Health and Productivity Management

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• Health and Productivity Management Policy
• Health Maintenance and Improvement Initiatives

Health and Productivity Management Policy

Basic Approach

The UACJ Group conducts safety and health activities based on the view that the safety, hygiene, and health of employees take precedence over everything else. Based on our conviction that preserving and promoting employee health is vital to the Group’s ongoing development, we announced our Health Management Policy in 2021 and our commitment to actively implement measures to promote employee health. In March 2023, for a second consecutive year, the NIPPON KENKO KAIGI recognized our active efforts to promote employee health by certifying the Company as a Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (large enterprise category).

Health and Productivity Management Promotion Structure

In accordance with the UACJ Group Health and Productivity Management Policy, the Group endeavors to maintain and promote employee health following the management structure presented below. The Safety and Health Committee, comprised of all executive officers and chaired by the president, discuss activities, issues, and programs related to employee health and safety.

Health and Productivity Management Issues

The UACJ Group believes we cannot expect to achieve continuing growth as a company if employees chronically take long absences or leave due to physical or mental illness (absenteeism) or if employees who are present are unable to fully function due to health reasons (presenteeism). The UACJ Group aims to minimize absenteeism and presenteeism and increase employee engagement by being a company where employees can work with enthusiasm and vitality and that is attractive to diverse human resources.
We also believe that our health and productivity management initiatives will enhance the performance of both individual employees and our organization, which together will lead to the fulfillment of the UACJ Group Vision “Harnessing aluminum to reduce the impact on the environment and build a better world.”

Health Targets

• Reduce absenteeism (2.0 or fewer employees by FY2024, target set based on the current status and recommendation of occupational health physicians)
• Reduce presenteeism
• Increase engagement (above 3.35 points by FY2023, the average score for large corporations)

• *Absenteeism is the number of employees per 100 employees who have long absences or leaves: 2,977 employees, coverage 100%
• * Presenteeism is a comprehensive evaluation of work functioning impairment scale (WFun): 3,124 employees, response rate 94.9%.
• * Engagement is a comprehensive index of the organizational activation survey: 2,473 employees, response rate: 78.6%

Company Health Issues and Improvement Targets

Health Maintenance and Improvement Initiatives

Reduce Risk of Lifestyle Diseases

We seek to attain 100% participation in regular health examinations and 100% participation in follow-up exams and clinic visits based on the exam results or recommended by an occupational health physician. Recommendations for specific health issues are provided in cooperation with the health insurance association and healthcare providers. In 2022, we also began installing healthcare ICT equipment and intend to continue installing equipment with the ultimate goal of making it available and convenient for all who can benefit from the service. In addition to providing recommendations for specific health issues, in fiscal 2022 we began holding seminars on diet and exercise with the aim of reducing the percentage of employees with a body mass index (BMI) over 25.

Reduce the Percentage of Employees who Smoke

We began eliminating indoor smoking areas and reducing the number of designated smoking areas when Japan adopted the revised Health Promotion Act in 2018. We also worked with the health insurance association to free smoking cessation treatment for employees wishing to quit smoking. In addition, to offer more options and make it easier for people wanting to quit, in 2023 we began providing a program led by a company specializing in helping people quit smoking. Other measures to encourage employees to quit smoking include all of our business sites observing the World No Tobacco Day, no tobacco days on the 22nd of each month, and presentations by occupational health physicians on the health hazards of smoking arranged by the Health and Safety Committee.

Reduce Long-term Absenteeism and Leave of Absence Due to Mental Health Conditions

We conduct workplace stress checks to help employees be aware of their level of stress and encourage employees to consult with occupational health physicians and external organizations. In addition, in accordance with the mental health promotion plan of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, we seek to raise awareness of mental healthcare through programs on self-care for new employees and a system of superiors providing health guidance (line-care) for newly appointed managers and organizational managers, e-learning on self-care and line-care, presentations by occupational health physicians arranged by the Safety and Health Committee. We also maintain a leave management system and help employees seeking to return to work after taking a leave of absence for a mental health issue, assist with rework (return to work), and provide vocational rehabilitation.

Reduce Employees with Monthly Overtime Exceeding 45 Hours

The personnel plans we formulate for each fiscal year seek to secure an adequate number of personnel through the hiring at each business site of new college graduates and mid-career professionals, including actively recruiting women and older workers, while taking into account our drives to reduce employee overtime and encourage the full use of employee leave time. We conduct measures to foster employee awareness of overtime work by instituting efforts to turn off lights at 8 p.m., requiring work notifications to be submitted when planning to work late at night or on a non-business day, designated specific “no overtime” days, instructing employees on work hour management, and having supervisors in attendance when an employee is regularly consulting an occupational health physician. These efforts have had a certain degree of success reducing the number of employees who put in large amounts of overtime work.
In fiscal 2021, we institutionalized telecommuting, which was first introduced as a preventive measure at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in fiscal 2020. Our telecommuting model accommodates working at both the office and at home (or, upon discretion of the division manager, working full-time at home). This model improves the work-life balance of employees, such as by eliminating commute time, and is also contributing to greater employee engagement.

Increase Employee Engagement

In fiscal 2020, we began conducting annual engagement surveys of all UACJ Group company employees to identify indicators of overall job satisfaction and motivation and factors that influence those indicators (assessments of personal motivation, workplace vitality, the personnel systems, and top management). The survey results are used as the basis for measures to improve engagement at all levels, such as holding discussion meetings between employees and management, improving the personnel systems of the Human Resources Department, and introducing reform measures for specific work places. We also present popular seminars on work and communication techniques that help improve engagement and productivity. We also support health and productivity management of our supply chain by opening the seminars to employees of partner companies working in our offices.

Raise Employee Health Awareness

We believe that increasing employee health literacy and awareness are essential to successful health and productivity management, and in fiscal 2023 began distributing about three short, three- to four-minute videos each month for employees to watch about maintaining and improving personal health. We encourage employees to watch the videos during work hours, work breaks, or during their free time and also recommend watching all together as a group so they will exchange comments and stimulate communication. We also take various steps to increase viewership, such as by announcements in the internal newsletter, mentions at labor union delegate meetings messages, showing them on monitors in the plant cafeterias and offices, mandating viewing prior to regular health examinations, requesting they be part of organizational programs, and showing and discussion them at meetings of the Health and Safety Committee.

Commentary: Absenteeism has improved significantly due to the specific focus of various initiatives and the health and productivity management Survey. Employee physical health is improving with steadily rising percentages of employees exercising regularly and a declining percentage of smokers, which is a response to the services created with the health insurance association and others. We will be working to continue improving the numbers by providing recommendations for specific health issues and online programs to help people quit smoking. We will also continue steadily implementing our mental health programs, encouraging employees to take the stress checks and using online tools to provide education on self-care and line care as recommended by the government’s mental health promotion plan. Following our belief of the importance of raising employee health awareness, we are actively introducing various short but informative videos on health issues each month and making them available in such a way that watching them is a natural part of the day, such as by showing them on monitors in the company cafeteria. Engagement is also slowly but surely improving. We hold various types of discussion meetings and seminars to support individual initiatives to improve engagement. We also recognize efforts with the President’s Award for outstanding initiatives and implementing them throughout the Group. Fiscal 2023 was the first year that we have measured presenteeism. The survey results will be used to plan and form new health measures, and we will regularly monitor employee satisfaction to continue improving the measures’ effectiveness.