Social Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)

Policy and Basic Mindset

Because we aim to become a specialty chemicals company, we know that we have to integrate diverse technologies, expertise, and perspectives to foster innovation so we can overhaul our corporate culture and drive that transformation. We are accordingly fostering gender equality, stepping up recruiting of talented individuals who can hit the ground running, and improving job satisfaction by reviewing our work structure for senior employees. We are also broadening career opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

We conduct surveys and enhance opportunities for dialogues to better understand the needs of individuals while expanding our support programs. This is because we prioritize equity and want our people to flourish.

Management System

Targets and Performance

Diversity in Human Resources

At the UBE Group, we strive to provide stable employment for diverse human resources, regardless of differences in gender, nationality, ethnicity, race, disability, health status, age, social status, family situation, religion, beliefs, gender identity, sexual orientation, employment status, etc.

1. Providing Greater Opportunities for Women

We are aiming to attain gender equality, which is a top priority, by setting targets for the percentages of women in management positions and in our workforce and accelerating such initiatives. We are simultaneously expanding each of our work-life balance support systems for life events (childbirth, childcare, nursing care, etc.) for all employees, regardless of gender or attributes. We additionally encourage men to take parental leave, for which we have achieved a take-up rate of 99% across the UBE Group.

Benchmarks for Providing Greater Opportunities for Women (Parent Company)

• *The take-up rate for paternity leave among male employees is calculated by taking the number of employees who became fathers in a fiscal year (limited to those who are eligible for paternity leave) as (a) and the number of employees who have started a new period of paternity leave in the same fiscal year as (b), then dividing (b/a). When a child is born in the fiscal year before the one used to calculate (b), but the father takes the leave the following year, the father is included in (b), so there are cases where the take-up rate exceeds 100%.

(1) Formulated a General Business Owner Action Plan Based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace

In keeping with the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, UBE has formulated a General Business Owner Action Plan to create a working environment in which women can participate. We set the following three goals under a three-year plan starting in fiscal 2022.

1. Have women account for 10% or more and 5% or more of our employees and managers, respectively, by the end of March 2025.
2. Boost the percentage of female new graduates hired for generalist positions to an average of 30% or more during the plan period.
3. Increase the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave during the plan period to 70% or more, with the average leave taken exceeding 15 days.

• General Business Owner Action Plan Based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace.pdf

(2) Voluntary Action Plan to Promote Women to Executive and Managerial Positions

To promote women to executive and managerial positions, we have formulated the following Voluntary Action Plan, and are focused on carrying it out. We are expanding individual career development interviews, planned rotations, meetings to exchange opinions with top executives, and other such efforts through the Human Resources Dept.’s “Women Leaders and Managers Education Program,” thereby accelerating the promotions of women to executive and managerial positions. In June 2022, a woman was nominated to the role of Outside Director.

(3) Talent Pipeline for Women

In addition to promoting bringing more women into line manager roles and involving them in decision making processes, we strive to reflect diverse viewpoints at UBE by encouraging the participation of female employees in hiring and promotion interviews. As a part of these efforts, we foster career awareness through interviews and meetings with officers in charge of the Human Resources Dept. and the CEO, as well as by setting up pipelines for each generation.

The ratio of women among candidates for managerial positions at UBE is 18.8%, and the ratio of women among other career-track employees is 29.4%. We expect the ratio of women in managerial positions will increase ever more quickly going forward.

We have been holding meetings in which our female outside director, the CEO, and other officers exchange opinions on mid-level managerial positions where we identify issues related to women’s participation.

Due to a low number of high-level women managers and thus a lack of role models, it can be difficult for employees to visualize achieving such a position. However, by proactively improving work engagement using work-life balance support systems and by providing information regarding job satisfaction, we strengthen our talent pipeline for women.

Furthermore, in technical positions, we seek to increase the number of women in STEM roles (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), which is a current social issue. To this end, we are participating in the Yamaguchi University Diversity Promotion Acceleration Consortium and similar programs, cultivating such employees by working in cooperation with educational institutions and local companies.

• *Values for fiscal 2022 and later include those in “partner employee” positions

(4) Wage Gaps between Men and Women

• Notes:
• 1.Disparities come from an underrepresentation of women in management-level regular and contract worker positions, so we are striving to hire and promote them.
• 2.Many women in regular worker positions do not do shift work, leading to wage gaps from not receiving shift and late-night allowances.

(5) Group-Wide Initiatives

While developing a DE&I policy for the Group, the results from a survey conducted in fiscal 2022 during training on unconscious bias showed that many felt that the UBE Group should be more assertive in our Group-wide promotion of DE&I. Therefore, following a meeting held between Group companies and UBE officers in fiscal 2023 to exchange opinions on the subject, we formulated action plans for each Group company in a combined training event. In fiscal 2024, we will use the results from undertaking these action plans to select issues, and will work to bring about innovation by assembling diverse skills, wisdom and perspectives, which comprises the goal of DE&I.

2. Promoting Activity Among Senior Talent

UBE provides career and life planning training for employees once they reach the age of 55 to help them continue working in various workplaces in and outside the Group after reaching the standard retirement age of 60. The aim is to enable them to retain job security by making continued use of their accumulated work expertise and skills, and we provide them with the opportunity to reappraise their lives.

In fiscal 2023, 93.0% of recent retirees were rehired and still remain active within the UBE Group.

To promote the participation of senior employees, we selected issues from the results of a survey conducted in fiscal 2022, and revised systems in fiscal 2023. These revisions emphasized transparency, clarified the roles expected of senior employees, and resulted in the introduction of an interview system that sets targets based on the shared acknowledgement of them and their supervisors as well as an evaluation system that focuses on performance. Notably, we clarified six types of roles we expect of senior employees, such as specialists with a high degree of expertise or employees capable of independently handling important matters in the medium to long term in special situations where younger employees may require support. Moreover, based on our experience providing support for those independently pursuing reskilling, we devised methods so that these employees may strive toward further self-actualization.

3. Employment of Persons with Disabilities

Since establishing a special-purpose subsidiary for persons with disabilities in 1991, the UBE Group has founded a support network for employing such individuals, and has long been expanding their range of duties. A team specializing in dealing with persons with disabilities creates a supportive environment by collaborating with local support bodies to assist with everything from recruiting to job placements. Specifically, this subsidiary matches individual strengths to tasks while nurturing its employees through career development interviews and performance evaluations. A parallel endeavor to broaden job opportunities through special purpose subsidiaries and agricultural jobs is also under way. In an effort to enhance employee understanding of an expanded range of duties, we conducted e-Learning in fiscal 2023.

We will continue to practice social inclusion and empower all people to showcase their skills and get fulfillment through their work.

• *Average for time frame

4. Recruiting Specialists

We have committed to hiring diverse people to become a specialty chemicals company that contributes to people’s lives and health and an enriched future society. We systematically hire new graduates and experienced individuals while recruiting non-Japanese nationals.

In fiscal 2023, mid-career professionals accounted for 36.1% of hires for generalist positions in Japan on a consolidated basis. This resulted from efforts to strengthen timely recruiting and secure specialists with immediately deployable capabilities in line with our business strategies.

Under our current medium-term management plan, we have set our target percentage for mid-career generalist hires at 50% or more for fiscal 2024, and we will continue to recruit specialists.

• *Values in parentheses represent the number of female employees

5. Employing Non-Japanese Nationals

To harness expertise from different values and cultures in the face of ongoing globalization, UBE revised the global business leader program to include local training in Japan, Thailand, and Spain, and has expanded personnel exchanges with employees of the UBE Group companies outside Japan. Additionally, every year UBE hires foreign nationals to work in Japan, and actively pursues personnel exchanges, including accepting personnel from international Group companies.