Basic Approach
In order to realize the spirit of "honesty and justice" set forth in the NAGASE Group management philosophy and a "safe, secure and comfortable society in which people can live comfortably" set forth in the Vision, the Company has established personnel policies consisting of respect for diversity (acceptance and utilization), labor and work environment, human resource development, and evaluation and treatment. In addition, we have established clear policies regarding compliance with local laws regarding working hours and overtime work and reduction of excessive working hours in the Minimum Wage and Living Wage Payment Policy and the Policy for Reducing Long Working Hours.
NAGASE personnel policy
Spreading diversity (acceptance and utilization)
・Promoting diversity to achieve global growth
Labor and work environment
・Providing a healthy work environment from the company and providing high-quality labor from employees
Human resource development
・Respect the desire of each employee to grow independently and support the development of their abilities Evaluation and treatment
Evaluation and treatment
・Promotion of appropriate evaluation and treatment based on credit, reward and punishment
Strengthening human resources to drive change
The mid-term management plan ACE 2.0 indicates that we will improve the engagement of employees and the Company and achieve sustainable growth and development of employees and the Company by implementing each measure in human resources, the environment and culture in a virtuous cycle.
| Item | Direction and measures to be taken |
|---|---|
| Human resources | ・Acquisition and development of superior human resources ・Place the right people in the right place (talent management) ・Healthful management |
| Environment | ・Creating an office where employees can demonstrate their creativity ・Working style reform |
| Culture | ・Promoting diversity and inclusion ・Fostering a culture and climate where diverse individuals can shine and continue to take on challenges |
Policy for reducing long working hours
NAGASE & CO., LTD. has established a clear policy for reducing long working hours in its Policy and Guidelines for Safety and Health, and Health Promotion. To prevent health problems caused by long working hours, the Company requires employees who work long hours to see an industrial physician, who provides advice and guidance to employees and the Company. Employees and the Company shall observe this and endeavor to avoid long working hours.
Interrelationship of personnel systems
In the human resources system, various systems are regulated according to management policies and plans, performance and job level. Each system is interrelated.
Minimum wage and living wage payment policy
NAGASE & CO., LTD. conducts labor management in compliance with the labor laws and regulations of each country. In terms of wages, the basic policy is not only to comply with the minimum wage regulations in each country, but also to pay wages in excess of the minimum wage. The average annual salary in our Company in FY2024 was 11.37 million yen.
Policy on labor-management relations and labor issues
In labor-management consultations, we have set up a forum for labor-management consultations to share information between the labor side and management side on issues such as working conditions and the working environment to resolve these issues. In accordance with the labor laws of each country, we also strive to strictly adhere to minimum wages and total working hours, provide safe and hygienic workplaces, and build good labor-management relations with labor unions at our overseas sites.As of April 1, 2024, all employees are members except those who are considered non-union members based on an agreement between the employees' union and the company (e.g., those in positions equivalent to management, those who have individually agreed that they should be non-union members due to the nature of their duties).
Diversity
Basic Stance on Diversity
The NAGASE Group believes that diversity is an important part of overall corporate strategy. To nimbly respond to changes in the environment, we need to ensure we have human resources with a wide variety of ideas and perspectives, both in Japan and overseas. Having a diverse range of employees encourages more dynamic discussions and leads to new ideas that become the source of competitive advantage in the market. This in turn leads to the growth of both the NAGASE Group and each individual employee.
Hiring People with Disabilities
The NAGASE Group strives to create a work environment where everyone can thrive together, regardless of whether they have a disability or not. We respect the capabilities of each employee, and foster an environment where they can excel with reasonable accommodation for disabilities.
Please click here for the employment rate of persons with disabilities in our Company for the fiscal year ended March 2021.
Inclusive Employment for People with Disabilities
Nagase & Co., Ltd.
On August 1, 2022, Nagase & Co., Ltd. hired six people with disabilities and two managers to work at the Work Happiness Farm Plus Yokohama (Yokohama City), an indoor farm operated by S-Pool Plus, Inc. The vegetables harvested from the indoor farm will be donated to facilities such as the Children's Dining Hall, and will be distributed to employees to promote understanding of employment for people with disabilities.
In addition, massage rooms staffed by massage therapists hired as employment for persons with disabilities have been set up at the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya offices. We contribute to the improvement of employee welfare by making it freely available to employees. In addition, we have realized employment tailored to the characteristics of each individual's disability, such as cleaning and inputting data from home.
Nagase ChemteX Corporation
Nagase ChemteX Corporation established NAGASE MIRAI Corporation to provide safe, stable, and secure work opportunities for people with disabilities and the elderly who wish to continue working and to deepen their connection to the local community.
NAGASE MIRAI provides contracted services such as general affairs and cleaning within Nagase ChemteX Harima Plant. It aims to expand further work opportunities such as production, processing, and sales of agricultural products in alignment with local challenges.
Posting Non-Japanese Employees to Core Positions
The Group is expanding its business in various countries and regions around the globe. Based on the basic approach of respecting the diversity of employees’ ideas and perspectives, we are posting outstanding non-Japanese employees to core positions in accordance with the needs of each country, region, and company.
Women’s Empowerment
The NAGASE Group regards the success of female employees as one of its important initiatives to promote diversity. To date, we have made efforts to proactively utilize women's strengths in our business by hiring women in career-track positions, appointing them to management positions, and expanding opportunities for them to play active roles. Although the number of female managers is increasing, it is not high, and we recognize that this is an issue for the future. In addition, the ratio of women to all employees is small, and we will aim to increase the ratio of women in regular employment. We also hold town meetings for female directors and mid-level female employees to create an environment where female employees can demonstrate their abilities and work comfortably.
Expectations for female employees
We look forward to the success of female employees of the NAGASE Group who are positive and have a strong awareness of issues
Town meetings have been a valuable learning experience for me as well, as I have met unexpected female employees of various generations. Each of them is positive and cheerful, and they all have a positive outlook on working for the NAGASE Group. However, since there are still only a few female employees, they seem to be making efforts and devising ways to maintain an overall balance by sometimes forcing themselves to conform to the traditional NAGASE Group way of doing things, and it was confirmed during the dialogue that they are finding it somewhat difficult to do so.
I was also impressed by the high awareness of each female employee of the issues involved, as there are still so few of them. Female employees of all generations face, worry about, think deeply about, and work toward solutions to a variety of problems so that junior employees, including those who follow in their footsteps, can play an active role.
As the NAGASE Group focuses on sustainability, female employees will play a central role in promoting it. I hope that the NAGASE Group will provide them with a stage where they can participate freely, and that they will grow up to show their leadership. Because there are only a few of them, they can have a great impact on drastic change, and they also enable people to think and act without being bound by stereotypes. I look forward to the success of the female employees of the NAGASE Group.
Outside Director
Ritsuko Nonomiya
Targets
NAGASE & CO., LTD. has set the following goals for the promotion of Empowering Women in the Workplace.
| Target item | Boundary | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | Targets for FY2025 | Targets for FY2028 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio of female employees in career-track positions | NAGASE & CO., LTD. (Non-consolidated) | 19% | 16% | 20% | 33% | 30% or more | - |
| Ratio of female manegers | NAGASE & CO., LTD. (Non-consolidated) | 4.6% | 4.3% | 4.97% | 6.2% | 6% or more | 10% or more |
- ※ The ratio of female career-track employees to female managers was set as targets for the end of fiscal 2025 at 30% or more for career-track employees and 6% or more for managers, but these targets were achieved one year ahead of schedule.Therefore, we have set a new target of 10% or more for the ratio of female managers by the end of fiscal 2028 as an indicator for promoting the active participation of women in the workplace.
Action Plan based on the Law for the Promotion of Women’s Activities
1. Action plan period
April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2029
2. Targets, Organization, and Implementation Schedule
We aim to achieve targets (1) and (2) below during the action plan period.
Target(1) Increase the ratio of female managers to at least 10%.
＜Contents of Efforts＞
April 2025~
・Enhancement of measures aimed at increasing the ratio of women in recruitment
・Implementation of training and networking for management candidates
・Consideration of introducing systems that promote diverse work styles (such as flex time and shift work)
・Establishment of systems and environments that promote work-life balance
Target(2) Increase the annual paid leave utilization rate to 70% or more.
＜Contents of Efforts＞
April 2025~
・Promotion of taking five consecutive days of annual paid leave
・Encouraging employees with low annual paid leave utilization rates and their supervisors to take annual paid leave
・Notifications to promote the use of paid leave via the internal portal, etc.
International Labor Standards Compliance
The NAGASE Group supports the basic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the four labor principles of the United Nations Global Compact, and guarantees basic labor rights to its employees. It also supports freedom of association and the union's ownership of the three rights of labor: the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to collective action.
Efforts on labor issues
Preventing child labor and forced labor
The NAGASE Group has not used any child labor or forced labor to date. In addition, in order to prevent the occurrence of child labor and forced labor in the future, we are thoroughly observing laws and regulations in each country and conducting regular monitoring.
Employee Representative Involvement Mechanism
As a mechanism for dialogue between employee representatives and the Company, NAGASE & CO., LTD. aims to achieve an appropriate working environment and working conditions between the labor side and management side through dialogue several times a year.
Reducing long working hours
NAGASE & CO., LTD. discloses the average number of overtime hours worked and the cumulative amount of overtime pay by division on its internal website to make overtime work more visible. The Human Resources and General Affairs Division supports the formulation of action plans for divisions where overtime work has become a chronic problem, and also works with the Health Committee to make company-wide efforts to reduce overtime work.Overtime hours in FY2024 averaged 18.2hours for the entire company, a decrease of 1.79% from FY2023.
Participation in JFTC Committees & Liaison Meetings
Nagase participates in the Human Resources Committee and the Sustainability Promotion Committee of the Japan Foreign Trade Council.We will continue to promote the display of human capital information and actively participate in liaison meetings to promote the display of information.
Religious and cultural considerations in employment
In order to accommodate the increasing number of foreign employees and visitors, a multi-purpose room has been set up in the Tokyo head office, which can be used as a place of worship.
Supporting the Activities of Senior Citizens
To support the activities of senior employees, we have introduced a "part-time reemployment system" after retirement.
Report on violations of labor standards
There were no violations of the Labor Standards Act at NAGASE & CO., LTD. (non-consolidated) in FY2024.
Local Employment & Procurement
The NAGASE Group believes that employment creation by hiring local employees and local procurement play an important role in building good relationships with various countries and regions where we operate and in contributing to local economies and communities. Based on this concept, we will promote local employment creation and local procurement to contribute to the development of various countries and regions where we operate.
Employee engagement
NAGASE Group has identified “Employee engagement improvement” as one of ourMateriality. We define engagement as “the company (organization) and its employees having a mutual understanding and moving in the same direction as equal partners.”
We have been running the “Employee Engagement Improvement Project” to promote understanding of engagement, foster its adoption across the Group, and implement various initiatives aimed at improving it. We have also promoted the realization of a harassment-free environment as a part of our efforts to enhance engagement. As a result, we achieved the non-financial targets for employee engagement set forth in the mid-term management plan ACE 2.0, successfully establishing the concept of engagement throughout the Group and building a foundation for dialogue. Accordingly, the “Employee Engagement Improvement Project” has concluded as of FY2025.
Starting in FY2026, looking ahead to FY2028—the final year of the mid-term management plan “Walk the Talk”—we aim to realize “a state in which each individual finds meaning in their work, looks in the same direction, and actively engages in discussion and takes action.” To bring this vision to reality, we have launched the “N-Engagement Project.” Centered on “activating dialogue” and “sharing values,” this project will promote the realization of a state where the company and its employees are looking in the same direction. Additionally, to visualize progress and current status, we will implement a new, original “N-Engagement Survey.”
Please refer to the following for details on our sustainability structure.
Employee Engagement Survey
We believe that improving employee engagement is of the utmost importance for achieving “exponential growth” by 2032 (our 200th anniversary), and we have set non-financial targets to drive these efforts.
Please refer to the following for details on our non-financial targets.
Mid-Term Management Plan ACE 2.0 (FY2021–FY2025)
We have conducted engagement surveys (organizational diagnostic surveys) and set the following targets for completion rates and scores, thereby promoting a deeper understanding of the concept of engagement and establishing mechanisms for workplace improvement.
Mid-Term Management Plan Walk the Talk (FY2026–2028)
We envision our aim for FY2028 as “a state in which each individual finds meaning in their work, looks in the same direction, and actively engages in discussion and takes action.” To achieve this, we are promoting initiatives (N-Engagement) that go beyond traditional engagement surveys and specifically aim to realize our definition—“the company (organization) and its employees have a mutual understanding and are looking in the same direction as equal partners.”
Under N-Engagement, guided by the objectives of “activating dialogue” and “sharing values,” we are conducting a new, original survey designed to assess the status and progress of our efforts to ensure that “the company and its employees are looking in the same direction.”
Even after the launch of the N-Engagement Survey, we plan to continue using existing engagement surveys (Organizational Diagnostic Surveys) on a regular and ongoing basis in organizations where we deem it necessary.
＜Contents of the Organizational Diagnostic Survey＞
＜Contents of the N-Engagement Survey＞
The survey consists of five questions on “engagement”—which examines the foundation of trust between the company and its employees—and ten questions designed to assess the understanding and implementation of the “NAGASE's identity” (a key concept in our mid-term management plan). Each question is structured around two subjects (“you” and “your workplace”) to assess the situation within the company and each organization.
| Our vidion for FY2028 | A state in which each individual finds meaning in their work, looks in the same direction, and actively engages in discussion and takes action. |
|---|
| Section | Theme | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement (The Foundation of Trust Between the Company and Its Employees) | Psychological Safety | Speak openly and honestly |
| Growth | Grow personally through your work | |
| Communication | Work collaboratively with supervisors and colleagues | |
| Autonomy | Use discretion and creativity in how you approach your work | |
| Recommendation | Recommend this company as a good place to work | |
| NAGASE's identity (Incorporating and Implementing the Key Concepts of the Mid-Term Management Plan) | Acceptance of Diversity | Make an effort to embrace different values and perspectives |
| Collaboration | Actively involve internal and external members when advancing your work | |
| Courage to fail | Take on challenges without fear of failure | |
| Animal Spirits | Take action without overemphasizing planning | |
| Breaking Precedent | Propose and implement new ideas instead of following precedents | |
| Flexibility / Agility | Adapt flexibly to changing situations | |
| Lead by Example | Take initiative to positively influence others | |
| Systemization | Build systems that allow consistent results even when others take over your work | |
| Walk the Talk | “Walk the talk” and deliver on your promises | |
| +1 Question: Open-ended question | ||
Initiatives to Improve Employee Engagement
＜Initiatives for FY2025＞
| Implement measures | Details |
|---|---|
| Enhancing Opportunities for Dialogue (1-on-1s and Town Halls) | Continue holding 1-on-1 meetings and small-group discussions with division heads and department managersHolding town hall meetings led by senior management at global group companies and strengthening direct communication |
| Incorporating Organizational Messages and Policies | Communication from senior management and division heads regarding the organization’s vision, the meaning of the business, and career perspectivesClarifying expected roles and fostering mutual understanding |
| Organizational management involving all members | Promoting all-staff discussions regarding the mid-term plan and our vision for the futureExpanding opportunities for active participation by assigning roles to young employees and the next generation of leaders |
| Improving employee engagement through integration with HR systems | Incorporating engagement metrics into the MBOImproving transparency by clarifying roles and objectives, and utilizing the counselor system |
| Strengthening Cross-Organizational and Global Collaboration | Expanding opportunities for interaction and dialogue across departments and with global entitiesBroadening perspectives and fostering a sense of unity within the organization |
| Obtaining external evaluations | Awarded the “Motivation Company” prize in the large company category (less than 5,000 employees) at the BMC2026 awards.Recognition for efforts to continuously improve engagement |
Initiatives Led by the Business Division
Based on the approach that each division head serves as a champion for employee engagement, each business division and group company is actively pursuing its own initiatives. The Corporate Sustainability Office supports and promotes engagement efforts by providing NAGASE's business divisions and group companies with opportunities to share best practices, facilitate dialogue, and analyze overarching challenges. We aim to enhance engagement by creating opportunities to discuss challenges and share successful initiatives discovered through dialogue within each business division.
Dialogue within the Business Division
Dialogue with Global Group Companies
We hold dialogue sessions and town hall meetings aimed at fostering understanding and promoting employee engagement among our global group companies. Through these communications, we explain and discuss the NAGASE Group’s approach to employee engagement with our global group companies, thereby deepening their understanding.
We also discuss employee engagement at the Global HR Council, which brings together HR representatives from global group companies. By sharing the engagement challenges faced by each group company and learning from one another’s initiatives, we are helping to resolve these issues.
Going forward, we plan to continue sharing information on initiatives and other matters among group companies, both domestically and internationally, and work to improve employee engagement across the entire group.
Town Hall Meeting by Management
PROJECT BRIDGE
“PROJECT BRIDGE” is a project to update our offices and work styles in conjunction with the reconstruction of Nagase & Co.’s Tokyo Head Office, the renovation of the Osaka Head Office, and the relocation of the Nagoya Branch. We named this project “PROJECT BRIDGE” to symbolize a bridge connecting the NAGASE Group to the future.
In addition to adopting an Activity-Based Workplace (ABW) system in August 2022—which allows employees to choose their own workspace based on the day’s tasks and circumstances—we have also implemented a dress code-free policy since January 2022, allowing employees to select the attire best suited to their work style throughout the year. To ensure that our offices remain vibrant and engaging long after the relocation and renovations, we are actively discussing and implementing initiatives to create an environment where our diverse workforce can thrive.
Related Data
- 【Consolidated】Employees by segment
- 【Non-Consolidated】Gender, age structure and attributes of employees
- 【Non-Consolidated】Number of new graduates and mid-career hires
- 【Non-Consolidated】Retention rate after three years of hiring new graduates
- 【Non-Consolidated】Voluntary turnover of full-time employees
- 【Non-Consolidated】Average years of service
- 【Non-Consolidated】Average annual salary
- 【Non-Consolidated】Total annual working hours
- 【Non-Consolidated】Overtime work
- 【Non-Consolidated】Annual paid leave
- 【Non-Consolidated】Employment of persons with disabilities
- 【Non-Consolidated】Childbirth and childcare support system
- 【Group】Employee engagement
