Society
Basic stance and policy
Respecting the human rights of all individuals, including employees and stakeholders both inside and outside the company, is fundamental to achieving our goals of promoting a spirit of challenge through Group and global Integration and empowering all employees and fostering growth unmatched by rivals. Moreover, we strongly recognize that respect for human rights lies at the center of all business activities. We are keenly aware of our need to deepen our understanding of—and take appropriate action on—human rights issues relevant to our activities in each country and business.
In April 2021, our Human Rights Expert Committee formulated the AISIN Group Human Rights Policy, which declares our commitment to fulfilling our responsibility with regard to human rights and is incorporated into key rules across all elements of our business, including Group companies and the supply chain.
The scope of human rights risks covered by the Human Rights Policy includes: discrimination and harassment; child and youth labor and other violations of children's rights; migrant labor and forced labor; wages (minimum wage, living wage, gender pay gap for equal work); working hours, holidays, and other basic working conditions; excessive working hours; safe and healthy working environments; dialogue with employees; diversity and inclusion; religion; minorities (women, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, etc.); rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (land, forests, water resources, etc.); use of security companies; privacy; consumers (product safety, information provision); and bribery and corruption.
We also disclose the Group's efforts to prevent forced labor and human trafficking based on laws such as the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
Promotion Structure
Based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Aisin has established a Human Rights Expert Committee as a promotion framework for incorporating respect for human rights into its business activities. The Committee is attended by senior management, including the presidents of the 13 Group companies and the heads of all regional headquarters. It reviews priority risks and the progress of due diligence pertaining to human rights. It also approves annual plans for corrective action and improvements. Matters deliberated and decided are rolled out to the relevant departments and Group companies. The Human Resources, Procurement, Legal, and Business Strategy departments work together to consistently promote respect for human rights across the entire Group, driving ongoing progress.
Organization
Strategy
Aisin is establishing a human rights due diligence process that encompasses its supply chain. To reduce the risk of serious human rights violations, we have set the implementation of human rights risk assessment surveys and human rights education as key indicators. In addition to achieving target implementation rates, we are targeting improved content and effectiveness for these surveys and educational programs. Human rights risk assessment surveys form the core of human rights due diligence, and we administer them regularly to detect changes in the environment and the status of past corrective actions. After identifying priority risks, we push forward with corrective action and relevant disclosure to drive continuous advancement, and we are progressively raising the maturity of our human rights due diligence effort by enhancing the content of our surveys and deepening our response to priority risks. We will share our fundamental understanding of human rights and information on the Company’s initiatives so that every Aisin employee can practice respect for human rights from their own perspective.
Related materiality issues
For FY2026, our goal (KGI) of zero serious human rights violations has been achieved; to sustain this, we have set the following indicators (KPIs) and are progressing with our initiatives accordingly.
| Materiality issues | Goal (KGI) | Indicator (KPI) | FY2026 results | FY2031 target value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laying a solid management foundation |
Zero serious violations of human rights |
Human rights risk assessment survey implementation rate*1 |
100% | 100% |
| Human rights training implementation rate*2 |
93% | 100% |
Human rights risk assessment survey implementation rate: (Number of companies conducting human rights risk surveys / Number of consolidated companies) × 100
Human rights training implementation rate: (Number of employees who received training on compliance and human rights / Number of consolidated employees) × 100
Key initiatives
Initiatives aimed at achieving zero serious violations of human rights
Human rights due diligence
In line with the AISIN Group Human Rights Policy, we identify priority risks from the perspectives of severity (degree of impact) and potential likelihood (frequency of occurrence), taking into account the degree of social concern as well as our internal circumstances. We are also prioritizing and raising our responsiveness based on the status of each company's initiatives. We will promote management practices that better reflect actual conditions by improving the accuracy of risk assessments and verifying the effectiveness of corrective actions. Foreign workers (migrant workers), including technical intern trainees, are our top priority area, as they attract a high level of social concern owing to the potential for forced labor and other such rights violations, and because many are employed within the Group and by its suppliers. We also confirm the status of initiatives in other key human rights areas, such as discrimination and harassment, at each company.
AISIN Group Human Rights Initiative Scheme
(based on UN Guiding Principles)
Assessment in key human rights areas
To assess and improve initiatives in key human rights areas (discrimination, harassment, forced labor, child labor, working hours, wages, dialogue with employees, safety and health, and response to suppliers), in FY2026 we administered a self-check survey across all Group companies. As a result, although improvement was seen compared with the previous fiscal year (an average of 4.8 out of 5, an overall average increase of +0.09 points year on year), through individual follow-ups we are maintaining growth in the level of initiatives across the entire Group. Specifically, we (1) appointed human rights promoters at all companies, (2) rolled out a checklist of human rights–related laws and regulations, and (3) thoroughly disseminated human rights–related policies. We will continue with our surveys and on-site dialogue, incrementally providing support tailored to each company's maturity (from initial response to advanced response) and confirming the status of improvements.
Initiatives Concerning Foreign Workers
Regarding foreign workers, a top priority area, we have regularly surveyed technical intern training under the supervising organization model in Japan. As of the end of March 2026, we have identified approximately 500 trainees accepted across 19 group companies. In addition, Group companies that accept technical intern trainees conducted self-checks in accordance with the Manual for the Proper Implementation of Technical Intern Training for Foreign Nationals issued by the Organization for Technical Intern Training, verifying training content, treatment, document management, and protective measures. Since FY2025, starting with technical intern training, we have progressively expanded the scope to foreign workers in general, strengthening our management coverage from risk identification through to corrective action and prevention. With regard to preventing illegal employment situation that heighten the risk of human rights violations, we issued alerts and instituted checks regarding work-related residency status. We also confirmed through dialogue the proper employment status of foreign workers with 69 major suppliers, including study sessions and on-site visits. We are also promoting checks on the status of fees paid in workers' home countries. Although we provided support for operational improvements in some cases, we found no instances of forced labor, child labor, or human trafficking, nor any violations that would lead to human rights infringements. We will continue our efforts toward dialogue and improvement.
Education and awareness activities
Respect for human rights is at the core of Aisin Group's business operations. In the belief that upholding human rights depends on each employee understanding these rights from their own perspective and putting them into practice in response to a changing environment, we provide human rights education covering discrimination, harassment, and related topics. For the human rights training implementation rate, which we have established as a materiality indicator for the Aisin Group, we began conducting a survey in FY2026 and found that the implementation rate across the entire Group was 93%. We consistently review in detail the prevailing status by company and by overseas region and spread the word on the importance of human rights education. We further promote ongoing review of the communication routes and content within the Group, taking into account the circumstances of each company as well as regional characteristics. Through these efforts, in addition to raising the training implementation rate, we will advance the sophistication of our target audiences, content, and learning methods, evolving our education into a system that connects understanding of human rights to practical action.
Aisin provides the following training and awareness opportunities, updating the content each fiscal year to ensure thorough respect for human rights.
| Target | Content |
|---|---|
| Executives | Incorporate human rights-related content into new executive training and deepen understanding through case studies and other means |
| Recruiters | Japan: Thoroughly instruct interviewers and others on points to note through lectures |
| Dowa problem (Discrimination against Burakumin and other marginalized communities) |
Joined the “The Industrial Federation for Human Rights, Aichi”; conducted awareness activities and promotion with the “The Corporate Federation for Dowa and Human Rights Issue.” |
| New hires & employee promotions | Japan: Implemented CSR education including the human rights field |
| All employees | Raise awareness through case studies and other means so that employees see the issues as their own concern. (From FY2027, we plan to devise program content that fosters the understanding and observance of respect for human rights and to ensure participation by all.) |
| Suppliers | Issued the AISIN Group Supplier Sustainability Guidelines, which cover the human rights domain, and requested endorsement through briefing sessions. Held study sessions with major suppliers and shared initiatives. |
Other initiatives
Collaboration with external stakeholders
We promote collaboration with external stakeholders, including dialogue with labor unions and participation in the Japan Platform for Migrant Workers towards Responsible and Inclusive Society (JP-MIRAI), such as joining cooperative corporate programs.
Establishment and Enhancement of Consultation Channels
In addition to our internal consultation channels, we have established the Aisin Global Hotline, which accepts requests for consultation from outside the company and contributes to remediation. Furthermore, for technical intern trainees and other foreign workers, we utilize JP-MIRAI Assist to build a specialized multilingual consultation system.
Summary of human rights initiatives and plans
In line with the UN Guiding Principles, Aisin has advanced the initiatives shown in the table below. Through our human rights due diligence cycle, we will continue to enhance our initiatives in this area across the entire Group, progressing through the various stages: policy development, risk identification, corrective action, deployment and establishment, and enhancement.
Labor–management communication at Aisin
Aisin values its people, promotes mutual trust between labor and management, and regards labor and management as wheels of a car working in mutual cooperation. These principles are fundamental to labor–management relations. We hold regular labor–management meetings to share information on policies and objectives, aiming to create a satisfying workplace. When the Company's actions are to significantly impact employees, we take appropriate measures, such as to provide an adequate advance notice period.
Lessons learned from labor dispute response in India
(1) Overview of the AHL Labor Dispute
In May 2017, employees at our consolidated subsidiary in India, AISIN Automotive Haryana Pvt. Ltd. (AHL), launched a strike demanding the establishment of a labor union. A month later, the local government issued an order banning the strike but, in protest, 288 employees resorted to force and blocked the company's main gate. The strike ended with the arrest of these employees. AHL proceeded to dismiss 175 employees who remained absent without leave despite repeated calls to return after the strike’s end. Aisin regards this as an unavoidable measure to protect the lives and safety of employees not involved in the dispute. However, this incident became the largest labor dispute in Aisin Group history, leaving both labor and management with deep scars. Aisin deeply regrets the significant concern this incident caused to our stakeholders, including the local community and business partners.
(2) Measures to prevent recurrence
Aisin Group's response
Drawing on lessons learned from past labor–management challenges, the Aisin Group takes the position that for the company to grow, labor and management must listen to each other, build mutual trust, and foster a cooperative relationship. Prompted by this AHL labor dispute, we have reaffirmed and reinforced the necessity of mutual trust and cooperative relationships between labor and management—even at overseas locations with differing labor practices. To this end, we have codified the principles outlined above that should be cherished in labor-management relations into a document titled AISIN’s Stance on Employees-management Relations and issued it to all Aisin Group companies under the auspices of the President. Furthermore, as a constituent of the Aisin Group, to raise our commitment to respect for human rights and realization of diverse work styles to unprecedented heights, we have revised our AISIN Group Principles of Corporate Behavior—a code of conduct designed to enforce our responsibility to society in line with our management philosophy and provide common guidelines for all Aisin Group companies. We have also developed an assessment tool to verify whether personnel and labor management practices align with this stance and are being implemented appropriately and are conducting rolling inspections across our global business. Issues identified during these inspections are handled via a system set up to enable immediate corrective action based on predefined rules.
Response at AHL
On August 4, 2017, President Ihara (then President of Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.) directly addressed employees at AHL. He explained management's reflection and Aisin's stance on labor–management issues and declared a fresh start. Since then, the Company has worked continuously to improve labor–management relations by rebuilding the communication framework and taking such measures as establishing forums for labor–management dialogue, creating a highly transparent, fair, and easily comprehensible personnel system, and hosting various events. The percentage of positive responses in the employee satisfaction survey, initially at 40%, has since reached 90% (January 2019). We are striving for further improvement and are aiming for 100%.
(3) Declaration for the future
Learning from the AHL labor dispute, we are determined to ensure such a situation never occurs again across the entire AISIN Group. We will strive to become a company all employees can be proud of.
Working hours
We fully comply with the Labor Standards Act. When exceeding statutory working hours, we observe legal procedures and communicate closely with labor unions to ensure employee health and safety. To reduce hours worked, we are implementing flexible labor arrangements and aiming for 100% use of annual paid leave. We are also reviewing work practices for employees stationed overseas.
Compensation
Aisin not only complies with local laws and regulations, such as minimum wage requirements in each country and region, but also respects the principle of equal pay for equal work. Through labor–management dialog, we strive to enforce pay standards that guarantees a certain quality of life for employees and their families. In Japan, wages are determined such that they reliably exceed the standard cost of living.
Aisin (parent) starting salaries (monthly)
| Starting salaries (April 2026, actual) |
Aichi Prefecture minimum wage |
Tokyo minimum wage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High school graduate | ¥211,000 | 114% | 106% |
| University graduate | ¥282,000 | 152% | 142% |
| Master's degree | ¥301,000 | 163% | 151% |
| Doctorate | ¥326,800 | 177% | 164% |
Minimum wage figures are calculated using regional minimum wages as of April 2026 (Aichi Prefecture: ¥1,140, Tokyo: ¥1,226), based on an average of 20.3 days per month and 8 hours per day.
Note: There are no gender or regional pay gaps within the same qualification grade.
Employment stability
We believe that standardizing HR policies and systems across the Group is crucial for employment stability, so we promote rules and procedures grounded in laws and regulations. As a reflection of this, the turnover rate* for the three Group companies in FY2026 was 1.8%.
(Number of voluntary resignations from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, / Number of employees as of April 1, 2025) × 100
Prevention and mitigation of other human rights risks
For other human rights risks as well, in accordance with the AISIN Group Human Rights Policy, Aisin respects internationally recognized norms and complies with the relevant laws and regulations of each country in which it operates as it strives to eliminate and mitigate human rights risks. We are progressively advancing initiatives such as the following:
Examples
- We thoroughly verify age using official documents during hiring to prevent child labor.
- The company bears all fees related to employing temporary staff.
- To prevent forced labor, we ensure that employees retain custody of their passports and other important documents.
- We do not subject employees to disadvantageous treatment when they submit resignation requests.
For details on harassment prevention and internal whistleblowing systems, please refer to the Compliance section of this website.