Respect for Human Rights
Approach toward respect for human rights
Our Group recognizes its responsibility to manage its business while respecting human rights based on the fact that everyone deserves to be treated equally, with respect and dignity. To this end, the “Ultrafabrics Group Global Human Rights Policy” has been established through a resolution of the Board of Directors and disseminated to all Group companies as a message from the management. This policy identifies discrimination, consideration for local communities, harassment, forced and child labor, promotion of safety and health in the workplace, working hours and wages, freedom of association and guarantee of collective bargaining as particularly important issues.
System for promoting respect for human rights
The following is a system to ensure that our company's respect for human rights is practiced, monitored, and corrected.
Management system for implementing human rights policy
The mechanism for implementing the Global Human Rights Policy is as follows.
The specific management methods and business processes for each item defined in the Human Rights Policy are linked and monitored respectively as follows.
| Business process | Hiring | Transfers and Assignments | Pay Raises and Promotions | Health and Safety | Whistle-blowing | Communication between supervisor and subordinate | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring method | Document review during recruitment selection and confirmation of the internal approval process | Management review when deciding on transfers and assignments | Management review when deciding on pay raises and promotions | Inspect workplaces and report at monthly health and safety committee meetings | Thoroughly publicize the whistle-blowing system and regularly report on its usage | Evaluation feedback and career discussions | |
| Items specified in the human rights policy | |||||||
| Discrimination | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | ||
| Consideration for Local Communities | Contact and point out from local residents and government | ||||||
| Rights to land, forest and water resources | 〇 | Monitoring of environmental preservation | |||||
| Harassment | 〇 | 〇 | |||||
| Forced and Child Labor | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | ||||
| Promotion of safety and health in the workplace | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | ||||
| Working hours and wages | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | 〇 | Monitoring of working hours by HR dept. | |
| Freedom of association and collective bargaining | 〇 | 〇 | |||||
| Access to aid | 〇 | 〇 | |||||
The above human rights items are checked in a timely manner as part of internal audits of each department to ensure that they are adequately monitored and complied with in the company’s functions, structures, and processes. If there are any problems, the Legal and Compliance Department will point them out and provide guidance, and depending on the level of importance, reports and recommendations will also be made to management.
Diversity and inclusion in our Group
Our group is made up of diverse human resources from 10 of Ultrafabrics Holdings (including 1 in the US and 1 in the UK), approximately 200 at Daiichi Kasei, our domestic manufacturing subsidiary, and approximately 120 at Ultrafabrics, our overseas sales subsidiary all over the world.
Our Group aims to foster a corporate culture in which all employees have equal opportunities to participate in their work, and in which the diverse experiences, abilities, and ideas of each employee are recognized and utilized, so that both employees and the company can grow together. The ratio of male and female employees and the employment rate of persons with disabilities are as shown below. We are working to create a workplace environment and system that allows each person to work with satisfaction by taking advantage of his/her ability and personality.
Number of Group employees (as of the end of December, 2023)
| Company name | Ultrafabrics Holdings Co., Ltd. | Daiichi Kasei Co., Ltd. | Ultrafabrics Inc. (including Ultrafabrics Europe Ltd.) |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of employees | 10 | 196 | 122 | 328 |
| Number of employees by gender (Female ratio) |
Male 10 Female 0 (－) |
Male 170 Female 26 (13.3%) |
Male 57 Female 65 (53.3%) |
Male 237 Female 91 (27.7%) |
| Ratio of female managers | － | 9.7% | 31.9% | 22.7% |
| Employment rate of persons with disabilities | － | 1.0% | － | － |
*The statutory employment rate as stipulated by the Act on Employment Promotion etc., of Persons with Disabilities is 2.5% (as of April 2024), and we continue to promote recruitment of persons with disabilities to achieve this rate.
Initiatives in the supply chain
Our group has established the “Ultrafabrics Group Sustainability Procurement Policy”, a set of stipulations to be observed by raw material manufacturers and outsourcing partners etc., with respect to compliance with all laws and regulations, respect for fundamental human rights, and consideration for the environment.
We also conducted survey questionnaires for 21 major suppliers (suppliers accounting for 97% or more of the total transaction value of Daiichi Kasei, and one Ultrafabrics’s supplier) to ask about their awareness and efforts with regard to these stipulations and provided feedback on the results.