Creating a Pleasant Work Environment for Employees

Kobe Steel respects the personality and individuality of company 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 work in cooperation with Group companies in various ways to "support each employee in developing his or her abilities, while respecting mutual cooperation in the Kobe Steel Group," which is one of the principles of the Kobe Steel Group Corporate Philosophy.

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 management tasks.

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.

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 through 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 2016, continuing on from fiscal 2015, 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.

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

Developing Human Resources and Transferring Skills to Support Manufacturing Capabilities, Quality Control Circle Activities

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 employee to grow through personal diligence and dedication.

We want each and every employee 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."

We take a proactive role in training young engineers. In addition to five years of required technical training after entering the company for technical employees, we also offer support for trade skill tests and other qualifications, and dispatch employees to the College of Industrial Technology.

Additionally, we carry out training at headquarters and other locations to improve management skills for those appointed as on-site foremen. 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.

Our aim is raise the skill level of younger workers at each plant in the Kobe Steel Group through both on-the-job training (OJT) and off-the-job training (OFF-JT) at skill training centers. To help make training more systematic, we also utilize skill maps that show who has mastered which skills and to what level. Activities such as these are in place to ensure skill succession at each plant. Companywide training is in place to help raise the skills and technical abilities of young technical workers.

In order to assist employee career development, we create opportunities for managers and their employees to discuss business objectives and future career plans. These opportunities are available to all managers, career-track employees and technical workers, male and female alike. Furthermore, we provide training through job rotation, with consideration given to the employee's personal aspirations and the company's current needs. We also operate a personnel recruitment system that is designed to encourage independent career development.

Regarding skill development, we are also focusing on expansion of offline training to compliment on-the-job training. We are expanding elective training, strengthening basic training for young employees, working to bolster problem-solving skills, specialist knowledge and foreign language skills of mid-career employees, and implementing leadership training for management.

In order to support personal development for employees, we offer financial support for correspondence language courses. There are also a variety of financial support options included in our "Cafeteria Plan" (a selection-based welfare benefits system) that help cover costs for things such as acquiring qualifications, purchasing textbooks or commuting to outside educational institutions.