ONO promotes the creation of an employee-friendly working environment where every employee can work comfortably with peace of mind. We are continuously committed to the development of support systems and working conditions that help employees work in various styles, as well as the improvement of their work-life balance, so that all persons in our diverse workforce can work energetically and demonstrate their full potential.

Promoting Work Style Reform

We have been reviewing work styles since FY2015. The objective of these reviews is to enhance productivity by simultaneously enhancing work efficiency and creating an attractive working environment. To make this a company-wide initiative, we have appointed members from each division and are working to raise awareness, increase operational efficiency, and promote the use of paid vacation days. At the same time, we have been improving systems that make use of IT and introducing flexible working hours, telecommuting systems, and interval work systems. In FY2021, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, employees were required to work in a different way than before. As a result, the amount of work increased, resulting in an average of 16.3 hours of overtime per month and a percentage of employees taking paid vacation days of 62.5%. From now on, we will further enhance new working styles, such as telecommuting, and enhance work efficiency. In FY2022, we aim to increase the average monthly overtime work hours per employee to 13 hours, and the percentage of employees taking paid vacation days to 70% or more.

Regular feedback on evaluations for employees

We have adopted an interview system of activity goals for the purpose of improving employees' motivation to work and developing human resources. Through interviews with supervisors, all employees set goals for their activities once every six months and align their goals based on our vision. In the middle of the term, the progress of the activity goals is confirmed, and the course is revised in an interim meeting with the manager. At the end of the term, feedback is provided about the overall performance of the activities, individual strengths and weaknesses, and evaluation results, and the next term activity plan, development policy, and future career development are discussed through the summary meeting and feedback meeting of the evaluation results. As described above, we are implementing the system by holding eight times a year interviews to increase employee satisfaction, leading to human resource development. Evaluation consists of performance evaluation and behavior evaluation; the performance evaluation evaluates the degree of achievement against individual goals based on the outcomes and process each employee used, and the behavior evaluation is based on how the employees behaved compared to the required behaviors determined according to each employee’s roles; results that combine the performance evaluation and the behavior evaluation are the final evaluation. In addition, multiple evaluators evaluate in principle, which ensures objectivity and fairness, and the results of evaluations are reflected in employee compensation.

Employee satisfaction levels (from an engagement aspect)

Based on the concept that “a company is its people,” we believe that it is important to promote talent development, improve diversity and broaden the abilities of each individual in order to respond to various environmental changes and overcome competition in the future. That is why we have been conducting organizational surveys once every two years since 2014 with the aim of objectively measuring the status of our efforts to strengthen corporate infrastructure and help boost organizational capabilities. In addition, in order to carry out future initiatives in a multilateral fashion, we conducted a major review of the survey’s question items in FY2020. Accordingly, we have also increased the number questions indicating engagement to make it possible for respondents to evaluate engagement from a variety of perspectives, including the viewpoints of the organization, superiors and individuals.
We also use the results of the organizational surveys when planning new development programs and introducing various systems. We will continue to improve the issues identified from those results and improve employee engagement through initiatives linked to activities that disseminate our mission statement.

• We review the indicators and calculation methods of surveys including engagement items each time.

Childcare Support Initiatives

We believe that society as a whole should support families raising children and that creating an environment that supports childbearing and childrearing is one of the challenges that companies should address. We formulated an action plan based on the "Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children," and are working to support employees balance their work and childrearing. As a result, we were certified by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare as a standard-compliant general company, and we were awarded the mark of certification as a childcare support company (Kurumin^*2) five times between 2008 and 2020.
After April 2017, we introduced a new childcare support system, "Encouraging Leave for Childcare Participation," and as a way to promote understanding of the workplace among male employees who take childcare leave, that child-rearing is a life event for both men and women. We are also promoting the creation of an environment in which men can actively participate in childcare. Specifically, we hold seminars to support work-life balance, in which employees and their superiors can participate, to support employees balance their work and childrearing. In addition, we publish open newsletters about the experiences of men taking childcare leave. In recognition of these activities to support a balance of work and childcare and create a supportive work environment, we were awarded the Platinum Kurumin^*2 certification in November 2019.

• Kurumin Certification:A certification by the Minister of Health,Labour and Welfare for childcare support company.

For beyond April 2021, we have set a goal of achieving a 75% or higher rate of male employees taking child-care-related leave to promote male participation in child-rearing, and continue to promote initiatives to further support balancing of work and family life, including the establishment of personnel systems and holding seminars to support the balance.

Various Support Systems for Creating a Pleasant Workplace

In addition to the systems stipulated in laws and regulations, we have established various other systems to create a rewarding and pleasant working environment. We continuously develop systems so that employees can have many options in working styles, for instance, by listening to employees and constructing systems that meet actual needs, or by establishing systems that exceed legal standards. The following systems are applicable to all employees, in principle.
Furthermore, we have prepared a handbook that summarizes these systems and posted it on our intranet to ensure that employees are fully aware of their contents and methods of using them.

[Systems that promote employee challenges]

Open recruitment system

We have used an open recruitment system to promote employee challenges and revitalize inter-departmental transfers. In FY2021, while more than 80 employees applied, only about 10% of the applicants were transferred by the open recruitment system because the application conditions were too strict. From FY2022, we have eased conditions for applying based on the needs of employees, greatly expanded the number of positions available, and renewed the system to raise awareness for more employees.

Internal challenge job system

Based on the needs of employees who wish to expand their horizons by learning about work in areas other than their own department, to grow professionally, or to deepen person-to-person exchanges across departments, we have introduced an internal challenge job system with the aim of challenging employees to work in another department for 20% of their prescribed working hours while still being in their current department, and raising employees' skills and providing career support. We plan to proceed with trial operation in limited departments in FY2022.

[Systems that exceed the standards specified by labor-related laws]

Childcare leave

The statutory period of childcare leave is, in principle, until the child reaches 1 year of age (maximum 2 years of age for certain reasons). However, our employees can take childcare leave until the last day of the month when the child reaches 3 years of age.

Shortened work hours for childcare

Although Japanese law stipulates that shortened work hours for childcare can be utilized until the child becomes three years old, we allow employees to shorten their working hours by up to two hours per day until March 31 of the year in which their child finishes the third grade of elementary school.

Nursing care leave

Although Japanese law stipulates that nursing care leave can be taken up to 93 days in total per family member in need of care, we allow employees to take nursing care leave for up to a year in total.

[Legally required systems]

Shortened work hours for nursing care

An employee caring for a family member in care-requiring condition may shorten his/her working hours by up to two hours per day for up to three years, aside from the period of nursing care leave.

Nursing leave system

Within the law, employees can take care leave to care for a child who has not yet entered elementary school and to care for a family member in need of assistance. Furthermore, our employees can take sick/injured childcare leave until the end of March of the third year of elementary school. Our employees can take 5 days off per year if they have one family member, or 10 days off (unpaid) on a day, or half day basis if they have two or more family members.

[System that promotes flexible work styles]

Flexible working hours

We have introduced a flexible working hours system for the entire company, excluding some job types, departments and ranks. By allowing employees to choose diverse work styles, we improve their work efficiency and help them better balance work obligations and family obligations, such as childcare and nursing care. Since 2021, we have made it possible for employees to take summer holiday on any day between July and September, except for certain occupations, and have increased the flexibility of taking vacations.

Telecommuting system

We have introduced a telecommuting system on a company-wide basis to support work-life balance of employees who work while raising children or caring for family members. The system is designed to enable employees to work flexibly and efficiently in their own working style.

Hourly paid leave system

Although annual paid leave may be taken in half-day units, we have made changes so that up to three days’ worth (eight hours per day) of paid leave per year can be taken in hourly units. This system is designed to enable employees to work flexibly to suit their needs.

Selective retirement system

The retirement age is 60 years old, but under certain conditions, if they wish to retire when they reach 55 years old, a special surcharge will be paid in addition to the retirement allowance to support their life planning.

Support of the transfer

Under certain conditions, if they are between the ages of 45 to less than 55 retire for independent self-employment, a special surcharge will be paid in addition to the retirement allowance for the purpose of supporting the start-up of a new life.

[Various leave and subsidy systems]

While employees may take leave when they cannot come to work due to attendance to weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies of their own or their family members, moving for job transfer, and accidents, disasters, and other events of force majeure, we also have systems in which special paid holidays can be taken under other circumstances.

Accumulated leave

Under this system, our employees can set aside expired annual paid leave under certain conditions and use the time for reasons such as personal injury/illness, family care, infertility treatment, or secondary examination of regular health checkups. Some employees take paid leave for sudden diseases of children.

Childcare participation encouragement leave

We allow employees to take up to two days of leave for child-raising until the child reaches the age of 1. This system can be used in a wide range of situations such as regular health checkups and immunization.

Maternity protection leave

A female employee who is pregnant or within one year after childbirth can take leave up to the number of days specified according to the pregnancy period to receive health guidance or a health examination. Besides reasons such as health guidance and a health examination, this leave may be taken up to five days during the pregnancy period when work is not possible due to morning sickness, threatened premature delivery, etc.

Volunteer leave, and bone-marrow donor leave

To encourage employees to participate in volunteer activities, we have introduced a volunteer leave system, under which special paid leave of up to five days a year may be granted. We have also introduced a bone marrow donor leave system to grant special paid leave (necessary period for bone marrow donation) to employees who donate bone marrow.

Subsidies for day-care centers and babysitting

A subsidy is available upon application to eligible employees with preschool children whose spouse is also working when they use day-care centers or babysitting services. Even if the spouse is not working, a subsidy will be provided when such a facility or service is used due to the spouse’s illness.

Subsidies for sick child care

A subsidy is available upon application to eligible employees with children under the age of two whose spouse is also working when it becomes necessary to use a sick child care facility or service. Even if the spouse is not working, a subsidy will be provided when such a facility or service is used due to the spouse’s illness.

Support for medical checkup

Our employees who are 35 years of age or older can take a comprehensive medical examination in lieu of an annual legal health checkup, and we bear all expenses. Furthermore, we also support comprehensive medical examination for dependent spouses who are 35 years of age or older.

[Other systems and benefits]

Support for employees with cancer

Employees who are diagnosed with cancer will work in the midst of many challenges, including regular hospital visits, side effects from various treatments, and financial problems. To support employees who wish to continue working while receiving cancer treatment, we have established various systems, including a leave of absence extension system, an income guarantee system to eliminate non-earning periods, a system that allows employees to take their accumulated leave in half-day units, and a system that allows employees to work shorter hours for cancer treatment. Furthermore, we have established a workplace support system to ensure employees with cancer receive adequate support in their workplace. To disseminate this workplace support system widely to our employees, we have created a handbook and posted it on our intranet. We are also working to improve colleagues’ understanding and provide necessary work adjustments to enable employees with cancer to continue working while receiving treatment. Thus, we are implementing multifaceted initiatives to support employees with cancer.

Use of company cars to pick up and drop off children

MRs are allowed to use company cars for the purpose of drop-off and pickup of their children from day-care centers.

Day-care Center Concierge [day-care center enrollment support system

As part of efforts to support smooth returning to work after childcare leave, we provide information through an external organization to employees on childcare leave to help them enroll their children in day-care centers.

Re-employment registration system

We provide an opportunity for former employees who left the company because of difficulty in balancing work and family life due to major life events, such as marriage, childbirth, childcare or family care, to return to the company when certain conditions are met.

Temporary re-employment system

Employees who have retired after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60 may be reemployed as temporary employees up to the age of 65 when certain conditions are met.

Employee stock ownership association

When employees join the treasury stock investment association, they receive incentives from the company according to the number of reserves. We recommend it as part of employee asset management.

Using the Welfare Website (Fukuri Kosei Club)

Employees will be able to utilize a benefit package that includes international and local travel, hotel accommodations, leisure facility tickets, car services, interior accessories, shopping for items such as sundry goods, movie theater tickets, fitness, and restaurants at special prices and plans.

Use of contract recreation center

Contract recreational facilities such as Tokyu Harvest Club (40 facilities nationwide), Daiwa Royal Hotel (24 facilities nationwide), and ANA Crowne Plaza Resort Appi Kogen, etc. can be available.

Residential Support

A variety of residential supports for employees can be available including company dormitories for single employees, leased company dormitories, company housing for transferred employees, housing allowances, and housing subsidies.

Congratulation or condolence payment system

Payment supports for employees’ life events can be available, such as marriage congratulatory money, childbirth congratulatory money, and children's entrance congratulatory money. In case of illness and injury, illness and injury allowances, condolence money and/or disaster condolence money etc. will be paid.

Group long-term disability (GLTD) system

If an employee is absent from work for a long period of time due to an illness or injury, and the period of payment of illness and injury allowance and additional illness and injury allowance provided by the health insurance society has expired, the employee will have no income. For such a case, we have introduced a system in which the company pays the premium and the insurance company compensates for a certain amount of income up to the age of 60.

Efforts made regarding wages

We comply with the Minimum Wage Law and pay our employees more than the minimum wage. We protect the lives of our employees and promote the creation of workplaces where employees can work with peace of mind.

Safety and Health

To ensure safety and health at manufacturing plants and research institutes, we conduct risk assessment that is evaluated risks for the exposure to chemical substances, injury and accident at each site, and identify issues. Measures to address those issues are established at the Safety and Health Committee held regularly for continuous improvement of the working environment. We also conduct workplace patrols in accordance with laws and regulations, share the findings with the Safety and Health Committee, make proposals for improvements, and take other appropriate measures. Such activities are shared at the EHS Committee that meets every half term for opinion exchange, in an effort to provide employees with a safe working environment.
At the headquarters and other business sites where the Health Committee is established, various measures are considered at the Health Committee to maintain the health of employees, taking into account the results of workplace environment measurements.
In addition, the Central Safety and Health Committee meets every half-term to share information and exchange opinions regarding the progress of health management initiatives, company-wide health issues, and the contents and issues discussed at the meetings of the Safety and Health Committee and the Health Committee of each business site. At the Central Safety and Health Committee meeting, we discuss and decide on safety and health activities to be implemented across the entire company.
Furthermore, from FY2020, we have worked to increase employees' awareness of safe and “eco”-driving by equipping all sales vehicles with AI-based telematics (in-vehicle device with communication facility) and detecting unsafe driving behavior. In addition to securing the safety of employees, we try to not only reduce traffic accidents and violations, but also reduce CO₂ emission by improving fuel efficiency through eco-driving.
The EHS Promotion Division confirms the above-mentioned activities at each site and promotes continuous improvement activities related to occupational health and safety.

Number of lost-time injuries and lost-time injury frequency rate^*3

• * Scope of data collection: Employees at non-consolidate
• Lost-time injury frequency rate = (number of lost-time injuries / total number of actual working hours) × 1,000,000

Relationship with the Labor Unions

We have two labor unions: the ONO Pharmaceutical Labor Union, which is a nationwide organization, and the ONO Pharmaceutical Chemical & General Workers’ Union at the Joto Pharmaceutical Product Development Center. As of March 31, 2022, the ONO Pharmaceutical Labor Union had 1,951 members and the ONO Pharmaceutical Chemical & General Workers’ Union had 14 members. Both unions have good relationships with the company.

Composition of employees (Non-consolidated)

The table below shows the number, average age, and average service years of our employees of March 31, 2022.

Number of employees (Non-consolidated data)

As of March 31, 2022, the percentage of contract workers was 0.1% and that of temporary staff was 9.3%.
(Not included in the above number of employees)

Full-time employee turnover rate

The turnover rate (regardless of reason for leaving) for full-time employees in each fiscal year, as of the end of March, was as follows.

Support for Disease Prevention, Early Detection and Early Treatment

• All our employees are required to undergo health checkups once a year, and of these, employees aged 35 years or older can undergo a comprehensive medical examination in lieu of statutory health checkups. Excluding unavoidable reasons such as absence from work, the proportion of subjects undergoing comprehensive medical examination in FY2021 was 99.8%.
• We hold contracts with medical facilities nationwide for thorough medical checkups. The number of contract facilities as of April 2022 was 223. We work to make it easier for our employees and their family members to receive thorough medical checkups.
• We assist with expenses for cancer screenings. Many employees receive optional cancer-related screenings at the time of a thorough medical checkup. We provide mail-in cervical cancer screening kits to female employees under 35 years old.

• After health checkups, industrial health staff provide health guidance and recommend seeking medical attention, as required. They also advise employees with a high risk of lifestyle-related disease and their families to participate in specific health guidance sessions.

Mental Health Measures

• To promote prevention, early detection, and early treatment of mental health problems, we conduct in-house training on mental health and individual consultations by industrial health staff. We also work in cooperation with industrial physicians to promote employees’ mental well-being.
• We conduct stress checks once a year for all employees. The proportion of employees who received stress checks was 99.5% in FY2020, and 98.7% in FY2021, approaching the target of 100%. After the checks, we conduct a stress check group analysis and work to continuously improve each workplace based on the analysis results.
• In addition to the stress check, which is performed once a year, we encourage employees to answer a simple self-check questionnaire, which can be taken whenever necessary.
• We have also established a free consulting service counter operated by an external company, and we have developed systems in which not only employees, but also their families can consult with mental health professionals either face-to-face or by telephone or email.

Measures against Passive Smoking and Promotion of Health

• Since April 2019, we have completely banned smoking on its premises. We also conduct in-house questionnaire surveys on tobacco and publicize the results to raise awareness and motivate employees to quit smoking. We are promoting awareness-raising activities systematically, including producing and displaying original posters that use illustrations written by employees.
• Also, to support employees who try to quit smoking, we provide subsidies for outpatient smoking cessation treatment and an online smoking cessation program. We are taking various anti-smoking measures to promote and maintain our employees’ health. The percentage of our employees who were smokers in FY2021 was 15.5%, down from 17.0% in FY2020. We aim to achieve 15.0% or lower in FY2022.
• We hold a walking campaign every year. In addition to all employees, employees' families, temporary employees, and subcontract workers are subject to this program. This program allows employees to participate voluntarily not only by themselves, but also with their families and volunteers in teams. In addition, we hand out local specialties from the earthquake-affected areas to individuals who have achieved a certain goal as achievement awards. In FY2021, we distributed a total of approximately 5 tons of rice (equivalent to 5 million yen). The activity has become more prevalent year by year, which leads to the habit of walking. The participation rate was 42% in FY2020 and 47% in FY2021, and we are targeting 50% in FY2022.
• Sessions to measure body composition, blood vessel age, bone density, etc. are held each year at major business sites. Participants can check the conditions of muscles and bones that are not made clear by health checkups alone, and they can also receive individual advice on diet and exercise from medical staff members. The number of participants is increasing year by year.

Number of participants in walking campaign

Health Management Support

• In October 2021, we opened a health management portal site that integrates the transmitting and sharing of health information and health promotion content. According to an internal questionnaire conducted in FY2021, 69% of employees are satisfied with our company's health promotion activities, and 83% of employees are aware of their own self-care. We will promote efforts to encourage employees to consider self-care as their own issues by bringing together interviews of the president on health promotion and other health-related contents, and will improve the quality of activities.
• We have linked the health management portal site with an existing site where employees can check the results of their thorough medical checkups and periodic health checkups at any time via their terminals. The contents of the portal site include information to help employees accurately understand checkup results and improve their lifestyle habits and personalized advice on lifestyle according to individual health conditions. We are working to enhance the contents of the portal site to raise employees’ awareness of their health.

Health Management Efforts

In March 2023, we were certified as “Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization 2023 - White 500 (Large Enterprise Category)” jointly promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi^*4 for five consecutive years. Also, we were in the top 50 of the responding companies (3,169 companies) and received high praise for three consecutive years. We will continue to work on health management through various activities.

• The Nippon Kenko Kaigi is an organization aiming to encourage workplaces and communities to achieve specific measures to overcome health-related challenges under collaboration among private organizations, e.g., economic associations, medical-care associations and insurers, and municipalities.

Strategic Map (Visualization of Health Management Strategies)

For effective and efficient health management, we have clarified the important issues and evaluation indicators (KPI) that we want to solve, and we have visualized the flow of initiatives toward the resolution of important issues as a story.

Strategic map of health management

Social value: Dissemination of health management to suppliers and local communities
Corporate value: An increase in the market capitalization of stocks
Health resource: Human and environmental health resources