In conformance with the OMRON Principles, OMRON Corporation respects diversity at work. As part of this drive, OMRON Corporation is working to offer more job opportunities for persons with disabilities.

As of June 2011, the percentage of employees with disabilities was 3.14%, which is above the legally mandated level of 1.80%. This level includes employees at special subsidiaries charged with providing particular considerations for employees with disabilities. The average disabled employee ratio at OMRON Corporation and 24 Group companies in Japan was 2.24% as of June 2011, which is among the highest for the Japanese manufacturing industry.

In the future, OMRON will strive to increase the ratio of disabled employees without including special subsidiaries, as well as the ratio at divisions that have not yet achieved the legally mandated level. Toward this end, OMRON will aim to share other companies’ exemplary cases with those that failed to meet the legal requirement to provide them with a reference guide for promoting employment of disabled persons.

The revised Law Concerning the Stabilization of Employment for Elderly People that came into effect in 2006 requires employers to provide stable employment for people until the age of 65.

Although the retirement age of the employees of OMRON Corporation and OMRON Group companies in Japan is 60, OMRON Corporation introduced a re-employment system for retirees (called the “Elder Partner Program”) in fiscal 2001. Targeting all retirees as a basic rule, this system is intended to provide eligible persons who meet requirements with a working opportunity by directly concluding re-employment agreements.

A re-employment system for retirees has also been introduced at 17 major Group companies in Japan, securing jobs for employees up to age 65 under the conditions required by the continual employment system specified under the revised law.

［17 OMRON Group companies in Japan equipped with a re-employment system］

(as of April 1, 2012)

OMRON Relay and Devices Corporation; OMRON Amusement Co., Ltd.; OMRON Aso Co., Ltd.; OMRON Switch & Devices Corporation; OMRON Sanyo Co., Ltd.; OMRON Iida Co., Ltd.; OMRON Nohgata Co., Ltd.; OMRON Software Co., Ltd.; OMRON Laserfront Inc.; OMRON Field Engineering Co., Ltd.; OMRON Colin Co., Ltd.; OMRON Precision Technology Co., Ltd.; OMRON Business Associates Co., Ltd.; and OMRON Personnel Service Co., Ltd.;OMRON Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd.; OMRON Social Solutions Co., Ltd.; OMRON Healthcare Co., Ltd.

One of the Management Commitments within the OMRON Principles is “respect for individuality and diversity.” Based on this spirit, OMRON believes that it is vital to motivate employees with various values and opinions to fully demonstrate their capabilities without regard to their nationality, gender, or disability in order to achieve both individual development and growth of the company.

Aware of the particular importance of providing female employees with rewarding and motivational work, OMRON has been striving to empower women in the workplace, ensuring the serious commitment of top executives, the workplace, and female employees themselves.

In October 2008, OMRON set up an empowerment project for women, initiating a full-scale effort. In the same year, a questionnaire survey was conducted targeting 5,400 employees at OMRON Corporation in Japan. The survey aimed to extract issues that hinder the empowerment of women, and analyzed them from the concerned party’s perspective—female employees, the company, and workplace/management.

Based on the results of analysis, an action plan was formulated and implemented in fiscal 2009 and 2010. Various measures were taken, including the preparation/issue of a work-life balance support guide, as well as female workers’ networking events, workshops and seminars organized by each site, in order to promote mutual development. In fiscal 2011, efforts were concentrated on maintaining and expanding the female workers’ network at each site, while also promoting workshops and seminars to learn from each other.

Going forward, OMRON will continue implementing the action plan by identifying worksite issues, drawing solutions, and putting them into practice. In April 2012, a new department was set up to accelerate the promotion of diversity in the workplace.

OMRON has been committed to recruiting a variety of talented people without regard to gender, while also working to establish a workplace environment that can allow them to fully demonstrate their capabilities for the company's business management. In particular, empowering women in the workplace is one of the focused areas of CSR activities. As such, OMRON has been striving to promote more women to managerial positions.

As part of this drive, OMRON launched a female leader training program targeting mid-career or assistant manager-class employees in fiscal 2001. By the end of fiscal 2011, 124 employees had taken the training course.

As a result of these efforts, the number of women in managerial or upper positions or with specialist status, as well as female leaders, has been gradually on the rise. As of April 2012, 22 women are in manager positions and 260 are in assistant manager positions for the OMRON Group as a whole.

Female leader training program