewery 32 persons (29 persons legally employed, 2.49% employment rate), and Takara Bio 19 persons (19 persons legally employed, 2.30% employment rate).

The Takara Group strives to organize its workplace environment for all employees in compliance with laws and regulations concerning safety and health. In the event any disaster occurs in connection with our business, we will minimize the accident and take recurrence prevention measures, while implementing the required procedures such as filing reports and notices.
Furthermore, as part of our mental health support for employees, our Group companies engage an external institution to conduct stress checks every year to help employees recognize any stress they are going through. The employees who have been diagnosed as having an increased level of stress will meet an industrial physician if they wish to do so. Through this and other initiatives, we endeavor to prevent mental health problems among our employees.

The Takara Group strives to maintain a pleasant workplace in compliance with labor-related laws and regulations.We prohibit managers from forcing or forcing employees to work excessive hours or overtime, and ensure that they always pay attention to the physical and mental health of their subordinates. In addition, we prevent the occurrence of child labor by thoroughly checking the age of employees at the time of hiring.

Takara Holdings has built a sound labor-management relationship with the TaKaRa Labor Union, founded on mutual trust between employees and management. We regularly provide reports on business management and discuss labor conditions at meetings of the Labor-Management Council and various special committees on labor-management relations.

In the Takara Group, supervisors thoroughly manage the status of employees’ overtime working hours. In addition, the person in charge of managing overtime working hours in each workplace and the Personnel Division also confirm the status of overtime working hours in the middle of each month. We also prohibit employees from working more than 60 hours a month in excess of their stipulated work hours, in principle. In addition, we have put in place a set of general rules to ban coming to work before 7 a.m., working overtime after 9 p.m., and working on Sundays. Under the Article 36 Agreement, we limit the maximum extended working hours to 75 hours per month. We also ensure that the total hours of overtime work and work on holidays in excess of 40 hours a week do not exceed 80 hours a month, in an effort to reduce excessive working hours.

As an effort to support its employees in fulfilling work and family responsibilities, Takara Holdings, Takara Shuzo, and Takara Shuzo International expanded the work-from-home system that was previously available only for employees with parenting and long-term care giving responsibilities to all employees, except those whose duties require them to come to the workplace such as plant floor workers. In addition, while only half-day paid leave was previously available when taking annual paid leave on the days when employees work from home, the system for paid leave was expanded in April 2022 to allow them to take annual paid leave by hour in order to promote diverse working styles.
Takara Bio is reviewing its work arrangements in combination with its efforts to improve productivity. And as an effort to support its employees in fulfilling work and family responsibilities, the company offers shorter work hours until their children complete the fourth grade in primary school (until three years old under law). The company also allows its employees who are working shorter hours to raise children to use the flextime system.