Initiatives to Maintain and Improve Employee Health

Sumitomo Forestry engages in initiatives to maintain and improve employee health from health management and self-care education in the new employee training program to event information and columns about health on the internal website of the Workstyle Diversification Department.

Walking events were held twice as a new attempt in spring and fall in fiscal 2021. Purpose of these events was to tackle a lack of exercise and encourage communication among our employees. This event was held only for Sumitomo Forestry in spring, and the same event was held together with the five Sumitomo Forestry Group companies that had agreed to participate in fall. In addition, a health live seminar was also organized to increase productivity and lifestyle in terms of sleep, diet, and exercise. The online seminar provided an excellent chance for Group employees to interact with each other.

Furthermore, two practical seminars for health management personnel were held online in June and December. This seminar, including lectures on relevant laws and regulations, as well as internal company rules, was designed to educate administrative officers, persons in charge of health management practices, and other persons in charge of group companies nationwide. Participants shared their own initiatives and innovations with each other via chat rooms during the seminar, making it a valuable opportunity to learn together.

Walking events, health live seminar, and practical seminar for health supervisors will be continued in the future.

We use a reservation system for regular health check-ups which are vital to preventing illness and maintain a 100% medical examination rate. In addition, the system that we use can offer regular health check-ups, stress check aftercare, and consultations with industrial physicians and public health nurses during overwork and other stressful situations. These measures are even available to employees working at sites with a small number of staff through the appointment of industrial physicians even at locations with less than 50 employees.

We also conduct health check-ups before appointing or returning an employee to a post for overseas appointees as well as interview individuals, gain information and provide advice about the state of their health as well as address other needs they may have.

Mental Health Care

Practical Mental Health Care

Based on the Guidelines for Maintaining and Improving Workers' Mental Health formulated by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Sumitomo Forestry implements four types of care for mental health: self-care; care provided by line managers; care provided by occupational health staff within the workplace; and care using resources from outside the business.

Employees who are certified as clinical physiologists have striven to assist mentally ill individuals with follow-up support and help them in returning to work in close cooperation with external provider of the employee assistance program (EAP)^*.

In fiscal 2019, Sumitomo Forestry changed the external EAP agency alliance and established a new management consultation desk to further a system to better support line care. This help desk is not only available to employees but also their families and can support in English and Chinese, which offers better care for a wider range of employees.

We adjust stratified working hours and the work load to suit the circumstances of each individual by adopting an occupational rehabilitation system to help employees return to work to create and execute rehabilitation plans so that each person can both physically and mentally get used to the work environment.

Sumitomo Forestry distributes a Mental Absentee Guidebook when employees take leave with corporate rules and other information related to how to spend that time off as well as the suspension of their work to elevate worry as much as possible during their break. We also distribute a Guidebook for Managers to supervisors as well to provide information that includes ways to handle each situation.

* A workplace mental health care service for employees

Use of stress checks

Sumitomo Forestry has offered stress checks since fiscal 2013, ahead of becoming mandatory after amendments to the Industrial Safety and Health Law in December 2015. All of our employees (excluding employees who are on long-term leave due to pregnancy, medical treatment for illness or other such reasons) use the information provided on websites and in other mediums to help prevent mental disorders.

New stress check items were added for evaluating health reasons and psychological safety in fiscal 2021, such as illnesses and symptoms that had an influence on job performance, in order to validate priority measures and improve the workplace environment. As part of care following stress checks, we also distributed results of individual organizational analysis to each site and provided "Stress Check Feedback Training" to all managers in order to raise awareness about building an even more vibrant workplace. Individual consultations were provided to departments experiencing difficulties in order to improve the workplace environment. In addition, a new category named “Health Care” was added to the e-learning program to help each and every employee achieve a healthier mind and body by offering information.