Human Resources Principles

The Asahi Kasei Group's Human Resources Principles, established in March 2006, outline the values and behavioral guidelines that should be embraced by each and every employee—our human resources. By ensuring that our employees act in accordance with these principles, we aim to establish it as part of our corporate culture and achieve both growth for each and every employee and development for our Group.

The Asahi Kasei Group Human Resource Strategy

In 2022 we celebrated the centennial of our founding. Since the beginning, we successfully grew our business by solving social issues that have changed with the times, and continuously transforming our business portfolio. In light of these circumstances, and the recognition of the need for further transformation towards a sustainable society, we launched a Human Resources Strategy Project in fiscal 2021, led by the President, and developed our human resources strategy aligned with our medium-term management plan for fiscal 2024 focused on the theme “Be a Trailblazer,” which began in fiscal 2022.

Two-pillared human resources strategy: lifelong growth and co-creation of diverse individuals

The current medium-term plan uses the term “A-Spirit” to describe what we expect out of our employees. The 'A' represents the first letter of ‘Asahi Kasei’, signifying that our employees are expected to have ambitious motivation, a healthy sense of urgency, quick decisions, and a spirit of advancement as they embrace new challenges.
We believe that these efforts will enable us to further develop and leverage our intangible assets, including our open and frank corporate culture, diverse talents and technologies, as well as the Group Values of sincerity, challenge, and creativity that have been nurtured over the past 100 years. A fundamental transformation of our business portfolio will require us to reawaken the A-Sprits, and we need human resources and organizations that will keep taking on challenges and making changes proactively and decisively. With this in mind, the current medium-term plan identifies “lifelong growth” and “co-creation” as the pillars of our human resources strategy.

Our lifelong growth strategy focuses on the following two areas in particular: 1) Encourage all employees to envision their own career goals and continue learning/challenging for growth, 2) Strengthen management skills to maximize the abilities of individuals and teams.
In order to enhance our co-creation, we will focus on ‘expanding’ and ‘connecting’ diversity. By organically linking the Asahi Kasei Group’s diverse technologies, businesses, and human resources, we will create value that is distinctively ours.

Specific initiatives related to “lifelong growth” are described on the "Human resources development and active engagement" page, and those related to “co-creation” are described on the “DE&I” page.

Policy

Based on the idea that "everything starts with people — people are our most valuable assets," the Asahi Kasei Group upholds a policy of “lifelong growth” whereby we encourage challenge and growth in the development of our human resources. Regarding this policy, we will focus on the following two objectives: 1) Encourage all employees to develop their career path independently and continue learning and challenging themselves for growth, 2) Strengthen management skills to maximize the abilities of individuals and teams.

Human resource development system

We offer a combination of ‘training by rank’ and ‘training by goal’ programs to help employees develop their skills and improve job performance. In addition to building basic skills to carry out their tasks, we support the line managers, develop top management candidates in the next generation, and foster individuals who will be successful globally.

Reference: Asahi Kasei Group's investment in training per employee (actual)

	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Investment in training (total)	2,806,147 (thousand yen)	3,471,596 (thousand yen)	4,248,249 (thousand yen)
Investment in training (per employee)	166 (thousand yen)	198 (thousand yen)	242 (thousand yen)
Time invested in training (per employee)	22.3 (hours)	25.7 (hours)	28.1 (hours)

• Human resource training-related data

Measures to support self-directed career development

Introduction of “CLAP” reskilling program

CLAP stands for Co-Learning Adventure Place, our unique program for employees to learn any content from over ten thousand courses for free. This program supports employees in acquiring necessary skills for their workplaces and facilitates reskilling to adapt to environmental changes and business transitions. As part of the CLAP rollout, we have incorporated the “learning together” concept, while helping continuous learning to fulfill their responsibilities and career goals. By leveraging people’s appeal and relationships, we offer opportunities for them to learn together and have fun at the same time.

Encouraging the senior generation’s participation by extending the retirement age

In this rapidly changing era, there is a growing number of issues that require the wisdom and experience of diverse human resources. Given the age distribution, it is also imperative to transfer technological skills to younger generations. We have thus extended the retirement age to 65 from fiscal 2023, in the hope that all employees will continue to hone their expertise and stay active even after the age of 60. We have also revised our compensation system from a conventional rehiring system to a new system with a treatment that allows employees to hone their expertise and take on roles needed by others, so that they can further show their skills and lead fulfilling lives.

Position posting system

We adopted an open recruitment policy in fiscal 2003. Since then, a cumulative total of approximately 500 employees has voluntarily moved from one department to another to take on new challenges each year. To support lifelong growth and self-directed career development, which are the pillars of our human resources strategy, we aim to revitalize the workforce by expanding the scope of concurrent roles within the company, enabling employees to gain experience outside their departments for a certain period.

Supporting independent study

In October 2003, the Asahi Kasei instituted a program to support independent study by employees. To encourage employees to acquire higher level specialized or technological ability, the company will pay part of the cost of attending courses or lectures. In fiscal 2023, a total of 1,483 employees utilized the program.

Measures to improve management capabilities to draw out the strengths of individuals and teams

We aim to create an organization that can enhance vitality and spur the growth of both individuals and the organization.

Action for improved engagement KSA (vitality and growth assessment)

In fiscal 2020, we reviewed the content of our existing employee awareness survey and introduced KSA (vitality and growth assessment), a new survey that aims to confirm work engagement and behaviors conducive to growth. The survey is provided once a year to all employees in Japan, and the report is provided to line managers as reference information for understanding the current state of their organizations. We also engage in activities aimed at creating a better workplace through dialogue with employees.

At the same time, we conduct stress checks to identify health risks and create an environment in which each employee can achieve sustainable growth while maintaining good physical and mental health.

Enhancing management skills and developing upper-management candidates

We offer an extensive training program for general manager-class personnel, who play a key role in organizational management. The program includes group training on management, e-learning, 360-degree feedback, 1-on-1 training, and courses on KSA (see above). In fiscal 2020, we started offering personal coaching for department managers to help them solve problems on their own. As of March 2024, 287 people out of 700 manager-class employees have already completed the program.
We also put emphasis on the development and acquisition of upper management talent. In addition to encouraging their personal growth through coaching, we offer programs to strengthen leadership and teamwork. Every year, several employees are designated as Group Executives^* through this program. In fiscal 2023, there were 35 Group Executives, and 91 department/division manager-class individuals in the candidate pool to become Group Executives. We will maintain this talent pool in terms of both quality and quantity.

• ^* Those selected from among the Executive Officers, who have the responsibility and authority to enhance the Asahi Kasei Group’s value as a whole, are designated as Group Executives with the approval of the Board of Directors. Specifically, these are Lead Executive Officers or above in Asahi Kasei, as well as Executive Officers of equivalent standing in the core operating companies.

Developing digital human resources to promote Digital Transformation (DX)

In 2021, we formulated DX Vision 2030 to promote the development of DX as a pillar of our growth strategy. We will strive to achieve a sustainable society a reality by maximizing the benefits of digital technology.
The most important factor in promoting DX is digital human resources. While enhancing DX training by employee level, we are working on initiatives to increase the number of digital professionals who can promote advanced digitalization by 10 times to 2,500 employees by the end of fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2021 (end of fiscal 2023: 1,728 employees). Since April 2021, the Asahi Kasei DX Open Badge program has been rolled out within the Asahi Kasei Group to promote the acquisition of basic digital knowledge for all employees while nurturing human resources who will drive the DX of workplaces.

Policy

The Asahi Kasei Group Code of Conduct clearly stipulates that "we must respect individuals' basic human rights and diversity, not discriminate on the basis of nationality, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, gender, ideology, age, physical characteristics, sexual orientation and gender identity, employment status, form of contract, etc., nor condone such discrimination" as company policy. We promote the establishment of a vibrant workplace that ensures equal opportunity and enables all employees to perform at their best without experiencing discrimination. We aim to instill our company policy to prevent any discrimination or harassment through corporate ethics training for employees at each level, including new hires, newly appointed assistant managers, and section managers.

We have also identified “co-creation” as one of the pillars of our human resources strategy in the current medium-term management plan. To respond to a rapidly changing business environment and continue creating new value, it is essential for us to enhance “co-creation” by leveraging diverse human resources to collaborate in new business development. Diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) is one of our key management strategies. To leverage our co-creation, we must ‘expand’ and ‘connect’ our diversity, organically integrating technologies, businesses, and human resources to bring out our unique value.

Management Framework

Recognizing the importance of developing an organization comprised of talented individuals with diverse backgrounds to ensure our sustainable growth, we promote the diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives group-wide, led by the DE&I Promotion Office, a department dedicated to addressing this subject. At the same time, we are working to strengthen our promotion framework by establishing a DE&I committee led by the upper management and business unit leaders to monitor and expedite the progress of DE&I initiatives.

Development of diverse professionals through the Group Masters program

We employ a "Group Masters" program to broaden the segment of human resources with expertise that holds universal value through the appointment, training, and treatment of human resources expected to be actively involved and participating in creating new business and strengthening existing business as "Group Masters." Under the program, we have defined five categories of Group Masters. We have clarified the respective roles of each Group Master category and enhanced treatment to create a mechanism that encourages the growth of human resources while securing outstanding external human resources at the same time. Group Masters lead the R&D of core technology fields, and the connections between diverse technologies and human resources result in the expansion of the 10 Growth Gears businesses (GG10).
We have also formulated a succession plan for Group Masters in each field, and have linked the succession plan to business reinforcement and human resource development, which will strengthen our competitive edge.

Categories and roles of Group Masters

Target areas

Number of Group Masters and Targets

In our medium-term management plan that began in 2022, we set the KPI for the number of Group Masters to reach 300 in total by fiscal 2024, but because we are almost there as of 2022, we have increased the KPI to 360.

Expansion of opportunities for women

Basic Approach

Based on the belief that the expansion of opportunities for women is one of the key elements of DE&I promotion and that advancing this initiative will lead to an environment in which a diverse array of human resources can play an active role regardless of gender, other attributes and age, etc. we established a dedicated organization (currently the DE&I Promotion Office) in 1993 to foster an environment in which women can continue working through expanded job opportunities and support measures that help them to balance work and family life. Since the 2010s, we have supported career development by providing handbooks to supervisors containing reference information on nurturing female employees who joined the company right after college. We also conducted seminars prior to maternity leave and on returning to work. Additionally, we offered a mentor program to support the career development of female managers after experiencing childbirth, child care, and other life events.

Various initiatives for the active participation of women

Under our medium-term management plan announced in April 2022, we declared our intention to focus on the ratio of female managers in leadership positions (for line posts and Group Masters) as an indicator to measure the success of our diverse human resources (FY2030 target is 10%). In addition, based on these developments, our Action Plan for the expansion of opportunities for women has been revised as follows.
The achievement of the above is coupled with the implementation of various initiatives to form a candidate pool as a mechanism to continuously produce female leaders. The above-mentioned mentor program has been continuously implemented since 2013, with the participation of 132 new female managers cumulatively. It offers an opportunity for each attendee to independently think about career formation and issue resolution, and foster ambition toward personal growth.
In addition, to further motivate female managers in line posts to grow and broaden their horizons, we held a round table discussion between two female Outside Directors and female managers in fiscal 2023. The two Outside Directors talked about their careers and experiences, as well as the expectations for female managers, to broaden their perspectives in terms of management needs, and to encourage participants to change their awareness and behavior toward upcoming challenges and success.

In addition, we conducted unconscious bias training for all Executive Officers and Senior General Managers from January to May 2024, based on the idea that it is important to learn how to recognize and control unconscious bias inherent in each worker in order to maximize organizational strength by making the most of each person's diversity. In fiscal 2024, we expanded the training to all General Managers, and are working to increase psychological safety in the workplace and develop managers who can support the success of all employees.
In parallel with the aforementioned company-wide measures to increase the number of female employees in leadership positions, we have established by-name female personnel plans in each domain and are implementing initiatives to lead to actual promotion. Moreover, the DE&I Committee chaired by the President was established in fiscal 2023 to regularly monitor and exchange opinions with a view to confirm progress and improve issues throughout the Asahi Kasei Group. As a result of these various initiatives, the number of female managers has increased from 3 in 1994 to 351 (as of June 1, 2024). At the upper management level, we currently have two female Executive Officers, two female Directors, and one female Audit & Supervisory Board Member (as of June 25, 2024).

Asahi Kasei Group Action Plan*	We have developed an action plan to promote the active participation of women more than ever. As part of our efforts to create an environment in which diverse human resources with various values and backgrounds can play an active role together and contribute to the growth of our business and organization.
Term	FY2022 to 2025
Content	Objective 1 Expand the pool of human resources who can be candidates for senior management positions in leadership roles: Increase the number of female managers by 40% compared to March 31, 2021 Latest status: 55% increase (as of June 1, 2024) Objective 2 Achieve a situation where women are active in leadership positions: Implement the following items during the period of the plan to increase the ratio of women in line posts at the manager level and above and in Group Master positions to at least 10% by the end of fiscal 2030 ① Formulate and implement action plans to encourage women's activities for each business organization ② Promote a better understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion initiatives, including the promotion of women's participation Latest status: 4.4% (as of June 1, 2024)

• ^* Asahi Kasei, Asahi Kasei Microdevices, Asahi Kasei Homes, Asahi Kasei Construction Materials, Asahi Kasei Pharma, and Asahi Kasei Medical

Promotion of work style reforms

The Asahi Kasei Group is promoting work style reforms to enable all employees to reach their full potential in alignment with social trends.
In response to the spread of COVID-19, the work-from-home program introduced in 2019 was extended as a temporary work-from-home policy. In July 2022, this temporary arrangement became permanent with the introduction of telecommuting aid. Specifics are as follows:

Work from home program	Eliminated limit on number of times the program can be used
	Expanded eligibility for new employees, etc.
	Introduced work-from-home allowance
Flexible work hours without core hours	Systematized concept of “interval” between working hours and applied to eligible employees

Balancing work and family life

In order to improve the balance of work and family life, the Asahi Kasei Group complies with laws and regulations aimed at eliminating and reducing long working hours and provides various forms of support for employees to work with security and vitality in accordance with their individual circumstances and values from the perspective of balancing work and family life. At the same time, we also foster a workplace environment that facilitates utilization of the provisions by raising awareness of them through our corporate intranet and offering management support for superiors. Many of the provisions we offer are also available to non-regular employees with some changes to the details, and are actually utilized by them.

Parental leave

Shortened working hours for child care

Support for family care

Personnel transfers across business sectors

The Asahi Kasei Group has long proactively conducted personnel transfers across business sectors. A recent example of our expansion through these efforts is the overseas expansion of Asahi Kasei Homes. We expanded the business at a faster pace by leveraging our group-wide resources, knowledge, and business foundations. This overseas expansion has led to growth in Asahi Kasei Homes business and increased its cash generating capacity. Our group-wide efforts to expand business by leveraging human resources like this are the fruit of our “diversity in business and technology” referred to as intangible assets. We plan to further strengthen such efforts in the future.

Introduction of CaMP (talent management system)

In fiscal 2022, we began using this talent management system to visualize our human resources. We call this talent management system as CaMP, which stands for Career Management Place. Using the CaMP, we aim to promote “co-creation” by centrally managing personnel information, including career plans, expertise, and experience, and by providing support for growth, such as human resource development and personnel allocation.

Development of global human resources

We have implemented measures aimed at promoting global business development from the human resources perspective, as defined in our medium-term management plan. These include “Study Abroad Program Open to All” and “Short-Term Overseas Training Program” for young employees who wish to gain overseas experience, as well as “Overseas Practical Training Program” for selected employees aspiring to be a manager of our overseas subsidiaries, and “Study Abroad Program for Nominated Employees" for those who want to be involved in global business development. We are also working to develop local talent in our overseas subsidiaries to strengthen their co-creation skills.
We provide and administer programs tailored to their situation, including the relocation of local employees overseas, raising awareness about our philosophy, providing intercultural communication and manager training.
In addition to increasing the number of foreign nationals and local hires in key positions overseas to support business development outside Japan, we promote initiatives that foster talented individuals who will contribute to the Asahi Kasei Group’s success beyond their roles in the respective fields. For example, during the review of the medium-term management plan that began in 2022, the leadership candidates in the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan discussed the ideal for the Asahi Kasei Group in 2030. The recommendations made during this discussion formed the basis of the “Be a Trailblazer” concept of our medium-term management plan.
We also actively promote talented individuals who joined the Asahi Kasei Group through international M&A and became involved in management as Executive Officers.
Note that Asahi Kasei Corporation currently has six non-Japanese Executive Officers.

Employment of persons with disabilities

Initiatives at Asahi Kasei Ability

1. Strengthening of sales activities

• (1)Establishment and operation of dedicated departments

  In response to the increase in the statutory employment rate, we will continue to increase the employment of people with disabilities. Furthermore, in order to create jobs that allow people with disabilities to work with vigor and pride, we have established a Sales Promotion Department as a dedicated department, which started full-scale activities in fiscal 2023. We strive to increase awareness of the Asahi Kasei Group and our businesses both internally and externally and by extension, to create jobs for people with disabilities to ensure their employment.

• (2) Workplace tours

  Each sales office (Nobeoka, Mizushima, Osaka, Fuji, and Tokyo) invites visitors as occasion demands and presents its operations and workplaces to many companies and municipalities within and outside the Asahi Kasei Group.

2. New businesses

• Employment of health keepers (masseurs)

  The Nobeoka Sales Office employs a visually impaired person (health keeper) who is a certified masseur to provide services to our employees in a bid to employ more people with disabilities and as a welfare program for our employees. The program has been very well received by employees, and future expansion is being considered.

3. Abilympics (skills competition for people with disabilities)
Many employees from Asahi Kasei Ability participate in the Abilympics (a skills competition for people with disabilities) in various prefectures every year and win prizes. In fiscal 2023 national competition (held in Aichi Prefecture), 11 employees participated as prefectural representatives, and 2 employees won Bronze Awards: one in the office assistant category and the other in the spreadsheet category.

System to Support the Activities of All Motivated Human Resources

We have developed a wide range of supportive measures to create an environment that supports the individual circumstances of our employees and allows them to fully demonstrate their abilities.

Support for returning to work after medical treatment

We have established a rehabilitation work system that allows employees to resume work in a phased manner in accordance with the instructions of an industrial physician to support a smooth return to work after a period of medical treatment. In March 2023, we launched a new program called “Time off for medical appointments” to assist employees in balancing work responsibilities with necessary medical care. This program provides support for employees who are in need of hospital visits for medical care or infertility treatment.

Leave system to accompany spouses on overseas transfers

As globalization continues to advance, an increasing number of personnel have a spouse who is transferred to an overseas assignment. In fiscal 2013, we adopted a provision for such personnel to take a leave of absence to accompany their spouses living overseas. In fiscal 2023, this provision was utilized by 11 personnel (including 0 male employees).

Support activities for LGTBQ employees

In January 2021, we began offering equal recognition to same-sex partners as married couples under our internal rules to support LGBTQ employees. The head office building has genderless restrooms that are accessible to anyone regardless of their sex or gender identity. Starting in fiscal 2023, an e-learning program has been scheduled to be implemented to promote understanding of gender diversity (mandatory for managers). We will continue to promote LGBTQ awareness among employees and create a more comfortable workplace.

Policy

The Asahi Kasei Group believes that all of the human resources working at the Group are the source of new value creation based on their diversity and capability to change.

As a signatory to the UN Global Compact, the Group supports and respects the labor-related principles set forth therein. We also endorse the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Children's Rights and Business Principles, and we will use these frameworks to grasp and appropriately address labor issues in our business.
The United Nations Global Compact stipulates the following labor principles.

• Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
• Businesses should uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor
• Businesses should uphold the effective abolition of child labor
• Businesses should uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation

Furthermore, the Asahi Kasei Group Code of Conduct clearly states that the Group, as well as its suppliers, does not allow inhumane practices such as child and forced labor, prohibits discrimination for any reason including employment status, respects human rights and diversity, and carries out its business with sincerity and a sense of responsibility.

Based on the above approach, we will not only comply with domestic and international labor laws and regulations on the following labor issues, but also strive to create a work environment where employees can reach their maximum abilities while working with safety and peace of mind.

• Prevention of child and forced labor
• Reduction of excessive working hours
• Formulation of working conditions based on consultation between labor and management

  Asahi Kasei Corporation offers new graduates a starting salary of at least 115% above the national weighted average of regional minimum wages in Japan.
  We maintain a set standard of living for our employees by complying with each region’s decided minimum wage and paying a fair living wage.
  We also adhere to the minimum wage regulations set by local ordinances and provide equal remuneration for the same positions, without considering gender or other differences, based on the fundamental principle of equal pay for equal work.

• Guarantee of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights

  We guarantee the freedom of association and collective bargaining rights for the employees we hire.

The Asahi Kasei Group's working conditions are formulated and implemented based on consultation and agreement between labor and management.

Management Framework

General Affairs and Human Resources of Asahi Kasei Corporation oversee the Asahi Kasei Group’s initiatives related to personnel and labor management. Each Group company has its own HR policy and is actively engaged in human resource development. Regular audits are conducted to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, as well as to prevent any improprieties. The results of these audits are reported to the Board of Directors as necessary.

Compliance with labor standards

Consultation between labor and management regarding labor standards

We strive to ensure legal compliance through such means as sharing information on topic and amendments to labor-related laws with Group companies in order to ensure Group-wide legal compliance.
In fiscal 2017, our Group also established an expert committee for the labor union and company to examine work style reform, and measures such as a telecommuting system have been implemented.
Moreover, we have promoted the use of annual leave days to reduce working hours. In addition to this, we monitor workplaces that have comparatively long working hours with the aim of preventing excessive working hours at the level of each organization.

In fiscal 2023, there was one violation of the Labor Standards Law. When adding up overtime work and work on holidays, average working hours during 2 to 5 months surpassed 80 hours. After the violation occurred, we determined the cause and implemented preventive measures. We also adjusted workloads and enhanced the workplace support structure.
In fiscal 2022, we started offering e-learning courses on attendance management to all personnel responsible for work hours and attendance in order to enhance labor-management awareness on a company-wide level.

Communication between management and labor

The Group supports employees' freedom of association and right to collective bargaining and strives to maintain a constructive partnership between management and labor.
Discussions on the overall management of the Asahi Kasei Group are held on a regular basis between the management of Asahi Kasei Corp. and the labor union, and separate discussions are periodically held at each business unit and operating site. We also hold regular management roundtables with the Asahi Kasei Group Federation of Labor Unions, which is an alliance of our individual labor unions, to provide opportunities for discussion and to facilitate communication between workers and management.
We have concluded a union shop agreement with the Asahi Kasei Labor Union (an agreement under which all employees, except managers and supervisors, are members of the union), and the union has 9,114 members (as of March 1, 2024).

Creating Regional Employment

In the regions where our Group‘s businesses operate, we will contribute to local communities through employment and procurement activities in those communities.