Human Resources Management

Diversity Promotion Structure

The Mitsui Chemicals Group was focusing its efforts on proactively leveraging the capabilities of female employees in its operations by establishing the Promotion and Development of Women Team in 2006 according to management instructions. In fiscal 2015, the Diversity Promotion Office was established in the HR Division to boost the recruitment, training and promotion of women in response to the passing of the Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace. In fiscal 2016, the division became responsible not only for the advancement of women but also for the advancement of minorities in general within the Group. In fiscal 2019, the division was renamed the Diversity and Inclusion Group. We are establishing a structure that promotes further diversity under the leadership of the senior managing executive officer responsible for the HR Division and the Global HR Division and the general managers of the HR Division.

Encouraging Women’s Advancement

Mitsui Chemicals has been actively encouraging the advancement of women in the workplace, such as by assigning female employees in plants and employing women in career-track positions. Since the establishment of the Promotion and Development of Women Team in 2006, we have been building a corporate culture to enable women to keep working over the years by organizing a range of flexible working schemes. These efforts are now firmly incorporated in our work practices and have received a favorable reputation from external parties. The Long-term Business Plan VISION 2025 set a target ratio of women in management positions (manager level or above) of 10% or more (among Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. registered employees) with the aim of diversifying our business decision-makers. However, there are a number of obstacles to overcome to achieve the set target, partly because the percentage of female employees is small compared to the total number of employees. We are employing practical long-term solutions to address this issue, such as setting the target ratio of new female employees in the periodic recruitment for different job types, including career-track technical position, career-track administrative position, and general staff (mainly factory operators) to match the varying employment situations of the differing roles.

*To secure diversity in the Board of Directors, we try to appoint more than one female director since 2006.

*Each affiliation is from the time when the article was created.

Ratio of Female Employees (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. registered employees)

Percentage of Women among Regular Hires (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. registered employees)

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Non-Japanese Employees’ Active Participation in the Workplace

The Company began the full-scale hiring of non-Japanese employees in Japan in 2005.
For non-Japanese employees working in Japan, we provide dedicated consultation services. In addition to supporting trouble-free work and life styles, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that provides non-Japanese employees with a good work environment and employing talented human resources.

Specific Examples of Assistance Provided to Non-Japanese Employees

• Assisted with Japanese language training
• Assisted with visa procedures
• Addressed daily inquiries regarding HR systems, initiatives, company regulations
• Conveyed information required for working in Japan in English and Japanese
• Conduct inclusion study lectures (promote awareness of cultural differences)
• Created English manuals for HR-related applications
• Responses to consultations from non-Japanese employees (assigned staff in charge to each business site)

Number of Non-Japanese Employees (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. registered employees)

Enabling Employees with Disabilities to Reach Their Full Potential in the Workplace

In hiring employees with disabilities, the Company goes beyond achieving the legally required employment ratio and is committed to maintaining an environment in which people with disabilities can play an active role while accumulating their skills, and feel accepted as members of the organization.
Before assigning an employee with disability to a certain position, we select the most appropriate place for the employee, taking into account not only their job role, but also the work environment and workplace members, to avoid putting under pressure on the employee to adapt to the work environment. In addition to conducting training sessions at sites that accept employees with disabilities to help other employees understand what a disability entails, we set incubation periods and adaptation/learning periods for a certain period after hiring and introduce measures suited to the employee’s particular disability to enable them to work smoothly. We also provide regular interviews for both employees with disabilities and their superiors to help to retain employees with disabilities in the workplace. Listening to difficulties and issues from both sides helps to improve the workplace environment and work styles and creates a comfortable work environment.
We also offer subsidies for learning skills that are useful to employees with disabilities in their work, such as language and computer skills, to help improve their skills in a way that is suited to their individual talents. We also hold inclusion lecture meetings that employees with disabilities or illnesses speak about their own disabilities and experiences, to foster a climate that accepts into the organization not only people with disabilities but also people with diverse personalities and characters and people receiving medical treatment.
Mitsui Chemicals has endorsed and signed on to “The Valuable 500” in October 2019. Launched at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Summit, the Valuable 500 is an initiative created to promote the participation of disabled people in the workforce. The initiative looks for business leaders to carry out reform that allows disabled people to fulfil their potential in business, society and the economy.

Ratio of Employees with Disabilities (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. registered employees)

Retired Employees’ Active Participation in the Workplace

Mitsui Chemicals is moving forward in making use of the wealth of experience possessed by senior human resources, and to those retired employees who wish to continue working, calls for ongoing employment through its system of rehiring. We do this to address the challenges presented by the shortage of human resources associated with our expanding business operations and the generational retirement of whole generations of employees who were recruited in large groups, as well as to utilize employees who are highly motivated to work, even after their retirement. From fiscal 2018, we will improve the level of compensation offered when rehiring to increase the numbers of employees who wish to continue working.

Ratio of Re-employment for Retired Employees (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. registered employees)

LGBT Awareness

The Mitsui Chemicals Group Human Rights Policy prohibits all forms of discrimination whatsoever, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The harassment lecture in the compliance e-learning program targeting all employees covers topics such as prohibition of discrimination and harassment over sexual orientation, in addition to conventional topics on sexual and power harassment. The New Line Manager Training Program also includes a diversity seminar, which provides a group workshop to teach new line managers about Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) harassment and actions to take when they are consulted by their subordinates about gender issues.
In November 2020, we endorsed the LUX Social Damage Care Project announced by Unilever Japan Customer Marketing K.K., by abolishing the requirement for gender description, photo submission, and dressing in a standard recruitment suit at the time of job application. This is our effort to employ people with motivation and skills regardless of their gender or appearance.
In fiscal 2021, we started a project across multiple business sites to discuss what we can change to make the workplace more LGBT-friendly.

History of LGBT Efforts

Understanding Multiculturalism

Since fiscal 2014 we have provided the Global Business Skill Training, to teach the skills needed when working with multicultural teams. This training program is targeted specifically at employees who have been assigned abroad and engaged in overseas business, that involves managing multicultural teams and negotiating with business partners from different cultural backgrounds. About 30 employees are selected to participate in this program each year. The participants learn about religions, cultures, and ways of thinking in different countries and regions through concrete case studies of business communication, in addition, the program aims to improve employees’ language ability by learning how to give presentations and case studies and hold meetings in English. In fiscal 2021, we plan to invite an external lecturer to hold a non-mandatory online seminar for employees to acquire the knowledge and attitude needed for good multicultural communications.

Training and Lectures Related to Diversity Promotion

Diversity Seminar in the New Line Manager Training Program

New Line Manager Training Program is mandatory for all newly-appointed line managers who will be responsible for subordinates. It aims to raise managers’ awareness through study of management roles and essential skills.

Diversity Seminar (2 hours)

Sales Women Career Training

The percentage of women as new employees in administrative positions in Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. remains at around a half in recent years. At the same time, the number of women who are appointed as sales persons in different business sectors has been increasing. We have received comments such as “It is difficult to know how to balance job and child rearing as there are only a few role models.” This prompted us to hold an online workshop for female sales staff to discuss the issues that arise in pursuing a career and possible solutions to address them. This workshop was held jointly with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, which is experiencing a similar situation.

Women’s Careers and Health

It is now common that women work throughout their lives, yet it is still true that there are events in their lives when they may find it difficult to continue working, such as during pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, or when facing female-specific diseases. Since fiscal 2017, we have been holding a lecture entitled “Women’s Careers and Heath” to help women to continue working by teaching them about specific health issues and how to manage them in a way that minimizes their impact. The fiscal 2017 lecture, given by a gynecologist, for younger employees focused on how women can manage their physical condition, and for older employees, on the menopause. We have been providing information concerning gynecological diseases and health to our employees. In fiscal 2020, we invited Mamiko Abe, Deputy General Manager, Corporate Communication Department, Corporate Strategy Planning Division, Chukyo TV to provide an online seminar on breast cancer.

Dispatching Female Employees to External Career Training Programs

We dispatch 10 to 20 female employees to external career training programs every year. Such programs include those to motivate female employees who aim at managerial careers and improve their management skills, and programs designed for prospective general managers to impart business management skills and establish a human network outside the company. Exchanges with other business women in similar positions from different companies give employees an opportunity to meet women who can become a role model and raise their career awareness.

Participant’s Comments

Learning Business Management and Leadership with women in management positions in Different Industries

I participated in the “Inspired Women” Support Seminars hosted by Nippon Keidanren. I learned a lot over the three days of the seminars that were held online. Some of my realizations include: “There are various types of leaders and the leader has to be flexible according to the situation (as the same kind of leadership may not fit for everything)”; “Define what kind of leader you wish to be, identify the skills required to be such a leader, and clarify the actions to take to develop those skills”; and “You do not need to do everything. You can cover your shortcomings with other people who are good at it.” It was shame that I could not exchange opinions with other participants for later communications as the course was online, however, it was encouraging to learn that women of my age face similar problems, regardless of their jobs. A variety of experience-based advice from women who are working as leaders in the seminars made me think that I would like to take up more challenges in the future to achieve productive results. I really appreciate the opportunity to attend such interesting seminars.

*Each affiliation is from the time when the article was created.

Training and lectures for diversity promotion

Fiscal 2020 Results (Cumulative total number of participants: 1,097)

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