Health and Safety

We work to improve the work-life balance of our employees so that they feel motivated in their work while living rich lives and enjoying both mental and physical health. We also implement various measures to provide work styles that fit employees' life stages and individual needs, along with initiatives that promote long careers with HITOWA.

Thorough Overtime Management

We set limits on overtime and thoroughly monitor and ensure compliance with overtime rules. We use IT and other tools to increase operational efficiency and enrich our human resources in an ongoing process of work environment improvement in order to further reduce overtime hours.

Reducing Long Working Hours and Promoting the Usage of Paid Leave

We set numerical targets for working hour reductions and paid leave usage and continuously work to improve our results. We use IT and other tools to increase operational efficiency and we raise productivity through measures such as creating better workplace environments in order to achieve further improvements.

Super-Flex Time (with core time for some departments)

We have introduced a super-flex time system so that employees can work efficiently while maintaining harmony between their personal and work lives. We are striving to improve employees' workplace environments and promoting long-term employee retention.
* Super-flex time scope: HITOWA Group head office employees

Work-From-Home System and Promotion of Telecommuting

In 2018, we introduced a telecommuting system that allows employees to work from home. It not only makes it easier to coordinate work and private lives, but also eliminates commuting. As this work style contributes to greater productivity, we are working to further improve our work environment.
* Telecommuting scope: HITOWA Group head office employees

The HITOWA Group has declared its commitment to actively maintaining and promoting the health of its employees.（https://www.hitowa.com/company/health/）。

Our Initiatives

• Health checkup and serious medical condition prevention: Employees undergo health checkups to detect problems at an early stage, preventing infectious diseases, lifestyle-related diseases, and the like from becoming serious.
• Mental health: We promote the maintenance of mental health by using stress checks to detect mental health problems at an early stage and providing employees with issues with individualized care.
• Health promotion: We provide information and opportunities related to food, exercise, sleep, smoking cessation, and the like with the aim of promoting healthier lifestyles.

In 2021, we established the Central Health Committee, a new organization that oversees the health committees in each of our Group companies with the aim of supervising and implementing initiatives on safety, health, and hygiene management throughout the entire HITOWA Group (held twice per year). In order to become a company that is rewarding to work at, the entire Group works together to maintain and improve employee health, workplace safety, and workplace hygiene.

Roles of the Central Health Committee

• Collection of information regarding the status of safety, health, and hygiene management activities as well as work accidents throughout the Group
• Deliberation regarding safety and hygiene tasks and targets
• Status reporting and recommendations to the management team
• Promotion of information sharing regarding the status of safety, health, and hygiene activities by each company

HITOWA Food Service, which provides catering services to nursing care facilities, elementary schools, junior high schools, and more, considers safety and security as its highest priority and employs thorough hygiene management in its business areas so that customers can live healthy, rich lives. It uses hygiene management methods based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) concept, rigorously observing work process classifications and implementing maintenance management, which includes the recording and improvement of hygiene management records.

It has also introduced third-party hygiene audits in order to further enhance its hygiene audit functions. By implementing thorough hygiene management, it strives to serve diners with safer, more delicious food that they can enjoy with peace of mind.

HITOWA Food Service's efforts to ensure safety and security （Japanese version only）

The HITOWA Group employs the following employee-oriented measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Measures

• Body temperature measurement when arriving at work
• Mandating thorough mask usage
• Encouraging hand washing and disinfection
• Recommending the use of online meetings

We implement the following measures in preparation for disasters.

Disaster drills (held twice per year)

• Fire/ambulance notification training
• Simulation training and announcement of the proper way to report issues to the fire department
• Employees learn about the firefighting equipment in the company
• Employees learn the escape routes

Safety Confirmation System

We use a safety confirmation system to confirm the safety of employees and their family members in the event of an earthquake measuring 5-upper or greater on the Shindo scale.

Equipment Safety Measures

All furniture and appliances, such as cabinets and multifunction printers, are secured to walls in order to mitigate damage in the event of a major earthquake.

Free Dispensing by Office Vending Machines in the Event of a Disaster

The vending machines in our offices (beverage and food/snack vending machines) are configured to dispense their products free of charge when a disaster occurs for the benefit of people forced to remain in the office for a long period of time.

On January 1, 2022, HITOWA Holdings' Silver Certification as a leader in health and productivity management (Silver Certification No. 1434-(1)) was renewed in recognition of the Company's active efforts to promote workplace health, such as its work environment improvements, based on its "Healthy Company Declaration." This was the second year in a row that it was selected for Silver Certification.

The Silver Certification for leaders in health and productivity management is granted by a system for recognizing companies that have declared their intent to promote health throughout the company and that have attained a certain level of achievement in these efforts as "leaders in health and productivity management." In order to create an environment that strives to promote healthier workplaces, HITOWA Holdings has declared that 100% of employees are to receive health checkups and that it will implement measures in the following six areas. The Company is actively implementing these measures.

1.Using the results of health checkups

2.Creating environments that foster better health

• The Company selects persons in charge of health promotion, holds regular discussions regarding health-related issues in the workplace, creates health promotion targets and plans, and puts these plans into action.

3.Food

• The Company provides information about the beverages consumed during working (especially the sugar content of the beverages), places beverages for specified health uses in vending machines, and makes beverages (primarily water) available within the Company for 50 yen.
• The Company places "Office Okans (Mothers)" and "OFFICE DE YASAI (VEGETABLES)" in offices and provides information about the Dietary Balance Guide to promote balanced diets.

4.Exercise

• The Company sends emails and puts up posters recommending stair use and provides information about the effectiveness of stretching and simple stretching exercises that can be done when working at home.

5.Smoking cessation

• The Company notifies employees about ill effects of smoking and the policy prohibiting smoking after 7:00 p.m., a long-standing company measure.

6.Mental health

• The Company offers health consultations and provides information regarding self-care.

On March 8, 2023, HITOWA Holdings was recognized as a 2023 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (SME category) under the Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program operated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi(*). This was the second year in a row that it was selected by the program.

The Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program is a program through which the Nippon Kenko Kaigi recognizes outstanding large enterprises and SMEs that are implementing excellent health and productivity management based on regional health issues and the health promotion initiatives of the Nippon Kenko Kaigi. The HITOWA Group is constantly working to improve its workplace environments so that each and every employee can enjoy both physical and mental health and feel excited and motivated in their work.

• * Nippon Kenko Kaigi: As the Japanese birth rate is declining steeply and the country's population is rapidly aging, the Nippon Kenko Kaigi was established as an organization dedicated to enabling private organizations to collaborate and take practical actions to extend the healthy lives of everyone in Japan and provide them with appropriate medical care, backed by full support of the government. Economic groups, medical associations, private organizations such as insurers, and local governments work together with the aim of implementing concrete measures in workplaces and communities.

In July 2020, HITOWA Holdings was certified as both a Company Issuing a Declaration of Workplace Environment Improvements and a Company in Compliance with Management and Labor Criteria under the Company Labor Examination and Certification System operated by the Japan Federation of Labor and Social Security Attorney's Associations(*).

The Company Labor Examination and Certification System is a system under which labor and social security attorneys examine and certify companies that are actively complying with labor and social security laws and regulations and making improvements to their workplace environments in order to promote more sound corporate management. The HITOWA Group is constantly working to improve its workplace environments so that each and every employee can enjoy both physical and mental health and feel excited and motivated in their work.

• * Japan Federation of Labor and Social Security Attorney's Associations: This organization, licensed by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, is a federation of labor and social security attorneys' associations in each of Japan's prefectures. Its objectives are to maintain the dignity of the members of labor and social security attorneys' associations, increase their quality, and improve their operations by performing administrative duties related to providing instruction to and communicating with the labor and social security attorneys' associations in each prefecture and their members, performing administrative duties related to the registration of labor and social security attorneys, and performing administrative duties related to the Labor and Social Security Attorney Examination and the Dispute Resolution Procedure Proxy Service Examination.