Empowering Employees of LGBTQ+ Communities

Under the policy of aiming to create an environment where all employees are respectful of sex, gender identity and gender expression, and sexual orientation, and all employees can authentically express themselves so that we can develop an organizational culture where all employees can fully develop their potential, we are creating work-friendly workplaces for employees of LGBTQ+ communities and fostering such a culture.

To deepen understanding of LGBTQ+ issues, we held a round-table talk with transgender employees in the company for employees who have made an Ally^*1 declaration. Approximately 110 employees participated in the talk. Through talks by LGBTQ+ employees about their experiences and points that we should be mindful of, we obtained a lot of feedback saying, for example, “I have increased my understanding of LGBTQ+ issues because I heard directly from a member of the community what they have problems with, which only they themselves can understand.” Moreover, we released a video of the round-table talk to our employees, which encourages more employees to have a feeling of closeness to LGBTQ+ employees and grasp the issue as a matter of their own.

During Pride Month in June, we provided educational content in the following four topics: (1) Basic knowledge; (2) communication; (3) Real voices of LGBTQ+ employees in the company; and (4) The global landscape. During this period, many employees thought deeply about respect for individuality. They talked about diversity of gender in each workplace, which became an opportunity for them to understand and accept LGBTQ+ people.

We are continuing recruitment for Allies. We have 594 employees who have made an Ally declaration this year, which comes to 1,072 members in total (year-on-year change: 224%). Employees who make an Ally declaration are issued with special straps that they are encouraged to wear.

To establish a network to promote DE&I initiatives for supporting LGBTQ+ communities and Allies, Americas launched a new employee resource group (ERG) called Kao Pride. Kao Pride enhances the growth of LGBTQ+ employees, reflects a diverse range of views of people at all levels in the Americas, and works to build a safe, open environment in which all employees can work freely, to go beyond virtue signaling or rainbow washing. In 2022, the Americas participated in the Cincinnati Pride Parade. Kao Pride held a panel discussion by our employees on National Coming Out Day. As an awareness-raising activity to learn about the expansion of gender-neutral pronouns and to break down the concept of gender binarism, Kao Pride invited a guest speaker and held an event on how to become a better Ally in one’s workplace.

EMEA launched LGBTQIA+ All Stars as one of the ERGs. With support from the D&I Steering Board^*4 , LGBTQIA+ All Stars introduced a gender-neutral bathroom in the London office, and the employees can now write a personal pronoun suitable to each individual after their signature.