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Inclusion and Diversity
Governance
Inclusion and Diversity Framework
NEC’s Inclusion & Diversity Group, a dedicated organization for promoting inclusion and diversity, works with related departments within NEC to promote various measures, such as providing support for and promoting the understanding of women’s career advancement and active participation, and the employment of persons with disabilities and sexual minorities (LGBTQ). In addition, this group is engaged in measures related to smooth onboarding of non-Japanese employees working in Japan and mid-career hires. In this way, the Company is fostering an in-house culture that helps these diverse internal human resources make full use of their individuality and uniqueness, and to work and participate at their full potential.
To ramp up these efforts one step further, in fiscal 2022 NEC established the I&D Steering Committee chaired by the President, and the I&D Acceleration Team.
Under the strong leadership of senior management, managers and other personnel in charge gather to hold theme-based discussions where participants propose ideas to promote inclusion and diversity, and then decide upon and implement specific actions. The committee posts the contents of its meetings via the Company intranet and discloses decision-making processes of senior management internally.
NEC appoints many local hires to important positions including the presidents of local subsidiaries.
The top performing local hires are appointed as corporate SVPs, to create a structure that reflects local voices.
Strategy
Inclusion and Diversity Policy
The NEC Group Code of Conduct strictly prohibits people at NEC from acting with prejudice on the grounds of race, belief, age, social position, family origin, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity, as well as physical or mental disability, and strictly prohibits actions that belittle individuals, including bullying, harassment, child labour, and forced labour. Furthermore, the NEC Group Human Rights Policy sets out and advocates detailed policies for its initiatives on human rights based on the NEC Way, and explicitly states that in all types of corporate activities the Company must respect the individuality of each person and not act in any way that may harm their dignity.
One of NEC’s management strategies is to firmly establish a culture that is truly based on inclusion and diversity in this way. The Company believes this to be a source of innovation, and it is promoting initiatives to achieve the goals at right.
- Set out diverse human resources as one of NEC’s priority management themes from an ESG perspective—materiality—and develop employees who lead teams that are able to understand and accept different values and cultures and thrash out various ideas to create social value and drive innovation
- Understand unconscious bias correctly and provide equal employment and fair career opportunities through management, regardless of age, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity, as well as physical or mental disability
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NEC’s ultimate goal is to “transform its organizational structure and culture into one that transforms individual differences into strengths, responds with agility to change, and continues to compete strongly and win.”
Risk Management (Including Opportunity Generation)
Furthermore, in accordance with the NEC Group Human Rights Policy, the Company is working to address and rectify human rights risks, such as slow progress toward including employees who belong to vulnerable groups, such as women, LGBTQ people, and persons with disabilities, as well as difficulty eradicating harassment. The Company is therefore implementing remedial measures and grievance mechanisms.
Promoting Women’s Active Participation in the Workplace
As a global company, NEC believes it is preferable to have more female employees participating in management decision-making and in leadership positions. Accordingly, the Company has set three goals—ensure diversity in leadership, recruit and employ persons with disabilities, and ensure psychological safety—and is conducting initiatives to achieve these goals. (Medium- to Long-term Goals, Priority Activities, Progress, Achievements, and Issues)
On the following website, the Company publishes its results in connection with indicators relevant to its initiatives for women’s active participation in the workplace.
Joining the 30% Club Japan
NEC joined the 30% Club Japan in 2020 with the goal of improving the gender balance among its corporate officers.
As a member of the club, the Company will tackle a range of measures to improve the gender balance among its corporate officers.
Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
As stated in a report by the UN Human Rights Council, women’s roles in Japan have traditionally been stereotyped, and the impact of this is visible in the promotion of women to management positions in Japanese companies. In view of this situation, NEC has recognized that ensuring diversity, including gender equality, and creating an environment in which diverse human resources can play an active role are important management issues, and became a signatory to the WEPs in 2023.
Talent Management Program for Female Employees
NEC has developed and implemented a systematic, position-based development program for its personnel, with the aims of encouraging their further contribution as leaders who epitomize its Code of Values and producing corporate officers in-house.
- Ensuring that promising female employees are selected for participation in personnel development programs at every level
- Holding leadership development programs and forums for employees at the assistant manager level
- Conducting mentoring by directors, employee shadowing, and roundtable discussions under a sponsorship program for senior female leaders
- Holding roundtable discussions with officers and the CHRO regarding promising personnel
Events, Training, and Promotion Activities Inside and Outside NEC
In-house online event for International Women’s Day
On March 8, 2024, the Company held NEC Women’s Day 2024 to coincide with International Women’s Day. NEC Group companies in Japan and around the world conducted various events and campaigns that conveyed respect and gratitude to female employees, colleagues, and associates, and encouraged one and all to make even greater efforts.
Unconscious bias training
NEC provides unconscious bias training by external experts for all directors and senior directors (approximately 800 people in fiscal 2023 and 1,200 people in fiscal 2024). The Company also provides information about unconscious bias in training for new directors and in mandatory online training for all employees.
Seminar on work-life synergy for employees engaged in childcare and others
As approaches to childcare leave diversify, a seminar was held for employees engaged in childcare and their supervisors, as well as employees approaching life events who feel uncertain about how to balance work and family.
Participants in the online seminar more than doubled year on year to 300, and included participants from Group companies.
Career development for female employees
In fiscal 2024, a total of 137 female employees (including 33 NEC employees) from various professions voluntarily participated in a networking event organized by NEC and five other companies. The event was conducted both in person and online.
Activities to promote diversity led by female employees
The Company continued to hold dialogue events and study sessions for female employees through Scarlet Elegance in NEC (SELENE), an association of volunteer women in management positions at NEC.
Involvement of senior management
In July 2023 (online) and August 2023 (in person), NEC’s President, SVP Asako Aoyama, one senior-level female leader, and 63 Group employees participated in the International Conference for Women in Business.
Efforts to Promote the Use of Childcare Leave among Male Employees
- Working to encourage male employees to take advantage of childcare leave by conducting interviews with both employees who have taken leave and their supervisors and then sharing their experiences within the Company
- Published childcare leave guidelines for male employees in October 2022, and for supervisors and female employees in March 2023
Initiatives to Reduce the Wage Disparity between Men and Women
- In order to increase the proportion of women in senior positions (management and above, decision-making levels), the Company has made improved female hiring and promotion a KPI for executives and other leaders.
- In April 2024, the Company introduced a job-based compensation system that determines compensation based on position, eliminating the influence of personal attributes such as gender and years of service.
Details about measures to promote the active participation of women in the workplace are presented in the following sections.
Promoting Employment of Persons with Disabilities
NEC currently employs 451 persons with disabilities, which is the total for NEC Corporation, NEC Friendly Staff, Ltd., and NEC Business Intelligence, Ltd., as of June 1, 2024. These employees work based on the principle of “each individual employee taking ownership of their career, regardless of any disability, and by working with motivation, living a full life and bringing innovation to the world by expressing their individuality (values, experience and strengths).” As of June 2024, NEC Corporation exceeded the statutory employment rate of 2.5%, but some Group companies have yet to reach this level. NEC will promote an increase in the employment rate for the overall Group through the following initiatives.
Employing Persons with Disabilities and Creating Social Value
The Company will create job categories that are unique to NEC by leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as AI, and contribute to creating social value through its businesses.
Initiatives in the Employment Liaison Service for Persons with Disabilities
- In the recruitment process, every attempt is made to ensure applicants can understand information during written exams or interviews through real-time audio transcription, braille exams, or the use of large-print versions. In addition, each candidate’s disability is ascertained in cooperation with a specialized agency and then reasonable accommodations are investigated.1
- Before a prospective employee with a disability joins the Company, they receive special support according to their disability that includes confirming (with them) that their assigned workplace and other frequented locations are barrier free.
- Develop promotions that merge recruitment activities, para-sports and other forms of branding to acquire high-quality talent.
- 1.Measures to overcome issues that are barriers for disabled workers so that they can exercise their abilities effectively
Groupwide Committee for Promoting the Employment of Persons with Disabilities
To improve the specialized skills and organizational response capabilities of those in charge of employing persons with disabilities at NEC and its subsidiaries in Japan, information is shared about how many are currently employed at each company and respective initiatives being conducted for them, and projects such as joint seminars and workplace tours are promoted.
Signatory to The Valuable 500
NEC has agreed with and become a signatory to The Valuable 500 initiative for promoting active participation of persons with disabilities in the workplace, which was launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2019. In addition to continuously promoting initiatives to create environments that allow employees with disabilities to demonstrate their full potential, the Company will also strive to realize safety, security, fairness and efficiency to enable a rich range of social activities by promoting the active participation of persons with disabilities through employment and contributing to society through support for para-sports.
Details about NEC’s policies for promoting employment of persons with disabilities are presented in the following sections.
Promoting Global Recruitment of Human Resources
To achieve global business expansion, NEC is working through the following initiatives to recruit non-Japanese individuals in its research, technology, sales, and corporate administration departments.
- In addition to accepting foreign nationals studying in Japan as new graduate hires, NEC also conducts recruiting activities targeting researchers at universities outside Japan. (Number of new non-Japanese graduate hires in fiscal 2024: 8)
- NEC works proactively to recruit employees of subsidiaries outside Japan for employment at the NEC head office, to facilitate interactions with these individuals and to develop personnel.
- NEC has a system that enables international students, Japanese students enrolled in universities outside Japan, and other students studying outside Japan to join the Company in October instead of April, when new employees usually join Japanese companies.
- A prayer room has been established in the head office building for employees who need to make religious observances.
Details about measures for promoting global talent recruitment are presented in the following sections.
Inclusion of Mid-career Hires
Details about measures for mid-career hires are presented in the following sections.
LGBTQ Initiatives
In creating a workplace environment where every individual can fully express themselves without fear of discrimination, NEC believes that having a correct understanding of LGBTQ issues and increasing the number of “allies”2 are top priorities. Also, to provide LGBTQ employees with equal opportunities to use its systems, since fiscal2020 the Company has provided training for management to better understand LGBTQ issues as well as training for employees who work at the Company’s primary consultation desk to ensure LGBTQ employees who use the service can do so with a sense of safety and peace of mind.
- 2.Someone who understands the situation of, and strongly supports, LGBTQ individuals
Launch of an Ally Community and the Promotion of Understanding among Employees
- Corporate Executive Vice President (Executive Officer) Kunikazu Amemiya appointed as LGBTQ Ally Community Executive Sponsor
- 50 employees and their families participated in Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2023
- An ally community of volunteer employees of the NEC Group has ramped up its activities, planning and implementing various events such as providing special rainbow lunches in the Company cafeteria.
- To coincide with PRIDE Month in June, the Group invited LGBTQ people from outside the Company to an online event with around 1,000 participants, helping to accelerate understanding.
- A visible consultation desk (ALLY) responds directly to inquiries and consultation requests from LGBTQ employees.
Revision of Internal Regulations
In October 2019, the Company revised 14 internal regulations, such as adding “a person who is a de facto marriage partner or in a partner relationship” to the definition of “spouse” in order to give de facto marriage partners, including same-sex marriage partners, equal treatment to legally married couples.
Participation in DIVERSITY CAREER FORUM 2023 as a Sponsor
For the seventh consecutive year, NEC exhibited at DIVERSITY CAREER FORUM to introduce its inclusion and diversity initiatives. University students and others with a strong interest in diversity came from all over Japan to participate in the event.
Rated “Gold” in PRIDE Index 2023
- For the fourth consecutive fiscal year (since fiscal 2021), NEC received a “Gold” rating—the highest rating—in PRIDE Index 2023, formulated by work with Pride Association and reflecting evaluations of initiatives for LGBTQ individuals and other sexual minorities at companies and organizations in Japan. The Company met five out of five of the evaluation criteria with respect to a declaration of conduct, a community of concerned parties, awareness-raising activities, human resource systems and programs, and social contributions and liaison activities.
Toward Fair Recruitment Activities
The Company added the following items regarding LGBTQ issues in interview manuals. Since then, it has been promoting awareness so that recruiters can carry out interviews appropriately. The Company also abolished the field for stating gender on the entry form.
- Absolutely do not conduct interviews that discriminate or violate human dignity from the perspective of human rights
- Even if a person comes out as LGBTQ, for example, during an interview, do not ask questions only concerning LGBTQ issues
- Judge a candidate only by the person’s capabilities and suitability for the job
Details about the Company’s LGBTQ-related measures are presented in the following section.
Supporting Diverse Workstyles for Seniors
Extended Employment
- Introduced a post-retirement re-employment system (employment extension system) for employees who wish to work beyond the age of 60. The system’s maximum age for extended employment increased to 70 in fiscal 2024.
- Since fiscal 2021, NEC has operated a personnel recruiting system and flexible treatment based on the system for those extending their employment that works to match the needs of individuals and hiring organizations, based on the type of work, job description, employment terms, and other conditions.
- Personnel recruiting system and flexible treatment based on the system for those extending their employment
Dispatch and Placement in Workplaces Inside and Outside the NEC Group
- Launched in fiscal 2022, NEC Life Career, Ltd., provides a career consultation and matching service to boost employees’ sense of career ownership through a lifelong career at NEC, creating opportunities for senior personnel to make long-term contributions to society in ways suited to their lifestyles.
Indicators and Goals
Medium- to Long-term Goals, Priority Activities and Progress, Achievements, and Issues
Medium- to Long-term Goals and Priority Activities
(Scope: NEC Corporation unless otherwise specified) Period: April 2021 to March 2026
M: Major non-financial indicators related to “materiality”
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M: Ensure diversity among leadership
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Achieve the numerical targets below by the end of fiscal 2026 (including decisions on transfers that are to take place on April 1, 2026)
- 20% ratio of women and foreign nationals among officers3
- 20% ratio of women in all management positions
- 30% ratio of women among all employees
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Recruit and employ persons with disabilities
- Continue to maintain statutory employment rate (including the special subsidiary)
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Ensure that opinions can be expressed without fear of discrimination regardless of gender, age, career path, or job title
- 3.Directors, corporate officers, Corporate SEVPs, Corporate EVPs and Corporate SVPs
FY2024 Goals, Progress, Achievements and Issues, and FY2025 Goals
FY2024 Goals
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Ensure diversity among leadership
- Set goals for ratio of women as part of the succession plan for division general manager positions and higher as a 10% increase from the current ratio
- Set goals for ratio of women newly appointed as managers for roles of executive manager or higher
- Continue and expand the sponsorship management program horizontally and vertically to strengthen the pipeline further
- Increase the ratio of female mid-career hires
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Recruit and employ persons with disabilities
- NEC’s employment rate for persons with disabilities was 2.40% as of June 1, 2023, exceeding the statutory rate. The Company will promote further increases in the rate to meet increases in the statutory rate in the future, increasing the rate for Group companies that do not meet the statutory rate by holding conferences for those responsible for the hiring and management of persons with disabilities and sharing knowledge.
- Continuously promote new businesses and job categories at the special purpose subsidiary using the Company’s own technologies
- Develop promotions that merge recruitment activities, para-sports and other forms of branding, and connect to acquisition of high-quality talent
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Ensure that opinions can be expressed without fear of discrimination regardless of gender, age, career path, or job title
- Spread accurate information and understanding to employees through training, events, and so forth held throughout the year on inclusion and diversity topics
- One NEC Survey Diversity Score: Achieve 37%
- Improve workplaces through collaboration with Employee Resource Groups
- Continue to implement unconscious bias training
Progress, Achievements and Issues
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Ensure diversity among leadership
- 90% of the goals set for women in the succession plan for division general manager and above were achieved
- Achieved a 55% ratio of women among new appointments
- 76% of senior female leaders in the sponsorship program were promoted, and the program will be expanded to junior levels in fiscal 2025
- The ratio of women among mid-career hires increased 4.5 points year on year to 24.6%
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Recruit and employ persons with disabilities
- While NEC’s employment rate for persons with disabilities was 2.54% as of June 1, 2024, achieving the statutory rate, and 8 of 12 major Group companies achieved the statutory rate, the NEC Group will make united efforts to continue promoting the employment of persons with disabilities
- The special subsidiary began using knowledge from AgriTech to develop a business that combines value creation and the employment of persons with disabilities
- Two NEC Green Swimming Club para-swimmers who are on Japan’s national team were employed by the special subsidiary, taking on the challenge of dual careers
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Ensure that opinions can be expressed without fear of discrimination regardless of gender, age, career path, or job title
- Over 10,000 NEC Group employees around the world participated (in person) in NEC Women’s Day 2024, an in-house event held on International Women’s Day
- Held the in-house online seminar “Dive into Inclusion and Diversity” three times during the year to encourage employees to treat inclusion and diversity as a personal responsibility and to promote behavioral change, with a total of approximately 2,500 employees participating
- One NEC Survey Diversity Score:43% (+10 points year on year)
- Employee Resource Groups for female, LGBTQ Ally, young, and foreign national employees held self-organized events
- Held unconscious bias training by external experts for director- and senior director-level management, with approximately 1,200 people attending in fiscal 2024
FY2025 Goals
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Ensure diversity among leadership
- In order to achieve the 20% ratio of female managers set in Mid-term Management Plan 2025, set goals for number of female managers for fiscal 2025 and set goals for executive manager roles or higher
- Set goals for the ratio of diverse human resources among new manager appointments for positions of executive manager and above
- Expand the sponsorship management program to junior levels
- Increase the ratio of female mid-career hires
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Recruit and employ persons with disabilities
- Promote employment of persons with disabilities throughout the NEC Group to meet the increase in the statutory rate in 2026 and work to raise the rates for Group companies that have not yet achieved the statutory rate through the Groupwide Committee for Promoting the Employment of Persons with Disability and by sharing knowledge and experience
- As a Valuable 500 company, promote inclusion of persons with disabilities using the Company’s own technology and promote businesses that connect the employment of persons with disabilities to the creation of social value
- Further promote the development of job categories that are “unique to NEC” at the special subsidiary
- Develop promotions that merge recruitment activities, para-sports and other forms of branding, and connect to acquisition of high-quality talent
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Ensure that opinions can be expressed without fear of discrimination regardless of gender, age, career path, or job title
- Continue to provide opportunities to make people aware of unconscious bias
- Promote knowledge and awareness of inclusion and diversity among directors
- One NEC Survey Diversity Score: Achieve 45% or higher
Indicators for the Active Participation of Women
Wage Disparity between Men and Women
Number of Employees Taking Childcare Leave
Indicators for Promoting Employment of Persons with Disabilities
Special Subsidiary: NEC Friendly Staff, Ltd.
In March 2003, NEC Corporation established NEC Friendly Staff, Ltd. as a special subsidiary for employing persons with disabilities, including people with intellectual or mental disabilities. The subsidiary’s head office is located at the NEC Fuchu Plant, and employees work at offices in Tamachi, Abiko, and Tamagawa. As of June 1, 2024, the company employs 204 persons with disabilities.
Hybrid work that combines office and remote work has become more common, so the NEC Group is helping to maximize the performance of its employees, whether they are in a real office or at home. It assiduously maintains the cleanliness and greenery of offices so that employees and customers can use the space comfortably, fostering a collaborative environment where value is generated. In the business domain, the Group is pursuing productivity improvement through floor secretary services such as paperless support, confirmation and notification of documents sent to employees working at home, and site patrols. The Group will also promote the expansion of job categories by creating new businesses using NEC’s advanced technologies.
Indicators for Promoting Global Recruitment of Human Resources
To achieve global business expansion, NEC is hiring foreign nationals in its research, technology, sales and administrative departments.