Strategic Development and Utilization of Human Resources

For the Kurita Group, which provides diverse solutions to society and industry with the aim of continuously pioneering “new value for water,” human resources are the source of its sustainable growth.
The Kurita Group aims to secure, develop, and utilize diverse human resources who understand our Corporate Philosophy to remain the group where each individual person demonstrates their capabilities and which works to maximize customer value and create shared value with society.

The Kurita Group has defined the state of personnel and organizations when realizing the vision: "the corporate group that continues to create unique value through interaction among diverse people who care about water and the environment and who accept each other's differences."

The Kurita Group has set targets for employee engagement scores, the rate of women, foreigners and experienced personnel among executive of the Company, and full rate of human resources for development, digital, and intellectual property and is working to strategically develop and utilize human resources. The targets and results for this materiality are as follows.

To maximize the potential of each employee, it is necessary to fairly evaluate each individual according to their role and performance, and to provide appropriate treatment, training, and utilization that match the evaluation. At the company, we strive to ensure transparency and fairness in evaluations by having employees review their achievements and challenges with their supervisors through interviews.

Ratio of Employees Subject to the Personnel Evaluation System at the Company (%)

The Company has introduced the Self-Reporting System which allows employees to express to the Company their perspectives on their duties and workplaces, as well as their intentions regarding development and utilization of their abilities. Once a year, supervisors discuss with employees about their suitability for their current duties, their transfer preferences for future career development, their family situations, and other matters. This enables the Company to understand the employee’s perspectives and the results are used for talent development and organizational revitalization. Additionally, employees can request career advancement through the Transfer Survey and Career Registration System.

The Kurita Group is committed to creating a working environment where each employee can work with peace of mind. The Company have systems in place to support employees balancing work with life events such as childcare and nursing care, as well as flexible work styles such as telecommuting and remote work. Additionally, by promoting the creation of an environment in which diverse human resources can work comfortably, we are disseminating and promoting the use of these systems to executives and employees.

In accordance with the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, we have established a workplace that supports employees who need to balance work with raising children. In principle, employees can take childcare leave until the child reaches two years of age, but the period can be extended in certain specified conditions. Furthermore, employees may choose to work for shorter hours until the end of March of their child’s third year of elementary school. In addition, we are working to improve our system by introducing childcare leave at birth and allowing employees to take their childcare leave in installments.

Status of System Use

• The number of female workers who began or used childcare leave in fiscal 2023 is higher than the number of female workers who gave birth that year, resulting in a usage rate of more than 100%.

The Company offers a Caregiving Leave system to employees who have family members requiring care and who wish to continue working after caregiving. The system can be used for up to one year (365 days) in principle. Moreover, for each eligible family member requiring care, the Company offers employees a cumulative total of up to 12 months of working less hours to provide caregiving. In addition, when employees apply for leave to provide caregiving or other care to family members who need it, they can receive five days of special paid leave for each eligible family member per year, up to a maximum total of 10 days in the case of two or more eligible family members.

Status of System Use (Number of people)

The Company provides paid leave for nursing. Employees with a child yet to enter elementary school who need to nurse that child because of an injury or illness can take up to five days a year of leave for one child or ten days a year of leave for two or more children.

The Company offers a leave of absence system for up to three years, to allow employees to accompany their spouses transferring overseas and provide support in terms of daily life and mental well-being.

Status of System Use (Number of people)

The Company has a volunteer leave system for all employees, enabling them to take up to two days of paid volunteer leave per year.

Status of System Use (Number of people)

As a work style reform initiative, we are creating workplace environments that allow for more flexibility by amending the practice of working long hours and promoting working remotely.

1. Transform the mindset of workers
 Increase individual employee awareness of time and train them to perform their work efficiently.
2. Reform work processes
 Review work flow and operating procedures, reduce waste and promote standardization to make work more efficient.
3. Organize working environment and rules
 Establish work rules that set out a balance between working and breaks and create an environment that supports flexible work styles.

The Company is taking the following initiatives to rectify the issue of working long hours. From fiscal 2024, as part of the “Initiatives to Address Long Working Hours through Work Transformation”, we are reviewing work procedures and promoting awareness-raising efforts that will lead to behavioral change.
(1) Introduced working intervals program
(2) Lights turned out when employees should leave the office
(3) Stricter control of working hours for employees who manage their own hours
(4) Promotion of annual paid leave

The Company is carrying out the following initiatives to promote working remotely.
(1) Introduce work-at-home system
(2) Develop and maintain infrastructure for working remotely (personal computers, smartphones, etc.)
(3) Promote online company events, internal training, and internal/external meetings, etc.
(4) Online training to improve IT skills
(5) Promote paperless administration and introduce digital signatures (approval seals)
(6) Provide work-at-home benefits

The Company has distributed mobile IT devices primarily to employees engaged in design work to streamline operations. Specifically, the confirmation of construction work that was previously done on paper, is now carried out using the screen of an IT device and photographs of the site. The confirmed items can be quickly shared inside and outside the Company, which has eliminated differences in understanding between parties involved, and cut down reworking. The system also enables speedy communication with suppliers and reduces travel time to offices. By reducing the work time of engineers, they are able to shift their focus to creative operations.

In addition to securing the Company’s sound growth and continuation, the Company and the labor union maintain a sound and fair relationship. Labor and management each do their utmost to improve the economic and social standing of union members and to maintain and improve working conditions. Specifically, the Company and the Labor Union have concluded a labor agreement, share management information and exchange opinions at management consultation meetings and so forth, and promote dialogue.

The Company works to foster an organizational culture and develop mechanisms and systems that will enable innovations to be created from diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

The Company apply the same wage standards regardless of gender. However, differences in average wages arise due to the distribution of employee qualifications and age groups. Particularly in the age group of 40 and above, the ratio of men in manager-equivalent positions (including managers) *1 is higher compared to women, resulting in comparatively higher average wages for men. On the other hand, the gender wage gap*2 in manager-equivalent positions is about the same level at 101% for general managers and 98% for section managers. The Company will actively work to ensure diversity by increasing the proportion of female hires, supporting women in their career development, and promoting women to key positions. Additionally, among the Company’s part-time and fixed-term employees, a higher proportion of male contractors held more specialized positions, such as construction management and executive positions in consolidated subsidiaries, leading to relatively higher average wages for men.

Wage difference between male and female workers (%)^*2

Targets and results for female managers (%)

Status of the company

• As of December 1 for each fiscal year

In addition to being certified as Platinum Kurumin and Eruboshi (3-star rating) by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, we have also been selected to be included in the MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index.
Click below for more information.

In the plan for the period from April 2023 to March 2028, the Company has set the following numerical targets.
(1) Providing career opportunities for female workers
· Percentage of women in career track employment (new graduates/experienced professionals): About 30-40%
· Percentage of management positions held by women: About 10%
(2) Development of an employment environment that contributes to balancing work life and family life
· Childcare leave uptake rate among male employees^*: About 80-90%
· Duration of childcare leave taken by male employees: About 2-8 weeks

• The childcare leave targets for male employees are addressed in the General Employer Action Plan based on the Next Generation Nurturing Support Measures Promotion Act.

In the period from April 2023 to March 2028, the Company will conduct the following initiatives in stages.

With the goal of fulfilling its social responsibility to employ people with disabilities, the Company and the Group Companies in Japan are working to create an environment and system in which people with disabilities can play an active role, and are providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities in a wide range of fields. In April 2013, With Kurita Ltd. was established with the goal of securing employment opportunities for people with disabilities. As of May of the same year, With Kurita has been approved as a special subsidiary company under the Act on Employment Promotion, etc. of Persons with Disabilities.

Status of Employment of Personnel with Disabilities at the company and Group companies in Japan ^*

• The number of employees with disabilities in group companies deemed to be subject to group application under the Employment Rate System for Persons with Disabilities.

In conjunction with the enforcement of the amended Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons from 2006, the Companyhas established a system to secure employment opportunities for people who have retired having reached the mandatory retirement age. These employment opportunities are offered for up to a maximum of five years from the time of mandatory retirement (60 years old) in accordance with the 2013 amendment to the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons.

The Company and the Group Companies in Japan have set up an external SOGIE ^* minority related consultation desk where employees (including dispatch staff) can be consulted anonymously. The purpose is to reduce the psychological burden in daily life and to enable manager and colleagues to respond appropriately to them based on advice from qualified persons such as psychological counselors.
We also extend the various personnel systems provided to executives and employees to same-sex and common-law partners as well.

• A term that combines Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression.

Our recruitment goals and achievements for experienced personnel are as follows:

Our situation (%) ^*1

The Company seeks to recruit diverse human resources without regard to nationality. We employ foreign nationals, mainly from among overseas students studying in Japan.

Status of Employment of Foreign Nationals at the Company

For other initiatives related to human resources, please refer to this section.