Comfortable Working Environment

The Brother Group delivers products and services to customers all over the world with manufacturing and sales facilities in more than 40 countries and regions, and all employees are active as members of the Brother global team on the world stage, where business environments differ by ethnicity, language, culture, custom, and other factors.

The foundation for achieving this is laid out in the Basic Policies of the Brother Group Global Charter (hereinafter referred to as the "Global Charter"), which stipulate that "the Brother Group respects diversity and provides a working environment that enables our associates to utilize their talents and abilities to the fullest. All Brother Group companies, based on the Principles, clearly state that they will not tolerate any discrimination or harassment in recruitment, evaluation, promotion, and other aspects of employment on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality, religion, ideology, gender, educational background, age, or disability, and are committed to preventing and eliminating such practices. Furthermore, the "Procurement Policy" and "CSR Procurement Standards" prohibit child labor and forced labor. As for employment, the Brother Group guarantees pay higher than local minimum wages. In addition, the group respects employees' rights to form and join, or not join, a union (the rights to organize) as a means to conduct negotiations between labor and management about working conditions and environments, pay levels, and so forth. It also upholds employees' collective bargaining rights and engages in sincere negotiations and dialogues with them. In addition to the signing of labor agreements between labor and management with Brother Industries Labor Union, regular information exchange is also carried out—such as through labor-management gatherings and the Working Environment Improvement Committee—to build good labor-management relations. The management and employees of the Brother Group will continue to make constant concerted efforts to comply with related regulations and rules, respect different cultures and customs, evolve the group's personnel system in line with the Global Charter and the Principles, and continue to create a better working environment, thereby improving employee engagement^*.

• Relationships in which employees and management are equal to each other and provide value to each other

The Brother Group has a system that fairly and impartially evaluates employees based on their abilities and achievements and reflects the evaluation results in their compensation. BIL, for example, assesses its employees in a way that highly satisfies them, using a target management system with clear criteria. Each employee receives the results of the evaluation of his/her performance and is subsequently informed of the reasons in a meeting with the supervisor. This approach, which helps employees review their own performance and raise their motivation to advance toward new challenges, has been contributing to talent development.
In FY2024, to help employees set appropriate targets and deliver results aligned with their roles, a workshop on target setting was held for those being evaluated, with approximately 2,100 employees participating.

For more information on the evaluation system of BIL, please visit the following website.

• Talent Development — Introduction of New Human Resource System

BIL believes that by enabling a diverse group of talent to thrive in a rewarding environment where they can work autonomously, BIL can continue to provide new value to its customers and contribute to the development of a sustainable society.

BIL has introduced the following systems:

• Autonomous work styles tailored to work duties and lifestyle
  • Flextime
  • Homeworking
  • Internal job postings
  • Internal concurrent job
  • Side jobs and concurrent work
  • Reemployment of employees accompanying spouses on assignment

• Supporting work-life balance
  • Childcare leave and reduced working hours
  • Nursing leave
  • Child-rearing support leave
  • Babysitter service support
  • Infertility treatment leave, vacation, and reduced working hours
  • Family care leave, vacation, and reduced working hours

For details of each system, please see the following.

Autonomous work styles tailored to work duties and lifestyle

Flextime system

BIL introduced a flextime system in 1995, and since then it has been striving to create an environment that lays the foundation for diverse work styles. In FY2023, to further promote autonomous work styles, the system was enhanced by abolishing the mandatory "core time^*" and allowing temporary interruptions and resumptions of work after starting the day. This allows employees to adjust their working hours according to individual circumstances, such as caregiving, childcare, medical appointments, and personal events, making it easier to achieve more flexible work styles. Furthermore, this system can be combined with remote working, which BIL believes will further promote employees' autonomy in how they work.

• A time period during which all employees must work

Homeworking

BIL introduced a homeworking system in FY2015 for employees who are raising children or providing nursing care for family members. Subsequently, in response to the impact of COVID-19, BIL expanded the number of eligible employees, and homeworking became more established. Even after the relaxation of restrictions from COVID-19 in FY2023, this system has been continued, allowing employees to work more flexibly by combining remote and in-office work.

Internal job posting system

Since 2004, BIL has operated an internal job posting system that allows employees to voluntarily apply for transfers to different departments. The purpose of this system is to promote the optimal allocation of talent to each department's priority tasks while providing employees with opportunities to autonomously choose and develop their careers.

Internal concurrent job system

In FY2023, BIL introduced an internal concurrent job system. This system allows employees to work in other departments for a set period, using up to approximately 20% of their working hours, while continuing their duties in their current department. By FY2024, about 30 employees had used this system.
Various departments have invited applications for key initiatives such as formulating strategies for further business growth and promoting DX by leveraging manufacturing data. As a result, Many employees have applied for concurrent job opportunities and are now making valuable contributions in a variety of departments. Departments that accepted employees with concurrent jobs have reported, for example, that "we were able to gain insights not present within our own department, which accelerated our work" and that "the employee's motivation and our department's needs were very well matched." In addition, many users of the system have shared positive feedback, such as "I was able to think from a perspective different from my usual work, which broadened my horizons" and "I was able to discover new skills and values." Going forward, through this system, BIL will continue to promote the growth of both individuals and organizations by embracing diversity in experiences, perspectives, and values.

Side jobs and concurrent work

In response to the recent diversification of work styles, BIL has permitted side jobs and concurrent work under certain conditions since FY2021. By expanding work style options, the company enables employees to acquire skills and experience beyond the company framework through new challenges outside the company.

Reemployment system for accompanying spouses

Since FY2012, BIL has implemented the "Reemployment System for Employees Accompanying Spouses." This system allows employees who are compelled to resign due to their spouses being assigned to overseas posts or domestic transfers to make use of their careers and return to work. In FY2023, the system was revised to allow for the reemployment of not only employees who accompanied their spouses employed by BIL but also those who accompanied their spouses employed by other companies on overseas assignments. Under this system, BIL provides an environment where employees can continue to be active in the company over the long term.

Supporting work-life balance

BIL has established various systems to provide a work environment where employees can perform to the best of their abilities while balancing work with their lives, including childcare, nursing care, and medical treatment.

Efforts to encourage male employees to take childcare leave

BIL has set a goal of increasing the percentage of male employees taking two or more weeks of childcare leave to at least 60% and the percentage of male employees taking a total of four or more weeks of childcare leave to at least 30% by FY2025. To achieve this goal, BIL organized "career communities" between FY2018 to FY2021, for roundtable discussions with male employees on the subject of balancing work and childcare with those who have experience taking childcare leave, in which a total of 61 employees participated.

In FY2022, BIL implemented an e-learning program for all employees to inform them about revisions to the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law. In FY2024, BIL conducted a survey of male employees who had taken childcare leave to understand their experiences, and the results were shared internally. Feedback from respondents included many positive comments, such as "I was able to spend more time with my child," "I was able to reduce my partner's burden after childbirth," and "Taking childcare leave provided an opportunity to optimize or automate my work tasks."

Changes in the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave (Brother Industries, Ltd.)

Babysitter support system

In FY2023, BIL introduced a babysitter support system^* to support employees in balancing work and childcare. This system provides discount coupons for babysitting services to employees with childcare responsibilities. Employees can receive discounts when using babysitters for work purposes, and in FY2024, 97 discount coupons were used by both male and female employees.

• Utilizing the Children and Families Agency's corporate-led babysitter dispatch program

Infertility treatment leave system

BIL has established various systems to ensure that employees can continue to actively work even when facing challenges in their life stages. As part of these systems, the company introduced the Infertility Treatment Leave System in FY2024. Under this system, employees undergoing infertility treatment, both male and female, are eligible for up to 10 days of paid leave per year and up to 18 months of unpaid leave.

Caregiving understanding promotion program

Since FY2011, BIL has been conducting caregiving seminars to support employees in balancing work and caregiving responsibilities. These seminars aim to deepen employees' understanding of caregiving and introduce the company's internal support systems and the state-run nursing-care insurance system so that they can continue working without having to resign even when faced with caregiving responsibilities. In addition, to create a work environment that supports employees with caregiving responsibilities, since FY2016, the company has been holding seminars for management staff on how to foster a workplace that enables balancing work and caregiving. In FY2024, a total of 183 management staff and general employees participated in the seminars.

Data on users of various systems to support work-life balance (Brother Industries, Ltd.)

For detailed information, including the number of users of the systems listed above, please refer to the following:

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

Under its policy of reducing long working hours, BIL has put systems in place and promoted operational efficiency.

Revision of systems

Overtime application system

In July 2016, BIL introduced an overtime application system, which requires overtime work after 20:00 to be approved in advance, and basically prohibited overtime work after 22:00. In this way and by improving operational efficiency, the company has been striving to reduce long working hours.

Gradual lowering of the upper limit of non-statutory working hours in non-product sections

Based on an agreement with the Brother Industries Labor Union, BIL gradually reduced the non-statutory working hours by FY2020, and they have been maintained.

BIL is promoting operational efficiency improvements, such as launching operational efficiency projects in 2018, reviewing its operational processes, and utilizing digital tools.

Review of operational processes and utilization of digital tools

BIL shares with all employees on the intranet the challenges associated with various tasks, such as internal meeting management, preparation of meeting materials, and handling of e-mails, as well as examples of concrete measures and initiatives taken by each department to address them. In addition, BIL promotes company-wide automation and efficiency improvements in routine work through the use of IT.
As for in-house training on AI, in addition to common training programs for all employees, BIL offers tailored AI curricula for specific roles and needs, including new employees, software developers, and management. By FY2024, a total of 700 employees had completed the in-house AI training, and AI-related e-learning programs are also being provided.
For more details on AI talent development, please see the following:

• Talent Development

Promotion of BPMN and RPA utilization

BIL is promoting the use of BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), an international standard notation for business process diagrams. BPMN provides a clear way to represent business processes, including how work is initiated, role assignments, the responsibilities of each person, and interactions among stakeholders. By visualizing business processes according to BPMN and reviewing them collectively with all stakeholders, it becomes possible to efficiently understand the current situation and identify issues, which promotes process improvements.
To promote process improvements, BIL is developing talent capable of utilizing BPMN, providing e-learning, instructional videos, and hands-on guidance in creating BPMN diagrams. By acquiring BPMN skills, employees in various job categories, such as sales and development, can examine their business processes from multiple perspectives, leading to greater efficiency. The use of BPMN is also spreading globally. In December 2023, all 143 employees of Brother Machinery Shanghai Ltd., a sales company for the machinery business in China, acquired BPMN comprehension skills. Furthermore, in FY2023, reviewing business processes using BPMN revealed redundancies and inefficiencies, resulting in 15 process reforms and a total reduction of 1,873 hours. BIL continued these BPMN initiatives in FY2024 and will further promote process improvements on a global scale.

In addition, BIL provides an extensive environment for learning Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which automates and streamlines routine tasks using AI-powered software robots. The company conducts many in-house training programs on RPA, and sometimes employees who have completed the training voluntarily serve as instructors for subsequent sessions. Furthermore, a Q&A forum on RPA technology has been established within the chat tool, where employees can actively exchange knowledge and ideas. This has not only made it easier to ask and answer questions but also provided opportunities for interaction across departments, helping to further expand the use of RPA.

Reduction of work hours through the use of a daily business report tool

A daily business report tool developed by an employee has a significant impact on reducing work hours. The daily business report tool allows employees to easily send work reports to a chat tool at the press of a button and report to relevant parties, things such as "I will start work," "I will finish work," and "I did XXX today," which were previously done via e-mail. As opportunities for work reporting increased with the spread of remote work, the introduction of this tool enabled the company to reduce a total of approximately 12,000 hours in FY2021, its first year of use. The number of users has continued to grow each year, and today, more than 1,500 employees make use of the tool on a daily basis.

Utilization of the in-house ChatGPT

BIL established an in-house ChatGPT system, "LangAccel," in July 2023 to improve operational efficiency and promote operational reform.

LangAccel is primarily used for text-related tasks, such as summarizing documents and creating templates, thereby reducing the time required for both producing and understanding text. The name "LangAccel" reflects its ability to accelerate a variety of language-related tasks, with "Lang" representing language and "Accel" representing acceleration.
Since LangAccel is an in-house ChatGPT system, measures are in place to prevent information leaks and other similar risks. In addition, explanations on the intranet inform employees about the possibility of incorrect information being provided, thereby ensuring a safe environment for employees to use the system. LangAccel is undergoing regular updates, including transitioning from a Q&A format to a chat-based interface, integration with internal information systems such as the intranet, and improvements in response speed, to enhance its usability and promote further utilization within the company.

In FY2024, BIL developed two new tools derived from LangAccel: "TransAccel" and "PrepAccel."
TransAccel is a tool that enables translation while preserving layouts and file formats. Unlike LangAccel, which required users to copy and paste the text to be translated, TransAccel allows entire files to be translated directly, thereby further reducing the time required for translation.
PrepAccel is a tool that enables batch processing of specific columns in an Excel file. By using this tool, tasks that were traditionally done manually, such as organizing, translating, summarizing, and classifying survey responses, can now be automated, thereby significantly reducing the workload of preprocessing text for use as data.

Going forward, BIL will continue to implement updates and develop new tools in line with advancements in AI technology, thereby improving operational efficiency and promoting business process reform.

Work Efficiency Tool Contest held

Since FY2020, the Brother Group has been holding the "Work Efficiency Tool Contest" online as an initiative to promote operational efficiency. This contest provides employees with an opportunity to present automation tools they have created using RPA and other technologies, along with the results achieved. Winners for first through third place are selected based on the number of "likes" received from employees for each presentation. In addition, various awards are presented, such as the President's Award, selected personally by the company president, and the Newcomer Award, designed for employees who have just begun learning RPA or programming. In FY2024, 53 teams participated in the contest, including those from overseas facilities. The contest continues to evolve year by year, featuring tools created using LangAccel, as well as low-code/no-code tools.^*2
In parallel with the contest, related seminars and events are also held. In FY2024, engineers and virtual YouTubers (VTubers) were invited as external instructors to give seminars explaining the utilization and importance of data. In addition, events showcasing successful examples of operational efficiency improvements were conducted, with approximately 1,000 employees participating in the contest and 334 employees taking part in the voting.

The employees who made presentations at the contest commented that they would like to continue creating work efficiency tools that can be useful to others. Participants made such comments as "I want to improve efficiency by automating my tasks" and "I felt that achieving automation would lead to my growth." The event provided a meaningful opportunity for all members of the Brother Group to improve their awareness of work efficiency and skills.

1. Time saved by using the business report tool
   Formula: Number of reports x 40 seconds (assuming 40 seconds of time saved per business report) / 3,600
2. They refer to technologies that allow applications and systems to be developed with little or no writing of source code, the set of instructions normally used in programming.