Diversity

The Diversity Promotion Office of SUBARU’s Human Resources Department leads efforts in relation to diversity. The office has designated “supporting female employees to take on more active roles,” “promoting the employment of people with disabilities,” “promoting the reemployment of post-retirement age workers,” “promoting the recruitment of non-Japanese workers,” and “LGBTQ+” as themes for action. Among them, SUBARU has placed particular emphasis on efforts to support and empower female employees. Activity data is regularly shared at Executive Management Board meetings and with executives.

Empowerment of Female Employees

SUBARU believes that the empowerment of women is critical for its sustainable growth, and therefore is taking various actions to support employees in addressing the priority issues of career development and balancing work and childcare. It is also based on this belief that we provide health support for women so that they can enjoy a consistent working experience even through the many different life events they may encounter.
In supporting career development, we have particularly focused on cultivating female managers, setting a target to more than double the 2021 number of female managers by 2025. As of April 2023, our efforts have resulted in 31 female managers out of 1,095, and while this is 1.3 times the 2021 level of 24 managers, we believe it is necessary for our further development to increase the number of female employees, improve their career motivation, and reform our corporate culture.
As part of our efforts to increase the number of female employees, we had set a target of 10% female engineers among newly hired graduates, which was achieved in FYE March 2023. In improving career motivation, we have established the Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) as a program for female employees to share career plans, goals, and challenges with their supervisors and human resources departments, and to provide guidance and education tailored to each individual employee, thereby promoting human resource development. Beyond this, we have established a career training system including a number of actions to empower women: Life Career Training for women around the age of 30, Leader Training for women who are in the process of becoming managers, and the Outside Directors Forum for women in management positions.
In addition, we offer unconscious bias training to create a culture that promotes active roles for women. Another initiative is the Women's Empowerment Working 4's Project, launched in FYE March 2023 under the leadership of women working at the Gunma Manufacturing Division. This project’s goal is to bring about what is needed for women to shine much more brightly, and includes improving facilities and holding round-table discussions.
When it comes to health, in FYE March 2022 we held the Women’s Health Seminar, an event by women for women to help them understand health issues women can face, as well as the Women’s Health Seminar for Supervisors with the aim of supporting these.
To support balancing work and childcare, we have introduced a work-from-home system from FYE March 2022 and abolished core hours in the flex-time system to facilitate flexible work styles for diverse human resources so that they can balance rewarding work and fulfilling lives.

Second Action Plan based on the Act on Promotion of Female Participation and Advancement in the Workplace (Japanese version only)

Status of Female Employees (Non-consolidated)

Note:

Amounts in parentheses indicate the percentage of women.

Universal Design Initiatives

In order to ensure compliance with the Guidelines for the Creation of Comfortable Working Environment*, SUBARU makes improvements to the working environment, work methods, environmental facilities, and others in an organized and planned manner. We also proactively adopt universal design for our common areas, including breakrooms, restrooms, smoking areas, and cafeterias, thereby providing all employees with comfortable workplaces.

*

“Guidelines for the Creation of Comfortable Working Environment” as stated in the Industrial Safety and Health Act of Japan

Employment of People with Disabilities

In accordance with the Human Resources Department Policy on Employment of People with Disabilities, the SUBARU Group strives to create workplace environments in which people with disabilities can truly shine.
As of June 2023, SUBARU has 328 employees with disabilities, mainly engaged in manufacturing work, and the percentage of employees with disabilities is 2.47%*. We are committed to improving our corporate value by creating a better working environment for employees with disabilities, facilitating work for all our employees.

*

Including the number of employees with disabilities at SUBARU’s specified subsidiary company.

Established in April 2023

To ensure that all employees have a proper understanding of people with disabilities, regular seminars are held and information is posted on our intranet throughout the year. FYE March 2023, we held training programs on persons with disabilities for SUBARU employees and for personnel in charge of hiring people with disabilities at Group companies. These programs helped instill a better understanding of the importance of hiring people with disabilities and their particular characteristics, as well as key points on labor management and other information. In addition, training was conducted for personnel in charge of hiring people with disabilities at dealerships to deepen their understanding of the state of said hiring within the SUBARU Group and efforts to achieve the legally prescribed employment ratio going forward.

Status of Employment of People with Disabilities (Including SUBARU Living Service Co., Ltd. and SUBARU BLOOM Co., Ltd.)

*

The employment rate listed in the table is the actual employment rate based on the employment status of people with disabilities as reported to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on June 1 each year.

Empowerment of Senior Citizen Employees

In FYE March 2022, SUBARU implemented its SUBARU Business Staff Program and SUBARU Partner Program as part of revisions to its reemployment programs for employees after retiring at the mandatory age of 60. This revision and these programs are designed to help energize senior citizens with valuable skills and support their active participation. We operate our programs so that all those who want to be reemployed can work for SUBARU and other Group companies.
We also offer personal finance planning and career planning training for employees in their 40s and 50s who may be beginning to consider their plans after reaching the retirement age, providing them with opportunities to think about their future life plans.
The number of rehired employees (aged 60 or older) in FYE March 2023 was 605.

Reemployment Rate (Non-consolidated)

Note:

Figures within parentheses indicate the number of rehired employees at Group companies.

Non-Japanese Employees

The SUBARU Group hires human resources best suited to the policies and business activities of each location, regardless of their nationality. SUBARU employs 87 foreign nationals as of the end of March 2023. There are three non-Japanese employees in managerial posts at IT, engineering, and manufacturing departments.
In order to help non-Japanese employees to deepen their understanding of their work, we prepare our safety and quality policy-related documents, work manuals, and other documents in multiple languages. At the Gunma Plant, where we employ a particularly large number of non-Japanese employees, interpreters in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and other languages are stationed at each of the facilities to ensure smooth communication between Japanese and non-Japanese employees.
Moreover, we provide Japanese employees with opportunities to receive language training and engage in overseas training, thereby helping them to enhance their ability to communicate with people from other countries and understand cultural differences. These initiatives contribute to revitalizing the company and securing human resources in a stable manner.
As for foreign trainee workers, we basically provide them with education on safety and quality under the Technical Intern Training Program and also implement other measures to develop them into human resources who can utilize their abilities for their own countries after returning home. Our affiliated companies independently employ human resources and work to secure human resources in line with their own policies and business details.

Strengthening Mid-Career Recruitment

SUBARU has been actively promoting mid-career recruitment in recent years to respond to changes in the business environment and achieve sustainable growth. There were 4,161 mid-career hires as of the end of March 2023, and 175 of them were in management positions.
We have also established a system to support employees who joined SUBARU as mid-career hires. Regular questionnaire conducted over the first year of employment identify any problems encountered while working at SUBARU, and the Human Resources Department and respective workplaces work together to follow up on these issues. In the same questionnaire, SUBARU’s strong points and areas for improvement are both identified from the objective viewpoint of mid-career hires and utilized to improve the working environment. At the same time, we are enhancing on-demand education to ensure smooth retention of mid-career hires.
In December 2020, we established SUBARU Lab, an AI development base in Shibuya, Tokyo, where a cluster of IT companies are located, as part of an initiative to enable smooth and targeted hiring of human resources required for AI development.
We will continue to hire based on the abilities and qualities of individuals and provide career development opportunities without discrimination, regardless of whether we are hiring new graduates or mid-career professionals.

Initiatives for the LGBTQ+ Community

The SUBARU Group's Human Rights Policy prohibits discrimination based on gender, gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation. To ensure that all employees have a proper understanding of sexual diversity, we conduct employee awareness activities and increase the number of allies (LGBTQ supporters) throughout the year. In FYE March 2023, online seminars were streamed to all SUBARU employees and Group companies. This has led to 287 people registering as allies and a growing circle of people supporting those identifying as LGBTQ. On the employee welfare side, we have established an external consultation service for individual consultation, including about preferred identification within the organization and changing room considerations. Furthermore, from 2022, we have revised our benefit systems (use of company housing, allowances, leave, etc.) to cover same-sex partners. In recognition of these efforts, the Company received its first Bronze certification in the PRIDE Index, which is used by support organization work with Pride to evaluate corporate initiatives for LGBTQ employees.

Flexible and Wide-Ranging Systems

Regular Employment System for Temporary Workers

SUBARU has a regular employment system for temporary workers. We offer an opportunity to sit for an examination for regular employment to temporary workers who want to become regular employees and whom we have comprehensively judged to be qualified to take the examination based on the recommendations from their workplaces and other information. This system contributes to increasing the motivation and vigor of temporary workers. For the 10 years from FYE March 2014 to FYE March 2023, a total of 1,733 temporary workers became regular employees under the system.

Reemployment Support System

SUBARU has also established a reemployment support system for employees who resigned for reasons beyond their control, such as the relocation of their spouse.
From the introduction of the system in 2009 to March 2023, 13 employees have returned to work at SUBARU using this system.

Leave of Absence System for Overseas Assignments

Starting in FYE March 2024, SUBARU has introduced a new system for employees accompanying their spouses on overseas assignments, offering them an option to take a leave of absence. Employees who would have been forced to retire under the previous system can now choose to continue their careers at SUBARU.

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DEIB is the concept that inclusivity of diverse human resources and making the best use of their abilities is essential for the sustainable growth of a company, and that this requires not only respect for all people, but also a sense of belonging, including the correction of unfair competitive environments and the provision of psychological safety, which greatly affects performance.

SOA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging