Promoting Diversity
Kumiai Chemical Group Basic Policy on Human Capital Management
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Creating rewarding workplaces
The Kumiai Chemical Group believes human capital is the most important factor in and indispensable for sustainable corporate growth, and actively builds working environments where employees can work enthusiastically as they enjoy work-life balance. We also foster a culture that offers employees steady validation, a sense of accomplishment, and hope for the future, so that they can achieve self-fulfillment and maximum happiness through their work. -
Creating safe and healthy working environments
The Kumiai Chemical Group prevents industrial accidents and diseases as well as promoting the creation of safe and healthy working environments by ensuring that employees are aware of legal requirements related to safety, health, and disaster prevention, reflecting discussions at the Safety and Health Committee, which includes employee representatives. -
Ensuring fair working conditions
The Kumiai Chemical Group respects fundamental rights related to labor, including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Through constructive labor-management dialogue in councils with the labor union, we ensure fair working conditions by complying with labor-related laws and regulations, such as rules on minimum wages and working hours, as well as maintaining a well-balanced personnel system and working to further improve the treatment of employees. -
Fair and equitable human capital management
The Kumiai Chemical Group trains highly ethical human capital capable of acting in accordance with its Corporate Philosophy and with a high level of expertise and a global perspective, using systems that support fair and equitable human capital management and development. -
Promotion of diversity
The Kumiai Chemical Group achieves diversity and inclusion that enables its diverse human capital to make the most of their individual values and abilities.
Promoting Diversity and Inclusion
We have positioned promotion of diversity and inclusion (D&I) as materiality and is pursuing initiatives to create a working environment where everyone can work comfortably and play an active role and promote active participation of women.
With regard to creation of a working environment where everyone can work comfortably and play an active role, we are formulating a D&I promotion plan incorporating D&I training, D&I surveys, and establishment of a working group (WG) and deliberation by the WG, in order to reflect the real voices of employees. The D&I WG, launched in 2024, was recruited from across the company and comprised a diverse group of employees eager to promote D&I. The WG organized the promotion themes and has begun work on following six high-priority items, ①D&I-related training and information dissemination, ②Conducting training for managers, ③Improvement measures against harassment and determination of method of dissemination, ④Providing an environment where minorities can feel safe to voice their opinions and stimulate communication, ⑤Providing an environment where executives and employees can easily take advantage of maternity leaves, childcare leave, and nursing care systems, and ⑥Development an environment that encourages female employees to become managers.
With regard to promotion of active participation of women, we will formulate a plan for recruitment, promotion, and training to achieve a female manager ratio of 8.2% in FY2030. Specifically, while maintaining the ratio of female hires to new graduate hires (34.8% in FY2024), we will formulate development plans for managerial candidates in line with their individual abilities and motivation, and encourage their development with a view to promotion to managerial positions.
D&I Vision
![[Officers and Employees]We will create an environment that everyone will find comfortable to work in and where all officers and employees can work happily and with vitality. ● We will strive to create an environment where all officers and employees understand the importance of D&I and are able to participate in active discussions while respecting the individuality and opinions of others. ● We will strive to create an environment where officers and employees from diverse backgrounds can work and demonstrate their potential through their preferred work styles. ● We will strive to create a work environment where gender equality is achieved in all aspects. ● With the establishment of the Detailed Regulation for Handling Wellness Leave, we will encourage the taking of menstrual leave and expand coverage of infertility treatment, etc. [Products and Services]Our aim is that our products and services can be used by many more customers safely and securely through the development of new agricultural chemical application methods and other means.[Industry and Community]With pride as a leader in agriculture, we will contribute to D&I in the agricultural industry.](/english/sustainability/social/diversity/img/img01.jpg)
Promotion Roadmap
Ratio of female hires to new graduate hires
| Year joined the Company | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males (People) | 22 | 11 | 9 | 15 |
| Females (People) | 12 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Total (People) | 34 | 16 | 12 | 23 |
| Percentage of females | 35.3% | 31.3% | 25.0% | 34.8% |
Ratio of mid-career hires to annual hires
| Year joined the Company | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New graduate hires (People) | 34 | 16 | 12 | 23 |
| Mid-career hires (People) | 8 | 6 | 22 | 17 |
| Total hires (People) | 42 | 22 | 34 | 40 |
| Percentage of mid-career hires | 19.0% | 27.3% | 64.7% | 42.5% |
KPIs for promoting diversity
| KPI | FY2023 results |
FY2024 results |
FY2026 targets |
FY2030 targets |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of female managers (Section Manager or higher) |
2.3% | 2.2% | 4.9% | 8.2% | |
| Rate of female employees | 17.3% | 19.3% | 19.0% | 20.0% | |
| Wage differential between men and woman* | |||||
| All workers | 72.9% | 71.4% | ー | ー | |
| of which regular employees | 80.1% | 79.0% | ー | ー | |
| of which non-regular employees | 82.9% | 65.0% | ー | ー | |
*Reason for the wage differential between men and women
There are no gender differences in the personnel treatment system. The high percentage of male employees in the higher ranks, including managers, and the difference in working hours (men work more overtime hours, while women have a higher utilization rate of shorter working hours) are factors contributing to the wage gap between men and women.
Initiatives
Physiology training
In order to create a workplace where women can work with peace of mind, we held the "Sofy Everyone's Menstruation Training" program, run by Unicharm Corporation, a major household goods manufacturer, in February 2025.
Based on the idea that "people with diverse thoughts and values coming together to exchange opinions deepens understanding," this training was held with a total of 30 participants (15 of whom were men), including managers, female employees, contract employees, and part-time employees.
This training not only consisted of lectures and group discussions, but also involved participants seeing and touching sanitary napkins, tampons and other sanitary products in practice. This helped to reduce perceptions such as "menstruation is taboo and men should not touch it" and "menstruation is embarrassing." All participants seemed to have a sense of ownership and seriously exchanged opinions.
Post-training survey (selection of comments from participants)
- I felt that it was important for my coworkers to understand menstruation. (Male in his 30s)
- I think there are some women who want to be aware of their period and others who want to be left alone, but I thought it would be good if we could be sensitive and create an environment where people are psychologically safe. (Male in his 40s)
- There's no point in having comprehensive systems (such as menstrual leave) if you can't use them, so I think it's important to create an environment where people feel comfortable speaking up and to build relationships between superiors and subordinates. (Female in her 20s)
- It was good to hear a variety of opinions, including from men. I once again realized the need for mutual understanding. (Female in her 40s)
- Through this exchange of opinions, I realized that there weren't as many barriers between me and men as I had thought, and my awkwardness and embarrassment in speaking up began to fade away. (Female in her 50s)
We will continue to provide training aimed at promoting D＆I, aiming to increase the psychological safety of all employees and create a workplace where each individual can perform to the best of their ability.