JSR Health Promotion (Initiatives in Health and Productivity Management)
1. Philosophy
JSR Group feels that a healthy mind and body are extremely important for employees and their families to live happy lives. We also feel that they are imperative in the creation of a productive and vibrant workplace. Because of this, we have adopted various measures to help our employees work in good health, both mentally and physically.
JSR and some locations make a Health Declaration, which describes the policy on active initiatives to create health. The Mie National Health Insurance Organization, which is part of the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, has designated JSR and these locations as business establishments that promote health.
2. Codes of Conduct
We shall strive to maintain and improve safety and hygiene levels for all relevant parties, based on our belief that “safety is of utmost importance to everyone working in manufacturing and the bedrock of business activities.” Additionally, we shall pay sufficient attention to the maintenance of the mental and physical health of ourselves and those we work with.
3. Advancement Structure
JSR will advance "JSR Health Promotion" as an activity to promote health and fitness among our employees, who are the foundation of organizational activity, and thereby increase engagement and improve work productivity. We explain the importance of health promotion in the company's Top Message. In addition, as part of the framework to advance JSR Health Promotion, the Health Promotion Advancement Council centering on occupational health nurses convenes regularly, and implements monitoring and various measures cross-sectionally across business departments and organizations. The contents of activities conducted by the Health Promotion Advancement Council are shared with the management level, and approaches are made to health promotion of employees.
Examples of efforts to improve organizational and personal health and work productivity (counteract presenteeism (working while sick)) include the creation of a sleeping strategy map, offering sleeping seminars and improvement programs, and online personal coaching programs for stiff shoulders and low back pain.
4. Physical Health Assistance
In addition to general physical screening and special examinations as required by law, and lifestyle disease checkups, JSR supports employee's physical health by providing subsidies to employees who receive complete medical screenings, brain scans, and gynecologic cancer examinations. As an infection control measure, JSR also provides a partial subsidy for flu vaccinations. In FY2021, the number of employees who were sick due to influenza was zero, and the number of absences due to influenza was also zero.
In FY2021, the percentage of people with abnormalities in their physical examinations was 24.3%, which is lower than the national average. This signifies that our employees are maintaining good health.
In addition to a high-risk approach (individual measures being taken when illnesses occur), the idea of a population approach (overall risk reduction/prevention) was incorporated with regard to health management of employees. We make active approaches to ensuring the health of our employees, by preventing lifestyle-related diseases, ensuring that employees undergo physical examinations and providing follow-up, and preventing passive smoking.
| Category | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage who underwent physical examinations | 99.8% | 98.7% | 98.9% |
| Percentage with abnormalities in physical examinations | — | 26.4% | 24.3% |
| Percentage who maintained normal weight
* BMI: 18.5 up to 25.0 |
67.1% | 65.9% | 66.3% |
| Percentage who sleep soundly * Percentage of people who get sufficient rest from sleep |
65.6% | 68.6% | 69.2% |
| Percentage who smoke | 22.4% | 17.9% | 16.2% |
| Percentage who underwent a stress check | 92.1% | 92.2% | 91.4% |
| Percentage who scored as highly stressed on the stress check | 8.3% | 8.2% | 8.9% |
| Organizational vitality index * 2019 = 100 |
100 | 126 | 101 |
| Number of people using company training facilities | 8,009 | 1,472 | 1,794 |
Training Facility Establishment
In addition to providing its own sports facilities for employees, employees can also take advantage of memberships in sports clubs through welfare service contracts. Each JSR business site also hosts sporting events, such as softball games and bowling tournaments, to improve health through physical activity and facilitate communication among employees. These programs have also received positive feedback from employees who do not normally have the opportunity to participate in physical activities.
To combat the COVID-19 pandemic in FY2020 and FY2021, restrictions were placed on the hours of usage and the number of people. As a result, the number of people using company training facilities decreased.
5. Mental Health Assistance
JSR Group is strengthening the support structure because we think it is even more important to support the mental health aspects of moving to telecommuting and other new workstyles in order to prevent each employee from feeling lonely and isolated.
To be more specific, we are taking a four-point approach in implementing measures to improve employee mental health: "Check," "Organizational Analysis," "Consultation," and "Training."
Checks and organizational analysis include an employee mental health survey conducted by JSR since FY1998. Starting in FY2015, stress checks have been implemented annually in accordance with the amendment of the Industrial Health and Safety Act in Japan, and the results of such checks are analyzed in units of departments.
Consultation includes the establishment of a program to provide counseling for employees at a location of their choosing. Counseling is conducted through a third-party professional, Human Frontier Counseling. This program has been established at JSR and our domestic group companies as a part of our mental-health counseling support efforts. After stress checks are administered, an organizational analysis report is distributed to managerial staff, and support is provided in usage seminars to communicate how to view the report and what actions to take. We are working to enhance the response by occupational health professionals at all of JSR's offices and plants.
Training includes a variety of mental health care programs, such as self-care and line-care that properly reflects each level of JSR's organizational hierarchy.
As a result of these efforts, 8.9% of people who took the stress check were identified as experiencing high stress. This is lower than the nationwide average.
6. Measures to Combat COVID-19
To combat COVID-19, JSR is implementing appropriate prevention measures at the workplace as well as daily health management in alignment with the state of each business site, based on social conditions.
In addition to providing alcohol-based hand sanitizers and installing contactless thermometers in business sites, we are distributing masks to employees, and working to prevent infections. We are also distributing one set of antigen test kits (containing 20 tests) per employee in each office to enable early detection if an infection occurs.
We provided a series of two occupational vaccines at the Yokkaichi Plant and the Shiodome Headquarters in FY2021. A total of 3,372 people were vaccinated, including people from Group companies, contractors, and employees’ family members.
JSR had been offering health exercises by a health fitness programmer from the JSR Health Insurance Society, for health and strength development of employees. With the spread of COVID-19, however, we began providing a health exercise program online from FY2020. With a total of 6,627 users in FY2021, this program helps to solve the issue of lack of exercise caused by working from home and quarantining.
Total Participants (JSR employees only)
- FY2019: 3,112 (offline)
- FY2020: 2,959 (online only)
- FY2021: 6,627 (online only)
7. Results of Initiatives
These initiatives were recognized and five companies in JSR Group were selected as Excellent Health Management Corporations in 2022.
The Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program in 2022 (Large Enterprise Category)
- JSR Corporation
The Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program in 2022 (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Category)
- Emulsion Technology Co., Ltd.
- JSR Micro Kyushu Co., Ltd.
- JSR Health Insurance Society
- JSR Logistics & Customer Center Co., Ltd.
One example of JSR Health Promotion activities is the sleep seminar we offered in March 2022 for participants to learn about the role that sleep plays in health, problems with sleep, and how to improve their sleep.
A survey conducted among the 152 participants three weeks after the seminar revealed the following results: The percentage of respondents who increased their sleep time to six hours or more rose by 5.9 points (from 82.9% to 88.8%); the percentage who reported the quality of sleep as “extremely poor” or “quite poor” decreased by 7.8 points (from 31.6% to 23.8%); the percentage who reported quality of sleep as “extremely good” or “quite good” increased by 14.3 points (from 13.2% to 27.5%).
In terms of JSR 12 Sleep Practices recommended to ensure sound sleep, a comparison of responses beforehand and three weeks after the seminar showed an increase in the number of people with good sleep habits on all twelve recommended practices.
Of particular note was the increase of 20 points or more in the categories of “Expose yourself to bright sunlight immediately if you awaken early,” “Get a moderate amount of exercise during the day and avoid strenuous exercise at night,” and “Make sure you get the amount of sleep time you planned on.”
JSR 12 Sleep Practices
- 1.Get up at a certain time
- 2.Expose yourself to bright sunlight immediately if you awaken early
- 3.Eat breakfast
- 4.Get a moderate amount of exercise during the day and avoid strenuous exercise at night
- 5.Don’t eat at night (before bed)
- 6.Don’t have a drink before bed
- 7.Avoid caffeine within four hours before going to bed
- 8.Don’t smoke before going to bed
- 9.Avoid blue light for one hour before going to bed (from a smartphone, PC, TV, etc.)
- 10.Make a habit of getting in bed after you get sleepy
- 11.Make sure you get the amount of sleep time you planned on
- 12.Create a bedroom or sleeping environment that makes it easy to sleep (bedding, lighting, etc.)