Society
Promotion of Health and Occupational Safety: Wellbeing
Declaration of a Healthy Company and Materiality
Sysmex Declaration of a Healthy Company
Sysmex regards the promotion of a healthy company to be a management issue. Our goal is that our employees, who are the foundation for the practice of the Group’s corporate philosophy, will have fulfilling lives both physically and mentally. The Sysmex Declaration of a Healthy Company, drawn up in April 2020, specifies matters of critical importance regarding such aspects as occupational health and safety, as well as mental and physical health (materiality of health and productivity management). This has prompted Sysmex to make continuous efforts toward employee health enhancement, create working environments where diversity is valued, and provide workplaces that make employees proud.
We also conduct wellbeing research in our annual engagement survey. More than 80% of employees* have given positive answers to the questions about “a safe workplace” for two consecutive years.
- Target: Sysmex Corporation
Our Efforts towards Health Enhancement
Efforts towards Employees’ Health Enhancement
Sysmex Corporation provides regular medical checkups for its employees, together with complete physical examinations and health screenings for female-specific cancers. It also encourages each employee who has received thorough examination results to undergo a secondary examination when necessary. If an employee needs to receive long-term medical examinations and/or treatment, we make work-at-home arrangements for them among our efforts to help them continue to work. Moreover, in addition to mandatory semi-annual medical checkups, we provide our own biannual checkups that include tests for hepatitis B and C for employees engaging in work involving infectious substances. This is to ensure early detection and treatment of illnesses.
Sysmex is registered as a partner company in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s “Cancer Screening Corporate Action” and “Know about Hepatitis Project.” We have also signed the “Agreement to Promote an Increase in the Rate of Cancer Screening” with Hyogo Prefecture. These are some of our activities to educate employees about diseases and increase the rate of employees taking medical checkups.
As a measure against passive smoking, Sysmex removed smoking areas at business offices retained by its Group companies in Japan. We also provide allowances to cover services for quitting tobacco use and attendance at smoking-cessation seminars.*
- Employees can apply for allowances that cover medical consultation or health-related seminars from the “Cafeteria Plan” welfare program.
Efforts to Ensure Employees’ Mental Health
Sysmex Corporation performs “Kokoro no Health Checks” annually to confirm employees’ mental health and uncover any harassment-related situations. We track results over time and strive to make workplace improvements. We also provide channels for health consultation with industrial physicians and public health nurses, together with an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health, to ensure that external professionals are available to our employees when they need help.
In fiscal 2022, we had industrial physicians conduct several seminars on mental health issues to raise employee awareness of the need for self-care. In addition, we have provided management training on improving organizational psychological safety for employees in managerial positions.
Sysmex CNA concluded a service agreement with an external specialized institution, effective from 2021, as part of its mental health care initiative. In fiscal 2022, it offered a counseling service for employees with poor mental health and a reinstitution support service for employees on temporary leave. We conducted seminars on self-care, anger management, women’s active participation, and other topics.
Efforts towards Employees’ Active and Healthy Lives
Sysmex Corporation has welfare facilities to encourage employees to stay healthy. These include sports grounds, tennis courts, and a gymnasium with fitness equipment on the premises of our Solution Center, which provides customer service and support. It also holds events and seminars to raise employee awareness of physical health maintenance, offers a “Cafeteria Plan” welfare program including health promotion schemes such as sports facility use allowances, and provides healthy menu options at employee cafeterias. At some offices without cafeterias, healthy canteen services, where dishes made with additive-free domestic ingredients are sold, have been launched with the aim of refreshing employees and improving their eating habits. Moreover, we have organized initiatives such as walking events and consultation services for specific forms of health guidance during working hours, in collaboration with our corporate health insurance society.
Recognition as a Company that Excels in Health and Productivity Management
Sysmex Corporation undertakes various initiatives for health and productivity management, and we have an established framework for our activities that encompasses Group companies in Japan. These efforts have received positive responses, and in March 2023 we were recognized for the seventh time by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a “company that excels in health and productivity management.”
Activities at Other Group Companies
Our Group company, HITADO, has created an in-house fitness center to provide various fitness programs for all employees, such as yoga and Pilates. It also provides COVID-19 self-tests at any time free of charge at an in-house test center.
| Company | Initiatives |
|---|---|
| Sysmex America |
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| Sysmex Brazil |
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| Sysmex Europe |
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| Sysmex Shanghai |
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| Sysmex Asia Pacific |
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Framework and Promotion of Occupational Health and Safety
Framework for Promoting Occupational Health and Safety
Sysmex promotes occupational health and safety management in accordance with its Regulations on Safety and Health, which were formulated under the responsibility of members of the Management Board, a senior executive officer, and a senior managing director. A Central Health and Safety Committee* was established for Group companies in Japan. The committee aims to reinforce and enhance Group companies’ occupational health and safety systems. To this end, the committee formulates policies and targets, ascertains the status of occupational health at individual business sites, and considers measures for improvement. It will further clarify the roles of its industrial physicians and nurses and work closer with employees to engage in health promotion, disease prevention, and health education activities. We have also set targets for lost-time injury frequency rates and lost workday rates as sustainability targets, and we report on the status of these initiatives to the Managing Board semiannually.
- The Central Health and Safety Committee consists of members including the HR & General Affairs divisions, chairpersons of the Health and Safety Committees of various business offices, persons recommended by the Sysmex Union, and industrial physicians and health nurses.
Initiatives for Occupational Health and Safety
Health and Safety Committee meetings are held regularly at each Sysmex business office, and preemptive measures are taken from both short- and long-term perspectives based on a risk management concept, which includes eliminating risks identified through walk-around checks. In addition, the Central Health and Safety Committee, which monitors Sysmex Group companies in Japan, introduces measures and targets for health and safety and health management of domestic Group companies, monitors their progress, and deliberates on a variety of items ranging from measures against workplace risks and overwork to measures to ensure the safe handling of chemicals used in research. In the event of an industrial accident, the Health and Safety Committee of the relevant business office will deliberate on the causes of, and countermeasures against, the accident and report these to the Central Health and Safety Committee, which will share the reported contents within the entire Group with the objective of preventing a recurrence of the accident.
In addition, employees are given safety training on emergency and evacuation measures to be taken in the event of an accident or an employee suddenly falling ill, on handling potentially dangerous machinery and raw materials, and safe driving. We hold comprehensive fire drills based on hypothetical large-scale disaster scenarios, and conduct training on the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). We also offer courses to train citizen emergency medical technicians on a regular basis. We hold initial-response drills in the event of a disaster, which involve quickly confirming and ensuring employee safety and sharing information on the damage status at business offices. Sysmex also conducts labor compliance training, seminars by industrial physicians on the importance of taking secondary medical checkup and the aftereffects of COVID-19 infections, and seminars by external experts on women’s health.
Group companies also promote occupational health and safety management by carrying out workplace patrols and surveys, risk assessments, training for emergency situations in accordance with the laws and regulations of specific regions and in accordance with the characteristics of each facility. Sysmex Brazil has acquired ISO 45001 certification, the international standard for Occupational Health and Safety management systems.
Preventing Overwork
To prevent overwork, we focus on reducing long working hours, which can impair physical and mental health. In addition to complying with relevant laws and regulations, we have established internal standards that are more rigorous than the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. When an employee exceeds the specified limits set in accordance with internal standards, we communicate this fact to their superior and ask the employee to submit a self-check form so that improvements can be made to their work situation. Employees are also offered opportunities to see industrial physicians when necessary. As for managing working hours, we log employees’ hours with an IC card that they use to enter and leave the office, and with the times at which they start and shut down their computers. Time management training by external lecturers for executives, and e-learning programs for employees, are continuously conducted to enhance understanding of the need for improvement regarding overwork.
The average total annual working hours per person for fiscal 2022 was 2,020 hours,1 a decrease of 10 hours from the previous fiscal year. Proactive recruiting activities have allowed progress in solving the shortage of personnel against a backdrop of increased initiatives for technological innovation and business structure transformation. The introduction of a value-added labor productivity index2 prompted a change to a more efficient way of working and has caused the reduction in actual work hours. The number of paid leave days taken has also increased.
Sysmex will continue to proceed with appropriate personnel allocation through the strengthening of recruiting activities, proactively educate employees, and carry out awareness-raising activities in alliance with the Sysmex Union, with the aim of reducing working hours.
- 1 Full-time employees in Group companies in Japan
- 2 (Operating profit + labor cost + depreciation)/working hours