Respecting human rights
One of the elements of the Rengo Group’s Corporate Philosophy is to "respect the value of individual employees and strive to create safe and congenial work environments providing comfort and fulfillment." Based on this action guideline, we have formulated the Rengo Group Human Rights Policy and work to create environments of respect for human rights.
Rengo Group Human Rights Policy
Implementation of human rights due diligence
The Rengo Group implements the human rights due diligence set forth in the Human Rights Policy as a series of cycles as follows.
- We will identify visible and potential human rights risks and understand the current situation.
- We will take appropriate measures to prevent and mitigate risks. Specifically, we will provide human rights-related education and training on the theme of harassment and diversity for employees, and develop and improve facilities, regulations, labor practices, and other matters.
- We will strengthen our initiatives by conducting monitoring (follow-up surveys) to verify our initiatives.
- We will disclose information to stakeholders through our websites and other means.
- We will establish a system to receive and respond to complaints, consultations, and whistleblowing regarding human rights-related issues from employees and related stakeholders.
- We will build a management structure by the Ethics Subcommittee, evaluate these initiatives, strive to improve them, and ensure greater effectiveness.
Human rights due diligence process
Creation of workplace respecting human rights
Recognizing differing values with respect for individuality is the foundation of corporate activities. To protect basic human rights, Rengo clearly states in its rules of employment that it does not practice discrimination based on nationality, religious belief, gender, social standing, or any other reasons.
In addition, we work on preventing infringements on human rights by implementing whistleblower system and various kinds of consultation hotlines both within and outside the company.
Education and training on human rights
To foster a more accurate understanding and deeper awareness of human rights, in recent years, Rengo provides human rights lectures each year, mainly for new employees. We received the following feedback from employees who attended the lectures: "I realized the importance of respecting human rights in corporate activities." We continuously strive to create congenial workplaces where each and every employee respects the rights of others.
In addition, as an initiative to prevent harassment, we provide training for employees in managerial positions and supervisory personnel, and share information in the Rengo Group’s newsletters distributed to all employees.
Building of healthy relations between labor and management
Once each month at the Rengo Group’s divisions and plants/mills, labor union executive branches and managers from these locations hold labor-management councils. Labor-management councils between the labor union headquarters and our Head Office are also held four times each year. These councils provide opportunities to share information on a variety of topics related to division, plant, and mill operations, develop a common understanding of issues, and engage in frank exchanges of opinions. Across the entire company, council meetings are held more than 400 times each year. Steady and ongoing efforts such as these help to deepen mutual understanding and build positive relations between labor and management.
Establishment of consultation hotlines
Many different kinds of issues can occur at the workplace. Rengo established separate consultation hotlines for different types of issues—such as harassment, mental health care, performance assessment, and balancing work with childcare and family care leave—and ensured employees are aware of them. This allows employees to consult with someone to address issues promptly when problems occur, and enables the company to respond quickly.
We ensure that Rengo Group company members can use external hotlines, with strict privacy protection and appropriate handling of issues to prevent unfair treatment of whistleblowers.