Health and Productivity Management
Policy and Strategy
In May 2015, our top management team announced the Declaration of Health Promotion and initiated the Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action 2020 through collaboration between the Company and its health insurance association. At present, we are working on “Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action 2025.”
Employees of Kyowa Kirin Group and people around us work on the Wellness Action (behavior change) with our own motivation and excitement, and contribute to the company and society in addition to reducing our own health risks and improving the well-being.
Kyowa Kirin Group Declaration of Health Promotion
The Kyowa Kirin Group declares it will promote the health of its employees with the aim of enhancing their lifelong quality of life.
While employees make spontaneous efforts to improve their own health, the Group aspires to promote its employees' health from a preventive perspective, aiming for a higher level of health.
The Group implements measures to motivate each and every employee to take actions for improving their health, and to help them sustain such actions.
Conceptual Framework of the Kyowa Kirin Group's Health and Productivity Management
Governance
The human resources director of Kyowa Kirin heads up our initiatives to promote health and productivity management, which are operated by the Collaborative Health Promotion Committee composed of representatives of each business site and the Working-Level Conference for Collaborative Health Promotion. Committee members and working-level staff collaborate with industrial physicians, public health nurses and occupational health and safety divisions to execute initiatives tailored to the characteristics of each business site.
The progress achieved with regard to the initiatives is discussed and monitored at the Executive Committee and the Group CSR Committee.
Specific Initiatives
Kyowa Kirin Group's Health and Productivity Management
![[Global]Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action 2025 [Objective]Employees and people around us:-Reduce risks to our mental & physical health -Improve the well-being Society:-Cope with social issues* *e.g. medical cost increase, obesity, activity qty decrease, imbalanced diets -Promotion of the Wellness Action has a good influence on outside of the company Company:-Enhance corporate value by improving performance of each one of us -Develop corporate culture to get over the wall through the Wellness Action [Ideal behavior]Employees and people around us work on the Wellness Action with our own motivation & excitement [Make employees active]Increase ratio of Most Effective Employees [Target in 2025]To exceed FY2020 result [Behavioral change for health]Habit of exercise Habit of meals Habit of sleep Non-smoking Others [KKC Group Talent Management Policy]Employees Acting autonomously and take on the challenge Encouraging its employees to co-create new value KKC Group [Business philosophy, Vision, Core values, and code of conduct of Kyowa Kirin Group]](/sustainability/human_resources_infrastructure/portfolio/workplace_safety/images/index_img_01.png)
Wellness Action 2025 (Numerical target) Progress
We work on monitoring of progress at each business site as well as evaluation and improvement of the activity through opportunities to share issues with the management.
You can see this table by scrolling horizontally.
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal Indicators on health | liveliness score | Positive answer rate to ”I think about the health and well-being of members in the workplace and people around them regarding it as my own affair, take care of them each other, and work on the activity with fun.” (Survey about Wellness Action) | 62% | 71% | 77% |
| Presenteeism (presence but low performance [due to poor health]) | How would you rate your overall job performance on the days you worked during the past 4 weeks? (Absolute presentism by WHO-HPQ) |
61.98 | 62.76 | 63.91 | |
| Work engagement | Liveliness level (Calculated from percentage of relevant answers to Stress Check Questionnaire) | 121 | 123 | 126 | |
| Health risk | Ratio of those who keep right body weight according to the result of regular health checkup | 66.9% | 67.2% | 70.2% | |
| Absenteeism (absence due to poor health) | Ratio of absence, long-term leave of absence and resignation due to illness or injury | 1.3% | 1.6% | Calculation in progress | |
| Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior | Exercise | Participation rate and average footstep counts in walking campaign | Participation rate 75.4% Average footstep counts 5,056 |
Patticipation rate 76.8% Average footstep counts 5,265 |
Patticipation rate 86.2% Average footstep counts 5,885 |
| Leave | Average number of leave days taken year-round | 17.2 days | 18.0 days | 18.3 days | |
| Smoking | Ratio of smokers | 4.3% | 4.0% | 3.7% | |
| Moderate drinking | Ratio of employees classified in non-drinking group or low risk drinking group (AUDIT: less than 8 pts) | 81% | 80.5% | 79.2% | |
| Indicator on the status of health investment measures | Ratio of employees who received regular health checkup | Ratio of employees who received regular health checkup | 99.9% | 80.5% | 100% |
| Ratio of employees who received secondary health checkup | Ratio of employees who received secondary health checkup (close examination, reinspection) out of those applicable to follow-up measure level 3 based on the KKC health checkup follow-up measure guideline, excluding cases in which a corporate doctor judged medical examination unnecessary | 90% | 100% | Calculation in progress | |
| Interview by occupational health physician | Ratio of employees who had the interview out of those applicable to follow-up measure level 3 based on the KKC health checkup follow-up measure guideline | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Mental health | Ratio of employees who conducted the stress check | 97.6% | 97.8% | 97.2% | |
Measures Implemented
We implement Group-wide measures for health promotion and disease prevention, as well as individual measures at each business site.
Our health insurance association issues an annual Health Report, in which trends in illnesses by age group and lifestyle survey results are introduced to illuminate the Company’s health-related issues and raise employees’ health awareness.
Examples of Group-wide measures
- Walking campaign, SmileWalk (Corporate social contribution planning)
This project, which started in 2021, has raised the participation rate and average number of steps taken by developing projects such as competitions between office locations. In 2023, we embraced a concept that “improvement of health” while having fun with peers leads to “improvement of society,” and we planned and carried out an event of contribution to society “Smile Walk.” Employees participated in the event and made a donation according to the participation rate and average step counts.
- Strengthened our regular physical checkup program with additional test items, exceeding legal requirements (e.g., biochemical tests, cancer screenings)
- Program to protect high-risk individuals from aggravation
- Lectures on health-related topics
- Mental health counseling service and training programs offered by industrial physicians and contractors
- Discounts on sports club membership
- Financial support for medical care to quit smoking and anti-smoking medication
- Financial support for preventing diseases (e.g., comprehensive health checkup, seasonal flu shot, elimination of Helicobacter pylori infection)
- Support for employees undergoing cancer treatment while continuing to work (available only at Kyowa Kirin); and support for employees returning to work after a long period of sick leave
- Issuing of Health Report
Individual measures at each business site
Healthy menu and complimentary salad offered at worksite cafeteria
Health support program (sleep support)
Working women and their health
Suggested by employees, we organized a meeting for conversation with the management on the themes of fertility treatment and menstruation. Male and female employees totaling around 60 people participated in the conversation opportunity on the topic of ”Workstyle and menstruation.”
Activities beyond the boundaries of company
- Based on the Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action2025, KKC requests customers visiting its plants to refrain from smoking in the business sites.
- KKC introduces its health and productivity management at explanatory meetings for business partner companies in the supply chain.
- Led by the leadership of management, KKC has participated in the Association of Kenko Companies, which is actively working on improvement of employees' health, since 2015 as one of the founders. Through activities of "No Smoking Subcommittee" and "Data-driven Health Subcommittee" etc., it has workshops with other companies and provided them with its know-how regularly.
Assessing Measures and Making Improvements
ach initiative is checked and assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively at the corporate strategy meetings and other occasions.
Through the initiatives for health we aim to solve management issues.
Health investment and expected effects
Kyowa Kirin Group’s problem before quitting smoking
Although Kyowa Kirin is a company engaged in the pharmaceutical business and has a management philosophy of “striving to contribute to the health and well-being of people around the world,” the smoking rate among employees was higher than the nationwide adult smoking rate.
→The company will work to help employees quit smoking, because the health, well-being and smiles of employees and their families lead to the fulfillment of the management philosophy.
Good points of Kyowa Kirin’s no-smoking initiative (qualitative assessment)
- Each employee, including non-smokers, is encouraged to treat the problem as their own and to take on the challenge
- Continuous support by top management, heads of business sites and the human resources departments of business sites
- Setting no-smoking rules in stages (no-smoking day -> no-smoking during working hours ->no-smoking during working hours + no-smoking on company premises)
- Regularly checking on smoking status and sharing the progress
- Collaboration with the health insurance association (the company will be responsible for employee communication, health insurance association will be responsible for smoking cessation subsidy program)
![[Health investment]Take sufficient time to explain to employees how serious the company [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]The percentage of smoking employees who have submitted their declaration to stop smoking [Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Smoking rate [Goal indicators on health]Productivity growth through smoking cessation [Management issues we want to solve with our health and productivity management]Establishing a new way of working in adapting to a world with the coronavirus (employees’ health, safety and security) [Health investment]Main investments: explaining and responding to employees (about 5,000,000 yen) [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]Target for 2020: 100% Result as of August 2020: 79.5% [Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Target for 2025: Continued below 5%. Actual result in May 2023:3.7%[Goal indicators on health]The main expected effects: lower morbidity among employees, including non-smokers, better labor productivity etc. (about 304,150,000 yen)](/sustainability/human_resources_infrastructure/portfolio/workplace_safety/images/index_fig_12.png)
Below is how we consider the estimated effect from the investment.
Calculation method for estimated effect: 1 × (2 - 3)
- 1.Annual cost for the company: 553,000 yen (reference: Seattle University Professor William Weis, PhD 1981)
- 2.The number of smoking employees in 2017: 692 (from the regular physical examination questionnaire)
- 3.The number of smoking employees as of March 2003:142
Kyowa Kirin Group's Problems with exercise
- It was necessary to intentionally create opportunities for physical activity under the restriction of going out due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
→Wellness Action 2025 will target specific actions that are easy to understand and implement, such as the participation rate in walking campaigns and the average number of steps taken.
Good points in the Kyowa Kirin’s activity for exercise (Qualitative evaluation)
- Looking back on lifestyle-related results and change to a target more familiar to employees led to change of behavior.
- Working on the campaign while sharing good practice of other business sites led to activation of the campaign in all business sites beyond the boundaries of location.
- Worked on the campaign in cooperation with the Health Insurance Association. (Communication with employees by the company, operation of application (software) by Health Insurance Association)
- Since the executives took the leading roles to work on the activity, the company’s earnest effort was delivered to employees (the participation rate of executives :100%、the average step counts of executives: 7,734)
- By timely posting of the progress of the board game with playful spirit to the in-house newsletter, “visualized” result has been widely spread.
- Event of contribution to society that “leads to improvement of society” raised employees’ motivation to change their behavior further.
![[Health investment]Carry out Walking Campaign [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]Raise participation rate in Walking Campaign [Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Raise average footstep counts in Walking Campaign [Goal indicators on health]Improve performance when working in the office (absolute presentism) [Management issues we want to solve with our health and productivity management]Employees' health and safety Reforming corporate culture (overcoming walls and following through to the end) [Health investment]Main investments: explaining and responding to employees (about 2,200,000 yen) [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]Target for 2025: 80% Actual result in June 2023：85.4%[Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Target for 2025: average step counts 5,000 Actual result in June 2023: Average footstep counts 5,688 [Goal indicators on health]Improvement of ratio of employees keeping an appropriate body weight (Health risk)Improve liveliness score (Wellness Action with excitement)](/sustainability/human_resources_infrastructure/portfolio/workplace_safety/images/index_fig_17.png)
External Assessment
In the Health and Productivity Management Survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we were certified as a 2024 Health and Productivity Management Organization (White 500) for having met the specified standards.We have been certified as a 2024 Health and Productivity Management Organization (White 500) for eight consecutive years since the start of the system.
- *1:The Certified Health & Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program endeavors to highlight outstanding enterprises engaged in efforts to advance health and productivity management and thereby aims to organize an environment in which such enterprises are able to gain enhanced public recognition, e.g., from employees, employment seekers, related enterprises and financial institutions, as organizations engaging in strategic health and productivity management efforts for maintaining their employees' health from a management perspective. Certifications under the program began in 2017.
