News

Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. has announced the company's selection by Aichi Prefecture as an Aichi Josei Kagayaki Company (lit. "Aichi Prefecture company where women can shine") that actively promotes women's career advancement.

The Aichi Josei Kagayaki Company certification system was established by Aichi Prefecture in 2015, and as of September 2018, 461 companies have been certified. This fiscal year, five companies were selected from among these as being model companies that are especially proactive in promoting efforts toward women's success.

In 2014, Aisin Seiki launched a female career advancement project led by the Vice President, which is committed to both top-down and bottom-up promotion of female success from the perspectives of "career support" and "support for work-life balance." We were specially recognized by Aichi Prefecture for the variety of measures we have taken, including establishing working groups consisting of representatives from each department dedicated to promoting more active roles for women, working to gather feedback from team members in workplaces, establishing the Iku Boss Academy ("Iku-Bosses" are supervisors [management-level and executive personnel] who are supportive of each subordinate's work-life balance, including child care, and who aim both to support individuals' lives and the company's business performance), holding career development training, and implementing a telecommuting system enabling some employees to work from home.

Our key initiatives are as follows:

■Creating working environments and offering opportunities so that everyone can thrive
- Implementation of individual training programs for women aiming for managerial positions (from fiscal 2015)- - Establishment of Iku Boss Academy aimed at changing the mentality of supervisors (from fiscal 2015)
- Career development training program to assist female employees in building their careers (from FY2015)
- Mentor System in which team members can consult their seniors about careers and work-life balance (from fiscal 2015)
- Telecommuting system allowing employees with child care or nursing care obligations to work a part of or a full day from home (from fiscal 2016)
- Expansion of career change system enabling employees to shift from clerical to engineering positions (from fiscal 2018)

■Support for women at manufacturing worksites
- Improvement of factory production lines, such as weight reduction of tools and jigs, alteration of work table heights, etc.
- Improvement of infrastructure including women's changing rooms and restrooms

■Development of working environments where employees can securely continue working
- Short working hours system enabling team members to shorten hours flexibly in 15-minute units depending on individual needs
- Introduction of Family Plan Support System enabling shortened hours or leaves of absence for fertility treatments