Promotion of DE&I

The Fuji Oil Group formulated the Fuji Oil Group Diversity Vision in May 2020. As a forerunner to this vision, Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. established its Basic Diversity Policy in FY2015.

The Group’s Sustainability Committee^*1 is an advisory body to the Board of Directors that is chaired by the President and CEO. It deliberates on and monitors the material ESG issue^*2 of DE&I from a multi-stakeholder perspective, and recommends the results to the Board. The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) oversees the progress of initiatives for DE&I Promotion, a priority action within this material issue.

• *1 Governance, Strategy, Metrics and Targets, Risk Management > Governance

  https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/sustainability_management/

• *2 Governance, Strategy, Metrics and Targets, Risk Management > Strategy, metrics and targets

  https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/sustainability_management/

As a corporate group operating globally, our Group has a significant social responsibility to respect the diversity of our employees’ values and attributes. Moreover, making the most of the strengths of a diverse range of employees in management is vital to ensuring our competitiveness and improving our corporate value. Failing to respond to society’s or employees’ changing values may result in business risks such as higher turnover that reduces productivity, or increased reputation risk that drives away investors or leads to suspension of transaction with customers, as well as increased risks such as loss in ability to create new value for the future. Conversely, responding in a way that enables all employees to harness their individuality and abilities can create opportunities that lead to new value creation beneficial for Group growth.
One of the principles in the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy is that “we will respect the diversity and individuality of Fuji Oil Group employees.” This exemplifies our efforts to create fulfilling workplaces that are free from discrimination and harassment, to respect the basic human rights, diversity, personality and individuality of everyone who works with us, and our approach to proper and fair evaluation of employee efforts and achievements. The Fuji Oil Group Diversity Vision was formulated based on this principle, and it guides us as we open opportunities to posts and projects widely, regardless of nationality, gender or age, and objectively evaluate performance and potential skills to make the most of our diverse human resources. In recent years, the variety of work style choices has been increasing, and as the ways to contribute to the company diversify, we strive to remove the barriers experienced by people from disadvantaged communities and to provide the opportunities and conditions that empower everyone to succeed. Moving forward, we will continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the management of our business so that we can harness the power of diverse human resources and build a corporate culture where everyone feels that they belong and that their voice is valuable.

Employee engagement

In Japan, Fuji Oil Holdings Inc. and Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. have conducted an annual employee satisfaction survey until FY2022. However, in FY2023, we switched to an engagement survey^* to gauge our employees’ job satisfaction. Conducted twice annually, it numerically visualizes nine areas: work, personal growth, health, support, human relations, recognition, philosophy and strategy, organizational culture, and work environment. We then identify and assess company-wide and organization-specific issues, and prioritize them for improvement. To help support independent improvement in each organizational unit, we have also introduced a system that makes survey results available immediately so that the heads of each organization can swiftly confirm and respond to the situation.

• * For details, see the Integrated Report 2024.

  Integrated Report

• *1 For details, see Integrated Report 2024.

  Integrated Report

• *2 For details, see Employee Health (Health and Productivity Management).

  Employee Health (Health and Productivity Management)

Analysis

In FY2023 we began conducting an engagement survey to measure the job satisfaction of employees at Fuji Oil Holdings Inc. and Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. Conducted twice during the fiscal year in July and January, results from the first survey showed low scores in items related to philosophy and strategy, such as acceptance of company policies and business strategy and trust in company management. We identified this as an important issue and decided to add the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy and GOODNOON as themes to be covered in division training for all employees, regardless of their employment status, as well as created an opportunity for the President to send a message directly to employees. We see it important not only to raise average engagement scores across all companies, but to encourage improvement at the individual organizational level, so we support independent action through engagement training and related communications for managers.
The results of engagement surveys conducted in some areas outside Japan were also used to identify issues, which is helping in efforts to promote DE&I.
In North America we aimed to instill Fuji Oil Group’s core values through talent identification, recruitment, retention and development.
In Brazil, we are raising awareness of DE&I by holding monthly DE&I committee meetings, and through DE&I-related guidebooks, videos and live webinars. In efforts to employ more minorities, we have also raised the employment of women and over 50s by 5%.
In Southeast Asia, we improved evaluation and training systems and created an assignment system for posting employees at Group companies outside Japan, which helped ensure proper management-labor relations and contracts, and improved legal compliance.
In China, we held a Human Resources meeting for China, sharing the Group Human Rights Guidelines and HR issues with and among HR members from each company. In addition, a woman was promoted to senior executive management, and we worked to create motivating workplaces while the HR Department interviewed employees to understand if anyone is subject to unfair or inequal treatment.
We will not only continue our current measures, but also sequentially expand the scope of our engagement survey to understand and improve upon challenges across the entire Group, both in and outside Japan.

External recognition

By the end of June 2023, we received the following external recognition for our diversity initiatives:

• * External Recognition

  https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/evaluation/

Next steps

We have incorporated past activities for promoting DE&I and reforming company culture into our efforts to improve employee engagement, and have set the following goals for FY2024.

Initiatives at Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.GRI：404-2

Supporting continued active career development

Active careers for older employees

As one of the main pillars of our DE&I management for the current fiscal year, we focused on drawing out the potential of the older employee class, which all employees will eventually belong to. In FY2021, we reviewed our contracted reemployment program to offer more choices to our employees. The revised system went into effect in April 2022. In line with the philosophy of the new system, we also expanded our career development education for employees approaching the retirement age of 60 to facilitate continued active career development.

Support for the active participation of people with disabilities

As of March 1, 2024, Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. has 29 persons with disabilities under our employment, which does not meet the statutory employment rate. We have been collaborating with local schools, offering hands-on work experience programs, and exchanging information with leading companies in this field. Since FY2015, we have been focusing on creating workplaces where they can take active roles. Since FY2022, we have also provided regular consultations with occupational physicians in an effort to create a comfortable workplaces with an eye toward long-term employment. Going back to the fundamental principle of providing employees with opportunities to play an active role while taking into consideration their characteristics has also changed the attitude of managers in charge of training.
In FY2023, we created multiple positions for people with disabilities and recruited three employees through individual interviews at a local public employment service agency. On the other hand, some employees resigned despite our efforts to provide support through discussions with workplaces, the support center and employees themselves. Past efforts have shown that workplaces mainly for people without disabilities are not necessarily comfortable working environments for people with disabilities, so from FY2024 we have begun employing people with disabilities on external farms. The openness of farms and farm work provide an environment where many people with disabilities can continue working long-term.

Promoting non-regular employees to regular employees

The Group conducts a test once a year for highly motivated non-regular employees wishing to become regular employees. In FY2023, 11 non-regular employees have passed the test. We will continue to actively promote talented and highly motivated individuals to regular employee status through this system.

Work style reform

At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., in FY2016 we launched the Creative Work Project to promote work style reform, which is essential for achieving diversity. Aiming to reduce the total work hours by raising productivity and improve work-life balance, we have implemented four reform initiatives over the roughly five years through April 2022: attitude reform, operational reform, system reform and workplace reform.
As part of the reform, we have been exploring new work style possibilities. For example, since FY2017 we have been gradually expanding our telework system and introduced a satellite office. We also facilitated active communication and promoted paperless operations by introducing robotic process automation (RPA), digitizing application procedures, and actively using video conference systems. In FY2023, around half of all direct employees used our telework system.
We will use IT effectively to firmly establish a system that allows employees to produce results regardless of time and place of work.

Global DE&I management

Each company in the Fuji Oil Group operates within a unique regional context and has a unique history and business characteristics. For this reason, in FY2022 we appointed a person to be in charge of advancing DE&I in each region or company. They identify DE&I-related issues in their locale and set targets and propose measures to address them. We also set up a process in which the measures they propose are reviewed and monitored by the Sustainability Committee. Rather than setting targets that apply uniformly to all Group companies, this program will help us strengthen DE&I management across the Group by empowering each region or company to carry out their own DE&I initiatives in the spirit of the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy.
Since FY2023 we have also been sequentially conducting employee engagement surveys in regions where they have yet to be carried out. The results will be used to continually identify issues and establish DE&I actions plans to resolve such issues.