Initiatives in Diversity & Inclusion(1)
The SUNDRUG Group believes that in order to create social value, it is crucial to take proactive steps to welcome and utilize diverse values and diverse human resources in business operations, without regard to differences of gender, age, nationality, etc. On this basis, we are advancing diversity across the entire Group. At the same time, we are developing systems to promote flexible work styles, such as a Monthly Flexible Working Hours System, and workplace environments that enable a diverse range of individuals to engage in their work with a sense of motivation.
(1) Inclusion: The idea of accepting and supporting one another within the same society, including the provision of assistance to people facing a variety of other barriers, not only those with disabilities, but also the elderly, foreign nationals, those in poverty, etc.
1. Appointment of women to managerial positions
As of March 31, 2024 (the end of fiscal 2023), 14.5% of managerial positions in the SUNDRUG Group were held by women. We are an organization that allows employees to shine regardless of their gender, and now we are also pursuing initiatives that proactively provide opportunities to women and encourage them to take up the challenge of a managerial role. Two job types with particularly high proportions of women are pharmacist and registered seller.(1) We are developing workplace environments open to a diverse range of individuals, and designing modes of employment/work and career paths that are easy to balance with marriage and childbirth and friendly to employees returning to work after taking leave.
(1) Registered seller: A job that mainly involves providing customers with advice on selection of pharmaceutical products. Registered sellers hold a specialized qualification for the sale of cold remedies, painkillers, and other non-prescription drugs (Types 2 and 3 only).
2. Mid-career recruitment
With the aim of reliably implementing business strategies and realizing management objectives, the SUNDRUG Group promotes the employment of individuals with skills and knowledge that are currently lacking in-house, and those capable of undertaking specialized work that cannot be performed by members of our existing workforce. For this purpose, we provide employees with training and career advancement opportunities that are impartial and not dependent on how they were hired, and systems of evaluation and employment conditions aligned with individual abilities and performance. Moreover, we actively promote the re-employment of former employees who resigned(1) owing to childbirth, parenting, nursing care, and other life events, and the re-hiring of returnees who previously worked in the SUNDRUG Group and subsequently pursued careers elsewhere.
(1) System for re-employment of resigned employees: In the event that former employees who resigned owing to childbirth, childcare, care duties, or another life event wish to work for the SUNDRUG Group again, this system enables them to be re-employed on conditions that take full account of their role and salary level at the time of resignation in comparison with those employed for the first time. It also allows them to select modes of work flexibly in light of their circumstances.
3. Employment of people with disabilities
We are taking steps to employ people with disabilities through SUNDRUG Dream Works, a special-purpose subsidiary under the Act to Facilitate the Employment of Persons with Disabilities. This subsidiary was founded in the belief that each and every individual, including those with disabilities, who shines at work can illuminate even just one corner of the world. Our efforts to develop an environment that empowers people with disabilities to participate actively in the workplace were recognized in September 2019 when we received a Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs Chief’s Award in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Excellent Company Awards for Employment of Persons with Disabilities. We will continue our work to promote the employment of people with disabilities and the creation of opportunities for their vocational autonomy and social participation.
(1) Special-purpose subsidiary: A subsidiary that makes special accommodations in hiring for the purposes of promoting and stabilizing employment of people with disabilities
(2) SUNDRUG Group: Group companies recognized under the special provision for calculation in a corporate group (SUNDRUG, DIREX, Seikodo, SUNDRUG Dream Works)