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DE&I (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)

From D&I to DE&I promotion

At KDDI, we have long believed that embracing diverse experiences and perspectives leads to the creation of new valueand allows us to meet the needs of a diverse customer base, contributing to business expansion and sustained growth. Since 2005, therefore, we have been committed to respecting, promoting, and leveraging diversity, enhancing diversityin gender, age, and backgrounds. Subsequently, we have continued to promote D&I (Diversity & Inclusion) to integrate an increased diversity of talents.
In recent years, with the expansion of our business domains, customer needs have become more diverse, complex,and rapidly evolving. As a result, we must now recognize and maximize each employee's unique characteristics andabilities more than ever before, and continue to meet our customers' needs. To address this, we have transitioned to DE&I, adding "Equity" to the equation. We are focused on creating an environment and culture where everyone can realize their aspirations. We have explicitly stated our commitment to "providing support tailored to individual employees to create an equitable foundation," which is a declaration made by our President to all employees.
By aligning the starting points of employees with various attributes and fostering awareness of DE&I, we will strengthen various forms of support to promote the active participation of a diverse workforce.

Significance and effects of KDDI's DE&I (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) efforts

KDDI's DE&I Promotion System

With the President as the top decision-making authority, KDDI is engaged in company-wide efforts to promote diverse work styles and the professional advancement of women, employees with disabilities and LGBTQ+ [1] people.
By specifying promotion of diversity and respect for human rights in the KDDI Group Philosophy and the KDDI Code of Business Conduct, we have clearly positioned DE&I promotion as a management issue.

  1. [1]LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (people who are unsure of their own sexuality and don't want to decide), and plus (indicating that there are many other sexualities).

KDDI's D&I Promotion System

Promotion of Diverse Human Resources

Expanding Employment Opportunities and Advancement of Persons with Disabilities

At KDDI, many employees with disabilities are each playing an important role in their respective workplace. As a role model of a person with disabilities who plays an active role in a company, three KDDI employees, the most among the participating companies in ACE Award, received its grand prix prize.
Established in 2008 as a special subsidiary to provide opportunities for many people, KDDI Challenged Corporation is promoting the independence and success of work of employees with disabilities, aiming to expand and create the types and scope of duties, including the operations of the three cafes. With the aim of increasing the employment of persons with intellectual disabilities as required under the law in fiscal 2018, we have been continuing to expand job areas with a focus on developing diverse occupations, by understanding their characteristics mainly through pre-employment training; so that each can fully excise their ability in a work area in which they excel. At KDDI, the rate of employment for persons with disabilities is 2.54% [2] (as of June 2023), which exceeds the legal requirement (2.30%).

  1. [2]Includes KDDI Challenged (special subsidiary) and KDDI Engineering

Work Status of Employees with Disabilities

Work location Work roles
KDDI Challenged Work handled under contract from the KDDI Group, including manually disassembling mobile phones, performing maintenance on business mobile phones, handling accounting procedures, PC kitting [3], facility maintenance and operating Refresh Room and Café Challenged
KDDI Challenged Osaka Office Cleaning (morning), manually disassembling mobile phones (afternoon), and operations of Refresh Room and Café Challenged
  1. [3]Refers to the process such as setting up a PC operating system and installing applications

Support System for Employees with Disabilities

The Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, enacted in Japan in 2016, stipulates the need of rational consideration to be taken to eliminate barriers in the life of people with disabilities as much as possible.
To ensure that employees with disabilities can lead stable professional life that matches their abilities and disabilities, we strive to create supportive work environment for them by providing support to them based on a questionnaire survey, while preparing a guidebook for their supervisors.

Examples of Support for Employees with Disabilities

Measures Content
Questionnaire surveys We conduct questionnaires for all employees with disabilities to assess factors such as the inconveniences they face in the company and changes in their conditions, and based on these opinions changes are incorporated into their work environments.
Guidebook for supervisors To understand, accept and treat employees with disabilities according to the need of each of the employees, we provide a guidebook for their supervisors.
Guidebook for communication with employees with hearing difficulties This guidebook, which was created with the participation of employees with hearing difficulties, is posted on the intranet to provide easy-to-understand explanations on the rules of sign language interpretation and how to support summary writing in the workplace.
Support in creating network Help employees with disabilities build a network with people with disabilities who work for other companies and have opportunities to grow themselves through participation in external seminars targeting them.
Introduction of an app for persons with hearing difficulties We introduced the UD Talk speech translation app to further ensure the access to information by employees with hearing difficulties.

Initiatives to Promote LGBTQ+ Equality

As shown in the enactment of a law permitting persons with gender identity disorder to change their gender status in Japan and the legalization of same-sex marriage in increasing number of countries and regions, attitudes toward LGBTQ+ equality are changing. However, businesses still lag behind in the understanding of and support for LGBTQ+ rights.
In light of this, we at KDDI have been engaging in activities to promote LGBTQ+ awareness within the company since fiscal 2013 in the effort to advance understanding and spread awareness among employees.

Increase Allies

KDDI ALLY

We at KDDI are engaged in an initiative to increase allies―supporters of LGBTQ+ people. To LGBTQ+ people, the presence of allies around them boosts confidence. Allies can also promote dialogue about the issue in the workplace. We give employees who have declared to be allies KDDI ALLY stickers that they can display prominently to show their commitment to the cause. As of July 2023, around 3,100 employees have declared themselves allies and are working on making our workplace a safe, happy place for LGBTQ+ people to work in. In October 2020, we also launched the Ally Community as a place to learn about the feelings of the parties concerned and deepen our understanding about them, and we are working with approximately 60 volunteers.

Other Initiatives

Initiatives Content
Inclusion of KDDI Code of Business Conduct (basic principle) The code enshrines the principle of no discrimination or violation of dignity on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, in addition to gender, age or nationality, etc., which is widely communicated within and outside the company.
Awareness-raising activities for facilitating understanding Seminars and e-learning courses to improve the understanding of LGBTQ+ issues have been conducted on an ongoing basis since fiscal 2013.
Change of definition of spouse and children, and application of internal regulations If the company regards an employee as having his/her same-sex partner:
  • The employee is regarded as having his/her spouse in all internal programs (since April 2017).
  • Any child between the employee and his/her same-sex partner is regarded as his/her child under all internal regulations (since June 2020).
Considerations in work environment Transgender employees are encouraged to use their chosen working names, receive tailored health checks and use universal toilets.
Promoting the understanding of LGBTQ+ issues in society
  • Participation in forums and other events related to LGBTQ+ issues and showcasing KDDI's initiatives
  • Donations to LGBTQ+ support groups
Application of au Family Discount scheme The eligibility of family-oriented services such as au Family Discount has been expanded to include same-sex partners when formal certification of same-sex partnership is provided.

Promoting Active Role of Elderly Workers

As we enter the era of 100-year lifespans, KDDI has adopted systems that help its employees aged 50 years or older can play an active role in a workplace. We have established a post-retirement re-employment program for employees who have reached the age of 60 and satisfy certain requirements, encouraging them to work as non-regular employees until age 65 at the latest. This system employs open recruiting, allowing the employees to select their desired job type and activity while creating a mechanism for former full-time employees to make full use of their skills and experience in various workplaces.
For employees aged 50 years or older, we also hold seminars that inspire them to think about their life and work styles after retirement (233 employees participated in the fiscal 2022).
Furthermore, to create an environment to help senior employees further broaden their field of activities, since fiscal 2019 we have offered internal open recruiting opportunities (a total of 228 employees were transferred over the four-year period from 2019 to 2022) and supported career development for employees aged 50 years or older.

Advancement of Foreign Employees

KDDI has introduced the KDDI Version Job Style Personnel System, which accelerates the growth of employees through evaluation and compensation based on individual abilities, regardless of nationality.
We also provide assistance to foreign employees in completing the necessary procedures for working in Japan, and have set up a religiously-responsible worship space.

Employment Promotion for People with Difficulty in Securing Employment

KDDI and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) have been working together since March 2021 on the "Tsunagu x Kaeru (Link and Transform)" project to provide employment support for people in the "Employment Ice Age." Over 200 participants have passed the employment assessment tests of NTT Group, KDDI Group, and companies suitable for them.

Results of Our Actions

  1. 1Support for remote working skills training: over 5,800 trainees (all interested applicants)

  2. 2Support for ICT skills training:

    [1] Skills counselling: More than 3,400 of the participants in the remote working skills training who requested it

    [2] Support for acquisition of ICT skills and certifications through online training: 500 people who wish to work in the ICT and telecommunications industry or in ICT-based occupations (321 of them obtained IT certifications (as of March 23, 2022))

  3. 3Career-related support: 248 passed employment examinations for industries and in ICT-based occupations
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