Promotion Structure
In April 2022, the Brother Group established the Sustainability Committee chaired by the Representative Director & President. The purpose of the committee is to globally promote various activities centered on the materiality initiatives based on the Basic Policy on Sustainability, and to promote management with a focus on sustainability.
The Sustainability Committee holds regular meetings and extraordinary meetings convened by the chairman as necessary, and consists of those in charge of each subcommittee and department, executive officers of managing executive level or higher, business executive officers, and other persons designated by the Representative Director & President as needed. In addition, the Sustainability Committee Chairman periodically reports to the Board of Directors regarding the committee's plans and results.
We have established the following three subcommittees under the Sustainability Committee with the aim of promoting various activities in the specific fields.
- Climate Change Subcommittee: Promotes company-wide activities to resolve materiality issues related to protecting the earth.
- Society Subcommittee: Promotes company-wide activities to resolve materiality issues related to contributing to society.
- Corporate Governance Subcommittee: Creates corporate governance to help realize the Brother Group's vision and formulate an effective management strategy to achieve it.
In April 2022, the Sustainability Committee held its first meeting and discussed setting goals for each subcommittee. In August, Brother's value creation process was determined after three rounds of committee discussions.
Promotion structure
Promotion Activities
Toward the "Brother Group Global Charter," the basis of all our operations, and sustainable management
We are committed to internally sharing the Global Charter, the basis of all operations conducted by the Brother Group to globally create social value through businesses, and to promote sustainable management that focuses on sustainability.
The Global Charter sets forth the fundamental principles of the Brother Group, such as "quickly and consistently providing superior value with the "At your side." spirit in mind," "confidently facing challenges with a consistently global view," and "acting with the highest integrity."
To become a trustworthy company, the Brother Group expects each of its nearly 40,000 employees to embody the Global Charter in their daily decision-making and actions and quickly create and deliver products and services that meet the needs of its stakeholders.
The Global Charter is translated into many different languages in the United States, Europe, and Asia so that all employees correctly understand and constantly keep the charter in mind. We also distributed portable handy-sized charter cards (in 26 languages) and posters (in 28 languages) to all our group facilities.
Promoting the Global Charter
The Brother Group is conducting the following activities globally to further promote each individual's actions based on the Global Charter.
Formulating and communicating the Global Charter commitments from top management
The top management in the group's respective facilities formulate their commitments every year based on the Global Charter and takes the initiative in embodying the charter principles, and also delivers messages and creates opportunities to dialogue with employees. In FY2021, they issued 52 messages and had about 4,500 face-to-face talks with employees, the largest number of exchanges to date.
"Global Charter promotional leaders" and leaders' meetings
The Global Charter promotional leaders, of whom there are over 530, are appointed by the managers of each facility or department, formulate annual plans and reflect on their development results, and are engaged in promoting the charter-based behavior of each employee in a variety of ways tailored to each organization's role and challenges.
In addition, regular meetings for the promotional leaders are held in Japan, China, and Vietnam. These meetings allow them to discuss the challenges of the actions taken by the respective group organizations, to share employees' charter-based actions that have contributed to improved productivity or responded to customer needs, and to take cues to utilize for such activities in their own organizations. In this way, the meetings enable the leaders to learn beyond the borders of their occupations ranging from development, manufacturing, and sales.
The Global Charter Survey
Since 2008, the Brother Group has been conducting an annual employee awareness survey called the "Global Charter Survey." The results of the survey are reported at a meeting attended by all executive officers, including the president of Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL), where feedback is given and issues are clarified for each site. In addition, in order to address the issues identified from the survey and make improvements, each global base takes actions related to customer trust, response to social issues, strengthening cooperation with business partners, and employee growth and cooperation.
Promoting the Global Charter and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030"
Our actions to promote the Global Charter have newly incorporated the SDGs perspectives from 2019, and are designed to raise awareness of the SDGs among management and employees.
Each department and group's facility engaged in actions toward the SDGs by utilizing mechanisms such as the "My commitment" and cross-organizational leaders' meetings that have been promoted in sharing the Global Charter. In addition, the top management has been delivering messages to group employees on the intranet regarding the importance of contribution to the achievement of the SDGs.
Furthermore, from FY2021, the perspective of the Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030" has also been incorporated.
BIL has formulated the Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030" for the period from FY2022 to FY2030 with the aim of achieving further growth and increasing sustainable corporate value. Hence, we have enhanced our actions to promote the Global Charter by incorporating the perspective of "How does the Global Charter link to 'At your side 2030'?" to enable employees to consider their actions from the perspectives of both the Global Charter and our vision. This led to the global sharing of more than 6,000 action declarations by the teams and employees.
The Global Charter Workshop
The Global Charter Workshop, one of the ways in which we promote the Global Charter, is a powerful tool for solving issues at the facilities.
In September 2021, Brother International S.A. (PTY) Ltd. (BI S.A.), a sales company in South Africa, held an online workshop to consider the link between the actions taken to promote the Global Charter and the SDGs and to resolve issues.
At the workshop, each participant made their own "My declaration" under the theme of "What contribution can I make to which goal of the SDGs?" with in mind the "desire to respect the diverse values of the employees at BI S.A.," and "desire to grow even further as an organization that achieves 'trust and respect'."
Promoting Our Vision
Personalizing the "Brother Group Global Charter" and our vision
The Brother Group is making the Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030" personal by engaging in activities to deepen understanding and alignment with our vision so that it can be achieved.
Promoting Our Vision in Japan
Each year, the top management of each Brother Group facility formulates commitments based on the Global Charter, declares how they will act in accordance with the key words of the Global Charter, and reviews their actions at the end of the fiscal year, repeating the PDCA cycle (Plan: Planning, Do: Execution, Check: Evaluation, and Action: Improvement activities).
In FY2022, in order to achieve "At your side 2030," we changed our vision to be a commitment on a personal level, and expanded the scope of the declaration to include those below the senior management level within BIL.
Specifically, while organizing the connection between the Global Charter and their own work, approximately 800 senior managers have made commitments regarding the following and shared them on the intranet.
- My mission for achieving "At your side 2030"
- Action goals to "enhance my own communication" and "promote the growth of my subordinates and colleagues" in order to achieve my mission
Additionally, as part of the new employee training program, an opportunity was given for the 99 new employees* to think about the Global Charter and the Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030," and to promote these ideas. By having each new employee discuss what they will aim for in order to achieve our vision, it served as an opportunity for them to visualize the link between our vision and their future actions.
- Total new employees of Brother Industries, Ltd., Brother Sales Ltd., Brother Real Estate Ltd., and B.M. Industries, Ltd.
Promoting our Vision globally
The Brother Group is also expanding its efforts to discuss the Brother Group vision "At your side 2030" by relating it to their own work and linking it to their future actions globally.
One of the ways we share our vision globally is with a workshop where teams make action declarations. In this workshop, participants first watch a video introducing the details of our vision (the video is available in four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, and Vietnamese). After that, the participants divide into teams to discuss the "you" in our vision; "Our Purpose; By being 'At your side,' we enable people's productivity and creativity, contribute to society, and help protect the earth" based on the question; "Who is the 'you' in our business?" "What do we need to keep in mind in order to understand 'you' in the future?" "What are the problems that 'you' face, including us, and what are the possible solutions?" Based on the discussions, the teams then compose an action declaration as a team.
As of July 2022, approximately 6,300 employees have participated in these vision-promoting workshops, and each facility is working autonomously.
Action declarations (excerpts)
- For us, "you" means not only the manufacturing site and subsequent processes, but also the members around us and the customers who use our products.
In order to find out problems that "you" have, we understand what is happening on the site, the members, and the products, and we value communication with you. And to provide value to "you," we gather information, improve our knowledge, raise our own level, and take on high-level challenges. (Manufacturing department) - We will actively visit our customers and see their sites to notice their problems and develop the sensitivity to notice them. We will collect technical trends at online and offline exhibitions, academic conferences, and industry newspapers to improve product value. (Technical department)
- We consider "you" to be our team members and promote their growth by strengthening education of development skills. (Development department)
Brother International Philippines Corporation (BIC (P)), a sales company in the Philippines, also started a project to review its own vision and mission based on the Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030." In this project, 28 employees, who will lead the next generation, participated, and they drew up a vision of what they want to be in 2030 and put into words the significance of taking on challenges and the passion and aspirations they have. In July 2022, all BIC(P) employees had a chance to share their vision with each other, and to think about the future of the company. The president of BIC(P) declared, "Our goal is to become a company that creates value for our customers and society by asking the question, 'What does this vision mean to me?' then having them discover their own answers."
The Brother Group personalizes its vision globally by expressing it in employees' own words and linking it to the daily actions of each employee.
