Initiatives to Promote Diversity and Inclusion

Sompo Holdings believes that diversity and Inclusion（D&I） is the essential management strategy, and established the Diversity Promotion Headquarters in 2013.

The Group’s slogan “Diversity for Growth” shows our commitment to translating D&I into our management strategies as a driver for group growth.

The purpose of promoting D&I is to promote the sustainable growth of the Sompo Group and increase its corporate value through (1) Creating innovation and (2) Improving employee happiness and motivation.

In order to realize “a theme park for security, health and wellbeing,” mentioned in SOMPO’s Purpose, we need to innovate by welcoming good clashes among diverse people and by discovering new value from such situations. It is important to realize true D&I and link it to major innovation based on the idea that each employee creates new value by using their talents and strengths and anticipating changes regardless of gender, ability or disability, nationality or age.

COVID-19 has provided the world with an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of a sustainable society. In this new era of multi-stakeholder governance, it is important to change our awareness by placing as much value on the happiness of employees as on the interests of companies and shareholders. We believe that employees should be true to themselves, exercise their strengths and work with a sense of contributing to the team, and that these are important factors that link to their happiness. The creation of a culture that recognizes each other’s differences is the foundation for such happiness, and the Diversity Promotion Headquarters is leading this group-wide effort.

Female Empowerment

We have set a goal of achieving at least 30% female management throughout the Group by the end of fiscal year 2023. In addition to implementing Group-wide female training programs to improve the knowledge and skills of our female employees and to change their mindset and attitudes, each group company also has its own program. Through these programs, as of March 2021, Sompo Japan has appointed one female director, one executive officer and 13 general managers, while Sompo Himawari Life has appointed four executive officers and one general manager.

When the goal was set in July 2013, the number of women in the Group management positions was 305, representing a mere 5% of the management. As a result of the above initiatives, the figure increased to 1,384, which boosted the percentage of women in management to 24.2% as of March 2021.

For the four consecutive year, Sompo Holdings has been selected as a NADESHIKO BRAND by the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This scheme introduces listed companies that are making outstanding efforts to promote female empowerment as attractive stocks to investors who are focused on improving corporate value over the medium- to long-term.

●External Recognition

March,2014Awarded “Diversity Management Selection 100” by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

January,2015Awarded “Corporate Activity Award” by the Tokyo Stock Exchange

September,2016Awarded two star rating by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare “Female Career Advancement Law”

December,2016Awarded “the Prime Minister’s Award” at Commend Leading Companies Where Empowering Women”

April,2018Awarded “the Grand Prize” at the 3rd Working Women Empowerment Award by Japan Productivity Center (Working Women’s Empowerment Forum)

November,2018Awarded Tokyo “Jisa-Biz Promotion Award (Work Style Category)” (continuous from 2017)

March,2021 Selected as “NADESHIKO BRAND 2020” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Tokyo Stock Exchange (continuous from 2017)

Employment of Challenged People

The Sompo Holdings Group employs challenged people^*1 throughout Japan and is focusing on creating inclusive work environments to stabilize their employment. As of April 1, 2021, Our Group's employment rate for challenged people is 2.42%.

Sompo Japan has a support system in place to create an inclusive workplace for challenged employees. For example, it provides a guidebook for managers and arranges disability consultants across the country who provide support to challenged employees.

*1“Challenged” is the language to refer to people with physical and mental disabilities arose in the US;
Originally intended to give a more positive tone than terms such as disabled or handicapped; with the Implication being that they are entitled to tackle challenges or given a chance called “challenges.”

● SOMPO Challenged Inc. to boost jobs for challenged people

Our Group is promoting the employment of challenged people aiming to provide them with stable opportunities to realize their talents and gain a sense of fulfillment through work and to harness their diversity in innovation that is essential to the growth of the Group. We established SOMPO Challenged in April 2018 as a certified special-purpose subsidiary^* to further promote the stable employment of challenged people throughout the Group and to create an environment in which they can work with vitality. SOMPO Challenged plays a leading role in boosting jobs for challenged people in our Group.

*A company approved by the Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare as satisfying certain conditions stipulated in the Act on Employment Promotion, etc. of Persons with Disabilities , that gives special consideration to the employment of challenged people

Sompo Holdings Joins “The Valuable 500” to Promote Disability Inclusion

The Valuable 500 was founded in January 2019 by a social entrepreneur, Caroline Casey, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Davos 2019). The Valuable 500 aims to encourage business leaders to achieve innovation so that challenged people can demonstrate their potential to add value to businesses, society and the economy. The Valuable 500 pursues support from 500 business leaders across the globe, who already have initiated disability inclusion efforts and those about to embark on such initiatives.
We joined this initiative and made the Group’s commitment to action.

Sompo Group Commitment

(1) Basic Policies

• We will position D&I as one of the essential business strategies for the growth of the Sompo Group. Using the slogan, “Diversity for Growth,” we will pour our energy into creating systems and a corporate culture to establish a rewarding workplace in which every employee can maximize their diverse strengths.
• We will continue to promote the employment of challenged people, with the aim of stably providing opportunities to realize their talents and gain a sense of fulfillment through work and creating new value as part of establishing diversity.

(2) Action and Commitment
Under the policies mentioned above, we will commit ourselves to the following actions:

1. We will ensure and improve the accessibility of challenged people regarding the various services provided by the Sompo Group. At the same time, we aspire to provide the highest quality services that contribute to security, health, and wellbeing.
2. Our management committees will set and promote the employment rate of challenged people.
3. We will focus on creating a workplace where challenged people can play an active role. Each of our business teams will appoint a member who will assist employees with disabilities to provide necessary support suited for the level of disability.
4. We aim at creating a workplace where employees of all fields, all levels, with various origins can work with no discrimination and maximize their abilities to the fullest extent. To this end, we will carry out D&I workshops, including understanding challenged people.
5. We will proactively announce that the Sompo Group is driving the job creation for challenged people

Employees’ Efforts to Create an Inclusive Society

Ryu Inomata is an employee at Sompo Holdings‘s Human Resources Department, who has a congenital heart disease. In addition to his regular duties, he is involved in the promotion of Help Mark^* as a Help Mark Director, a position first established by the prefecture. Furthermore, as a human rights lecturer for the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education, he gives talks to elementary and junior high schools on the realization of a society that accepts diversity.

*Mark that lets others know that the carrier has a disability that needs to be considered.

Ryu Inomata is involved in a variety of activities.
He has been visiting elementary, junior high, and high schools in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, to talk about diversity, coexistence and cooperation as a human rights lecturer for the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education (April 2019 to March 2022). He also manages a YouTube channel, Living With Heart -- Our Way to Live, to raise awareness of congenital heart disease and provide reference materials for fellow patients. In addition, he edits training videos for the NPO for Family and Baby’s website.

• YouTube channel: Living With Heart -- Our Way to Live
• NPO for Family and Baby website (in Japanese)

Going forward, we will continue to promote D&I by accepting and utilizing diversity to enhance the happiness and satisfaction of employees, and linking D&I to the sustainable growth of the Group to enhance our corporate value.

On-Site Daycare Center “SOMPO KIDS PARK”

On March 1 2018, Sompo Japan opened an on-site daycare center “SOMPO KIDS PARK” at the headquarters in Shinjuku, Tokyo. This daycare center assists employees who face lack of child care services so that they continue to work and pursue their career paths. The daycare center has an online communication notebook system in place. This system enables parents and nursery staff to maintain day-to-day communications on smartphones. Employees can save time as they can access, view and write a message on the site whenever they have free time. Nursery staff members can digitally manage this notebook. Sompo Japan aims to make this daycare center suited for the high aspiration – to become a company that leads innovations for work-life balance.

Work Style Innovation

Sompo Japan has been promoting work style innovations since 2015 to create a friendly workplace where diversified people can increase productivity through effective time management.

Work-Life Balance

To improve the quality of employee output, it is essential to focus not only on skill development but also on the physical and mental health of each employee. Good physical and mental health and a fulfilling private life are the foundation of a dynamic workforce. A dynamic workforce means a vitalized company, which is why we make the flexibility to balance work and private life a high priority.

●Career Transfer Program

We have a career transfer program in which an employee can change his/her work place to a difference branch when there is a compelling reasons and when certain conditions are met. This program can be used by those who are in the positions that would not require job relocations but need to relocate their residence due to unavoidable circumstances.

●System Supporting Employees during Pregnancy, Post-childbirth and Childcare

We provide various types of leave and flexible work style options, such as “maternity leave,” “childcare leave,” and “reduced working hours for childcare,” which offers multiple work hour options. “Reduced working hours for childcare” allows the employee to take a work hour option from multiple choices until her/his child completes the third grade. Working for shorter hours is also available when there is an inevitable reason (e.g., family illness or disability). In this case, they can choose a short-time work option until the child reaches 18 years old. We have other arrangements to create an employee-friendly environment where both women and men can take childcare leave without difficulty. For example, short-term childcare leave is a paid leave, which can be obtained if application is submitted by the day before.

●Forums to Support Employees on Childcare Leave

We organize forums to help employees who are on childcare leave smoothly return to work in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka and via a video conference. In addition to the employees who are on childcare leave, their supervisors and colleagues attend the forum. This helps relieve anxiety about returning to work by creating a more inclusive business environment. In consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic, in FY2020, the forum was held video and online.

●“Amore Support” for Employees on Childcare Leave

We have extensive support tools to create a workable environment for all employees. For example, we use “guides for pregnancy, childbirth, childcare,” “tips for one-on-one interviews with employees on childcare leave,” and the “guidance for supervisors who have a staff member on childcare leave.” We regularly provide information about the company’s important policies.

●Support for Nursing Care

Long-term nursing care has become a common issue due to the rapidly aging population in Japan. To help employees balance their work and care responsibilities, we expanded the options to offer a long-term family care leave (up to 365 days in total), nursing leave, shift work for nursing care and reduced working hours. We also held a seminar for balancing work and care responsibilities.