Basic Approach

The Nihon Nohyaku Group* positions health and productivity management as one of our most important management issues. We believe that our employees are the most important capital, and having each employee in good physical and mental health increases individual happiness and contributes to the improvement of company performance and the sustainable enhancement of corporate value.
To pursue the creation of work environments in which employees have mutual respect for their diverse values and are able to work with vitality, we have established a company-wide promotion structure for the maintenance and improvement of employees’ health and the improvement of workplace environments, and we are working to promote health and productivity management. (*This covers Nihon Nohyaku and its Group companies in Japan.)

Nihon Nohyaku Group Health and Productivity Management

In addition to safety and health activities that emphasize compliance with laws and regulations, the Nihon Nohyaku Group has implemented preventive measures for the maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health and measures that emphasize flexible work styles. To further bolster its initiatives, the Group announced the Nihon Nohyaku Group Health and Productivity Management in March 2024.
 

Health and Productivity Management Promotion Structure

With the President as Chief Health and Productivity Management Officer and the Division Manager of Administration Division as Health and Productivity Management Promotion Supervisor, the Human Resources Department, health and productivity management officers, public health nurses, and occupational physicians will play a central role in the promotion of health and productivity management, in cooperation with health insurance associations, the Safety and Health Committee, and the labor unions. 

Main Initiatives

1. Maintenance and Promotion of Health

1) Implementation of regular medical examinations
In accordance with laws and regulations, we conduct regular medical examinations for all employees. For employees over the age of 40, we conduct full medical examinations. Furthermore, in addition to the items tested in regular medical examinations, we conduct tests for various diseases and lifestyle-related diseases. Therefore, we have established a system that can check the health status of our employees. In FY2022, the medical examination participation rate was 100%.

2) Implementation of training, etc. to improve health literacy
To ensure all employees, including those at our branches, can attend health lectures given by industrial physicians at the Head Office and Research Center, we broadcast the lectures online and post the lecture videos on our corporate intranet. In FY2022, we held a lecture on “Sleep” at the Head Office, and a lecture on “Lifestyle-Related Diseases and Diet” at the Research Center.

3) Prevention of lifestyle-related diseases through cooperation with health insurance associations
We promote healthy eating habits, exercise, rest, smoking cessation, and alcohol abstinence on the ADEKA Health Insurance Association’s portal site for individuals. In this way, we are working to prevent lifestyle-related diseases in cooperation with a health insurance association. We also promote participation in the “Walking Contest,” which is held twice a year by the ADEKA Health Insurance Association, by announcing it through the Safety and Health Committee and on the company bulletin board.

2. Mental Health Care

1) Stress checks
Nihon Nohyaku and our domestic Group companies conduct stress checks once a year. The participation rate in stress checks has been at least 90% since 2017 and was 99.1% in FY2022. We also conduct organizational analysis and provide feedback on the results to each department, in order to promote improvements in the workplace environment.

2) Mental health-related training
We provide mental health-related training for new employees. This includes training courses on self-care, and on consulting with superiors regarding their health concerns. Furthermore, we provide mental health-related training as part of our newly appointed manager training program and our newly appointed appraiser training program which we provide to employees who have been newly appointed to supervisory positions.

3) Setting up a hotline for mental and physical health (external consultation desk)
In order to offer “care provided by resources outside the workplace,” as stated in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s “Guidelines for Maintaining and Promoting the Mental Health of Workers,” we have established the “Nichino Group Health Consultation Hotline,” which is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This hotline allows employees to make consultations not only about health and medical care, but also about nursing care and childcare. We also offer therapy services for mental health, and employees can choose to have face-to-face, online, or telephone consultations.

3. Creation of a Comfortable Work Environment

1) Measures to prevent passive smoking, outpatient support for smoking cessation
In line with the revision of the Health Promotion Act on April 1, 2020, many companies banned smoking in their workplaces in order to prevent passive smoking. Similarly, we are taking anti-smoking measures, such as by holding “no smoking days” at our plants and offices that have smoking areas, and providing outpatient support through the health insurance association to help employees quit smoking.

2) Optimization of working hours
We monitor all employees’ hours of work exceeding statutory working hours. For employees (including managers) whose overtime hours exceed our internal standards, we arrange for face-to-face guidance from industrial physicians. In FY2022, a total of three employees were eligible for such guidance.

3) Encouraging more active communication between employees
We have introduced an open plan office system at all departments of the Head Office in order to promote cross-departmental communication.

◆Health issues and metrics management
 

No	category	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	Details of initiatives
1	Regular medical examination participation rate	100%	100%	100%	100%	Target of 100%, thorough encouragement to participate
2	Regular exercisers ratio  *1	25.5%	33.0%	28.3%	28.0%	Raise awareness of programs that encourage walking hosted by health insurance associations, subsidization of club activities
3	Obesity rate (BMI25 or over)	31.2%	30.8%	29.7%	31.6%	Seminars by　occupational physicians on lifestyle diseases and diet
4	Smoking rate	18.8%	17.1%	16.2%	16.8%	Strengthen anti-smoking measures (no smoking days), outpatient support to quit smoking
5	Stress check participation rate	95.0%	97.9%	98.5%	99.1%	Target of 100%, thorough encouragement to participate
6	Percentage of high-stress employees	9.3%	6.4%	9.2%	9.5%	Maintain target of 10% or less, mental health-related training
7	Annual total number of employees working more than 45 hours overtime  *2	295	145	66	34	Feedback on working hours calculations, reminders
8	Rate of annual paid leave taken	58.9%	58.9%	64.7%	63.5%	Education about planned leave-taking
9	Regular employees’ average length of service	15.6years	16.4years	15.0years	15.4years
10	Absenteeism  *3	0.6%	0.8%	1.7%	0.6%	Maintain target of 1.0% or less Prevent exacerbation through early detection

・Nos. 2–4 are statistics for employees aged 40 years and over 
・*1. Regular exercisers ratio: Has a habit of exercising at least twice a week for 30 minutes at a time 
・*2. Annual total number of employees working more than 45 hours overtime: Includes managers, calculated according to statutory working hours of 45 hours
・*3. Absenteeism: Calculated by employees who have taken leave without pay or been absent from work for one month or more

Expenditures related to Health and Productivity Management

In FY2022, Nihon Nohyaku and our domestic Group companies spent a total of 20.9 million yen on health-related expenditures. Specifically, medical examination-related expenditure was 13.7 million yen, industrial physician-related expenditure was 6.0 million yen, and mental health related expenditure, including stress checks and external health consultation services, was 1.2 million yen. Going forward, we will continue to make the necessary expenditures for mental health care, etc., to maintain and improve the health of our employees.