In addition to following up with family members to alleviate anxiety and burdens in their health and personal lives to enable individuals to work with peace of mind, the Employee Health Declaration aims to create new value and enhance productivity by improving the workplace and systems environment so that diverse human capital of different genders, nationalities, and ages can work comfortably. In this way, a virtuous cycle can be generated in which the company can secure excellent human capital, and these excellent human capital can in turn help the company grow further. Nissui believes that the implementation of the Employee Health Declaration will shape the future of Nissui, and Nissui will place a high priority on investing in the initiatives associated with this declaration.
In implementing the declaration, Nissui will be focusing on the three approaches to individuals and the work environment below.

Three Approaches to Develop an Environment Where Employees Are Healthy and Can Maximize Their Potential Leading to Increased Productivity

＜Promoting the health of individuals＞

Major measures: Campaign to improve lifestyle habits, increase the ratio of EPA/AA, promoting no smoking and separation of smoking areas, mental health examination, etc.

＜Supporting the balance between work and personal lives＞

Major measures: Childcare and nursing care support, the employee benefits system, adoption of the cafeteria plan “N Café,” etc.

＜Providing a comfortable and rewarding workplace＞

Major measures: Eliminating long working hours, promoting the taking of leave, adoption of the teleworking system, etc.

Monthly meetings are held with the Human Resources Department's Labor and Health Planning Section (secretariat), Health Management Center (industrial physicians and occupational health nurses), the corporate health insurance society and each department. And by coordinating with the cooperate occupational health nurse of each business location, we are engaged in initiatives to ensure the health and work-life balance of its employees and to create a workplace culture that is pleasant and offers a fulfilling place to work.

The targets and results specified in the mid-term business plan, “Good Foods Recipe1,” are as follows.

KPIs for promoting personal health include three points: "smoking rate," "obesity rate," and "percentage of EPA/AA." The health figures of employees, which are measured through periodic health checkups, all have an impact on daily performance due to their worsening, and the worst can lead to absenteeism, leave, or retirement. In particular, smoking rate and obesity rate were not favorable compared to the national average figures published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and according to the medical cost data of Nissui Health Insurance Society (medical cost per insured person, 2017), hypertension is higher than the association average among diseases related to lifestyle-related diseases. In order to improve these two KPIs, Nissui has positioned these two KPIs in particular as those on which Nissui should focus its efforts, and the Company will set targets that look ahead to the national average and take priority measures.

Measurement of the EPA/AA Ratio and Health Ranking

As a preventive measure against lifestyle-related diseases, Nissui takes advantage of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), which is the core product of the Fine Chemicals Business, one of Nissui’s main business. Regular physical examination starting fiscal 2016 contain an exam to test the EPA/AA ratio. So far, we have set 0.4 as the EPA/AA ratio target, which is the indicator suggested to be related to the onset of cardiovascular diseases, and have taken measures to achieve the target. In fiscal 2022, we have set 0.6 as a new target for fiscal 2024 of the company-wide EPA/AA ratio.
Since fiscal 2018, to encourage voluntary efforts among each of their employees to improve their diet, Nissui offers a health subsidy for those who reach an EPA/AA ratio of 1.0 or more. Each employee is notified of their measurement results, and data is tallied within the departments, which are then ranked in order and announced. Additionally, the “Fish Consumption Promotion Campaign” was launched to actively promote the health benefits of fish consumption among employees by encouraging them to take photos of the fish dishes they eat and share them during the campaign period, with the goal of encouraging employees to eat more fish and improve their health.

Scope: Nissui Corporation

Health Ranking

Pictures from “Fish Consumption Promotion Campaign”

To prevent health problem from smoking and passive smoking, Nissui is promoting initiatives to help smokers to stop smoking and to separate the smoking areas at the business locations.

Awareness Initiatives Targeting Smokers

We are carrying out a variety of initiatives to encourage smokers to quit. For example, we provide individual instructions by occupational health nurses at regular physical examination sites, measurements of carbon monoxide levels using “smokerlyzers,” and the distribution of nicotine gum samples. in addition to these, we support efforts to quit smoking by covering half of the treatment costs for employees who have successfully quit smoking through programs offered at hospitals. The President himself declared that he would quit smoking in January 2019 and nearly 30 employees followed suit by taking on the no-smoking challenge.

Promoting the Separation of Smoking and No-Smoking Spaces

In 2018, the smoking areas of the head offices and branches were shut down, and smoking was banned in all company cars. The other business locations are also promoting the closing and reduction of smoking areas.

Going Smoke-Free during Working Hours

Nissui has been reinforcing its no smoking measures through No Smoking Days and No Smoking Weeks, and in March 2023, it began the "Going Smoke-Free during Working Hours 365 Days of the Year" campaign.

Changes in Smoking Rate Over Time

Scope: Nissui Corporation

“Going Smoke-Free during Working Hours 365 Days of the Year” campaign poster

Promoting Exercise Habits

From fiscal 2018 to 2022, Nissui implemented the “Health Plus (+) Storage Campaign” as part of its efforts to enhance the lifestyle habits of its employees. Throughout this period, the campaign awarded bonus points redeemable in the welfare program to those who met certain criteria by adopting new, beneficial habits. Overall, approximately 1,500 employees participated, with about 1,000 achieving their set goals. Moreover, starting in fiscal 2022, Nissui has been using a health information integration tool to conduct a “step-counting event accessible even for those who dislike exercise,” to encourage participants to become aware of and understand their lifestyle habits, with a view to promoting the establishment of regular health and exercise routines.
In fiscal 2023, Nissui hosted the walking event “Walk with WellBis,” which saw participation from 323 employees (a 20% increase from the previous year). The average number of steps taken per day was 7,948 (a 6% decrease from the previous year). Feedback collected after the event revealed that participants experienced an increased awareness of walking and reported a reduction in stress, among other positive responses.

Linking Sustainability Activities

Starting in fiscal 2023, Nissui has initiated programs that connect sustainability activities with exercise habits. The introduction of the “BeatFit” app encourages regular exercise among employees. Additionally, the food support volunteer project “Nissui Cafeteria – Your Exercise Turns into Food Support Activities!” was launched. These efforts are part of a broader strategy to integrate sustainability practices with promoting healthy lifestyles among employees.

Healthy Boxed Lunches

Healthy boxed lunches were introduced at Nissui’s head office starting in December 2019. It was a measure to address one of the company’s health issues, a higher obesity rate than the national average, aiming to improve the diet and sodium intake of employees.
The healthy boxed lunches were given the “Smart Meal” seal program approval as a nutritionally balanced meal with healthy consideration given to quantity and sodium content. Due especially to the fact that the head office does not house a company cafeteria, the boxed lunches play a key role in employees’ consuming healthy meals that are ideally balanced in nutrition.

To improve the health literacy of employees, Nissui holds health improvement seminars, conducts health awareness surveys and e-learning annually.

Health Improvement Seminar

In fiscal 2023, four health improvement seminars were conducted. To ensure accessibility from anywhere, three of these were live-streamed online and also archived for later viewing. Participants provided positive feedback, with comments such as “It was enlightening,” “I realized the need for regular health screenings,” and “I found good strategies for issues I had been concerned about.”

Target: Nissui employees (including employee's family and dispatched employees)

Nissui is engaged in “Collabo-health (Note)” in collaboration with the Nissui Health Insurance Society (corporate health insurance society).

(Note) Collabo-health: An approach whereby health insurance societies and other insurers and employers actively collaborate to effectively and efficiently implement prevention and health promotion initiatives for enrollees (employees and their families) under clearly defined roles and a favorable work environment.

Health Checkups and Efforts to Prevent Serious Illness

In cooperation with the Nissui Health Insurance Society, Nissui conducts regular employee health checkups and checkups for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, with an annual checkup rate of 100%. In fiscal 2022, we introduced the “WellBis” health management support system, which allows health checkup results to be viewed on PCs and smartphones, thereby enhancing health management support functions. Nissui requires all employees with any abnormal findings in their checkup results to submit a “Re-inspection report” and are asked to see their family doctor, etc. The content of these reports is then confirmed by occupational health nurses. This“Re-inspection report”is available in four languages to facilitate reporting by employees whose native language is not Japanese.
In addition, as an effort to prevent serious illness, Nissui has created in-house health guidance guidelines and provide individual interviews and health guidance based on expert knowledge by occupational physicians or occupational health nurses for employees with high-risk health issues.

Specific Health Guidance Initiatives

From fiscal 2020, Nissui switched from the conventional outsourced approach to the specified health guidance to one that is conducted in-house, essentially by nurses from the health insurance society. This has changed the awareness among the target group, and the implementation rate has increased significantly, partly because more people are receiving guidance and partly because the scheduling of initial interviews and so on has become more flexible. Furthermore, by having a nurse who is familiar with the company's health initiatives provide guidance, more effective guidance may be offered through the incorporation of these initiatives into the health-related instructions they give.

Specific Health Guidance Implementation Rate (Nissui Health Insurance Society: Insured individuals and their dependents)

(Note) Five entities, including Nissui Corporation, Nissui Marine Industries Co., Ltd., etc.

Having many overseas bases, the Nissui Group is aware of the importance of responding to global health issues such as infectious diseases. In addition to conducting pre-assignment education on vaccinations, medical care, and health management for employees assigned to overseas bases, we make it possible for employees to receive medical examinations and checkups by overseas travel specialists both before and during their assignment in Japan every year; based on the results of these examinations, interviews with industrial physicians and health guidance are also conducted.
In Japan, Nissui also works together with the Nissui Health Insurance Society to provide mass influenza vaccinations and subsidize the entire cost. In addition, Nissui has incorporated rubella antibody tests into our regular health checkups to make it easier for individuals to receive them. For those individuals who were considered to have low levels of rubella antibodies, awareness and education was provided, and more than 40% of the recommended recipients received an antibody test during their regular checkups. 

Once a year, Nissui conducts a mental health examination for its employees and is also making efforts to enhance mental health so that employees can engage in their work with a healthy mind.
Based on the results of these stress checks, Nissui provides feedback on organizational analyses to each department and establishes forums for exchanging opinions to solve problems. We are actively working on enhancing the workplace environment through consultations with occupational health nurses for high-stress employees and by offering a 24/7 external consultation service for anonymous support.
In addition, to prevent the occurrence of harassment, Nissui conducts harassment workshops (group seminars, e-learning, etc.), and has established an in-house Harassment Consultation Desk and a Harassment Consultation Hotline (external contact) to handle any problems that may arise.

An Interview with the Health Nurse

Percentage of employees undergoing “Kokoro no Kenko Shindan” (stress check) and high-stress employees

In the course of implementing initiatives, Nissui are striving to improve on health challenges with a focus on three KPI categories (smoking rate, obesity rate, and EPA/AA ratio). Nissui provide opportunities for management to directly communicate their thoughts on health to employees, and for occupational health nurses to actively disseminate information and encourage employees to engage in health-related efforts. Through various measures taken by the sections in charge, each employee's health-related awareness level has been steadily increasing. In terms of the degree of improvement in actual business performance as a result of each employee becoming healthier, Nissui quantify presenteeism, absenteeism, etc., to confirm progress.

Scope: Nissui Corporation

(Note1) Absenteeism: Sick leave/Absence due to illness.
(Note2) Presenteeism: A condition in which a person comes to work while suffering from some disease or symptom, resulting in a decrease in work performance and productivity.
(Note3): Average of the number of days absent from work due to injury or illness, the number of days on leave, and the number of days utilizing the sick leave system for all employees.
(Note4): The intermediate value of undecided is set at 50, and the higher the value above 50, the healthier and more energetic the employee is; the lower the value, the more clearly unwell the employee is.
(Note5): The intermediate value of undecided is set at 50, and the higher the value above 50, the more satisfied the employee is with their job; the lower the value below 50, the less satisfied the employee is with their job.

Number of People and Response Rate Measuring Presenteeism and Work Engagement

As part of our efforts to promote various health initiatives, we have established the “Regulations for the Handling of Health Information, etc.,” which stipulates the purposes, parties responsible for handling personal health information and the authority and scope they have in handling such information, as well as training for managers on how to handle the information properly.

As part of measures for “Employee health,” Nissui has adopted “N Café,” an employee benefits system/cafeteria plan.
Nissui proactively supports the employee’s mental and physical health and is strengthening initiatives to promote health and prevent diseases, while helping employees strike a balance between work and childcare/nursing care.
Employees are awarded a certain number of points that can be used in employee benefits programs of their choosing through N Café. The programs focus on childcare, nursing care, and health and contain a wide range of services including personal development, asset formation and life support.

N Café character “Nanda”

Cafeteria Plan Usage and Benefits (FY2023)

Scope: Nissui Corporation

• Prohibition of smoking during working hours 365 days of the year
• Subsidy for nematode-based cancer testing
• Implementation of EPA/AA ratio improvement campaign (promotion of fish eating and intake of EPA products)
• Implementation of the “WFP Walk the World” event
• Introduction of the exercise habit support app Beatfit and implementation of exercise events utilizing its features
• Expansion of counseling services for employees (such as consultation through social media and multilingual support)
• Hosting of health improvement seminars and mental toughness enhancement training sessions
• Providing health education to new employees through lectures by industrial physicians and individual consultations with occupational health nurses