Initiatives Related to the Protection and Respect of Human Rights
Basic Concept of Personnel Management
We treat our employees — each one an important asset — with respect and fairness. We also support our employees' diverse lifestyles and individual development and are committed to having them grow along with the Company. To protect these valuable assets and increase their value, we drafted our Basic Concept of Personnel Management in September 2000. This document supports proactive human resource development with consideration for fairness and soundness.
Advantest's human resources basic philosophy
At Advantest, we consider our employees to be indispensable business assets. We have established the following philosophy that underpins our personnel-related policies, and we are constantly working towards the achievement of this philosophy.
- Focusing on results
We promote a human resources system that highly regards and fairly handles employees that exhibit a can-do spirit with which they overcome challenges and achieve outstanding results. - Taking into consideration fairness and soundness
We take constant care to ensure that all of our policies and systems are extremely objective, fair, and sound so that we can achieve the biggest and best results with our employees as a result. - Pro-actively supporting human resources development
We actively support personnel that face self-development through persistent hard work in order to acquire advanced specialist knowledge and a broader education.
Reporting and consultation framework for human rights issues
We have set up a Corporate Ethics Helpline to address human rights issues and concerns not readily resolvable in the workplace, designed so that those facing such issues can draw on the support of our Corporate Ethics Office and Corporate Ethics Committee. Reports and consultations are handled mainly by the Corporate Ethics Office, and every precaution is taken to prevent employees seeking help from suffering any disadvantage or retribution, for example, by protecting their anonymity. This helpline can also be used from overseas.
Through this activity, Advantest aims to foster a stress-free environment where employees respect one another's human rights.
Creating a workplace that respects human rights
The ADVANTEST Way and The Code of Conduct pledge that we will respect human rights without discriminating on the basis of age, gender, nationality, religion or other factors.
In addition, every year since April 2006 we have included education on human rights themes such as prevention of sexual and power harassment in training for new employees and new managers.
In fiscal 2013, we launched an e-learning program on The ADVANTEST Way & Code of Conduct for all Group employees.
Harassment prevention
To prevent sexual harassment and power harassment, in July 1999, we created a manual and placed it on the intranet for easy reference.
The key points are as follows.
- Definition of sexual and power harassment
- Sexual and power harassment in the workplace
- Impact of sexual and power harassment
- Sexual and power harassment prevention measures
We are working to devise methods for self-check that can be conducted in response to the issues above.
Relations with labor unions
Labor unions currently representing our employees include company union JEIU, in which over 99% of our labor union membership is enrolled, and industrial union JMIU. Advantest negotiates in good faith with each of these labor unions.
Considering human rights throughout the supply chain
In order to fulfill our social responsibility and that of our suppliers throughout the supply chain, the Advantest Procurement Policy is disclosed on our website and suppliers are requested to comply with the relevant laws, regulations, and social codes to ensure that human rights are considered across supply channels. In addition, we administer a questionnaire to our major suppliers each year so we can better understand current realities. The fiscal 2013 questionnaire, administered in March 2014, elicited responses from suppliers indicating that human rights and labor issues were included in company policies and codes of conduct as a form of corporate social responsibility. We plan to conduct a similar questionnaire in fiscal 2014 to confirm the response of suppliers to our procurement policy.
