Society

The Nippon Paint Group supports and promotes sustainable development in all regions where we operate through business activities that integrate and balance the three elements of economy, society and environment.

Diversity and Inclusion

Basic Policy

The Company recognizes that the diversity of the human resources and the promotion to create a corporate culture and organization that makes use of the diversity are essential for the sustainable growth of the Group, and aims to be an organization in which all employees of the Group, regardless of nationality, gender, age, race, or culture, and with a variety of values and ideas, can demonstrate their full potential.

Management system

In 2020, Nippon Paint Holdings formulated an ESG Statement, designated Diversity & Inclusion as an item of materiality, and is undertaking human resources initiatives. Specifically, the Global Team that works directly under the Directors, Representative Executive Officers & Co-Presidents discusses policies and initiatives concerning the human resources policies for each company and reports their outcomes to the Co-Presidents.

Japan Group established our Diversity Committee in 2011, which began working with partner companies to establish policies on diversity promotion, monitor progress, develop employee skills in an ongoing, systematic manner, and improve working environments and systems. Rather than setting uniform goals for the entire organization, we are characterized by how visions are set out for conducting business at each company, with policies being development autonomously. Moreover, utilizing the best practices of each Group company is a strength that allows Nippon Paint Group to undertake highly effective initiatives.

Ensuring and enhancing diversity

Assembly of human capital with diversity is one of the primary basis of Asset Assembler model. Nippon Paint Group Global Code of Conduct established in January 2022 states that the Group embraces diversity. In addition, the Group partner companies worldwide implement human resource management with the goal of ensuring and enhancing diversity.
The NIPSEA Group is continuously working in Asian countries to improve gender representation in its management team and the Board of Directors. Hiring local talent in countries and regions where we operate businesses not only leads to strengthening the competitiveness for acquiring market share but also contributes to the creation of employment opportunities in local communities. The percentage of people hired from local communities to senior manager positions has reached 57.1%.
DuluxGroup has doubled the number of women in the senior leadership team of all business divisions in the last five years, implementing programs for increasing the ratio of women in each position level, focusing on improving the gender balance in particular among senior managers.
Dunn-Edwards has increased female representation among its leadership ranks from 20% to 30% over the past five years and successfully mirrors the ethnic demographics of each of the diverse communities they operate in.
In Japan Group, we are conducting activities for promoting female employees to managerial positions by taking reference from success cases of the Group partner companies overseas. Specifically, we have been sending female employees selected through internal entry system to external training programs for cross-industrial exchanges. We are working to develop executives by fostering a leadership through collaboration with members in other industries, and by encouraging autonomous career development by providing opportunities to meet a variety of role models. We are also actively promoting the appointment of management and executive personnel with high expertise from outside the company. As of 30 June 2022, two female Director of the Board, one female Executive Officer, and one female Corporate Officers were appointed to Nippon Paint Holdings.

Work-life balance initiatives

Japan Group have established flexible working systems in step with the life events of their employees, including work-from-home systems and systems allowing paid leave to be taken in hourly increments, shortened working hours, and childcare and nursing care, as well as promoting initiatives such as seminars to explain systems.

System	Eligible people	Summary
Flextime system	All employees	In principle, employees work core hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are able to choose their own starting and finishing times
Shortened work hours system	Employees with preschool children and those caring for family who require nursing	Employees may shorten their working hours in 30-minute increments up to a limit of two hours per day
Childcare leave	Employees with children up to grade four in elementary school	Seven days per year for one child and ten days per year for two children Leave can be taken in hourly or daily increments
Nursing care leave	Employees caring for family who require nursing	Seven days per year for one nursing recipient and fourteen days per year for two recipients Leave can be taken in hourly or daily increments
Menstrual leave	Female employees	When it is difficult for an employee to work on menstrual days. Two days within the menstrual period
Paid leave by unit system	All employees	Leave can be taken in hourly or half-day increments
One-week holiday	All employees who have been with the company for at least two years	Acquisition of five consecutive days of paid annual leave every year
Work-from-home system	Those raising children or caring for family Employees engaged in overseas-related work	Employees may work from home up to four times per month During the COVID 19 pandemic, this system applies to all employees, with no limit applied to the number of times
Childcare allowance	Employees caring for children under the age of three	Subsidies available for childcare fees when using childcare facilities
Childcare leave system	Employees caring for children under the age of three	Up to three years
Nursing care leave system	Persons caring for family who require nursing	Authorization of leave for up to six months per year to provide nursing care

Establishment of Working from Home System

We have introduced a working from home system in order to respect and assist the work motivation of employees by developing a working environment that increases labor productivity and allows employees to bring out their full potential without being constrained by working hours and geographic location of employees.

As measures to prevent COVID-19 infections, we apply the working from home system to employees without limiting the employees who are allowed to work from home and the frequency of usage. The questionnaire survey of employees of our Group companies in Japan conducted in February 2022 had positive responses, such as working from home system improves work efficiency by making it easier to schedule a meeting with overseas attendants; and the use of web conferencing system facilitates smooth information sharing and decision making. At the same time, issues were raised, such as employees in certain job categories cannot work from home; and some physical tasks including administrative procedures involving paper documents prevent some employees from working from home.

Based on the feedback and issues emerged regarding the working from home system, we will improve applicable systems wherever necessary toward creating a working environment that allows individual employees to demonstrate their abilities to the fullest.

Encouraging men to take childcare leave

Male employees' participation in childcare is important in terms of responding to the requests of these employees, and also to mitigate the impact of childcare, which is skewed towards women, and to allow both spouses to build a sustainable career. Japan Group are encouraging men to take childcare leave to support men actively participating in it. In particular, we are using in-house media to offer messages from management and stories about men’s experiences with childcare leave, and working to create an environment in which it is easy for men to take it.

A comment from a male employee (photograph at right): "I couldn't do any of the things I wanted to do; feeding the baby, changing diapers, putting my child to bed; it was a constant process of self-examination and failure. I realized just how much I had been relying on my wife to raise my children. This woke me up to how being close to my child's growth would be an asset for me; it was a great opportunity for me to re-look at the way I work."

Employees who have taken leave