Sustainability

Social(S)

Respect for Diversity

Sustainability

  • 5 GENDER EQUALITY
  • 8 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
  • 10 REDUCED INEQUALITIES

Policy for Promoting Diversity

The Brother Group has been supporting diverse ways of working which will enable employees to maximize their ability to perform their best, given laws in each country and region, labor environments regardless of age, gender, nationality, disability, work history, etc. while maintaining the work environment and systems. Furthermore, we have been committed to promoting diversity by reinforcing in-house systems and reforming employees' consciousness, with the goal in mind that the right personnel, who are excellent in ability, personality, talent and behavior, will be placed in the right positions across national boundaries and lead the Group.

Actively Promoting the Globalization of Executives and Local Employment

The Brother Group has been promoting the globalization of its executive personnel by appointing qualified persons, regardless of their nationality, to executive positions of the group companies in various countries and regions to realize community-based management. At facilities of the Brother Group, we are actively promoting local employees to executive positions—this includes promotion to the position of president at sales facilities of regional headquarters in the U.S. and China. In the group companies outside Japan, local employees occupied 67%* of management positions in FY2021, increasing from 55% in FY2017.

When establishing new facilities and expanding its existing facilities, the Brother Group hires local people to revitalize regional economies and societies through job creation. The factory established in the Philippines in 2012, for example, employs approximately 6,000 local workers, and in Vietnam, two manufacturing facilities employ more than 14,000 local workers in total.

  • Including Domino-related companies

Promoting the Appointment of Women to Managerial Positions

The proportion of female managers among all managers differs between the Brother Group companies because the history of women's social advancement and their lifestyles and main occupations vary depending on countries and regions. However, women are active in many group facilities.

Numbers and percentages of female managers in the Brother Group
Company [Country] March 2019 March 2020 March 2021 March 2022
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Brother Industries, Ltd. [Japan] 34 4.0% 35 4.2% 38 4.6% 43 5.3%
Brother Sales, Ltd. [Japan] 2 2.2% 3 3.8% 4 5.4% 4 4.7%
Brother Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd. [China] 42 32.8% 41 33.1% 42 33.9% 41 33.6%
Zhuhai Brother Industries, Co., Ltd. [China] 20 57.1% 20 55.6% 20 55.6% 19 54.3%
Brother Machinery Xian Co., Ltd. [China] 4 22.8% 7 20.6% 7 20.6% 7 28.0%
Brother International Corporation (U.S.A.) [U.S.A.] 90 38.8% 87 41.6% 93 42.5% 84 41.8%
Brother International Europe Ltd. [U.K.] 7 15.2% 7 14.9% 8 20.5% 9 21.4%
Brother U.K. Ltd. [U.K.] 14 33.3% 18 39.1% 14 35.0% 16 43.2%
Brother (China) Ltd. [China] 8 25.8% 8 25.0% 8 25.8% 9 27.3%
Brother International GmbH [Germany] 7 21.2% 9 24.3% 9 28.1% 9 30.0%
Brother France SAS [France] 11 34.4% 10 32.0% 11 35.0% 13 45.0%
Brother Industries (Vietnam) Ltd. [Vietnam] 45 35.4% 48 39.3% 53 38.7% 52 37.4%
Brother Industries Saigon, Ltd. [Vietnam] 7 41.2% 7 36.8% 7 38.9% 6 35.3%
Brother Industries (Philippines), Inc. [Philippines] 0 0.0% 2 4.9% 4 11.8% 6 15.0%
Changes in the percentage of female managers (Brother Industries, Ltd.)

Changes in the percentage of female managers (Brother Industries, Ltd.)

Activities to Support the Success of Women

Implementing measures to promote the advancement of women as one of the challenges in diversity management

Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) has been proactively supporting women's careers by formulating the "Commitment to Promotion of the Success of Women" and the "Action Plan to Support the Success of Women," adopting telecommuting, and providing lectures by experts. BIL has also been posting the career profiles of its female managers on the intranet and been holding internal small-group discussion meetings called the "Career Community" to respond to a request from employees to share the careers of those who serve as in-house role models. The Career Community has covered various themes, including the balance between work and child-rearing for men, and served as a place for participants to exchange their opinions and develop a network of internal contacts.

BIL will remain committed to creating a pleasant working environment for all employees, regardless of gender, to realize the diversification of working practices in terms of diversity management and work-life balance.

Main measures

FY 2017
  • Formulated policies for the success of women at respective departments
  • Held the "Career Community," a series of theme-based round-table talks by BIL's senior employees
  • Offered female employees career support training and career consultations with an external specialist

Career Community Career Community

FY 2018
  • Held a lecture for managers by one of the lieutenant governors of Aichi Prefecture
  • Held the "Career Community," a series of theme-based round-table talks by BIL's senior employees
  • Started leasing tablet devices to employees who would like to access to BIL's internal information during childcare or family-care leave
  • Opened the "Childcare Leave Cafe" with the aim of helping employees on childcare leave return to work
  • Provided career counseling by an external specialist for female employees

Childcare Leave Cafe Childcare Leave Cafe

FY 2019
  • Held a group discussion with one of the lieutenant governors of Aichi Prefecture and female employees
  • Held a group discussion with Outside Director Aya Shirai and female managers
  • Held the "Career Cafe: 4 Colors," a networking event for female employees of four neighboring companies
  • Held the "Career Community," a series of theme-based round-table talks by BIL's senior employees
  • Held the "Career Development Program For Women," with participation of female employees and their managers
  • Provided career counseling by an external specialist for female employees
  • Introduced systems that support work-life balance at an internal poster session

Held a group discussion with Outside Director Aya Shirai and female managers Held a group discussion with Outside Director Aya Shirai and female managers

FY 2020
  • Held a lecture by Outside Director Aya Shirai and discussion session with female officers
  • Held a group discussion with Outside Director Aya Shirai and female employees
  • Held the "Career Cafe: 4 Colors," a networking event for female employees of four neighboring companies
  • Held the "Career Community," a series of theme-based round-table talks by BIL's senior employees
  • Held the "Childcare Leave Cafe" with the aim of helping employees on childcare leave return to work
  • Provided career counseling by an external specialist for female employees
  • Developed General Employers Action Plan for the next five years

Discussion session with Outside Director Aya Shirai and female officers(online streaming venue) Discussion session with Outside Director Aya Shirai and female officers(online streaming venue)

FY 2021
  • Held the "Career Community," a series of theme-based round-table talks by BIL's senior employees
  • Held the "Childcare Leave Cafe" with the aim of helping employees on childcare leave return to work

Career Community2021 Career Community

Please see the following for detailed data regarding supporting the success of women, such as the percentage of female employees in BIL.

ESG Data-Social-Related Data (S)-Diversity/Supporting work-life balance

Evaluation by External Entities

In recognition of its efforts, BIL has been certified by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the Aichi prefectural and the Nagoya city governments as an enterprise responding to diverse ways of working by promoting the success of women and providing support for child-rearing and so forth.

For details, please see the site for "Management with an Emphasis on Sustainability-Evaluation by External Entities- Evaluation Regarding the Promotion of the Success of Women, Support for Child-rearing, etc."

Promoting Employment and Support for Persons with Disabilities

At BIL, employees with disabilities are working actively in the occupations and workplaces that suit their aptitudes and abilities.

In Japan, companies beyond a certain scale are required by law to ensure a certain percentage of their total workforce is comprised of persons with disabilities. In FY2021, the employment rate of persons with disabilities at BIL was 2.29%, which underperformed the statutory employment rate. However, in FY2022, the employment rate was 2.35%; thus, meeting the statutory requirement. We will continue to hire persons with disabilities and undertake measures to support their activities in the workplace.

Changes in the employment rate of persons with disabilities* (Brother Industries, Ltd.)

Changes in the employment rate of persons with disabilities (Brother Industries, Ltd.)

  • Includes incoming seconded employees but not temporary employees or fixed-term employees

BIL is continuously committed to its policy of building a workplace environment where employees, with or without disabilities, can deepen mutual understanding, strengthen collaboration among them, and maximize their abilities based on "Trust and Respect" stipulated in the Codes of Practice of the Global Charter.

To respond to legal changes, such as the revision of the "Act for Promotion of Employment of Persons with Disabilities," BIL has been providing employees with e-learning programs that teach the outlines and concepts of laws and workshops by the Brother Group employees who serve as job coaches to facilitate specific actions. In addition, BIL selects work and life consultants for disabled people, who provide advice and other support for employees with disabilities, from among employees in respective factories, and provides those consultants with a continuing educational program by an external teacher. In such ways, BIL builds a system that enables the entire workplace to understand and support employees with disabilities.

Support for LGBT Members of Staff

As part of its diversity promotion efforts, BIL is working to deepen understanding of LGBT issues and create an environment in which employees can work as themselves.
In 2019, BIL implemented an e-learning program on LGBT issues for managers and general employees. BIL has also been working to promote employee understanding of LGBT issues by including LGBT topics in training programs on human rights and labor issues for new employees in FY2019 and for new managers in FY2020.
In addition, BIL is making various other efforts to respect diversity, such as giving consideration to health checkups, removing the gender field from the annual employee awareness survey, and changing uniforms for men to those for women and men.

Promote Employment of Senior Citizens (Reemployment System)

BIL has introduced a reemployment system that allows employees who wish to remain employed after the retirement age of 60 to continue working until the age of 65, providing them with a place where they can utilize the experience they have accumulated over the years and demonstrate their skills and know-how.
In FY2021, more than 80% of employees have requested to be rehired under the reemployment system, and BIL is rehiring all applicants.
In response to the diversification of work styles in recent years, BIL is also discussing the extension of the retirement age.

FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021
Number of rehired staff 38 98 79 88 121
Rehiring rate*1 82.6% 86.7% 83.2% 88.0% 90.3%
  1. (Number of rehired staff / Number of retirees*2) x 100
  2. Number of retirees includes those who do not wish to be rehired

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