Health and Productivity Management
Message from the Top Management on Our Health and Productivity Management Policy
Representative Director, Chairman & CEO
Masashi Miyamoto
Representative Director, President & COO
Abdul Mullick
At Kyowa Kirin, our Health and Productivity Management focuses on creating an environment where employees actively engage in maintaining and enhancing their health.
For Kyowa Kirin to bring smiles to patients, it is imperative that our employees themselves embody smiles and well-being themselves. The physical and mental health and vitality of our employees are crucial as the foundation for realizing our vision toward 2030 of creating and delivering ‘Life-changing Value’.
In addition to motivating and providing health programmes to our employees to foster their smiles and health, we embody the spirit of ‘Care for Others’ and ‘Inspire Others’. By putting these principles into action, we aim to become a ‘Super Team with a Shared Vision’ and collectively contribute to the well-being of people around the world.
Kyowa Kirin Group Declaration of Health Promotion
The Kyowa Kirin Group declares it will promote the health of its employees with the aim of enhancing their lifelong quality of life.
While employees make spontaneous efforts to improve their own health, the Group aspires to promote its employees' health from a preventive perspective, aiming for a higher level of health.
The Group implements measures to motivate each and every employee to take actions for improving their health, and to help them sustain such actions.
Conceptual Framework of the Kyowa Kirin Group's Health and Productivity Management
Policy and Strategy
In May 2015, the top management issued “ Kyowa Kirin Group Health Promotion Policy”, and under the leadership of the top management, we launched the “Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action 2020” through collaboration between Kyowa Kirin health insurance associations and the company (“collaborative health”). Currently, both parties are collectively working on the “Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action 2025”.
By encouraging employees of the Kyowa Kirin Group to work with a sense of excitement and Wellness Action (behavioral transformation) in order to realize our vision, we will contribute to the company and society in addition to reducing their own health-related risks and realizing a wellness life.
Governance
Representative directors and CPO are responsible for promoting health management. Under their direction and orders, the General Manager of the Human Resources Department and the Health Team of the Human Resources Department (including Chief industrial physician, medical professionals, etc.) promote specific activities as the secretariat for health management and Wellness Action. The activities are being carried out in collaboration with Kyowa Kirin health insurance societies. In addition, each business site has a Collaborative Health Promotion Committee member, who serves as the management promotor for these activities. Members of the Collaborative Health Promotion Committee collaborate with industrial physicians, public health nurses, and labor union to implement measures suited to the characteristics of each site.
The progress achieved with regard to the initiatives is discussed and monitored at the Executive Committee and the Group CSR Committee.
Specific Initiatives
Kyowa Kirin Group's Health and Productivity Management
![[Global]Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action 2025 [Objective]Employees and people around us:-Reduce risks to our mental & physical health -Improve the well-being Society:-Cope with social issues* *e.g. medical cost increase, obesity, activity qty decrease, imbalanced diets -Promotion of the Wellness Action has a good influence on outside of the company Company:-Enhance corporate value by improving performance of each one of us -Develop corporate culture to get over the wall through the Wellness Action [Ideal behavior]Employees and people around us work on the Wellness Action with our own motivation & excitement [Make employees active]Increase ratio of Most Effective Employees [Target in 2025]To exceed FY2020 result [Behavioral change for health]Habit of exercise Habit of meals Habit of sleep Non-smoking Others [KKC Group Talent Management Policy]Employees Acting autonomously and take on the challenge Encouraging its employees to co-create new value KKC Group [Business philosophy, Vision, Core values, and code of conduct of Kyowa Kirin Group]](/sustainability/human_resources_infrastructure/portfolio/workplace_safety/images/index_fig_02.png)
Wellness Action 2025 (Numerical target) Progress
We work on monitoring of progress at each business site as well as evaluation and improvement of the activity through opportunities to share issues with the management.
You can see this table by scrolling horizontally.
| FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal Indicators on health | liveliness score | Positive answer rate to ”I think about the health and well-being of members in the workplace and people around them regarding it as my own affair, take care of them each other, and work on the activity with fun.” (Survey about Wellness Action) | 71% | 77% | 69% |
| Presenteeism (presence but low performance [due to poor health]) | How would you rate your overall job performance on the days you worked during the past 4 weeks? (Absolute presentism by WHO-HPQ) |
62.76 | 63.91 | 63.97 | |
| Work engagement | Liveliness level (Calculated from percentage of relevant answers to Stress Check Questionnaire) | 123 | 126 | 125 | |
| Health risk | Ratio of those who keep right body weight according to the result of regular health checkup | 67.2% | 70.2% | Calculation in progress | |
| Absenteeism (absence due to poor health) | Ratio of absence, long-term leave of absence and resignation due to illness or injury | 1.6% | 1.5% | Calculation in progress | |
| Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior | Exercise | Participation rate and average footstep counts in walking campaign | Patticipation rate 76.8% Average footstep counts 5,265 |
Patticipation rate 86.2% Average footstep counts 5,885 |
Participation rate 87.2% Average footstep counts 5,233 |
| Food and nutrition | Participation rate of the food and nutrition campaign | 16.8% | 19.2% | 50.9% | |
| Leave | Average number of leave days taken year-round | 18.0 days | 18.3 days | 19.6 days | |
| Smoking | Ratio of smokers | 4.0% | 3.7% | Calculation in progress | |
| Moderate drinking | Ratio of employees classified in non-drinking group or low risk drinking group (AUDIT: less than 8 pts) | 80.5% | 79.2% | 78.2% | |
| Indicator on the status of health investment measures | Ratio of employees who received regular health checkup | Ratio of employees who received regular health checkup | 80.5% | 100% | 99.9% |
| Ratio of employees who received secondary health checkup | Ratio of employees who received secondary health checkup (close examination, reinspection) out of those applicable to follow-up measure level 3 based on the KKC health checkup follow-up measure guideline, excluding cases in which a corporate doctor judged medical examination unnecessary | 100% | 98% | Calculation in progress | |
| Interview by occupational health physician | Ratio of employees who had the interview out of those applicable to follow-up measure level 3 based on the KKC health checkup follow-up measure guideline | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Mental health | Ratio of employees who conducted the stress check | 97.8% | 97.2% | 97.2% | |
Measures Implemented
We implement Group-wide measures for health promotion and disease prevention, as well as individual measures at each business site.
We are promoting various health initiatives to maintain and enhance employee well-being by using employees’ health check results and health score reports with the health insurance association.
Examples of Group-wide measures
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Exercise Initiatives (Walking Campaign, SmileWalk – a Corporate Social Responsibility Program)
This project, which started in 2021, has raised the participation rate and average number of steps taken by developing projects such as competitions between office locations. In 2024, we embraced the concept that ‘engaging in personal health promotion’ while having fun with peers leads to ‘social contribution.‘ We planned and carried out a social contribution event called 'Smile Walk.’ We make donations to 3 groups that are carrying out activities on the theme “Society, Medical, Next Generation”.
Action for Food and Nutrition Campaign ("Asuken" Meal Challenge)
The "Asuken" Meal Challenge is a unique Kyowa Kirin initiative that introduces AI food and nutrition management app, “Asuken”, to help employees improve their health by improving their dietary habits.
In fiscal 2024, we held an online seminar on nutrition intake by chief industrial physician. The seminar covered various theme, “Breakfast” from April to May, “Protein” from June to July, “Vegetables” from August to September, and “Lipid” from October to November. On the app, Kyowa Kirin set its own targets and recorded meals, and all employees throughout Japan took on the challenge of engaging in initiatives with enjoyment.
In addition, athletes such as Kenji Matsudaira, a member of the Kyowa Kirin Table Tennis Club, are working to build physical strength using the "Asuken" application.
"Asuken" Meal Challenge in action
- All employees' company smart phones are equipped with the Asuken App by default
- Kyowa Kirin employees AI check their meals (using premium mode)
- Promote the use of health guidance for those eligible for follow-up actions for periodic health examinations (Instruction by industrial physicians: Head Office, Chugoku-Shikoku Branch, Kyushu Branch)
- Holding regular seminars by chief industrial physician (four themes below)
"Importance of meals, especially breakfast“, "Proteins and diseases“, "Enjoy the goodness of vegetables" and "Prepare for the risk of lipids“ - Held the “Vege-Check” (Vegetable Measurement Events) and the “Self-Check for Superior Cholesterol Levels”.
Various Health Measures and Initiatives
- Strengthened our regular physical checkup program with additional test items, exceeding legal requirements (e.g., biochemical tests, cancer screenings)
- Program to protect high-risk individuals from aggravation
- Lectures on health-related topics
- Mental health counseling service and training programs offered by industrial physicians and contractors
- Discounts on sports club membership
- Financial support for medical care to quit smoking and anti-smoking medication
- Financial support for preventing diseases (e.g., comprehensive health checkup, seasonal flu shot, elimination of Helicobacter pylori infection)
- Support for employees undergoing cancer treatment while continuing to work (available only at Kyowa Kirin); and support for employees returning to work after a long period of sick leave
- Health support Seminar (sleep support)
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A multifunctional refresh area for rest, communication, physical exercise, and napping in the factory office.
Working women and their health
One of Kyowa Kirin's DE&I initiatives is Empowerment of Women (Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement), which aims to enable everyone to play an active role as their authentic self. In fiscal year 2025, Kyowa Kirin began emphasizing the health of women, and began providing women with health support through e-learning, a program for all employees based on the International Women's Day program.
- 2025 e-learning participation rate: 95.3% (Male: 97.4%; Female: 90.9%)
Activities beyond the boundaries of company
- Based on the Kyowa Kirin Group Wellness Action2025, KKC requests customers visiting its plants to refrain from smoking in the business sites.
- KKC introduces its health and productivity management at explanatory meetings for business partner companies in the supply chain.
Assessing Measures and Making Improvements
Each initiative is checked and assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively at the corporate strategy meetings and other occasions.
Through the initiatives for health we aim to solve management issues.
Health investment and expected effects
Kyowa Kirin Group’s problem before quitting smoking
Although Kyowa Kirin is a company engaged in the pharmaceutical business and has a management philosophy of “striving to contribute to the health and well-being of people around the world,” the smoking rate among employees was higher than the nationwide adult smoking rate.
→The company will work to help employees quit smoking, because the health, well-being and smiles of employees and their families lead to the fulfillment of the management philosophy.
Good points of Kyowa Kirin’s no-smoking initiative
- Each employee, including non-smokers, is encouraged to treat the problem as their own and to take on the challenge
- Continuous support by top management, heads of business sites and the human resources departments of business sites
- Setting no-smoking rules in stages (no-smoking day -> no-smoking during working hours ->no-smoking during working hours + no-smoking on company premises)
- Regularly checking on smoking status and sharing the progress
- Collaboration with the health insurance association (the company will be responsible for employee communication, health insurance association will be responsible for smoking cessation subsidy program)
![[Health investment]Take sufficient time to explain to employees how serious the company is [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]The percentage of smoking employees who have submitted their declaration to stop smoking [Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Smoking rate [Goal indicators on health]Productivity growth through smoking cessation [Management issues we want to solve with our health and productivity management]Establishing a new way of working in adapting to a world with the coronavirus (employees’ health, safety and security) [Health investment]Main investments: explaining and responding to employees (about 5,000,000 yen) [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]Target for 2020: 100% Result as of August 2020: 79.5% [Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Target for 2025: Continued below 5%. Actual result in May 2023:3.7%[Goal indicators on health]The main expected effects: lower morbidity among employees, including non-smokers, better labor productivity etc. (about 304,150,000 yen)](/sustainability/human_resources_infrastructure/portfolio/workplace_safety/images/index_fig_04.png)
The Kyowa Kirin Group’s issues with exercise initiative
- To ensure the participation of all employees in exercise events, we need ideas that take into account employees' health awareness and interest, the balance between work and exercise, and the workplace culture.
→Wellness Action 2025 will target specific actions that are easy to understand and implement, such as the participation rate in walking campaigns and the average number of steps taken.
Good points in the Kyowa Kirin’s activity for exercise
- Looking back on lifestyle-related results and change to a target more familiar to employees led to change of behavior.
- Working on the campaign while sharing good practice of other business sites led to activation of the campaign in all business sites beyond the boundaries of location.
- Worked on the campaign in cooperation with the Health Insurance Association. (Communication with employees by the company, operation of application (software) by Health Insurance Association)
- Event of contribution to society that “leads to improvement of society” raised employees’ motivation to change their behavior further.
- Through this walking campaign, we have raised employees’ awareness of the importance of exercise (walking) for their health.
![[Health investment]Carry out Walking Campaign [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]Raise participation rate in Walking Campaign [Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Raise average footstep counts in Walking Campaign [Goal indicators on health]Improve performance when working in the office (absolute presentism) [Management issues we want to solve with our health and productivity management]Employees' health and safety Reforming corporate culture (overcoming walls and following through to the end) [Health investment]Main investments: explaining and responding to employees (about 2,200,000 yen) [Indicator on the status of health investment measures]Target for 2025: 80% Actual result in 2024：87.2%[Indicator on the changes in employees’ awareness and behavior]Target for 2025: average step counts 5,000 Actual result in 2024: Average footstep counts 5,233 [Goal indicators on health]Improvement of ratio of employees keeping an appropriate body weight (Health risk)Improve liveliness score (Wellness Action with excitement)](/sustainability/human_resources_infrastructure/portfolio/workplace_safety/images/index_fig_06.png)
The Kyowa Kirin Group’s issues regarding the Food and Nutrition Campaign
- For employees who are busy working every day, “meal” provides a sense of happiness, and even though they understand that it is for the sake of health improvement, it is difficult to change their behavior by improving their diet.
- It is necessary to foster a culture in which each individual makes a small first step and records one meal on the app.
- There are individuals who are not allowed to carry company smartphones depending on their roles, which makes it difficult for these individuals to participate in the campaigns.
Good points in the Kyowa Kirin’s activity for the Food and Nutrition Campaign
- With AI app (Asuken) installed on company smartphones, many employees enjoyed eating while taking care of themselves.
- It became possible to understand the nutritional intake simply by taking the meal in the image, and to participate while feeling the balance of the food and nutrition of the person in the daily life.
- By using it as a management app for health guidance, it was able to be used to maintain an appropriate weight range.
External Assessment
In the Health and Productivity Management Survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we were certified as a 2025 Health and Productivity Management Organization (White 500) for having met the specified standards.We have been certified as a 2025 Health and Productivity Management Organization (White 500) for nine consecutive years since the start of the system.
- *1:The Certified Health & Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program endeavors to highlight outstanding enterprises engaged in efforts to advance health and productivity management and thereby aims to organize an environment in which such enterprises are able to gain enhanced public recognition, e.g., from employees, employment seekers, related enterprises and financial institutions, as organizations engaging in strategic health and productivity management efforts for maintaining their employees' health from a management perspective. Certifications under the program began in 2017.