-MATERIAL ISSUE 1- IMPROVE WELLBEING

KOKUYO Materiality Improve Wellbeing among Employees and External Stakeholders

Vision for 2030

Having coined the term “life-based working” to describe a situation in which the one’s workstyle, learning style, and lifestyle are balanced and embody one’s uniqueness, we have set 2030 challenge goals and KPIs for our efforts to encourage more people to engage actively and spiritedly in their work and study.

• Challenge goals for flexible and diverse work options (flextime, empowering women) 27 challenge goals (three per year for nine years)
• Percentage of new product series that incorporate inclusive design: At least 50%

To promote employee wellbeing, we’ll shift to a mindset that places more value on employees’ time and promote employee empowerment and growth.As an organization that pitches workstyle solutions, we commit to building a workplace that accommodates diverse workstyles and that empowers employees to develop their potential and build their career.

To contribute to public wellbeing, we will develop products with inclusive design. We define an inclusive-design approach as one in which, from the planning stage onward, one empathizes and co-creates with individuals who have disabilities or face social barriers in order to identify and resolve the issues.

Actions to achieve the goals

To improve employee wellbeing, we will continue an initiative we launched in 2022 called Kokuyo-Style Hybrid Work.
We will keep experimenting with diverse workstyles. For example, we will provide our satellite-style multipurpose space known as n.5 (pronounced “n-ten-go”) and, in 2024, start piloting a scheme that allows employees to do remote work in locations other than their homes to help them balance childcare commitments and family care commitments with career. With new workstyles, employees will gain more disposable time, which will help them unleash their uniqueness and forge a fulfilling career.
To help improve wellbeing among external stakeholders, we will accelerate our inclusive-design initiatives in 2024. We will use Hows Park as a testing ground for us to pilot our inclusive-design initiatives. At Hows Park, a diverse team of individuals will stimulate each other’s creativity to develop inclusive products and services. To help improve wellbeing among diverse groups of individuals and the public at large, we will pitch our inclusive designs and our designs for the dialogue-based diversity office.

Shift to mindset that values employees’ disposable time

To help employees gain more disposable time, we will transform employee management with new approach to workstyles and time allocation, focusing on three themes: follow-up process, 1 on 1, and leave support.
For the follow-up process theme, team leaders will keep track of members’ work with timely follow- ups and then modify work schedules and reallocate resources as necessary. This process will help standardize workflows and improve efficiency at each organizational unit. Alongside this, we will set days for which we encourage employees to take paid leave and encourage employees and their supervisors to hold dialogues about strategic take up of leave. Such dialogue will only be effective if there is an open organizational culture. We have examined the kind of 1-on-1 sessions that best suit our organization (the frequency of the sessions, the settings in which they are held, and the tools used), resulting in the Kokuyo 1-on-1 model, which we have rolled out across our organization.
We are also actively committed to reforming workstyles in the logistics industry. Kokuyo Supply Logistics, following Kokuyo Logitem, has now introduced flextime for distribution center staff and all other employees. With flextime, employees exercise autonomy in deciding which hours they work during busy periods. This contributes to wellbeing by freeing up disposal time and by reducing physical and mental strain.

The five main group companies are: Kokuyo Co., Ltd., Kaunet Co., Ltd., Kokuyo Marketing Co., Ltd.,
Kokuyo Supply Logistics Co., Ltd., and Kokuyo Logitem Co., Ltd.

Helping employees build diverse and fulfilling careers

Among our metrics for measuring empowerment of diverse employees in the workplace is a material goal: Women account for 12% of leadership roles in 2024.
To prevent situations in which employees are forced to give up their career because of childcare commitments or family care commitments, we have revised our systems and improved our programs for helping balance career with such commitments. We extended the coverage of sick child leave so that employees can now use it until their child is in the sixth grade of elementary school. We also relaxed the requirements for family care leave. Alongside this, we revised our personnel evaluation approach for employees on maternity or paternity leave so that their leave does not create a blank period in their record and so that we can take into account the skills the employees have accumulated and provide feedback.
In conjunction with International Women’s Day, we held an event that focused on a fulfilling life and career for women (Life & Career Day for Women). The event, which was well attended by employees, both men and women, featured talks by guest speakers. A panel discussion was also organized by employees who were experimenting with strategies to balance childcare commitments with work. In this way, the event encouraged attendees to think about their career and life. We will continue to help employees develop their potential and forge fulfilling careers.

The five main group companies are: Kokuyo Co., Ltd., Kaunet Co., Ltd., Kokuyo Marketing Co., Ltd.,
Kokuyo Supply Logistics Co., Ltd., and Kokuyo Logitem Co., Ltd.

An event for thinking about life and careers for women

Promoting inclusive design

We have a cross-organizational taskforce that promotes inclusive design across the Kokuyo Group. With the support of social entrepreneur and social designer Misaki Tanaka, we have launched and showcased Hows Design, a Kokuyo-style approach to inclusive design.
Hows Design uses a design approach that emphasizes co-creation through a process of dialogue inspired by asking plenty of “how” questions. Two “how” questions are particularly important: “how are you?” which represents a concern for the people’s needs and “how will we do it?” which represents the passion to build them a better tomorrow. Products and services created in Hows Design are labeled with an original mark. In 2023, we launched three products with the mark. All three items have an inclusive design that accommodates the needs of people with disability and are based on ideas develop through a process of dialogue with members of Kokuyo K Heart Co., Ltd. (a disability-friendly subsidiary) and Kokuyo employees who have a disability. As well as promoting inclusive design, the taskforce has launched a Hows Design website, held universal manner training sessions for employees, and co-organized a Dialogue in the Dark* workshop. These and other activities of the taskforce all involve co-creation with external partners.
Our goal for 2024 is for 20% of our newly launched products to have been designed through the Hows Design process. In 2023, we launched a diversity office called Hows Park, which runs workshops attended by designers, marketers, inventors, and lead users. So far, Hows Park has held 62 workshops since the opening in 2023, and in 2024 two items were launched onto the market. We will step up efforts to reach our 2030 challenge goal, which is for at least 50% of newly marketed products to incorporate inclusive design.

2023	Established Hows Design, an approach to inclusive design, and launched three new products
2024	Percentage of new product series that incorporate inclusive design: At least 20%
2030	Percentage of new product series that incorporate inclusive design: At least 50%

Promoting inclusive design

USB memory sticks with five color choices and easy-read text

Next-generation counters that make public spaces more inclusive and accessible

Kaunet’s story about developing products through Hows Design

Among the core products in Kaunet’s original Kaukore premium series is the quick-dispense series. The series includes quick-dispense envelopes and quick-dispense trash bags that let you grab each item one by one without hassle. When designing these quick-dispense products, Kaunet evaluated whether the items would be easy to grab for people with low grip strength or finger strength and whether people with upper limb impairments could really grab each item without hassle. This marked the start of Kaunet’s engagement in Hows Design. Some 200 quick-dispense packs products are on the market. Kaunet’s product development team tested more than 20 packs of trash bags and envelopes over and over again. The tests highlighted issues with the container itself, let alone the pack: It was unclear where the tear-off opening was. Moreover, you had to exert strength to open the container and use both hands to open it. The team then realized team that a quick-dispense design begins from the design of the container opening. The team then prepared tested eight varieties of a perforated tear-off strip, with three samples of paper material in each case. The tests revealed that cardboard has a thickness that makes it easy to remove the tear-off strip. They also revealed cases in which the tear-off strip became a burden to tug part way through. The team then designed a storage box for holding envelopes and tested the box to see whether it let users grab each envelope one by one without hassle and whether it was accessible to wheelchair users with a lower vantage point. The tests revealed that it was easy to grab each envelope one by one when the stack was tall but that it was harder to do so when the stack was smaller. The team then cut out parts of the box and stuck parts back together in a trial-and-error process. This process culminated in an envelope storage box that was the first Hows Design product in the quick-dispense series. The box is designed so that the user can tell at a glance where the perforated tear-off strip is and can remove the strip with minimal effort. The box also features notches that make it easy to break down and flatten. In other words, the product was designed to be easy to use from the start to the end.

Head of Product Development, Kaunet
Mr. Aoi

The team tested more than 20 packs of trash bags and envelopes, including its own samples

The team tested perforated tear-off strips over and over again to find the optimum thickness, angles, and toughness.

Before)
The box’s tear-off strip is hard to find and the envelopes are hard to grab one by one when only a few are left.

After)
The tear-off strip is easy to find and even the last envelope in the stack is easy to grab.