DE&I Management

Material Issue

DE＆I

Management information

Relevance to our business

As a corporate group operating globally, the Fuji Oil Group has an important social responsibility to respect the diversity of our human resources. We also believe that our Group needs more creativity in developing the business strategies that, by back-casting from a new future rather than extrapolating from the past, will allow us to contribute to society over the long term, even as social values change. For these reasons, we strive to remove the barriers experienced by people from disadvantaged communities and to provide the opportunities and conditions that empower everyone to succeed. We are committed to practicing diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the management of our business so that we can harness the power of diversity and build a corporate culture where everyone feels that they belong and that their voice is valuable.

Basic approach

Our energy to continuously create sustainable value for society is rooted in an environment where diverse human resources can use their different values and individuality. The Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy defines “Work for people” as one of the Group’s values. This means that we must always consider the other person’s point of view when doing business. This is the basic guiding principle to embrace diversity and provide value to society. Among its principles, the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy also states that “we will respect the diversity and individuality of Fuji Oil Group employees.” This exemplifies our efforts to create fulfilling workplaces 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 contributions.
Based on this principle, we 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.

Fuji Oil Group Diversity Vision

Enjoy diversity

Diverse human resources are a source of inspiration and innovation. We will contribute to society by “Work for people” and enjoying the synergy among us. In doing so, we will provide diverse people worldwide with deliciousness and health in a variety of food products.

Focus areas to promote diversity

On the Diversity Vision, the Fuji Oil Group defined gender, nationality, generation, specialization and experience as focus areas to promote diversity. We foresee awareness and system reforms to enable all our employees to use their diverse backgrounds and individuality as their strengths.

Fuji Oil Basic Diversity Policy

We will accelerate the creation and delivery of new value to society by seeking talented individuals from diverse backgrounds and by fostering a corporate culture, where everyone can demonstrate their abilities to the fullest.

  • Pay attention to diversity in personnel composition at all stages of employment, including: recruitment, training and job assignment/promotion.
  • Implement flexible personnel systems so that diverse human resources can fully demonstrate their abilities.
  • Use diverse human resources in a strategic manner, thereby contributing to society and company growth.

Management system

Based on an ESG materiality assessment conducted in FY2022, we changed the name of this material ESG issue*1 from “diversity management,” which was used until FY2021, to “DE&I management (leveraging diverse human resources though inclusive management and equitable opportunities and evaluations).” This theme forms part of the “DE&I” category of our material ESG issues. The Global HR Group at Fuji Oil Holdings Inc. and the Human Resource and Administration Division at Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. have overseen initiatives in this area since FY2022. The Sustainability Committee,*2 an advisory body to the Board of Directors, monitors progress and results.

Management system

Goals / Results

At least 90% complete At least 60% complete Less than 60% complete

FY2021 Goals FY2021 Results Self-assessment
Instill the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy Conducted global e-learning in nine languages (Group-wide completion rate: 95.4%)
Seek to understand region-specific issues and current status of initiatives
  • Interviewed Group companies outside Japan and reported to the Management Committee Meeting on the future advancement of DE&I within the Group
  • Incorporated information from the interviews into the next medium-term management plan to be discussed by global senior managers.
Select and train future/ successive managerial talent
  • In FY2020, launched a Talent Development Committee to foster the next generation of executive candidates
  • In FY2021, documented the qualities required of executive managers. This was translated into implemented measures.
Appoint more local staff to positions outside Japan previously filled by employees dispatched from Japan Conducted interviews with employees leaving for and returning from assignments outside Japan. Based on the interviews, identified which positions require dispatching employees from Japan and made efforts to localize positions that do not require relocation.
Develop executive candidates outside Japan who are fit for a global business environment Sent two trainees on an international assignment
  • After language training, began on-the-job training
  • Selected trainee candidates for FY2022
Japan: Encourage diverse work styles
  • Revised our contracted reemployment program (went into effect in April 2022)
Japan: Ensure equity
  • Improved conditions to enable diverse employees to achieve work-life balance according to their unique circumstances
  • Promoted men’s use of parental leave by holding a management training to raise awareness and improve understanding of the parental leave system
  • Provided equal educational opportunities for self-development to all employees, regardless of employment arrangement, including through the offering of subsidies
Japan: Support long-term, meaningful employment of people with disabilities
  • Opened a new workplace for people with disabilities to work long-term
  • Provided continuous follow up to support employees with assimilating to their work-life through four-party discussions (between the employee being onboarded, their vocational rehabilitation services provider, their supervisor, and Human Resources department staff) and regular discussions between the employee and Human Resources Department staff

Analysis

To foster the next generation of executive talent, our current executive team held comprehensive discussions in the Talent Development Committee to approach development strategically based on their future vision of the Fuji Oil Group. We aim to improve executive diversity going forward.
To promote active careers for older employees, we revised our contracted reemployment program in April FY2022 to provide them with a wider range of options. Based on the revised program, we plan to start a career education program for older employees in FY2022.
The employment rate for people with disabilities temporarily decreased due to an increase in the number of retiring employees and a change in policy toward measures that place more emphasis on post-recruitment retention.
For other types of employees, we plan to overhaul our education and training system and rebuild it in stages in FY2022. Our goal is to roll out measures that enable employees to pursue diverse career development more autonomously.

Roadmap

As shown below, we drew a roadmap for our achievement of diversity as a source of innovation supporting our corporate management and contribution to society by creating the future of delicious and healthy food. Since FY1999, the Fuji Oil Group has promoted diversity and enhanced Group-wide systems and measures to enable our employees to continue pursuing their career goals. In the new phase, started in FY2020, we are practicing diversity in each department, with the strong commitment of management executives.

  • * FDM: Fuji Diversity Management

Next step

We recognize that the Group-wide efforts we have carried out so far in our DE&I management practices have been inadequate. To address this issue, we set the following goals for FY2022.

Group-wide

  • Increase diversity on executive teams
  • Develop the next generation of executive talent
  • Develop global talent through our global trainee program

Japan

  • Encourage diverse work styles
  • Ensure equity
  • Support long-term, meaningful employment of people with disabilities

Other countries

  • Embed DE&I into company culture
  • Promote cultural reforms

FDM 3.0 measures

Specific initiatives

Initiatives in Japan

Supporting continued active career development

Active careers for older employees

As one of the main pillars of our diversity 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 reemployment system to offer more choices to older staff. The revised system went into effect in April 2022. We also expanded our career development education for older employees in line with the philosophy of the new system, as part of our efforts to facilitate active career development in every working life stage.

Female employees’ continued career development in balance with private life

While at Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. we have long maintained a 100% parental leave usage rate among female employees, many female employees see career continuity after parental leave as challenging. In FY2014 we drastically changed our way of supporting female employees. We adopted various new systems to support female employees who aim to continue actively developing their careers after life events.
We have been conducting follow-up seminars since FY2014 for employees returning to work from parental leave. This seminar has been held in the form of an interview with three parties: the parenting employee, their supervisor and their partner. It has helped form circles of supporters for parenting employees at home and in the workplace, and has been instrumental in changing the awareness of parenting employees themselves. In FY2019, we distributed booklets compiling the essentials of the seminar titled Guide to Returning to Work from Parental Leave (different versions for parenting employees and their supervisors).
We also make efforts to encourage male employees to participate in childrearing. For example, we distribute materials explaining the parental leave system to male employees when their partner has given birth. In FY2021, men’s participation rate in parental leave was 73%. The length of leave taken has also increased in recent years, with eight in 32 employees taking more than a month off in FY2021.
As of April 2021, approximately 40% of female managers were working while parenting their children, which indicates the significant progress that we have made in establishing systems for supporting continued career development regardless of life events.

System to support employees at life events

Ensuring equity

Managers’ attitude reform

The key to ensuring equal opportunity is held by managers who play a central role in human resource development. For this reason, since FY2019, we have enhanced the manager education program focusing on human resource development and diversity management. In FY2020 we held unconscious bias* seminars, and in FY2021 we conducted training to develop managers’ understanding of how to support people with disabilities in their work and careers.

  • * Individuals’ unconscious patterns and thinking orientations. People process and respond to a large amount of information available in the natural world in an instant. Although the human race acquired this ability to survive, it often causes problems in today’s world because it prevents humans from responding to environmental changes appropriately. Therefore, this bias should be raised to the level of consciousness and corrected from time to time.

Promotion of personnel diversity

Support for the active participation of women

In FY1999, the top management of the Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. adopted the policy of supporting the active participation of women. Full-scale initiatives were launched to pursue the policy under the newly established Committee for Women’s Empowerment (currently Fuji Active Network). As of April 2022, the percentage of women in managerial positions is 11.42%. Moving forward, we recognize the need for a greater focus on equal opportunity in recruitment and training. In the five years through FY2022, women have accounted for 44% of new graduates hired into management-track positions.* We also ensure a higher level of fairness in human resource development, including work assignment, on-the-job training, and off-the-job-training.
Furthermore, in FY2016, the CEO of Fuji Oil Holdings Inc. endorsed the Declaration on Action by a Group of Male Leaders Who Will Create a Society in Which Women Shine, which was formed under the initiative of Japan’s Cabinet Office. The CEO has been sending out messages to employees and society, regarding the importance of diversity in management.

Employment of foreign nationals

At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., we employ foreign nationals with various capabilities, who play important roles in many fields like research and development, planning and management. There is no difference in treatment on grounds of nationality. We assign employees to work based on their characteristics and skills. We also create a workplace environment that respects employees’ religious beliefs and customs by for example, creating multipurpose rooms where employees can pray.

Support for the active participation of people with disabilities

Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. has been working on employing people with disabilities. Since FY2015, we have been focusing on creating workplace environments where they can play active roles. To do so, we collaborate with local schools, offer hands-on work experience programs, and exchange information with leading companies in this field. 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 FY2021, we created multiple general administrative positions and recruited employees through individual interviews at a local public employment services agency. After hiring, we have supported their continued employment by holding assimilation support discussions involving a vocational rehabilitation services partner. The employment rate for people with disabilities temporarily decreased partly due to an increase in the number of retiring employees. Going forward, we will strive to achieve the statutory rate through continued efforts in recruitment and assimilation support.

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 FY2021, eight non-regular employees, both men and women, have passed the test. We will continue to actively promote talented and highly motivated individuals to regular employee status through this system.

  • * One of two hiring categories commonly used by Japanese companies. The other is a non-career track for administrative support roles.

Encouragement of program use

When it comes to promoting DE&I in the Fuji Oil Group, we place great importance on the autonomy of employees in heightening their own awareness and taking action. Rather than pursuing mere superficial results, we aim to achieve a form of DE&I that is firmly rooted in our corporate culture and fully understood and accepted by our employees.
As part of this, we encourage a wider range of employees to use our work-life balance support programs. We have recently been trying to increase the use of two programs: the nursing care leave program, which has been created based on the notion that many employees may become caregivers in the future, and the parental leave program targeting male employees. Since FY2013, we have been educating employees to create a corporate culture in which consulting about nursing care is always accepted. This is done by holding nursing care seminars and distributing a nursing care handbook. Since FY2016, we have been providing financial support for nursing care expenses. These initiatives resulted in a gradual increase in the use of nursing care leave program by employees, including managers and male employees. With a basic policy based on the voluntary decision of male employees to take parental leave, we have also continued our efforts to encourage male employees to take parental leave since FY2014. We make efforts to encourage male employees to take parental leave when their partner has given birth, in part by distributing materials that explain the parental leave system. In FY2021, 73% of eligible male employees took parental leave. The length of leave taken has also increased in recent years, with eight in 32 employees taking more than a month off in FY2021. Going forward, we will promote the use of parental leave further by presenting examples of employees who have taken leave, in addition to educating managers about the system and conducting surveys of men who have taken leave.

Work style reform

At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., in FY2016 we launched the Creative Work Project (currently the CWORK Promotion Committee) to promote work style reform, which is essential for achieving diversity. Aiming to reduce the total work hours by raising productivity and improving 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 assigned some employees to telework on a trial basis and introduced a satellite office to further develop our telework system. We also facilitated active communication and promoted paperless operations by introducing robotic process automation (RPA), digitizing application procedures, and actively using video conference systems. As a result, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we succeeded in shifting smoothly to Company-wide teleworking and continued business operations without any serious delays. Taking advantage of this experience, we will use IT effectively to firmly establish a system that allows employees to produce results regardless of time and place of work. In FY2021, around half of all direct employees used our telework system.

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 new 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.

External recognition

By the end of June 2022, we received the following external recognition for our diversity initiatives:

  • March 2017:

    Commended by the Osaka City Mayor as a Leading Company in Women’s Participation in Osaka City

  • August 2017:

    Obtained “Platinum Kurumin” certification from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

  • June 2022:

    Continued as a constituent of MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index (WIN) (fourth consecutive year) and MSCI Japan Empowering Women (WIN) Select Index (fourth consecutive year)

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