Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)

The Diversity Promotion Office of SUBARU’s Human Resources Department leads efforts in relation to diversity. The office has designated main activity themes as “supporting female employees to take on more active roles,” “promoting the employment of people with disabilities,” “supporting senior employees to take on more active roles,” “promoting the recruitment of non-Japanese employees,” and “LGBTQ+.” Among them, SUBARU has placed particular emphasis on efforts to support and empower female employees. Activities are regularly shared at the Executive Management Board Meeting and among officers.

Supporting Female Employees to Take on More Active Roles
Aiming to achieve diversity at decision-making levels, we are working toward the goal of more than doubling the number of female managers by 2025 versus FYE March 2022 levels, and as of April 2024, there were 43 women (3.8%) among 1,132 managerial positions, representing an increase of approximately 1.8 times from the 24 female managers in 2021. We will continue to support the career development of female employees and promote SUBARU-wide reforms of both mindsets and corporate culture, including among top management, in order to achieve our goals.

Employment of People with Disabilities
In accordance with the Human Resources Department Policy on Employment of People with Disabilities established in 2023, the SUBARU Group strives to create workplace environments in which people with disabilities can truly shine.

Established in April 2023

Promoting active roles for female employees

At SUBARU, we believe the empowerment of women is important to our sustainable growth. It is based on this belief that we support female employees in their pursuit of career development and in their efforts to balance work and childcare as two key issues. We also improve various systems and develop corporate culture to ensure that female employees can sustain their careers through various life events. Since FYE March 2024, we have also been further strengthening our activities to promoting active roles for female employees, including sending out messages from top management to all employees and launching a new Executive Management Board Meeting, which meets once a quarter.
Regarding support for career development, we place special emphasis on nurturing female managers. We have set a goal of doubling the number of female managers by 2025 compared to 2021. As a result of various initiatives, as of April 2024, we have 43 women among 1,132 managerial positions, representing an increase of approximately 1.8 times from the 24 female managers in 2021. We believe that in order to develop further, it is necessary to increase the number of female employees, improve their career motivation, and reform corporate culture.
As part of efforts to increase the number of female employees, we conducted a workplace tour and female employee round-table discussion for female science students. The participants learned about workplaces for female engineers and gained a more concrete perception of how experienced senior employees work. In addition, with respect to improving career motivation, we have established the Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) as a program for female employees to share career plans, goals, and challenges with their supervisors and human resources departments, and to provide guidance and education tailored to each individual employee, thereby promoting talent development. We have also established a career training system that includes Life Career Training for women in their 20s and 30s, and Leader Training for women expected to ascend to managerial positions, in order to help women develop their own career paths.
Furthermore, to create a culture that promotes active roles for women, training is held for supervisors to strengthen their management skills to make the most of female employees’ abilities. Another initiative is the Women’s Empowerment Working 4’s Project, launched in FYE March 2023 under the leadership of women working at the Gunma Manufacturing Division. This project’s goal is to bring about what is needed for women to shine much more brightly, and includes improving facilities and holding round-table discussions.
To support balancing work and childcare, we have introduced a work-from-home system from FYE March 2022 and abolished core hours in the flex-time system to facilitate flexible work styles for diverse human resources so that they can balance rewarding work and fulfilling lives.

Second Action Plan based on the Act on Promotion of Female Participation and Advancement in the Workplace (Japanese version only)

Status of Female Employees (Non-consolidated)

Note:

Numbers in parentheses indicate share of women

Creating Facilitative Workplaces with Universal Design

In order to ensure compliance with the Guidelines for the Creation of Comfortable Working Environment^*, SUBARU makes improvements to the working environment, work methods, environmental facilities, and others in an organized and planned manner. We proactively adopt universal design for our common areas, such as breakrooms, restrooms, smoking areas, and cafeterias, thereby providing all employees with comfortable workplaces.

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“Guidelines for the Creation of Comfortable Working Environment” as stated in the Industrial Safety and Health Act of Japan

Promoting employment of people with disabilities

In accordance with the Human Resources Department Policy on Employment of People with Disabilities, the SUBARU Group strives to create workplace environments in which people with disabilities can truly shine.
As of June 2024, SUBARU has 354 employees with disabilities, a percentage of employees with disabilities of 2.59%^*, active in many different kinds of workplaces. We are committed to improving our corporate value by creating more facilitative working environments for employees with disabilities, making them better places for everyone to work.

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Including the number of employees with disabilities at SUBARU’s specified subsidiary company.

To ensure that all employees have a proper understanding of people with disabilities, regular seminars are held and information is posted on our intranet throughout the year. In addition, we have conducted training for those in charge of hiring persons with disabilities at dealerships to deepen their understanding of the status of employment of persons with disabilities in the SUBARU Group and future efforts toward the legally prescribed employment rate.

・Status of Employment of People with Disabilities (Including SUBARU Living Service Co., Ltd. and SUBARU BLOOM Co., Ltd.)

Note:

The employment rate listed in the table is the actual employment rate based on the employment status of people with disabilities as reported to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on June 1 each year.

Supporting Senior Employees to Take on More Active Roles

In FYE March 2022, SUBARU implemented its SUBARU Business Staff Program and SUBARU Partner Program as part of revisions to its reemployment programs for employees after retiring at the mandatory age of 60. This revision and these programs are designed to help energize senior citizens with valuable skills and support their active participation. We operate our programs so that all those who want to be reemployed can work for SUBARU and other Group companies.
We also offer personal finance planning and career planning training for employees in their 40s and 50s who may be beginning to consider their plans after reaching the retirement age, providing them with opportunities to think about their future life plans.
The number of rehired employees (aged 60 or older) in FYE March 2024 was 639.

Reemployment Rate (Non-consolidated)

Note:

Figures within parentheses indicate the number of rehired employees at Group companies.

Promoting the Recruitment of Non-Japanese Employees

The SUBARU Group hires human resources best suited to the policies and business activities of each location, regardless of their nationality. SUBARU employs 105 non-Japanese employees as of the end of March 2024. There are five non-Japanese employees in managerial posts at departments such as IT, engineering, and manufacturing.
In order to help non-Japanese employees to deepen their understanding of their work, we prepare our safety and quality policy-related documents, work manuals, and other documents in multiple languages. At the Gunma Plant, where we employ a particularly large number of non-Japanese employees, interpreters in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and other languages are stationed at each of the facilities to ensure smooth communication between Japanese and non-Japanese employees.
Moreover, we provide Japanese employees with opportunities to receive language training and engage in overseas training, thereby helping them to enhance their ability to communicate with people from other countries and understand cultural differences. These initiatives contribute to revitalizing the company and securing human resources in a stable manner.
As for foreign trainee workers, we basically provide them with education on safety and quality under the Technical Intern Training Program and also implement other measures to develop them into human resources who can utilize their abilities for their own countries after returning home. Our affiliated companies independently employ human resources and work to secure human resources in line with their own policies and business details.

Strengthening mid-career recruitment

SUBARU has been actively promoting mid-career recruitment in recent years to respond to changes in the business environment and achieve sustainable growth. There were 4,344 mid-career hires working as regular employees as of the end of March 2024, and 193 of them were in management positions.
In order to attract excellent human resources, we are implementing a variety of initiatives, including the use of placement agencies and scouting services, holding recruitment events, and soliciting employee referrals.
In December 2020, we established SUBARU Lab, an AI development base in Shibuya, Tokyo, where a cluster of IT companies are located, as part of an initiative to enable smooth and targeted hiring of human resources required for AI development.
We will continue to hire based on the abilities and qualities of individuals and provide career development opportunities.

We have also established a system to support employees who joined SUBARU as mid-career hires. Regular questionnaires conducted over the first year of employment identify any problems encountered while working at SUBARU, and the Human Resources Department and respective workplaces work together to follow up on these issues. In the same questionnaire, SUBARU’s strong points and areas for improvement are both identified from the objective viewpoint of mid-career hires and utilized to improve the working environment. At the same time, we are enhancing on-demand education to ensure smooth retention of mid-career hires.

LGBTQ+

The SUBARU Group’s Human Rights Policy prohibits discrimination based on gender, gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation. To ensure that all employees have a proper understanding of sexual diversity, we conduct employee awareness activities and increase the number of allies (LGBTQ+ supporters) throughout the year. In FYE March 2023, online seminars were streamed to all SUBARU employees and Group companies. This has led to 287 people registering as allies and a growing circle of people supporting those identifying as LGBTQ+. On the employee welfare side, we have established an external consultation service for individual consultation, including about preferred identification within the organization and changing room considerations. Furthermore, from FYE March 2023, we have revised our benefit systems (use of company housing, allowances, leave, etc.) to cover same-sex partners. In recognition of these efforts, the Company received Gold certification in the 2023 PRIDE Index, which is used by support organization work with Pride to evaluate corporate initiatives for LGBTQ+ employees.

Flexible and Wide-Ranging Systems

Regular Employment System for Temporary Workers

SUBARU has a regular employment system for temporary workers. We offer an opportunity to sit for an examination for regular employment to temporary workers who want to become regular employees and whom we have comprehensively judged to be qualified to take the examination based on the recommendations from their workplaces and other information. This system contributes to increasing the motivation and vigor of temporary workers. For the 10 years from FYE March 2014 to FYE March 2024, a total of 1,883 temporary workers became regular employees under the system.

Reemployment Support System

SUBARU has also established a reemployment support system for employees who resigned for reasons beyond their control, such as the relocation of their spouse.
From the introduction of the system in 2009 to March 2024, 15 employees have returned to work at SUBARU using this system.

Leave of Absence System for Accompanying Overseas Assignments

Starting in FYE March 2024, SUBARU has introduced a new system for employees accompanying their spouses on overseas assignments, offering them an option to take a leave of absence. Employees who would have been forced to retire under the previous system can now choose to continue their careers at SUBARU.

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DEIB is the concept that inclusivity of diverse human resources and making the best use of their abilities is essential for the sustainable growth of a company, and that this requires not only respect for all people, but also a sense of belonging, including the correction of unfair competitive environments and the provision of psychological safety, which greatly affects performance.

SOA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging