Creating a Pleasant Work Environment for Employees

Kobe Steel respects the personality and individuality of its employees. To create a vibrant and attractive work environment, the Company has implemented a variety of personnel policies, including strong support for healthy work-life balance and the success of women in the workplace, as well as human resources development programs.

We also value each employee, and work in cooperation with Group companies in a variety of ways to support employee growth on an individual basis, while creating a cooperative and harmonious environment, as outlined in the Core Values of KOBELCO.

Kobe Steel strives to maintain sound working environments that are free from discrimination.

Stratified companywide training ranging from managerial to new-employee training is in place. Training strives to educate employees on appropriate ethics and codes of conduct related to human rights as defined under Kobe Steel's Corporate Code of Ethics to encourage respect for human rights in the course of business activities and to teach the importance of creating sound working environments that are free from discrimination.

Additionally, we distribute Guidelines for Employee Conduct to all employees, encourage employees to act in accordance with respect for human rights, carry out training at individual sites to raise awareness of human rights and otherwise strive to prevent human rights issues before they occur.

In order to adapt flexibly to changes in the business environment and society and to pursue sustained development and growth, Kobe Steel considers the viewpoint of diversity to be an integral aspect of management. Promoting diversity is one of our important business challenges.

In October 2014 we established the Diversity Development Section. We respect the diversity of each employee. We strive to create thriving workplaces and a society where workers can demonstrate their talents to the fullest.

In particular, we promote success for women in the workplace, actively pursuing recruitment activities that include concrete numerical targets for female representation among new hires. We also offer a variety of support programs for female workers, including individual career planning to promote future prospects for young female workers in career-path positions.

The Nadeshiko Brand Stock Selection identifies listed companies that promote the advancement of women. Previously chosen as a Nadeshiko Brand company in fiscal 2015, Kobe Steel was chosen as a Semi-Nadeshiko Brand company this year. The brand was first announced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2012. The Semi-Nadeshiko Brand was newly introduced this year to identify companies for which further growth is anticipated. Kobe Steel was one of 25 companies selected.

In addition to promoting diversity and women in the workplace, we are reexamining companywide working styles for all employees, male and female. We strive to create more pleasant working environments for employees, including efforts to eliminate excessive working hours, increase use of paid vacation and improve productivity.

At Kobe Steel, we believe that health and safety are fundamental to business management and take priority over all business activities. In keeping with this principle, we take various steps to create a vital workplace where employees can safely pursue their careers with peace of mind.

As a result of efforts to eliminate occupational accidents over the medium to long term, Kobe Steel has been able to reduce the number of accidents and maintain an overall low frequency of occurrences. Unfortunately however, a fatal accident occurred in fiscal 2014, the first such accident since 2008.

We recognize that protecting the lives and health of our employees is of the utmost priority in fulfilling our corporate social responsibilities. In fiscal 2017, continuing on from fiscal 2016, the Kobe Steel Group and its cooperative companies will make a unified effort, in terms of people, equipment and supervision, to further raise their level of safety.

Kobe Steel undertakes health management based on a set of basic principles. We recognize the importance of early detection and treatment of illnesses and of improvements to lifestyles (preventive care). We are enhancing our health management system that addresses both physical and mental health. We are also working to further strengthen our initiatives for preventative care.

(Fiscal 2016: Zero new patients suffering from work-related illnesses)

• ･Lifestyle factors that contribute to high-risk obesity (metabolic syndrome), such as eating, drinking and exercise habits, differ by person. As it can be difficult for individuals to independently improve and maintain lifestyle habits, we have introduced the "Health Challenge" program, which offers regular support for issues such as exercise, smoking cessation and weight loss. Prizes are offered for individuals who meet their goals.

Kobe Steel engages in health and safety initiatives to ensure vibrant work environments where employees can work in safety and peace of mind.

HR Training Policies, Developing Human Resources to Support Manufacturing Capabilities

Human resource development at Kobe Steel aims to instill in employees a sense of pride and satisfaction in their work. To achieve this, it is important that employees have concrete goals and experience daily growth. We fully support opportunities for employees to grow through personal diligence and dedication.

We want allemployees to share in a diverse sense of values and to feel pride and enthusiasm in their daily work. To this end we have established the following "Vision for Human Resources at Kobe Steel."

In order to support employee career development, we have established tiered training systems for managers, career-track employees and technical workers (engineering and administrative levels), and revise the contents of those training modules on a yearly basis. We also support career development by providing opportunities each year from April through May for managers and their employees to discuss business objectives and future career plans.

Regarding skill development for managers and career-track employees, we also focus on complementing on-the-job training with increased offline training. We are expanding elective training; strengthening basic training for young employees; working to bolster problem-solving skills, specialist knowledge and foreign language skills for mid-career employees; and implementing leadership training for management.

We take a proactive role in training young technical core workers. In addition to five years of required technical training after entering the company for the technical employees who support our manufacturing sites, we also offer support for trade skill tests and other qualifications, and dispatch employees to the College of Industrial Technology. Managerial appointment training to raise management skills for on-site supervisors is also held at head offices and individual business locations.

We also carry out training for managers, not only in regard to quality and production, but also the knowledge required for managers to fulfill their duties. This includes knowledge on safety, the environment, compliance and human rights.

In order to support skill development for administrative core workers, in addition to on the job training to improve work performance, we also carry out stratified training tailored to specific job roles. Additionally, to support the further growth of specialized skills, in fiscal 2017 we also began expanding our selection of elective offline training for individual career development and job proficiency.

Training modules to improve job performance, tailored to the needs of each organization, chosen voluntarily by employees with the consent and understanding of supervisors.