Sustainability - Occupation Health
In order to realize the Meiden Group’s corporate philosophy of “Illuminating a more affluent tomorrow,” it is essential for employees to maintain their physical and mental health, and work with vigor and purpose.
We strategically promote initiatives that unify the company and employees together and promote mental and physical wellness under a shared belief that “nothing is more valuable than good health.”
We place health and productivity management as the foundation of human capital management and aim to help in the wellbeing of our employees and their families while achieving continued corporate growth.
We advocate the following three pillars of health and productivity management.
With the above three pillars of health & productivity management, we pledge to work towards becoming a company that provides a healthy and vibrant social life.
The three pillars of health and productivity management emulate the definition of health (well-being) listed in the preamble of the WHO Constitution*1. It states that “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being…” and so we defined the pillars to practice in health and productivity management as “healthy bodies,” “healthy minds,” and “healthy workplaces.”
Engagement, which connects to human capital, sits at the center of the pillars, with overlapping areas of each pillar listing a shared component.
In Japan, we comply with laws and regulations, hold and encourage unions and employees to participate in monthly meetings of the Safety and Health Committee at each site, and conduct consultation and information sharing relating to matters such as causes of and responses to industrial accidents, the status of employees that have taken sick leave, and other matters that require attention. Also, the Central Safety and Health Committee, chaired by the officer responsible for occupational safety and health as appointed by the President who is the head executive, discusses and makes decisions on matters relating to Group-wide policies and targets.
We entered the select Health and Productivity Management Outstanding Organization Recognition Program that is jointly recognized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Nippon Kenko Kaigi, and received 2025 Health and Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (White 500) Certification in the Large Enterprise Category. This marks the fifth consecutive year that we received Health and Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (White 500) Certification in the Large Enterprise Category.
Meidensha has determined five health activities that we should engage in. Labelling them the Smart Challenge Meiden Five, we are continuing initiatives accordingly.
We continuously offer a program for quitting smoking that can be taken online on an ongoing basis.
Meetings were held with the staff in charge of quitting smoking promotion at each business site to share information on the status of non-smoking and the program, as well as information from the health insurance and the union, and to promote awareness and educational activities. After much consideration and many discussions about prohibiting smoking on all Company property, we decided to ban smoking during working hours at all sites, completely remove all indoor smoking rooms, and reduce the size of outdoor smoking stations.
To date, we have provided pre-obese under-40s with individual health guidance programs. In addition to this, in order to reduce the number who may suffer from lifestyle diseases in the future, we held health seminars for all staff in their 30s to encourage them to take an interest in their own health and be cognizant of health as part of their daily lives. So that people in their 30s would take an interest in their own health while still young and change their behavior, the seminars incorporated the results of an advance survey and covered a broad range of information.
We continued to offer individual health guidance, and provided such guidance to all employees 33 years of age.
For people aged 40 and over, we conduct health guidance programs using ICT with the slogan “health guidance for the joy of achievement.” We have also introduced a new program aiming to help employees regulate their body clocks. We provided participants with exercise guidance and diet and lifestyle improvement programs according to their preferences.
To encourage women to undergo cancer screenings, we provide full subsidies for out-of-pocket expenses for gynecological cancer screenings (cervical cancer screenings and breast cancer screenings). We have enhanced our gynecological cancer screening system so that employees can be screened in the health examinations conducted by the Company. The Company, health insurers, and unions are actively promoting awareness activities, such as issuing reminders and information concerning early detection of cancer.
In addition, we conducted an intensive educational campaign on colorectal cancer, for which the thorough examination uptake rate was low.
We conduct interviews at workplaces with high health risks, encourage consultation with doctors for stressed individuals, etc., according to mental health plans.
Additionally, to improve mental health literacy, we created and utilized training materials for self-care and manager-based care. We held discussions on mental safety in the workplace and created opportunities to improve communication.
We held joint health seminars with a health insurance association to increase the health literacy of our employees.
In the first half of FY2024, the seminar adopted the topic of “Positive Mental Health to Increase Engagement,” an important keyword in health and productivity management, while sessions in the second half of the year covered “Healthy Drinking Habits: Accurate Information on Alcohol” and “Stretching and Posture Analysis.”
The seminar on stretching and posture analysis was originally intended for female employees, but was ultimately opened to all employees in the Meiden Group, including overseas employees. This session was also held as a hybrid “on-site” and “online” event broadcast simultaneously from Numazu Works, Ota Works, and Nagoya Works to develop a sense of unity. Following the seminar, digital signage displayed stretching videos to create an environment where people could continue the stretching exercise at their place when and where they preferred. In post-participation surveys, participants expressed sentiments like “My body feels loose and refreshed,” “I feel like I can do simple stretches every day now,” “They can be done while sitting, so I can do them at work,” “I reaffirmed how important stretching is,” and “Broadcasting from the three sites created a sense of unity.”
Results of post-seminar questionnaire
In FY2024, we were recognized as a 2024 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (White 500), but we intend to further improve health and productivity while continuing to strive for ongoing certification in the future. We will advance initiatives to both support the well-being of employees and their families and achieve continued corporate growth, based on the Meiden Group Health & Productivity Management Policy Statement, the three pillars of health and productivity, and the Health & Productivity Management Strategy Map revised to align with Medium-term Management Plan 2027.
We place health and productivity management as the foundation of human capital management and will develop policies based on the central premise of increasing engagement. In particular, we will emphasize comprehensive approaches aimed at generating synergistic effects that mutually connect the three pillars of Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, and Healthy Workplaces.
For the Healthy Bodies aspect of the three pillars of health and productivity management, we will use past results from Smart Challenge Meiden Five as the foundation to establish issues based on changes in health matters and develop a new Smart Challenge 2027.
For Healthy Minds and Healthy Workplaces, we will continue to set implementation items and targets for those activities.
We ensure that overseas production sites educate their employees on the same health and productivity management policies as used in Japan, allow overseas workers to remotely join training on our polices to prevent infection when traveling and other health seminars, and conduct stress checks on international transferees.
We provide international transferees with pre-departure explanations from industrial physicians on overseas lifestyle, medical treatment, safety, etc., education concerning infectious diseases that are global health issues, including malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, recommendations on vaccinations for their destination countries, and other initiatives to maintain health.
15 employees at overseas sites remotely joined our Stretching and Posture Analysis health seminar, including the Chinese manufacturing site at MEIDEN ZHENGZHOU ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
Moving forward, we plan to deploy health and productivity management to the entire Meiden Group (including overseas production sites) and strengthen our capacity to respond to global health issues. We will enact regionally appropriate policies based on unified health and productivity management policies, while staying cognizant of the culture and legal system of each region.
