Action Plan

Division Company	SDGs Targets	Issues to Address	Business Area	Commitment	Specific Approach	Performance Indicators (Non-Consolidated)	Degree of Progress
Headquarters		Creating an environment that allows diverse human resources to exercise their potential	Human resources affairs	We will prohibit all types of discrimination, including those based on age, gender and nationality, and respect human rights. We will create an environment that will permit the active participation of employees whose work hours are limited due to childcare, nursing care, diseases or similar circumstances.	Continue fair and equitable recruitment and promotion. Create a work environment in which employees mutually accept and respect diverse values. Enhance support for balancing childcare, nursing care and similar circumstances with work (including utilization of telecommuting). Support the active participation of senior human resources over the age of 60 in the workforce. Expand individual support according to the life stage and career of employees. Promote understanding and acceptance of LGBT and other sexual minority employees (e.g., employee education). Give reasonable consideration to the work environment of employees with disabilities.	FYE 2024: Achieve the following general employer action plan. (1) Percentage of women hired among new graduates: 25%. (2) Percentage of female employees over the whole company: 25%. (3) Percentage of females in leadership positions: 9%. (4) Percentage of men who take childcare leave: Over 50%.	The percentage of female career-track employees among all career-track employees is 10.1% (as of February 2021). The percentage of female career-track employees those in leadership positions is 8.0% (as of February 2021). We have been applying IHGS as a special subsidiary in our group since February 2020. The three companies of ITOCHU, Uneedus and IHGS have achieved a 2.3% rate of the employment of those with disabilities in FYE 2021. We will continue to promote the employment of those with disabilities over our entire group.

Policy and Basic Concept

Amid intensifying global competition, we will accurately meet the diverse needs of the market and continuously create new business and added value. ITOCHU believes that organizational diversity is essential for companies to grow sustainably.
ITOCHU Corporation respects human rights and prohibits all forms of discrimination, including that based on race, religion, age, gender and nationality. Under the direction of Chief Administrative officer (Member of the Board・CAO), ITOCHU Corporation uses a diversity week organized by the Human Resources & General Affairs Division and organization manager training to raise awareness about the importance of diversity and publicization of the system. We do this so that employees do not fall victim to power harassment or sexual harassment (including unfairly disadvantaging, engaging in hateful speech against or otherwise harassing employees who are sexual minorities). Another reason is so that pregnant employees and those who are doing their best to balance work while raising children or providing nursing care at home can feel their contributions to the workplace are worthwhile.
With regard to employees facing the constraints imposed by child-rearing or caring for a family member at home, superiors encourage them to make good use of the tools provided by the company to strike an appropriate work-life balance, while the company makes it known that it is also important to review the work duties, responsibilities and work arrangements for the workplace as a whole. Additionally, the company makes thorough initiatives to provide a workplace environment where discriminatory remarks about sexual orientation/gender identity and comments premised on subconscious gender stereotypes are not tolerated. Employees also have access to consultation services.

Targets

ITOCHU Corporation is working on the following targets that were set in line with our diversity policy.

Support for Diverse Talent

ITOCHU recognizes that organizational diversity is essential for the sustainable development of companies at an early stage. Under this recognition, we have furthered the diversification of our talent, entrenched that diversification and helped these employees succeed ahead of other companies. We will continue to support the autonomous career formation of each individual employee in the future. We will promote the building of a strict but rewarding corporate culture in which diverse values are respected by all employees and in which it is possible to demonstrate abilities to the maximum.

Support for Female Employees

By implementing the Plan for Promotion of Human Resource Diversification, ITOCHU Corporation has hired more women to meet our target, while we also provide programs to support work-life balance beyond the level required by law. Currently, we are providing meticulous individual support according to each employee’s life stage and career while utilizing these systems as a safety net. At the same time, the generation for which we increased the number of female hires is reaching the appropriate age for higher positions. Accordingly, we are offering thorough support according to individual circumstances so that those employees can compete to be the head of organizations regardless of their gender. In addition, we are looking to contribute to the SDGs (e.g., gender equality) not only for our company but for Japan. We are doing this by fostering an internal culture in which diverse employees can be a success and by declaring our endorsement of measures to promote the success of women in the workplace by government agencies and economic bodies.

See below for our action plan stipulating specific targets and initiatives moving forward.

Action Plan Based on the "Act of Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace" and the "Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children"（PDF：292KB）

Gen Ko Tsu Reform

Fostering Career Awareness Among Career-Track Women

Measures to Support Career-Track Women

(Unit: people)

Share of Women in Career-Track/Managerial/Executive Positions★
(as of March 31 for each Respective Year)

	Career-Track			Managerial			Executives & Directors
	Total	Women	Share	Total	Women	Share	Total	Women	Share
2021	3,435	346	10.1%	2,565	206	8.0%	46	4	8.7%
2020	3,462	335	9.7%	2,566	209	8.1%	45	4	8.9%
2019	3,463	327	9.4%	2,555	195	7.6%	44	2	4.5%

★Data assured by KPMG AZSA Sustainability Co., Ltd, an external assurance provider based on the international standard ISAE 3000.

Support for LGBT and Other Sexual Minorities

We installed a multipurpose restroom on the internal meeting room floor in 2018. This can be used by everyone who visits our building as well as our employees. We also established a consulting desk exclusively for inquiries relating to LGBT and other sexual minorities in addition to our existing employee consulting desks in FYE 2021. This means we have set up a structure that allows employees to consult with experts anonymously about how to interact with colleagues and business partners in addition to handling inquiries from LGBT and other sexual minority employees.

Support for Diversity

We are aiming to deepen understanding of diversity & inclusion and to build a strict but rewarding workplace environment with peace of mind for all our employees. Under this aim, we have set the first and second weeks of December as Diversity Week since FYE 2019. We hold various publicity events, training sessions and workshops for all employees.

Social Inclusion Support for Disabled Persons

To provide the handicapped possessing physical, mental or other disabilities with a workplace that is motivating and rewarding, we established ITOCHU Uneedus Co., Ltd., our first special subsidiary, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1987. The disabled person employment rate in ITOCHU is 2.21% as of March 2020. We are promoting an expansion in the range of work and recruitment of disabled persons in anticipation of an increase in the statutory employment rate in the future.

Initiatives by ITOCHU Uneedus Co., Ltd.

ITOCHU Uneedus Co., Ltd. provides services including dry cleaning, photo and document printing, mail delivery, laundry and cleaning. The company's motto is about stringent quality control and friendly service. All dry-cleaning processes are performed by mixed teams of disabled and non-disabled persons. To expand business as well as to create a more welcoming workplace environment for staff dealing with an array of disabilities, in November 2015 the company relocated to new offices in Yokohama's Tsuzuki Ward with 140% more floor space and the latest equipment. Since marking our 30th year in business in 2017, we have continued striving to proactively support social inclusion for disabled persons and help create a society where they can experience the joy of making a contribution through work.

Support for Middle-aged and Older Employees' Success

ITOCHU proactively promotes the success of middle-aged and older employees. We employ all those who so desire under the Employment Extension System after they reach retirement age at 60 years old from the perspective of the decreasing birthrate and aging population in Japan and activity support for diverse personnel. This means we are developing an environment in which middle-aged and older employees can continue to work utilizing the wealth of knowledge and experience they possess even after they have reached the retirement age. We also hold training such as life planning seminars for employees at the age of 58 years old and future course selection briefings for employees at the age of 59 years old. Therefore, we are supporting work styles and money plans after the extension of the employment of employees. We even have some employees who continue working with us after they reach the age of 65 years old. We will do yet more to create an environment where middle-aged and older employees can continue performing motivating and rewarding work.

Initiatives Conducted Overseas

In South Africa, where the ITOCHU Group's Integrated Auto Service (IAS) is located, the "Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment" (B-BBEE) program has been introduced to improve the status of people who have unjustly suffered discriminated and other disadvantages during the apartheid era. The "B-BBEE" program assesses a company's contribution to resolving these issues based on a scorecard with evaluation criteria set by the South African Government, which include elements such as ownership, management control, employment equality, skills development, priority procurement, business development, and socio-economic development. The IAS has received a Level 4 certification issued by Metanoia Ratings in 2019, with a score of 80.01 out of 100.*

• Due to the impact of COVID-19, it was not possible to renew the score in FYE 2021, however, the renewal procedures are underway in FYE 2022.

Accolades for ITOCHU Corporation

ITOCHU Corporation's initiatives in "Creating Environments that Bring Out the Best in Employees" have won much praise.

We won the Ministerial Award for Women Empowering Companies in FYE 2021. The award was established by the Cabinet Office for promoting a work environment where women can actively participate and is given to companies that have made distinguished achievements in terms of policy, initiatives and performance related to the promotion of women to executives and managerial positions, and the disclosure of information about them.

ITOCHU got high marks primarily for the following initiatives: (i) support of the career of each woman (ii) support for early return to work from childcare leave, (iii) promotion of a corporate-wide change of the way of working, and (iv) support for each employee working overseas accompanied with only children.

Platinum Kurumin Authorization	New Diversity Management Selection 100	2017 Award for Excellence from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for "Excellent Equal Opportunity/Work and Family-Life Balance Companies" ("Family-friendly Companies" Category)
Companies making excellent initiatives to provide employees with support at work as well as with childcare receive approval to display the Platinum Kurumin Authorization mark. (Received in 2016 / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)	A project for selecting excellent companies that provide diverse human resources with opportunities and an environment for exercising their potential. (Selected in March 2016 / Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)	A program recognizing companies that promote exemplary programs with an equal emphasis on work and childcare/nursing care. (Selected in November 2017 / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
Eruboshi Certification (Stage 2)	Ministerial Award for Women Empowering Companies 2020
This is a system to certify companies with an excellent record of promoting the success of women in the workplace (Acquired in 2016 / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)	The award promotes a work environment where women can actively participate and is given to companies that have made distinguished achievements in terms of policy, initiatives and performance related to the promotion of women to executives and managerial positions, and the disclosure of information about them. (Received in 2020 / Cabinet Office)

• Related data:Employee Status
  Share of Women in Career-Track/Managerial/Executive Positions
  Number of Hires by Gender