CSR in the Workplace | Work Amenity and Internal Communication
Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. (NSC)'s personnel system is based on the principle of allowing our employees to realize their full potential. We strive to assign the right people to the right position, regardless of age, gender or length of service with the company. It is a fact that female employees are impacted by life events to a greater degree than their male colleagues. We have launched a project that gives female employees a platform to discuss relevant issues and that provides female employees with useful information.
NSC is proactive in developing challenging career opportunities for female employees. We have established branch offices comprised entirely of female staff, and a section in the head office has been established with the task of supporting female employees' career development.
We have also established guidelines for hiring seniors, persons with disabilities, and non-Japanese nationals, and have been proactive in recruiting such employees.
Communication with Employees
We believe that proactive internal communication is essential to the vitality of our organization. We take a positive approach, communicating messages from management and important decisions to the entire staff through our intranet and in-house magazine.
Of course, while communications from management are very important, so are communications at each workplace. Continual communication between superiors and subordinates is required at workplaces where all employees are to be evaluated as individuals, from the setting of employee targets through the evaluation achievements, to ensure that each employee is treated according to their abilities.
Holidays, Benefits and Employee Unions
The maximum entitlement to paid annual leave is 20 days, with the average leave taken during fiscal 2006 being 9.3 days in NSC.
Female employees are entitled to 6 weeks paid maternity leave prior to delivery (14 weeks for multiple births) and 8 weeks after delivery. A total of 126 employees took paid maternity leave during fiscal 2006.
The maximum available child care leave is 2 years, and 171 employees took this leave during the period. From April 2007, employees who meet certain conditions are able to shorten their working hours by up to 2 hours a day to care for a child not yet old enough to attend elementary school. We have also decided to cover half the cost of our employees' day care expenses for their children (up to ¥20,000 per child a month).
In fiscal 2006, 7 employees took family nursing care leave, which is available for up to 730 days. We also have a separate system for family nursing care that allows employees to shorten their working hours by up to one hour per day for up to a total of 730 days. We also have a range of fringe benefits for employees. To enable more flexible and convenient arrangements for their work and family life, since April 2007 our employees have been able to take their annual paid leave in half-day units.
There are two employee unions, with 71.3% of our workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.
Nomura Securities Co., Ltd's Child Care and Family Nursing Care Support (as of 1 April 2007)
Child Care Support
- Leave before and after delivery
Female employees can take 6 weeks prior to delivery (14 weeks for multiple births) and 8 weeks following delivery.
- Child Care Leave
Parents can take a maximum of 2 years leave up to the child's 2nd birthday. Employees are reinstated, in principle, either to their original position or a corresponding position.
- Leave for Care for Sick or Injured Children
Employees can take up to 5 days paid leave per year to care for sick or injured children who have not yet entered elementary school.
- Time for Child Care
Employees can shorten their working hours by up to 2 hours a day to care for a child not yet enrolled in school.
- Assistance with Day Care Expenses
We cover half the cost of our employees' day care expenses, up to a limit of ¥20,000 a month per child.
Family Nursing Care Support - Family Nursing Care Leave
Family nursing care leave can be taken on each occasion that a parent, spouse or child requires nursing care, up to a maximum of 730 days.
Employees returning to work after taking this leave are, in principle, reinstated to their original position or a corresponding position.
Child Care and Family Nursing Care Handbook
As part of the expansion of our child care support programs in April 2007, an easy-to-use handbook was prepared about our child care and family nursing care support programs. Intended as an aid to help our employees achieve a balance between work and family obligations, the guide book draws on the opinions of the "Happy Career and Life Project for Women."
Creating a Safe Working Environment
We strive to prevent work-related illness and injury while providing an environment that allows our employees to work in comfort and safety. This includes such considerations as desk space, lighting, and office temperature control. Our overseas offices follow local requirements in their respective locations. We are also engaged in a range of physical and mental health care initiatives, with regard for the health of every employee.
Mental Health Care
Nomura Group places particular emphasis on mental health care as part of providing a healthy working environment to all employees. We started offering consultations with psychiatrists at our health care centers in 1990, and began offering the services of a full-time counselor in 2001. Nomura Health Dial 24, a round-the-clock telephone counseling service linking employees and their families to physicians and counselors, was launched in 1995, and since 2006 employees have had access to facetoface counseling on a nationwide basis. A dedicated mental health care hotline was established in 2001 to provide additional mental health care with careful consideration to privacy issues. We are raising employee awareness of mental health issues by introducing mental health
self-check tools, by distributing education pamphlets and through staff training.
Health Management
We have taken a number of steps beyond the role played by our internal health care centers to facilitate our employees' health management, including establishing a group that specializes in promoting health care issues. We have set guidelines on regular, special and comprehensive medical examinations, including making comprehensive examinations compulsory for employees over 30 years of age and subsidizing check-ups.
In addition, we have for some time required employees working long hours to undergo mandatory health examinations. Following amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Law in April 2006, we increased the frequency of these examinations and broadened the range of employees covered.
"Future Generations Law" Action Plans
The Future Generations Parenting Assistance Law (or "Future Generations Law" as it is commonly called) came into effect in 2005. It is intended to introduce improvements that will assist parents in achieving a balance between work and raising a family. Applicable to companies with over 300 full-time employees, the Law mandates an action plan that will support this balance. The process of certification of companies' action plans by local Labor Bureaus came into operation under the Law in April 2007, and since then some 128 companies throughout Japan have now had their action plans certified. These include Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., which extended its child care leave program to its male employees and enabled its employees to apply for shortened working hours. Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. was also certified in May.
