Health Management of Employees

The Nihon Kohden Group aims to address social issues through its Management Philosophy, and we believe that the health of each employee, which forms the foundation of our management, is crucial. In our Long-term Vision, we aim to create a better future for people and healthcare by solving global medical issues. To ensure that each employee takes pride in their contribution to healthcare and continuously tackles global medical issues, we will actively participate in health management initiatives and embody the Long-term Vision ourselves. By demonstrating our commitment to society, we will implement our Management Philosophy and foster a culture of health.

We are implementing various initiatives based on our annual goals and plans to promote employee health. Based on the reports on the content and progress of these initiatives, we have established a Health Management Promotion System led by the CEO and CHCO and launched the Health Management Promotion Project in May 2024, to advance cross-company activities. The domestic departments responsible for health management collaborate with industrial physicians, nursing professionals such as public health nurses, counselors, occupational health staff, and the Health Insurance Society to provide detailed health management services tailored to each employee. Additionally, we are working across the organization to prevent and improve lifestyle-related diseases, reduce smoking rates, enhance the activity (productivity) index by improving presenteeism, and hold health seminars.

The Health Management Strategy Map outlines the steps related to the management issues and the related health management measures (investments) to effectively and efficiently implement health management and health investment.
It will enable the visualization of the initiatives to maintain and improve each employee’s health and well-being. We manage the PDCA cycle in health management.

For employees of domestic Group companies, we provide access to a proper support system that can quickly detect potential health risks, including regular health exams and an on-site medical clinic staffed by an industrial physician.
With the aim of further improving the health of employees and their families, we have increased the amount of partial coverage of expenses for optional tests during annual health examinations (health support payment) since FY2021, added temporary employees to the list of eligible employees, and expanded the scope of coverage to include family health examinations for dependents of employees.

In April 2019, Nihon Kohden joined the Consortium of Companies Promoting Non-Smoking Efforts, which was established by companies based in Tokyo, and has been implementing non-smoking promotion activities. The employee smoking rate in the May 2023 survey was 19.1%, down 0.2 percentage points from the FY2021 survey.
Our efforts to promote non-smoking activities are primarily for the benefit of our employees and their families, and also respond to the demand for advancing measures against passive smoking. We will continue to encourage initiatives to realize a healthy society, such as offering company-paid outpatient visits to smoking cessation clinics as optional health examinations.

With the cooperation of the Tokyo Pharmaceutical Industry Health Insurance Society, we held an online Health Seminar for employees presented by occupational health staff in March 2024. A total of 133 employees participated in the seminar.
The seminar was designed to explain the Company's health trends based on health check-up data, provided by specialized staffs, to help improve our lifestyle habits and enhance each employee's awareness of health maintenance. We plan to continue holding seminars on the theme of health, led by specialized staff.

Nihon Kohden has been promoting work-life balance by setting two days a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) as days for leaving work on time (no overtime days). With the introduction of the Flextime System, we replaced such no overtime days with Refresh Day in January 2023 to promote more flexible working styles. This new system is designed to help employees make effective use of their time before and after work hours, with the aim of refreshing both their mind and body.
We encourage employees to spend more time with their families, engage in self-improvement, create opportunities for exercise, read, dine with friends, and refresh both mind and body, thereby promoting a conscious work-life balance.

In collaboration with industrial physicians specializing in mental health, we conduct stress management tests (stress checks) and work on early detection and prevention of mental health issues through both self-care and line care. We have established a system where employees can consult with in-house counselors (clinical psychologists) at any time. We also conduct group analysis of the stress check results and provide feedback and training based on workplace trends. This helps us improve the work environment and support employees’ mental health care.
For employees experiencing mental health issues, we have established a system that includes consultations with industrial physicians upon their return to work and a rehabilitation work program. We also provide ongoing follow-up with regular consultations with industrial physicians, tailored to the individual’s situation.
In addition, we provide appropriate mental health care training, including self-care and line care as part of training for new managers and new employees.