Supporting Diverse Work Styles

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, given the differing laws in each country and region, labor environments and personal situations, the Brother Group has been supporting their way of working to fit into their own personal situations as best as possible, by allowing flexibility in individual working style, and etc.

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 developed 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 FY 2009, 37 including two male employees, and 44 employees including 10 male employees in FY 2010 took a childcare leave.
Meanwhile, a lecturer was invited from outside BIL to hold a time management seminar for managers. Thus, efforts are under way to create an environment that helps employees balance work and family life.

Working Mothers' Voluntary Activities to Facilitate Communications and Raise Awareness

Brother Mothers striving to attain a work-life balance

Monthly off-line meeting where members bring their own lunches

Working mothers face tough times taking care of their children and families while sustaining passion and enthusiasm for their work. Society has a duty to try to improve their situation. The Brother Group's working mothers in Japan, who were interested in this mission, launched Brother Mothers (Mothers' activities) in 2006.

Specifically, Brother's working mothers built a network to enable employees in different departments and group companies to share information and challenges, find solutions or tips for balancing work and family (including parenting), and propose new systems to the company to make the workplace more pleasant environment for workers.

Mothers' activities include Mothers' blog to distribute information and share episodes on how to balance work and parenting as well as a monthly off-line meeting where members bring their own lunches. The members also cooperate in surveys conducted by different departments in planning products for families with children.

In FY 2010, the labor union and Mothers' activities members worked together to present opinions that reflect the situation that working mothers face, in an effort to improve the labor agreement. As a result, the parental leave period has been extended by one month, and exceptions when children are on a waiting list to be enrolled in nursery schools have been added.

Efforts will continue to be made through Mothers' activities to provide information and create a corporate framework that meets the changing social needs. In addition, proposals will be presented on an ongoing basis to (i) promote maternal health management (not focusing solely on pregnancy and childbirth periods) so that women can work over a long period of time and (ii) help excellent female engineers fully develop their long-term careers.

Promoting Volunteer Activities

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.

Under these circumstances, Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) supports employees who engage in volunteer activities via the following measures:

Implementing the Volunteer Leave system for all employees
Paying volunteer activity insurance premiums for employees
Helping organize employee volunteer teams and promoting social contribution activities by such teams
Operating the volunteer commendation program to commend employees who contribute to local communities via volunteer activities

Volunteer activities to distribute handmade presents to children who suffer from intractable diseases

In FY 2010, employee volunteer teams were set up to work on the following three themes. Social contribution activities were planned and implemented by respective teams while involving other employees.

Eco-awareness raising activities (including learning about the environment)
Social education activities to enable local children to feel the joy of manufacturing
Activities to support children who suffer from intractable diseases with handmade presents crafted with sewing machines

In the third volunteer commendation, 77 individuals and seven teams were commended. At the commendation ceremony, BIL President Koike, on behalf of the company, presented certificates of merit, thanked the award winners for their distinguished services, and expressed expectations and encouragement for further accomplishments in the future. The activities of the award winners were posted on the new website, "Volunteer Support WEB" on the intranet to raise awareness among employees of the significance and pleasure of volunteer activities.

Efforts by an employee volunteer team to support reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Employees donating relief supplies

In March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the Tohoku region. Employees voluntarily set up a review team to consider ways in which employees could be widely involved in supporting the reconstruction. The review team explored possible ways in which many employees could participate, such as collecting relief supplies in collaboration with local disaster support volunteer organizations, using sewing machines to make dust cloths needed in the disaster-stricken areas, and promoting communications with people who have evacuated from the areas to Aichi Prefecture.

In May 2011, relief supplies were collected at six factories in Aichi Prefecture. The four-day activities were joined by about 300 Brother Group employees, who filled 75 cardboard boxes with donated relief supplies such as towels and new spring/summer clothes. The clothes will be delivered via local volunteer organizations to disaster-stricken areas in Miyagi Prefecture, while the towels will be turned into dust cloths by employees before being delivered to the areas.

These efforts are intended to help maximize the number of Brother Group employees who are keen to contribute to society and other people and thereby expand the network of volunteers.