Together with Our Employees
(Human Rights and Labor Practices)

The Nippon Soda Group’s Long-term Vision Brilliance through Chemistry 2030, has identified Enhancement of cost competitiveness and efficiency, Expansion of overseas businesses, and Promotion of new product development and entry into new businesses as key issues. In implementing related strategies, we believe people are one of our most important management resources. As such, as part of the medium-term business plan Brilliance through Chemistry Stage II, we have formulated human capital management vision Make Employees Brilliant and are promoting the relevant measures. Our aim is to transform ourselves into an organization that further promotes innovation while fully utilizing the strengths we have built up over the years. To do so, we are committed to promoting diversity, developing human resources, and creating a rewarding workplace that employees can be proud of, with the aim of building an environment and organization that allows each and every one of our diverse employees to maximize his or her abilities, to grasp changes in society’s circumstances, and to work with a positive mindset.

Respect for Fundamental Human Rights

At the Nippon Soda Group, we support and respect international frameworks related to the protection of human rights—such as the ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility—and ensure thorough compliance with human rights laws in each country, including those related to the prohibition of child labor and forced labor. We also understand workers’ rights to collective bargaining, and through discussions between labor and management we are building trustworthy, healthy cooperative relationships.

Human Rights Initiatives at Workplaces

The Nippon Soda Group is striving to improve in-house awareness of human rights and create fair workplace environments. The Nippon Soda Group Code of Conduct, which sets out the requirements that all employees of the Nippon Soda Group must follow, clearly states our commitment to respecting human rights and nondiscrimination, and ensures that we respect the individuality and personal characteristics of every employee and do not take any action that would result in discrimination. Moreover, in addition to incorporating lectures into our position-based training that aim to promote understanding of diversity and of the importance of respect for every individual, we have also set up a complaints desk that employees can use with peace of mind to maintain a harassment-free, sound workplace environment. Further, we have created a fair assessment and remuneration system based on employees’ job duties and responsibilities to ensure the same wages for the same roles, regardless of employment conditions, to ensure the principle of Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value.
Through these measures, we are protecting employees’ dignity and working to create vibrant workplaces.

• Employee Training

In FY 2024, we provided lectures on harassment prevention as part of the training programs offered to newly appointed employees at each level, including new hires.

• Complaints Desk

At each worksite we have established a harassment consultation desk. Furthermore, in April 2020, we newly established an external consultation desk, the Nisso Harassment and Relationships Hotline, which we set up as a means to enhance reporter privacy.

• Equal Pay for Equal Work

At Nippon Soda, we agree with the principle of equal pay for equal work. While considering job duties, human resource systems, and other circumstances, we strive to avoid any unreasonable differences in treatment due to gender, age, nationality, employment condition,* or other reason.

• * Based on the Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on Improvement of Personnel Management and Conversion of Employment Status for Part-Time Workers and Fixed-Term Workers and the Guidelines on the Prohibition against Unreasonable Treatment of Part-Time Workers, Fixed-Term Workers, and Dispatched Workers (Guidelines on Equal Pay for Equal Work) (Public Notice of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare No. 430)

Promotion of Diversity

Diversity is one of our primary strategies for maintaining a high level of global competitiveness and sustainable growth. We believe that the creation of such a diverse work environment and organization that allows each and every one of our employees to demonstrate their abilities to the fullest extent, to grasp changes in the environment, and to work with a positive mindset will lead to innovation.

① Diversity Policy

The aim of our Diversity Policy is to develop the Company by bringing together diverse people, regardless of gender, age, nationality, race, religion, and disability, while providing opportunities to gather and exchange ideas.
We believe that having a workforce with diverse values is essential for generating new innovations and increasing global competitiveness. In this context, we recognize the promotion of diversity as an important management strategy.
As part of these efforts, we are building a foundation with both tangible and intangible measures, including a shift to a personnel system that makes the most of diverse human resources, improvement of organizational climate, and improvement organizational climate, and improvement of the workplace environment. We aim to be a company where motivated and capable people from around the world can thrive and shine, and continuously grow and develop.

② Promotion of Women’s Active Participation

At Nippon Soda, in addition to promoting the creation of a workplace in which women can work comfortably, we are also aiming to build a working environment in which they can thrive. The General Employer Action Plan was prepared based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace.
As a result of efforts under the action plan, we were certified as an “Eruboshi” company in August 2018.

③ Enhanced Recruitment Efforts

At Nippon Soda, we host employment information meetings that focus on career opportunities and comfortable work environments, providing job applicants with a concrete idea of their future at the Company. At the same time, we are updating our recruitment websites to ensure content that better communicates the Company’s culture and environment. Moreover, we are also focusing on the employment of people with disabilities as part of our efforts to promote diversity. Through initiatives like these, we are aiming to acquire diverse human resources and create workplace environments where anyone can thrive.
Our main achievements in FY 2024 are as follows.

• New college graduate hires (Major career track employees, clerical employees, operational employees)
  Joined April 2024: 35 (12 women)
• Mid-career hires (Major career track employees, clerical employees, operational employees)
  April 2023–March 2024: 16 (5 women)
• Senior hires
  April: 24; October: 19
  Employed all applicants for reemployment (including affiliated company transfers)
• People with disabilities
  None

In the future, in addition to strengthening awareness and networks for the employment of people with disabilities and developing appropriate workplace environments, we will work to increase our ratio of employment of people with disabilities.

Number of hired persons (by gender) and retention rate

Number of disabled persons employed and ratio of disabled employees

* Did not achieve the 2.5% legal employment ratio for April 2024 onwards as defined by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

④ Embracing Diversity

We place emphasis on employing diverse candidates regardless of gender, age, nationality, race, religion, ability or disability, and regardless of whether they are new graduates or mid-career hires, so as to create a more diverse organization. A group consisting of people with different values should give its members the impetus to broaden their outlook and change their viewpoint.
To enhance recognition of diverse values and to empower individuals and organizations, we are promoting reforms in awareness through diversity lectures as part of our position-based training.
Moreover, since November 2016 we have continued to publish articles on diversity in our company newsletters.

Nippon Soda Group’s Human Resources Development

In order for Nippon Soda to continue to grow in the future, the development of human resources is essential. In our human capital management vision Make Employees Brilliant, our human resources development policy is to develop autonomous personnel. Regardless of role or rank, our aim is to develop employees who can learn, think, and act autonomously.
We believe that education and training is fundamental to human resources development. In addition to on-the-job training (OJT) at the workplace, the Company conducts a variety of programs, including position-based training, management training, specialized training by job type, and support for self-development to improve language skills and obtain qualifications as well as other programs.
In FY 2024, employees at Nippon Soda spent a total of 18,103 hours on off-the-job training. This is the equivalent to an average of 15 hours of learning per employee. Moving forward, we will continue to proactively develop employees’ skills and improve our corporate value through the development of human resources.

Educational Programs (Position-based Training)

Rewarding Workplaces That Employees Can Be Proud Of

In our human capital management vision Make Employees Brilliant, in addition to measures to develop human resources, we have also set out the following policy for developing in-house environments: Maximize employee capabilities through flexible and efficient workstyles.

① Improving Employee satisfaction

The Nippon Soda Group focuses proactive efforts on creating a work environment in which each and every employee feels a sense of fulfillment and can maximize their abilities. We support employee growth, and encourage autonomous career development. At the same time, we gather feedback from labor unions and other channels on what systems and work environments are desirable to support employee growth, strive to reduce overtime, and take measures to address these issues. In addition, we also provide platforms for reviews so that those in management can work more efficiently.
In FY 2024, in addition to the management and reduction of overtime, and efforts to prevent an increase in overtime, we worked to reinforce our management of paid leave acquisition.

Total annual working time per employee

• *Calculation period: FY 2024 (April 2023-March 2024)

② Improving Engagement

Since December 2022, we have implemented an engagement survey to visualize employees’ level of engagement with the Company. The survey response rate has been between 92–94%. In the future, we will formulate and implement measures to improve engagement based on the results of the survey.

③ Promoting Work-life Balance

We are working to create a workplace environment where our employees can continue working despite various lifestyle changes, such as childbirth, raising a child, and providing nursing care for ailing family members. We are revising our work regulations and advancing working style reforms in order to create a workplace where our employees can pursue their work without compromising their health, and achieve a good balance between their work and private lives.

Moreover, based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, we have formulated an action plan to enable employees to strike a balance between work and childcare. As a result of these efforts, in October 2020 we acquired Kurumin certification.
In FY 2024, we implemented the following activities.

• Provided work-life balance training as part of position-based training programs (all year)
• Rolled out measures to promote acquisition of paid leave at each worksite

Number of employees who take childcare and nursing care leave

Number of employees taking maternity and childcare leave and the return to work/retention rate

• *The number of employees who have taken the leave is counted in the period in which they started maternity/postpartum leave and childcare leave.
  The numbers in parentheses are the total numbers of men and women, respectively, at the end of each period. Retention rate is for employees who in that period were in their third year since returning to work.

④ Measures to Maintain and Improve Health

Nippon Soda conducts various initiatives related to health maintenance and improvement in order to ensure our employees work with healthy bodies and minds.

Physical health

We implement health programs jointly with the corporate health insurance society. Specifically, with the cooperation of occupational physicians, we conduct specific health examinations, specific health guidance, and health checkups for lifestyle-related diseases.

Mental health

Since prior to the 2015 amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Act, Nippon Soda has been providing stress checks for all employees, and has a consultation service available through specialized physicians, clinical psychologists, and external organizations.

⑤ Labor-Management Relations and Improvement of Working Conditions

The Company views negotiations with labor unions as an opportunity to engage in dialogue with its employees, and to discuss how to create working conditions that are consistent with the times. We are creating an environment in which employees and management can discuss issues and problems in the workplace.
In FY 2024, we implemented the following reviews and system revisions.

• Increased paid leave by one day for plant workers
• Started introduction of residence selection system in October 2023
• Introduced Share Benefit Trust system for management-level employees in February 2024

Number of labor union members

• *Nippon Soda (non-consolidated)