Participation of diverse human resources 2 (Disabled persons, etc.)
Promotion of rehiring senior generation
The Company extended its retirement age to 65 in 2013 and introduced a reemployment system after retirement at the age of 65 (“Active Aging System”) in 2015. In 2022, we abolished the uniform retirement age of 60, which was previously based solely on age, and create a personnel system that allows employees to pursue their careers up to their retirement age. In addition, from 2023, the upper age limit for post-retirement rehiring was abolished for technical staff in the industrial division, and the previously uniform treatment system will be extended to include multiple job assignments, creating an environment where employees can continue to demonstrate their expertise without being restricted by age.
The skills and expertise developed by our senior employees are valuable assets to our company and should be passed on to the next generation. We also believe that creating an environment in which employees can work vigorously throughout their lives will contribute to improving employee engagement.
Promoting the employment of disabled persons
Our company does not assign disabled staff to specified occupations, but rather, just as with other employees, assigns them to various departments, such as sales, design, construction, and management, according to their abilities.
We introduced the “comuoon”* desktop communication support system to 100 facilities throughout Japan, including our offices and plants, and shopping centers. This system facilitates conversation with those who are hard of hearing. We use it not only with employees, but also with customers who use our facilities, to provide a secure living environment for the elderly and disabled.
* Developed and manufactured by Universal Sound Design Inc.
Our group company Daiwa LifeNext Co., Ltd., aiming to create a work environment suited to the various aptitudes of disabled people and proper employment management, in 2011 founded Daiwa Life Plus Co., Ltd., which was certified as a special-purpose subsidiary. Its initiatives to help keep disabled workers in their jobs won the company an award of excellence in the fiscal 2013 for successful examples of workplace improvement for disabled persons.
A Daiwa Life Plus employee communicating in sign language
Fiscal 2013 award of excellence for workplace improvement for disabled persons (Daiwa Life Plus)
Promoting activities for co-existence with local communities (dispatching visiting lecturers to schools)
One of our employees acting
as a visiting lecturer
Our disabled employees are contributing to local communities through utilization of their skills to help solve social problems by acting as visiting lecturers at schools.
In December 2020, one of our disabled employees acted as a career education instructor at his alma mater, the Osaka Prefectural Ikuno Special Support School, in order to help the students foster a sense of hard work and career by communicating to children the importance of facing their own disabilities and studying to achieve their dreams.
His lecture in sign language lasted for two and a half hours and the students paid careful attention as he told them about the difficulties he has overcome.
Promoting the training and participation of global personnel
Leader-class employees from overseas
subsidiaries of seven countries sharing
in active discussion (2019)
In anticipation of the Group's further global expansion, every year since 2011 we have been sending employees to IUJ (the International University of Japan) in Minami-Uonuma City, Niigata Prefecture. There, they receive a training course for leader-class human resources based on interaction with government officials and exchange students dispatched from all over the world. We also started an open-type training course on cross-cultural competence in 2019. The course is intended to nurture the qualities expected of leaders, such as a global mindset, diversity awareness and communication skills, to develop them into personnel who can play active roles both at home and abroad.
Aiming to train excellent staff (local employees) working at overseas subsidiaries into global human resources, in fiscal 2018 we started the D’s Global Leaders Summit training in Japan for leader-class employees selected from all of our overseas bases. It aims to increase participants’ understanding of the values of the Group ("inheriting the spirit of our founder") and their management skills. In addition, a training course targeting all technical staff posted to overseas subsidiaries was initiated in 2021. We provide the course online to them, with the aim of facilitating constant information sharing between Head Office and overseas subsidiaries by sharing issues faced by each subsidiary.
Through our efforts to train global human resources for the group, we are building a foundation to expand business overseas.
* Held as an online training program due to COVID-19 from fiscal 2020 onward
Promoting LGBTQ workplace participation
As part of our efforts to promote the workplace participation of LGBTQ and other sexual minorities, we are increasing understanding of LGBTQ and creating a workplace culture in which diverse human resources can perform to the best of their abilities with peace of mind. We do this through training and dissemination of information via our intranet, and participation in movie screenings and other events that utilize networks outside the Group.
We have established a specialized inquiries office for LGBTQ issues, staffed by outside experts. This serves as a place where employees can go to receive consultations on any issues they may encounter in the workplace, without fear of repercussions.
