Sustainability - Human Rights
Since it was founded, the Meiden Group has created and supplied a variety of technologies, products, and services, with a focus on electrical equipment that supports social infrastructure, and contributed to the sustainable development of society.
Respect for human rights is the foundation of our business activities to realize our corporate philosophies of “illuminating a more affluent tomorrow” and “for customer peace of mind and satisfaction.” Through its business activities, the Meiden Group will create a joyful and sustainable society for everyone, and comply with international human rights norms as indicated by the Meiden Group Corporate Code of Conduct.
In 2022, Meidensha signed a statement of support for the United Nations Global Compact and was registered as a participating company.
We also support the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (2020-2025) formulated by the Japanese government in 2020, and through its implementation, we strive to promote responsible corporate behavior with regard to respect for human rights.
Specifically, we identify, prevent, and mitigate potential human rights risks and impacts in our activities, including those in our supply chain, and disclose how we address them on an ongoing basis.
As a policy for the concrete implementation of the above ideas, we have made the Meiden Group Human Rights Policy available in three languages (Japanese, English, and Chinese). In addition, we are working to ensure that it becomes ingrained in all employees through our human rights training.
Further, for the sake of both internal and external stakeholders, we regularly revise the Group’s Sustainable Procurement Guidelines, which include human rights considerations, to reduce human rights risks in our supply chain, and these guidelines are distributed to our business partners.
Twice a year, human rights progress reports are presented to the Board of Directors and the Executive Officers’ Meeting as part of Meidensha’s framework for promoting sustainability management. In particular, incidents of harassment are reported at regular meetings of the Compliance Committee, which oversees our response to them, and the nature of such incidents is also reported to management.
Meidensha practices human rights due diligence to identify, manage, prevent, and mitigate human rights risks in our business activities for all stakeholders. We also investigate the state of human rights using a questionnaire for our stakeholder suppliers on their sustainability and environmental protection initiatives.
In FY2023, for the first time we gave an impact assessment survey on human rights risks to our employees. Aiming to conduct a fact-finding investigation regarding current risks relating to human rights, we identified issues in this area. Going forward, we will conduct more in-depth investigations into these issues and further strengthen our response to prevent and mitigate negative impacts on human rights.
The Meiden Group has established whistleblowing systems available to internal and external stakeholders, and accepts reports concerning a wide range of human rights issues, from those that may arise on a daily basis to serious human rights violations. The internal Compliance Hotline and the Harassment Consultation Hotline are available for reports within the Group. We have established the Compliance Whistleblowing Hotline (for compliance issues) and Workplace Harassment Hotline (for harassment issues) as external whistleblowing services, and all stakeholders (including individuals and local residents) can use these systems to share their concerns through a contact form.
In accordance with national guidelines, the above whistleblowing services are designed to ensure information management and whistleblower protection, including the name of the whistleblower, and to allow for anonymous reporting. We take care to ensure that whistleblowers are not disadvantaged and strive to improve the credibility of our whistleblowing systems. Information received through our internal and external whistleblowing services is investigated by the Compliance Committee after confirming its content, and is handled in consultation with attorneys as necessary. Additionally, in the event that we confirm that there has been an impact on human rights, we are committed to providing redress to the affected parties in accordance with the Group’s Code of Conduct and other relevant standards.
To ensure respect for human rights as stated in the Corporate Code of Conduct, the Meiden Group understands international norms (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Bill of Human Rights) and actively engages in human rights due diligence and human rights awareness activities based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We also comply with all relevant laws concerning the prohibition of forced labor and abolition of child labor.
We present working conditions to employees when they are hired and we take action to prevent forced and involuntary labor.
The Meiden Group only hires senior high school graduates and up.
We value conversations between employee representatives and management to ensure that employees can engage in meaningful work. We have established a regular central labor-management conference and regional labor-management conferences, and we are working to improve the workplace environment according to the circumstances of each site.
The Meiden Group not only complies with minimum wage requirements in each prefecture in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act, but also is careful to pay at least a living wage.
We also provide a family allowance to support the lifestyles of employees who meet certain conditions such as having spouses and children to provide for. The Meiden Group Mutual Aid Association also provides various types of condolence, sympathy, and celebratory funds, as well as loans for financial assistance required for the mutual support and welfare of members. In addition, we have a home loan program to receive funding from financial institutions when those who have saved property accumulation residence funds eventually make a purchase.
In order to properly manage working hours and curb long working hours, our labor management system centrally monitors and manages PC log-ons and log-offs and employee ID card data stamps when employees arrive at and leave the office. If an employee works more than a certain number of hours, that employee and their supervisor are asked about the employee’s working conditions, and guidance is given to prevent long working hours and legal violations. Additionally, we hold briefings regularly on working hours and distribute manuals internally on working hours and attendance management to improve employee literacy on labor management. Furthermore, to encourage employees to take their annual paid leave, we established “My Plan Annual Leave” and “Recommended Days for Taking Annual Leave” to promote employee work–life balance.
Regarding harassment, we have established an internal consultation system to respond promptly while adhering to the principles of protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the user. The system is available to Meiden Group employees as well as dispatch workers and contractors. Information obtained through the system is used to conduct surveys of the user and relevant parties, provide feedback after having understood the situation, and prevent recurrence. The system provides an opportunity to implement recurrence prevention measures and conduct individual education.
We have also included items concerning harassment in our employee awareness survey, which allows us to observe trends each year.
Meiden Group conducts various training programs to promote respect for basic human rights. We offer periodic group training and videos (in Japanese, English, and Chinese) on compliance and harassment to raise all Group employees’ awareness of these issues. We also increase understanding and awareness by providing opportunities for individuals to reconsider their workplace and ways of thinking. We have also expanded anger management training for managers to include all employees. Through the training, we raise awareness to respect the personalities and ideas of others.
