Formulation of Brother Group Health & Productivity Management Philosophy and the Promotion Structure
Brother Group Health & Productivity Management Philosophy
The Brother Group aims to create superior value through manufacturing and deliver products and services to customers around the world. With this purpose in mind, all group employees are working every day on a global stage.
As stipulated in the Brother Group Global Charter, the basis of such activities, the Brother Group values taking care of the health of every employee so that they can strive to achieve their goals, and ultimately, contribute to the group's success.
In September 2016, Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) formulated the Brother Group Health & Productivity Management Philosophy. Under this philosophy and the leadership of the Chief Health Officer (CHO), the Brother Group has been strategically undertaking various activities.
After formulating the philosophy, the experience of the global pandemic of COVID-19 reminded BIL of the importance of being able to work in good health, leading to a revision of the Health & Productivity Management Philosophy in FY2024.
Brother Group Global Health & Productivity Management Philosophy
The Brother Group will strategically pursue health management that places emphasis on well-being, which is a state of being in good health both physically and mentally and filled with joy and fulfillment in work.
The well-being of each employee is a vital management asset, and we believe that when employees vigorously work while fully utilizing their diverse abilities, it leads to the growth and transformation of the entire group.
The Brother Group will continue to pursue health management with the spirit of "At your side." and strive to contribute to customers, local communities, and the sustainable development of society from a global perspective.
Brother Industries, Ltd.
Representative Director & President
Chief Health Officer
Kazufumi Ikeda
Health & productivity management promotion structure
BIL has established the Health Management Center to manage the health of Brother Group employees, develop mental health measures, and promote good health. The center offers effective and efficient approaches to maintaining and promoting employee health by implementing the PDCA cycle and collaborating with the Health Promotion Center of Brother Health Insurance Society. Meanwhile, the Brother Group's manufacturing facilities outside Japan have been employing doctors or partnering with medical institutions to maintain and improve the physical and mental health of employees.
Brother Group health & productivity management promotion structure (as of April 1, 2025)
Brother Group Health & Productivity Management Promotion Council
Health and safety managers at BIL and the Group companies in Japan meet once a year* to identify issues about employee health and decide on action policies and targets for the next fiscal year and beyond. In addition, the Brother Health Insurance Society and Group companies that have developed excellent activities present case examples of their activities and share information on effective and efficient initiatives.
Since FY2018, the Council has performed a comprehensive evaluation of efforts in health and productivity management and honor companies that have achieved excellence in such efforts as "healthy companies" with the CHO awards.
- In FY2020 and FY2021, except for certain participants, the meetings were held online to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Since FY2022, the meeting has been conducted in person.
Health support meeting
The Health Support Meeting is jointly organized by BIL's Health Management Center and the Health Promotion Center of the Brother Health Insurance Society. It decides specific activities to achieve targets, discusses implementation methods, and evaluates the results based on the policies set by the Brother Group Health & Productivity Management Promotion Council, and also organizes collaborative events with the Brother Industries Labor Union. The participants of this meeting include the Director of the Health Management Center, an industrial physician, a public nurse, the Secretary General of the Brother Health Insurance Society, and the Director of the Health Promotion Center.
Data Related to Health
"Healthy Brother 2025" -a set of long-term targets for employee health
The Brother Group Health & Productivity Management Promotion Council formulated the "Healthy Brother 2025," a set of long-term targets to be achieved by FY2025, based on the Health & Productivity Management Philosophy.
To achieve the "Healthy Brother 2025," the Brother Group is promoting activities in compliance with safety and health laws and regulations, focused on enabling employees to live every day positively, pleasantly and powerfully, to engage in self-directed health promotion, and to balance work and health.
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Employee health management data
Main Efforts
Creation of the health & productivity management strategy map
BIL has created a strategy map to visualize continuous flow including issues to be solved through health & productivity management and efforts to solve them.
Approaches for maintaining and improving health
Improvement of mental health
BIL has been continuously providing mental health education to its employees since 2007 with the aim of helping them become aware of their own stress and take appropriate measures against it (primary prevention), and helping supervisors identify and support their subordinates suffering from incipient mental disorders (secondary prevention). The company also helps employees who have developed mental disorders continue to work in their own ways, assisting such employees to return to work (tertiary prevention) in collaboration with their workplaces.
Regarding mental health education, we provide self-care training for all employees every five years and line-care education for those in managerial positions every three years. The self-care training which started in FY2022 introduces how to enhance resilience*1 as a self-care method to prevent illness.
In addition, as part of workplace improvement activities after stress checks, we have held workshops for department managers since FY2022. In these workshops, we give lectures and case examples on positive mental health*2 and action plans are formulated to understand the strengths of their own departments and make use of them in management. One of the department managers who participated said, "I was able to gain new insights through the exchange of opinions between department managers."
Moreover, in FY2024, we launched the CREW program*3. The CREW Program was developed in the U.S. in 2005. The program aims to foster a more lively and comfortable working environment by encouraging employees to understand each other through repeated dialogue in small groups. BIL's six departments and Brother Enterprise, Ltd., BIL's subsidiary, participated in this program, setting up opportunities for dialogue in each workplace. The dialogue promoted mutual understanding and building of trust among the participants through discussions about each other's values and strengths and the theme "What is a comfortable workplace?" The results of a stress check conducted after the dialogue showed improvement in the category of "shared awareness in a workplace," which measures whether there is mutual understanding in the workplace and whether employees are able to work with trust in their colleagues.
- A psychological term meaning mental "fortitude" "elasticity," and "flexibility." It refers to the ability to overcome and recover from mentally exhausting experiences, depression, and other challenges.
- A concept that aims to improve the mental and physical health of working people and lead to improved productivity. Whereas conventional "mental health" focuses on how to prevent illness and how to handle people who are sick, "positive mental health" emphasizes personal growth and happiness.
- Abbreviation for Civility, Respect, and Engagement in the Workplace
Promotion of age management
BIL promotes age management measures so that its employees can continue to work with vigor and enthusiasm regardless of their age. Age management involves taking measures to address issues related to aging and health that are tailored to the characteristics of each generation. In FY2022, we created the Brother Lifelong Health Promotion Model, which outlines the goals each generation should aspire to. By continuing activities based on this model, we aim to make our employees healthier through work.
In recent years, we have focused on increasing the physical activity of our employees, and in FY2023, we implemented the Continued Exercise Program, which aimed to address the lack of exercise among busy people in their 30s and 40s. In FY2024, we carried out activities under the catchphrase of "Get a body that never gets tired" to get employees interested in physical activity, with 1,483 employees participating in health courses for all employees and 370 employees participating in the Continued Exercise Program.
Sleep Hygiene
BIL has been conducting sleep hygiene education since FY2018 with the aim of improving mental health, preventing accidents, occupational injuries, and lifestyle diseases, and improving labor productivity.
A survey on sleep hygiene among employees revealed that different age groups have different sleep issues. Therefore, in FY2024, we implemented a sleep improvement program focusing on sleep issues specific to people in their 50s. A total of 62 employees participated in this program, with 82% experiencing improvements in their insomnia symptoms.
In addition, to address sleep issues facing employees of all generations, we distributed a Good Sleep Tips Collection, which explains how to spend time before falling asleep, to anyone who wanted it. We also provided a menu of meals in our employee cafeteria that would help employees sleep well.
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Sleep Improvement Program for people in their 50s
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Good Sleep Tips Collection
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Good Sleep Menu created in collaboration with the employee cafeteria
Health Management for Women
BIL is strategically working to support women's health with the desire to help women's further advancement in the workplace through health-related measures as part of our efforts to respect diversity. BIL is strategically working on women's health management with the desire to support women's further advancement in the workplace through health-related measures as part of our efforts to respect diversity. For example, we hold a "Women's Seminar" every year with the goal of improving knowledge about diseases specific to women. In FY2024, we held a Breast Cancer Seminar and an Infertility Treatment Seminar, with a total of 512 participants, including male employees. We also have a health consultation service exclusively for women.
Support for Balancing Medical Treatment and Work
Since 2006, when the Health Management Center was first established, BIL has been supporting the balance between medical treatment and work, and by working with the employees, their families, workplaces, the personnel department, doctors, etc., we are creating a working environment that can balance the two. In 2017, we created the "Support for Balancing Medical Treatment and Work Guideline" and shared it on the intranet. Starting in FY2022, as part of our activities to support balancing medical treatment with work, we have implemented "in-house peer support activities*." In these activities, we hold roundtable discussions and other events to help Brother Group employees who need to balance medical treatment and work to connect with others in similar positions, be at ease, and work with peace of mind. Through these activities, we aim to create a place within the company where people in the same situation can support each other, make people aware of others in the company who are balancing medical treatment and work, enable people to continue working even if they become ill, and create a supportive work environment where people can gain understanding and help from their supervisors and colleagues regarding balancing medical treatment and work.
As of May, 2025, approximately 41 employees within the Brother Group who were undergoing or had undergone medical treatment participated. In addition, 19 employees who have undergone training and have been certified as supporters are engaged in support activities such as sharing their own experiences.
- People who share the same goals support and help each other by sharing their own experiences, actions, and thoughts, and by talking to each other.
Quit-smoking Support
BIL proactively supports its employees in quitting smoking to reduce health hazards.
From April 2023, we completely banned smoking on the company's premises in order to encourage smokers to quit and to reduce the negative health effects of passive smoking on non-smokers.
In addition, the Brother Health Insurance Society runs a program to support employees who want to try to quit smoking. In this program, employees can choose a quit-smoking course tailored to their individual smoking habits, and a public health nurse provides support in continuing to refrain from smoking through regular interviews and emails.
Other health related efforts
To support the wellbeing of our employees, we are also implementing a variety of other efforts.
| FY2024 Efforts | Details |
|---|---|
| Cancer measures | Held a briefing session on cancer prevention activity policy for group companies, with nine companies participating in the Action Plan for Promotion of Cancer Control*1 |
| Preventive measures against diabetes becoming severe | Individual guidance using a continuous glucose monitor for 24 hours (for employees with HbA1c*2 7.5 or higher) |
| Measures to prevent lifestyle diseases | Three-month group weight-loss program (Implemented two courses: one for employees with a BMI of 30 or higher and one for employees with a BMI of 25 or higher who are considered obese*3) |
| Improving of health literacy | Spread information and introduced applications with the aim of practicing "Breslow's seven health habits*4" |
| Various studies | Implemented employee satisfaction surveys and WFun*5 surveys in addition to stress checks |
- A project commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare that promotes the importance of cancer screening in cooperation with companies, with the aim of increasing the national rate of people undergoing cancer screening to over 50%
- An index that indicates the average blood sugar level over the past 1-2 months. If it is 6.5 or higher, diabetes is suspected.
- Diseases that involve or are expected to involve obesity-related health problems and require weight loss
- Based on the research results of Professor Lester Breslow, the following seven healthy habits: "1. do not smoke, 2. exercise regularly, 3. drink moderately or do not drink, 4. get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day, 5. maintain a proper weight, 6. eat breakfast, and 7. avoid snacking" are key. Whether or not they are practiced will affect subsequent lifespan.
- Short for Work Functioning Impairment Scale. A questionnaire developed at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health to measure the degree of work function impairment caused by health problems
Global development of health and productivity management activities
The Brother Group operates globally with offices in more than 40 countries and regions. To ensure globally providing health support to expatriates and employees outside Japan, industrial physicians and public health nurses from the BIL's Health Management Center visit Brother Group sites outside Japan to assess local medical conditions and the work and living conditions of employees. We visited manufacturing facilities in China in December 2024 and India in January 2025 to provide on-site health support, including interviews about the health management situation.In addition, we provide support to help expatriates stay healthy in the countries they are posted to, which includes providing information on medical institutions outside Japan on our intranet and reviewing the status of health checkups.
At BIL, for employees who are going to travel from Japan to other countries, the industrial physicians implement health education based on health and infectious disease information of each region of the world that helps such employees prevent and raise their awareness of AIDS virus (HIV), tuberculosis, malaria, and other infections by providing their transmission routes, incubation periods, and symptoms. For employees on temporary assignments, the company provides the "leaflet on health management abroad," which covers information and cautions necessary for living outside Japan, and posts information about infection epidemics on the intranet to inform our employees.
When the risk of a global epidemic of infectious diseases increases, a countermeasures committee is established as a subordinate organization of the Risk Management Committee, which is comprised of Management, the Human Resources Dept., industrial physicians, etc. to gather the latest information, study countermeasures based on that information, and respond.
Contribution to the community and society
BIL cooperates in local practical training programs for medical and nursing students at universities, with the aim of nurturing people who will be responsible for the field of occupational health in the future. In addition to providing training on Brother's health and productivity management and the duties and roles of industrial physicians and public health nurses, the training also includes time to visit manufacturing sites and to learn the basics of health and safety management.
As a new initiative, we held an online seminar on mental health for our business partners in September 2025. The seminar provided an excellent opportunity to exchange information on mental health measures and share know-how on health and productivity management and to think about how to promote organizational health together with our business partners.
Furthermore, BIL also contributes to the community and society through the promotional activities of health and productivity management by having industrial physicians and public health nurses give lectures at seminars on health and productivity management at the request of external organizations, and by holding meetings to exchange opinions with local companies on the regional promotion of health and productivity management.
Evaluation by External Entities
The Brother Group's proactive initiatives for health and productivity management are also highly recognized by external entities, receiving various certifications and awards.
For more details, please refer to the link: "Management with an Emphasis on Sustainability-Evaluation by External Entities- Evaluation Related to Health and Productivity Management."
