Basic Approach
Nifco places the highest priority on the safety and health of its employees, and is working to strengthen occupational safety and health and create a rewarding work environment so that each employee can fully demonstrate their abilities.
Aiming to be a company where all employees can work according to their motivation and ability, we have established internal rules and manuals, including compliance with Japanese laws and regulations related to employment and labor. Regarding major changes in our business, we hold dialogues with employees through employee representatives and employee briefings. We are also committed to the social protection of our employees, including the elimination of intentional or discriminatory dismissal practices and the protection of personal data and privacy.
There have been no labor disputes such as strikes in FY2024. We are also working to eliminate intentional or discriminatory dismissal practices and to protect the social welfare of our employees, including the protection of personal data and privacy.
Introduction of Job-Based Personnel System
In April 2024, Nifco introduced the Nifco-style Job-Based Personnel System, aiming to be a company that continues to challenge and win, based on the two pillars of "maintaining and strengthening existing businesses" and "expanding new businesses," even in a period of great change in the automobile industry and an uncertain environment in all aspects. The introduction of this system has realized diverse expertise and career autonomy for employees, clarified the expected roles for each grade and position, and established a role-based system. In addition, we aim to realize an attractive system that attracts excellent human resources from both inside and outside the company through competitive compensation levels and performance-based compensation. We will continue to promote human capital management and enhance employee engagement by synchronizing our human resource strategy with our management strategy.
Compliance
In order to ensure that the business activities of our group comply with relevant laws and regulations, our articles of incorporation, internal rules and regulations, and other rules generally required by society, we established compliance regulations in 2006. In addition, we review our compliance manual, which is organized by theme, in line with revisions to laws and regulations, changes in legal interpretations, and changes in social norms, and we conduct training to raise employee awareness.In FY2023, we revised our manuals and subsequently implemented mandatory compliance training for all employees, including non-regular staff, in FY2023 and 2024.
Establishment of an internal reporting system
We have established an internal reporting system to prevent and quickly detect incidents caused by legal violations or misconduct, and to improve the flexibility of our self-cleaning process. In September 2024, we further expanded the existing system to include a reporting window for business partners, enabling all employees (regardless of employment status) in Japan and overseas, as well as external stakeholders such as business partners, to submit reports.
Health and safety at work
Nifco has established Occupational Health and Safety Policy and set of safety and health management rules. To ensure the safety and health of employees, these rules seek to eliminate unsafe elements in work environments and involve implementing comprehensive, planned measures for preventing workplace accidents. They also aim to actively maintain and improve the health of employees.
Establishment of a Safety and Health Management Committee
The Safety and Health Management Committee, which meets at least once a month at each site, discusses the matters shown on the right, and works towards creating safe workplace environments.
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Fundamental measures to prevent danger and health hazards to employees
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Creation of plans for implementing safety and health education
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Regular medical check-ups and measures to take based on the results of those check-ups
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Preventing danger and health hazards associated with newly adopted equipment, facilities, and raw materials
Number of workplace accidents
In the event of a workplace accident, responding immediately is the first priority. Steps are then immediately taken to prevent reoccurrences.
Information gathered from any accidents is shared with other business sites. And based on the information, voluntary inspections are carried out to make sure that similar risks and hazards do not exist at other business sites.
Occurrence of workplace accidents
FY2022 |
FY2023 |
FY2024 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Those resulting in closure (no.) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Those not resulting in closure (no.) |
6 |
4 |
2 |
(As of March 31, 2025, Nifco non-consolidated)
Mental health
Once a year, we conduct stress checks for all employees, including non-regular staff, to assess their mental health status and provide feedback on the analysis results to their respective departments. Additionally, in anticipation of employees experiencing difficulties, we have established support systems including the appointment of industrial physicians specializing in psychiatry, interviews once a month, the establishment of an outside counseling service, and support for employees who are on leave.
FY2022 |
FY2023 |
FY2024 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Number of employees on leave |
6 |
8 |
8 |
(As of March 31, 2025, Nifco non-consolidated)
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*
Includes persons on mental health and other medical leaves of absence
Creating a rewarding work environment
Aiming to create a rewarding work environment that leads to corporate growth and increased employee motivation, we are promoting reforms in the way we work and implementing a variety of measures.
Conducting Employee Engagement Surveys
We believe that employee engagement is a key factor in improving retention rates and maximizing productivity and added value within our company. Since 2020, our group has been conducting employee engagement surveys every two years to quantitatively and objectively identify strengths and weaknesses across our global organizations, and we implement measures to enhance employee engagement.As a result, the third survey conducted in FY2024 showed an improvement in scores in all categories compared to the previous survey. The favorable score for “sustainable engagement”*, which is measured by responses to multiple questions regarding support for the company's management goals, pride as an employee, motivation, job satisfaction, and energy, improved by 3% from the previous survey to 84%.
We plan to conduct the fourth survey in FY2026. We will continue to implement engagement improvement measures tailored to regional characteristics on a global scale, aiming for a “Sustainable engagement” score of 86%.
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*
“Sustainable engagement” is a framework developed by WTW Towers Watson.
Reduction of working hours
From FY2022, we have reduced the prescribed working hours from 8 to 7.75 hours and expanded the flextime system, which had been introduced in some areas, to all workplaces not directly involved in manufacturing.
With regard to overtime hours, we continue to set a goal of limiting overtime hours to 30 hours or less per month, and the entire company is working continuously to achieve this goal.
Introduction of a telework system
We introduced a telework system throughout the company to meet the latest working style trends. Those who wish to do so may telework for a set number of days after consulting with their supervisors. Currently, nearly half of the back-office departments are implementing this system.
Telework is capped at 3 days per week, and a telework allowance of 200 yen per day is provided to subsidize utilities and other expenses when telework is conducted.
Promoting the use of paid leave
We have been promoting flexible working arrangements to improve the work-life balance of our employees, including reviewing the scope of the accumulated paid leave system and the refresh leave system. We are currently working to promote the utilization of these systems and improve their operation.
The paid leave utilization rate was 75%, compared to the target of 80% or higher. The requirement to take five days of paid leave per year, which came into effect in April 2019, has been achieved 100%.
Paid leave utilization rate (target: 80% or higher)
FY2022 |
FY2023 |
FY2024 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Actual percentage |
80.1% |
76.0% |
75.0% |
(As of March 31, 2025, Nifco non-consolidated)
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*
Defnition of taking paid leave:
Number of days of paid leave taken for the relevant scal year÷Number of days of paid leave granted for the relevant year
(Subject: regular employees, contract employees, and part-time employees)
Various systems and welfare benefits
At Nifco, we are committed to creating a supportive and inclusive work environment where every employee can thrive. To promote the well-being and success of all employees, including non-regular staff, we offer a comprehensive range of programs and benefits.
We provide maternity leave (from eight weeks before the expected delivery date until eight weeks after delivery), childcare leave (available until the child reaches two years of age), nursing care leave (up to five days per year per child until the child completes the third grade of elementary school), and caregiving leave (up to one year per individual requiring care).
To support work-life balance, we also offer a reduced working hours system, which will be expanded in FY2025 to include employees with children from the end of third grade through the end of sixth grade of elementary school. In addition, employees with children up to the sixth grade may utilize a flexible start and end time system to better accommodate their family needs.
Beyond leave and flexibility programs, we provide a wide range of benefits and opportunities, including regular employee conversion, post-retirement re-employment, various insurance and social insurance plans, defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, savings accumulation programs, an employee stock ownership plan, membership-based welfare services, and scholarship repayment support.
Through these systems, Nifco strives to foster a workplace where employees feel secure, supported, and empowered to achieve their full potential.