Empowering Employees with Disabilities

We have assigned Vocational Life Consultants for Persons with Disabilities to worksites nationwide to conduct consultations for employees with disabilities. We inform employees with disabilities of Vocational Life Consultants for Persons with Disabilities annually, leading to building awareness of consultations and the comfortable atmosphere in which the consultations take place.
We hold regular meetings for Vocational Life Consultants for Persons with Disabilities. In addition to improving their skills as consultants and strengthening the support system, they exchange opinions on issues and solutions for people with disabilities in the workplace.

We prepared an Employment Manual for People with Disabilities and a Communication Sheet, distributing them on our DE&I portal site to promote mutual understanding among employees with disabilities and their colleagues.
We also introduced the UD Talk voice-recognition application as a tool to support communication with employees who have hearing impairments. In addition, we are continuing to introduce and apply voice recognition tools such as UD Talk and live captions for Microsoft Teams inside the company.

We regularly implement measures to promote a better understanding of disabilities. In 2023, during Disability Employment Support Month in September, a special page was opened in the DE&I Portal with the theme of “working together” that publicized activities of employees with disabilities. On this special page, we have published interviews with employees with disabilities and content to learn about creating a workplace where people with and without disabilities can work well together.

All executives took the third level of the Universal Manners Test by Mirairo Inc. in January 2024 in order to deepen their understanding of disabilities and to learn about appropriate accommodations, thereby improving the environment within Kao and fostering a corporate culture within the company that encourages the success of employees with disabilities. By learning about the characteristics of diverse populations and how to appropriately support them in various everyday situations, the participants gained insights that they can put into practice.

In conjunction with Disability Employment Support Month in September, we introduced articles on the activities of employees with disabilities and feedback collected from employees with disabilities to other employees through the KCMK Group portal. The purpose was to motivate employees with disabilities and increase other employees’ understanding and awareness of the need to be mindful when interacting with people with disabilities.

The All Abilities Community^*2 hosted a lecture by a Paralympic gold medalist on the International Day of People with Disabilities to deepen understanding of the inclusion of people with disabilities.

The Wasa Welfare Factory was established in April 1993 as a place that supports financial and psychological independence as well as social participation. It provides work to people with disabilities along with lifestyle guidance and health management, in cooperation with medical institutions and under Wakayama City’s and Wakayama Prefecture’s guidance and subsidies. In 2020, we acquired it from Sumiya Social Welfare Corporation in Wakayama City, and the Kao Wakayama Plant is handling its operation (Wasa Group, Production Division). Currently a total of 25 employees, including 21 with disabilities, set assortments of Kao travel sets.

Kao Peony has proactively employed persons with intellectual disabilities, including ones with severe disabilities, since it was established in 2005. The Production Division provides setting and packaging operations for cosmetics and beauty care products. The Office Support Division, launched in 2017, takes care of administrative and clerical support operations that assist with some of the Kao Group’s business processes in Japan. As of January 2024, a total of 93 employees, including 67 employees with disabilities, work at Kao Peony.

In recent years, the Production Division had been experiencing a decline in cosmetics setting operations due to changes in business strategy and a decrease in inbound sales. However, as a result of the proactive acceptance of products put out for contract manufacturing, the line operation rate improved to 83% and sales recovered to the level they had been before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, we will start operating the second line in cooperation with the Tokyo Plant with the aim of further expanding employment and reducing cash outflows for the Kao Group. In future, we will introduce robots to some of the production lines, aiming to improve both productivity and employment of people with disabilities.
The Office Support Division accepts trainees from schools that provide special education and the Tokyo Shigoto Foundation throughout the year in order to hire a wide range of people who are willing to work, regardless of whether they are new graduates or former graduates. To make the most of each member’s individuality, we take orders for a wide variety of work, and each member is active in work suited to their aptitude. In addition, we are also working to improve the performance of Kao Peony as a whole through flexible arrangements between the two divisions, such as transferring members who seem to be more suitable for production work to the Production Division with their consent.
Both divisions will create an environment where employees with disabilities can work with peace of mind while exploring new tasks to expand the employment of people with disabilities and contribute to the Kao Group’s financial bottom line.

Currently, people with disabilities account for 2.76% of the total workforce of the Kao Group in Japan, exceeding the statutory minimum rate (as of June 2023).