Ensuring a diversified workforce

Promote the appointment of female employees in managerial positions

The number of female managers increased in FY2008 particularly at the Brother group companies in China although the actual percentage of female managers accounted for the entire managers still varies in each country and region because of the differences in historical, social and cultural backgrounds and job titles.

Number and percentage of female managers in the Brother Group

Employing persons with disabilities

In Germany, France and Japan, businesses are obliged to hire a certain percentage of persons with disabilities by laws and regulations. For example, Japanese law stipulates that businesses of a certain size and larger must fill a minimum of 1.8% of the total workforce with disabled persons. Though there is no national law in China on the employment of persons with disabilities, there are some local governments that provide financial assistance for hiring disabled persons. The Brother Group is hiring persons with physical disabilities according to the situations in each of these countries and regions.

The employment rate of disabled persons by Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) in FY2008 exceeded the legal minimum at 2.06%, and those employees are engaged actively in positions assigned in accordance with their qualifications and performances. While maintaining a high employment rate of disabled persons more than 2%, which exceeds the current legal minimum, Brother will also take steps in creating better workplaces where disabled persons will find it easy to work to lead a high retention rate of them.

Support for diverse ways of working

Support systems that enable employees to choose their own lifestyle

So that our employees may choose their own working style, the Brother Group has been allowing flexibility in individual working style given the differing laws in each country and region, labor environments and personal situations, and supporting their way of working to be fit into their own personal situations as best possible.

Take an example in Japan that faces the problem of falling birthrate and the aging population. It is highly required measures and policies to enable people to balance work and life, such as enhancing in-house system in each company for supporting childcare and family-care of their employees. BIL has built a system that allows employees to balance childcare, family-care and work with the introduction of care leave system and short-time working system and more. The eligibility period for taking advantage of these benefits was expanded in September 2006, enabling short-time working for childcare to expand up until the time when children finish the third grade in elementary school and extending the period of leaves of absence and short-time working for family-care to a total of three years. In FY2008, 22 employees including one man took a childcare leave and one male employee used the family-care leave of absence. Measures have also been implemented to encourage more employees to take paid holidays by offering programs like "Yutori Leave" and "Refreshing Vacation."

Support for employees involved in volunteer work

The basic policy of the Brother Group's Global Charter lays out a vision of contributions by the company to local communities and, accordingly, various activities are undertaken as a good corporate citizen in order to serve countries and regions where Brother has business. Brother also wants to contribute indirectly to local hosting communities by constructively supporting employees who dedicate their free time to volunteer activities. In this regard, Brother Industries newly added a "Volunteer Leave" system for employees in April 2008, effectively creating an environment that makes it easier for employees to serve as volunteers.

This system can be used obviously for activities conducted by volunteer organizations but it is also open to activities of hobby circles and individuals, welfare events, fund-raisers, facility visits, and other kinds of nonprofit activities that enable employees to voluntarily contribute to others or society. Support is also provided so that employees can partake in volunteer activities without unnecessary worries, such as by paying "volunteer activity insurance" premiums against possible accidents during volunteer work.