Basic ApproachBack to Top

  • The TOPPAN Group positions diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives as an integral management strategy to further advance its progress as a group of corporations that creates social value.

    We value our employees as precious “human assets” and understand how deeply we depend on them. Various initiatives have been implemented to promote rewarding working conditions based on the foundational concept of “respect for human beings.” We will continue to adhere to D&I principles that harness differences among our diverse human assets as drivers of innovation. We will further develop workplace diversity by encouraging employees to acknowledge and respect each other’s personal qualities and values so as to better exert and enhance their diverse abilities.

    In order to cultivate a D&I mindset, we will facilitate constant dialogue and nurture heightened awareness and sensibilities that ensure mutual respect. We are consistently developing psychologically safe workplaces where every person can speak and act with dignity, free from inhibition or restraint.

    TOPPAN Group Diversity and Inclusion Policy

    We will evolve into a social value creator
    that designs information and living
    by developing psychologically safe workplaces
    where every person’s sensibilities are nurtured,
    individual differences are recognized and respected,
    and diversity is harnessed to drive innovation.

Promotion FrameworkBack to Top

A Diversity & Inclusion Promotion Office was established at Toppan Inc. in April 2019 based on a management strategy to evolve and accelerate site-based diversity initiatives into Groupwide endeavors.

The Diversity & Inclusion Promotion Office is responsible for formulating the overall diversity plan and developing general measures while personnel in charge of diversity at each operational site implement specific programs attuned to their workplaces. These personnel provide consultations for site members and share and address issues identified with the office to further heighten diversity awareness throughout the workplace across the Group.

Support Systems for Employees with Children

We have striven to create a working environment in which employees can achieve better work-life balance.

Various programs have been developed at Toppan Inc. to provide childcare and nursing care leave, reduced working hours, higher family allowances for dependents, and other employee benefits. The support systems in place for employees with children, for example, have been continuously expanded and enriched. In October 2022, the Company introduced leave for newborn care for both mothers and fathers in line with the amended Child and Family Care Leave Act of Japan. This system allows employees to take leave flexibly, regardless of their gender or length of service.

Toppan Inc. has also been running the Hagukumi (nurturing) Program since fiscal 2012. This program supports the wellbeing of employee parents by providing therapeutic activities for parents on childcare leave, activities to share the know-how necessary for maintaining good balance between working and raising children, and activities to give employees in various positions opportunities to learn about and consider the importance of work-family balance. The Hagukumi Program received the Minister of State for Gender Equality Award at the Kids Design Award 2016 in Japan.

Main Systems for Supporting Employees with Children (Toppan Inc.)
Before Childbirth
  • Rehiring system for employees who leave the Company to deliver and bring up children
  • Time-off due to pregnancy-related morning sickness
  • Leave for hospital visit
  • Leave for medical checkup
  • Staggered working hours
  • Specified fertility treatment subsidy
After Childbirth
  • Childcare leave
  • Monetary gift on childbirth
  • Childcare leave allowance
  • Childcare leave grant
During Childrearing
  • Preferential childcare measures (e.g., reduced and staggered working hours; flextime or irregular working schedule in one-month allotments)
  • Days-off for child healthcare
  • Days-off for childcare
  • Dependent family allowance
  • Subsidy for babysitter and home-caregiver expenses
Other
  • Stock leave (employees are eligible to use their stock leave [accumulated unused annual-paid-leave] for child healthcare and fertility treatment)
Percentage of Eligible Employees Taking Childcare Leave (Toppan Inc.)
Male Female
Employees with a Newborn Child Employees Taking Childcare Leave Take-up Rate Employees with a Newborn Child Employees Taking Childcare Leave Take-up Rate
Fiscal 2018 248 196 79.0% 74 74 100.0%
Fiscal 2019 238 189 79.4% 91 90 98.9%
Fiscal 2020 236 168 71.2% 83 83 100.0%
Fiscal 2021 234 154 65.8% 89 87 97.8%
Fiscal 2022 207 151 72.9% 81 80 98.8%
*
For male employees, the percentage is calculated by dividing the number of persons who took childcare leave during the fiscal year by the total number of persons with children born during the year. For female employees, the percentage is calculated by dividing the number of persons with a child born who also took childcare leave during the fiscal year by the total number of persons with children born during the year. (The method for calculating the percentage has been revised in accordance with the applicable Japanese act requiring disclosure of the percentage, enforced from 2022. The percentages prior to fiscal 2021 were adjusted based on the revised calculation method.)
Hagukumi (nurturing) Program
Hagukumi (nurturing) Program
The Institute of the Formative Art Co., Ltd.

The Institute of the Formative Art Co., Ltd., a Group company, uses an original “clinical art therapy” methodology to contribute to society through art. The institute helps communities slow the onset of frailty in older adults, prevent and mitigate dementia symptoms, relieve occupational stress, and promote sensitivity education for children. Its clinical-art therapy programs bring joy to participants, regardless of age, gender, nationality, illness, or disability. Its art creation sessions activate the brain, release the mind, nurture a self-affirming mindset, and inspire creativity.

TOPPAN offers clinical art therapy for new hires, supports Group employees returning from childcare leave, and facilitates communication and mental hygiene. When human assets can discover, recognize, and accept the goodness of all individuals, they are better able to see things from different perspectives, understand diversity, and engage proactively in workplace communication.

Online Art Salon for new employee training

Systems for Good Work-Care Balance

Toppan Inc.’s labor union and management have systems to help employees maintain good balance between work and care at home by creating an environment where employees can concentrate on work without worrying about caring for their families. After reviewing the results of employee questionnaires on nursing care, the Company relaxed the eligibility requirements for nursing-care-related systems, designed ways to flexibly adjust working hours for care, enhanced financial support, and provided more information on work-care balance. The Company also allows care-giving employees to commute by Shinkansen bullet train in certain cases. Employees have been able to take nursing care leave in one-hour allotments (using the same system applied for child healthcare days-off) since fiscal 2019.

Toppan Inc. continues providing information on good work-care balance through its internal website and NPO seminars and conducting other activities to allay concerns and raise awareness on the issues faced by employees who provide care for their families.

Four Approaches in the Systems for Good Work-Care Balance (Toppan Inc.)
Eligibility Requirements for Nursing-care-related Systems

When an employee family member is in need of care or support that meets one of the following conditions:

  • “In need of long-term care” as specified in the Child and Family Care Leave Act of Japan
  • “In need of long-term care” as specified in the Long-term Care Insurance System of Japan
  • “In need of support” as specified in the Long-term Care Insurance System of Japan
Ways to More Flexibly Adjust Working Hours for Care
  • Nursing care leave
  • Reduced working hours for nursing care (reduced working hours, flexible work schedules, reduced number of prescribed working days per week)
    * Nursing care leave and reduced working hours for nursing care can be taken in installments.
    * Employees are allowed to switch between the two systems.
  • Leave for nursing care (entitlement for one-hour-based allotments, as necessary)
  • Commuting by Shinkansen bullet train for family care reasons
Financial Support during Nursing Care Leave
  • Allowance for nursing care leave (40% of the employee’s average wage)
  • Entitlement for paid leave for nursing care
Provision of Information on Work-Care Balance
  • Launch of an internal website to provide information on work-care balance
    This site provides employees with general knowledge about work-care balance and information on support systems available at the Company, public nursing-care-related systems, and so on.
  • Launch of a nursing-care consultation desk run by outside experts
    The Company commissions an external professional body to offer unlimited, free-of-charge nursing-care consultation to employees. Employees can also use fee-based agency services such as watch-over visits or administrative services handled on their behalf by dedicated staff at care facilities and hospitals.

Seminars for Supporting Care at Home

Toppan Inc.’s operational sites in Tokyo have been holding seminars to help employees maintain a good balance between work and care at home, starting from fiscal 2016. Outside experts from a nursing-care consultation service are invited to lead seminar courses. After the guest lecturer presents general knowledge on nursing care and tips for achieving good work-care balance, participants are briefed on the Company’s internal websites and support systems for employees with families in need of care (e.g., nursing care leave and reduced working hours).

The in-person seminars formerly held in the Kansai, Chubu, and Kyushu regions went online in fiscal 2021 to reach more domestic employees. TOPPAN strives to secure working environments where employees can fully concentrate on work without worrying about caring for their families.

Empowering WomenBack to Top

We promote female empowerment under the basic concept that every employee can continue to work, enjoy good health, and play active roles according to their abilities, regardless of gender. We are committed to positive action to ensure gender-equal treatment in promotion to managerial positions based on individual abilities through work style reforms, work-life support systems, and various other improvements in the working environment. Tailored training and seminars on diversity & inclusion (D&I) reflecting diverse employee perspectives have also been developed to raise awareness about unconscious gender biases throughout the workplace. In total, 183 and 578 female employees at Toppan Inc. hold management positions and supervisory positions, respectively, as of April 2023. With these appointments, women now make up a 14.4% of all managerial and supervisory staff.

Fiscal 2022 Rank-based Percentages of Female Personnel
(Toppan Inc.)
Fiscal 2022 Rank-based Percentages of Female Personnel (Toppan Inc.)
No. of Female Managerial and Supervisory Staff (as of April)
(Toppan Inc.)
No. of Female Managerial and Supervisory Staff (as of April) (Toppan Inc.)
  • The management strategy at TOPPAN prioritizes D&I issues encompassing female empowerment, with a view to infusing an inclusive mindset that will transform our corporate culture. Senior managers gained a deeper understanding of D&I principles at a diversity & inclusion management seminar held in the first half of fiscal 2022. Later in the same year, they tried to devise concrete initiatives to transform employee behaviors in a workshop on unconscious gender biases.

  • From the diversity & inclusion management seminar (in Japanese)

Recognition for Empowering Female Employees

  • Toppan Inc. acquired the 2nd grade Eruboshi mark on March 1, 2021.

    Eruboshi (“L Star” in Japanese; L stands for “lady, labor, and laudable”) is a certification system aligned with the Japanese Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace. Eruboshi marks are issued to companies that meet specific criteria for excellence in female participation and advancement in the workplace.

Initiatives for Gender and Sexual DiversityBack to Top

We have implemented various initiatives to enhance awareness about gender and sexual diversity (SOGI* and LGBTQ**) with a view to achieving an inclusive working environment comfortable for everyone. We have held Groupwide LGBTQ seminars since 2018 and partially revised our systems for the treatment of matters related to employee marriages and spousal relations in July 2020 to support diverse employee lifestyles. Employees with same-sex and/or common-law partners are now granted leave for celebration and condolence and receive allowances, wedding gifts, and other benefits. All Group employees are required to take training programs on basic diversity knowledge, harassment prevention, and gender and sexual diversity. We have also been promoting TOPPAN ALLY***, an initiative that encourages employees to express their alliance with LGBTQ individuals and nurture inclusive workplaces where everyone feels at ease through the concerted actions of Group employees.

*Sexual orientation and gender identity
**Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning persons
***Allies are persons who understand and empathize with the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity and are guided by awareness of workplace diversity in their actions to ensure that everyone feels at ease in their working environment.

“Gold” Recognition in the PRIDE Index

  • Toppan Inc. was bestowed a “Gold” ranking in the PRIDE Index 2022, an index formed to evaluate corporate efforts towards the achievement of LGBTQ-inclusive workplaces.

Employing Persons with DisabilitiesBack to Top

We actively hire persons with disabilities to develop workplaces that accommodate all abilities. Model cases at offices and plants have been shared with all of the Group sites to create more job categories in which persons with disabilities are empowered to work in the ways best suited to their various abilities. We are collaborating with our special subsidiary T.M.G. Challenged Plus Toppan Co., Ltd. to develop new job categories and design measures to encourage them to continue working. The TOPPAN Group's employee athletes also participate in international para-sports competitions.

Employment of Persons with Disabilities (Toppan Inc.)
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Employees 312 325 339 338 357
Percentage of total workforce* 2.29% 2.31% 2.39% 2.43% 2.53%
*
The percentage is calculated based on the total number of regular employees (as of June 1) as a denominator. The total number was presented in the Disabled Persons Employment Report in accordance with Article 8 of the Japanese Law for Employment Promotion, etc. of the Disabled.

Working with T.M.G. Challenged Plus Toppan

Office support work:
“Friendly Staff” teams at our operational sites are composed of employees with disabilities. They provide office support with tasks such as the input of data, digitalization of hard copy documents, internal mail delivery, and the sorting of items to be distributed to Group employees. Their job categories have been increased to encompass office sanitization and cleaning since 2021.

Their support has improved work efficiency at offices and plants and enhanced employee awareness of workplace diversity. Friendly Staff currently perform office support work at seven Group sites, as of March 2023. We will continue assigning them to more operational sites across Japan.

Handmade papermaking business:
The Friendly Staff at “kamisuki labo” use their handicraft skills to make paper from the waste by-products generated in the processing of Cartocans and EP-PAK liquid containers at our folding-carton plants. The lab seeks to manufacture value-added products while providing Group employees and clients with opportunities to make paper and paper products by hand. The workshop will give them an enhanced understanding of material recycling and the ways in which people with disabilities can be rewardingly engaged.

Stationery, gift envelopes, and more products made from handcrafted paper are used within the Group and sold at the Printing Museum, Tokyo.

The kamisuki labo began working with client organizations to hold offsite handmade papermaking workshops as eco-education programs, in 2022.

Diversity TrainingBack to Top

  • We hold various training sessions on diversity online. In personal empowerment programs, for example, female employees and managerial staff can flexibly choose and participate in courses that best fit their needs and interests.

    Diversity programs are also organized in rank-based training sessions, including several sessions for new employees. In parallel, e-learning-based diversity and inclusion (D&I) programs have been arranged for all employees since fiscal 2019.

    In addition to holding D&I training for managerial staff and seminars on D&I management for Group officers, we nurture diversity mindsets across Group workplaces by asking employees at general affairs departments to participate in workshops to learn about the issues faced by LGBTQ persons and persons with disabilities.

  • Diversity Training Programs
    Course for female employees on confidence building and gender bias
    Course to secure psychologically safe workplaces for enhanced team strength
    Training in authentic communication
    Practical course on inclusive leadership
    Course to learn about diversity through gender-positive actions
    Practical course to explore diverse ways of working
    Course to promote diversity through LGBT inclusion
    Course to foster barrier-free thinking for a universal society
    Course on adult developmental disabilities that all of us must understand
    Course on unconscious biases
    Basic course to enhance resilience
    Basic course on anger management

    (fiscal 2022)

Universal DesignBack to Top

The TOPPAN Group pursues diversity and inclusion (D&I) through three approaches: management, rewarding work, and business. For business, we have been producing an array of universal design (UD) products and services by embracing UD principles and practices.

TOPPAN’s Six Principles on Universal Design were formulated in 2001, two years after the launch of our UD packaging consulting service. The core aim of the principles has been to guide the development of products and services that value diversity throughout our business fields. In 2010 we announced the TOPPAN Declaration on Universal Design, revised the six principles into TOPPAN’s Seven Principles on Universal Design, and formulated a set of Guidelines for Universal Design to be applied to communication design and packaging under the seven principles. In 2020 our UD businesses were consolidated into “D&I solution,” an enterprise that continues to provide a widening scope of services.

TOPPAN Declaration on Universal Design

The starting point of our Universal Design is the provision of dedicated products and services realized through compassionate consideration of users.

By engaging in repeated dialogues with people from all walks of life and consistently incorporating the ideas of each person, we will create dedicated products that are comfortable, easier-to-use, and environment- and human-friendly.

As a corporation extensively involved in human life, we will help realize a society with a high appreciation of diversity through approaches to Universal Design.

Established in April 2010

TOPPAN’s Seven Principles on Universal Design
  • Design products and services that are more responsive to people with different physical abilities and perceptions.
  • Facilitate communication using multiple channels for communication, including visual, aural, and tactile channels.
  • Make products easier to use by making them easier to understand.
  • Make products that are easier to move, easier to approach, and require less strength (remove the physical burdens).
  • Design products that are safe to use procedurally, functionally, structurally, materially, and environmentally.
  • Provide products at a reasonable price and in the amounts required by society.
  • Engage in design that appeals to the senses with consideration for comfort, enjoyment, and beauty.

Established in 2001
Revised in April 2010

TOPPAN’s Guidelines for Universal Design

We have been developing products and services based on our Guidelines for Universal Design in communication design and packaging.

Communication Design

■ VoiceBiz® UCDisplay

    • Multilingual Communication
      with a Transparent Display

    Conventional machine-based translation services tend to draw the user’s eyes to the user’s device, away from the person communicating with the user in a foreign language. With VoiceBiz® UCDisplay, the user sees translation results through a transparent display while looking into the other person’s face. The result is natural conversation.

    Twelve languages are currently supported by the UCDisplay. Beyond translation, the machine facilitates communication with persons with hearing and speech disabilities by supporting keyboard input and displaying closed caption transcripts of conversations in real time.

    The service was favorably accepted in field trials held at tourist information centers and railway stations in Japan from January to the end of March 2023. We are now working to further commercialize the technology by addressing areas for improvement observed during the trials.

    The Vision 2025 plan announced by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government lists the VoiceBiz UCDisplay as one of the technologies that will be enhancing universal communication.

    We are developing the service into a point of contact for society that will make communication difficulties disappear.

■ Digital Twin World Trip®

    • A Metaverse Service
      Mirroring Distant Places
      in Real Time

    Digital Twin World Trip® is a remote experience-based service that enables users to move back and forth between virtual and real worlds using digital twin*. The service combines a photorealistic virtual space replicating an actual place with a system allowing real-time streaming of what cannot be reproduced in the virtual space alone. Users in remote locations can visit the photorealistic virtual space anytime they want and move freely about the space as true-to-life avatars.

    A field trial at LINKSPARK Osaka, a co-creation space operated by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation, has been underway since April 2023.

    *
    Digital twin:
    A technology or concept that copies the real world in cyberspace. The term “twin” describes the ultra-real quality of a virtual space mirroring the details of the real world. Unlike virtual reality, which tends to be “alternate” or imagined, a digital twin reproduces real-world events in virtual space in real time.

■ DentatsuClinic®

    • Universal Info Design
      for Enhanced
      Communication

    DentatsuClinic® is a total solution for enhancing the understandability of corporate messages. The solution covers all aspects of a message, from visual elements such as the font, font size, and color schemes to things like the page structure, the appropriateness of the text expressions and information stated, and the user’s affinity with the corporate branding. DentatsuClinic helps both the receivers and senders of information.

When it goes into effect in April 2024, the amended Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities will require businesses in Japan to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced a neurodiversity plan in April 2022. Diversity in cognitive characteristics has been an issue capturing wider notice, and interest in communication design embracing gender and sexual diversity has been growing year by year. The solutions from DentatsuClinic are wide-ranging, extending well beyond the visual aspects of information design to cover comprehensive know-how in easing information delivery to diverse people. DentatsuClinic assesses published media, offers advice and suggestions for creative professionals, prepares production guidelines, and proposes training sessions within businesses.

Packaging Design

■ Convenient Paper Container for Oil

    • People- & Earth-friendly
      Packaging

    EP-PAK is a paper-based cooking-oil container with a drip-resistant cap that adjusts the poured volume to suit the use. Toppan Inc. received the “improvement award” for the development of this cap at the 47th Kinoshita Prize sponsored by the Japan Packaging Institute. The ‘hold here!’ mark and grooves embossed on the sides make the container easy to hold. The container can be easily collapsed along the folding lines once empty, reducing the waste volume by almost half. Compared to conventional plastic bottles with the same capacity, this eco-friendly container cuts plastic use by over 60%. The EP-PAK-GL container made with GL BARRIER, an ultrathin film with world-class barrier performance, extends the best-before date of the cooking oil contained inside.

■ Barrier-free Packaging for Pharmaceuticals

    • An Inclusive Package
      for Everyone

    A user-friendly package with visual and tactile cues for medication use. Guided by intuitive tactile cues, anyone (from persons with visual impairments to persons from different cultures) can easily understand and open the package from the front and quickly reclose it after the tablet is dispensed. Large-font printing inside clearly displays the usage and dosage information. An Accessible Code (QR code) gives users access to the same information in audio formats in multiple languages. The debossing provides a tactile indication of where the information is printed.

    • Front-opening design

    • Re-closable

■ Smart Deli Bag

    • Pouch for Easy Cooking

    The Jo-deki Smart Deli BagTM is a zippered pouch that allows users to mix ingredients of their choosing into handmade-style meals. Jo-deki means “excellent for microwave steaming” in Japanese. A GL BARRIER film makes the bag microwavable, for safe and convenient cooking without fire or kitchenware. Anyone can use the pouch to prepare a tasty meal, with no tedious cleanup after eating. Microwave cooking is an eco-friendly method that reduces CO2 emissions and water consumption compared to stovetop simmering or boiling.

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