古河AS株式会社

古河電気工業株式会社グループ
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Creating Good Workplaces

Workplace

Furukawa Automotive Systems is committed to creating safe workplace environments where people can work with ease,
ensuring vitality throughout our entire organization and allowing each individual the chance to use their skills.

Furukawa Automotive Systems Work-Life Balance Initiatives

◆A System Supporting Diverse Working Styles and Work-Life Balance

Flexi-time Working System Realizing lifestyles where people can work efficiently according to peak and slack times, harmonizing them with their daily lives.
Regular (No Overtime) Days Each Wednesday is set as regular (no overtime) day, encouraging employees to go home at the regular hour.
Refresh Leave System Employees have a five-day consecutive break every ten years of work. In addition to that, all employees are encouraged to take a three-day consecutive break every year.
Maternity Leave Leave of six weeks before and nine* weeks after giving birth to a child can be taken. (* Eight weeks after giving birth is legally mandated)
Childcare Leave System
(and Short Working Hours System)		 Childcare leave can be taken without conditions* from the date the child is born until the date it reaches one year and six months, or up until the last day of April after the child has turned one.(* Under law conditions are attached) Working hours can also be shortened from the child turning one until it starts going to elementary school. Almost all the mothers who took maternity leave also take childcare leave.
Family Care Leave System
(and Short Working Hours System)		 In cases where nursing of a family member is required, leave can be taken for a period of under a year.Working hours can also be shortened in the same way if required in order to give care.
Paid Leave in Hourly Units for Raising Children Employees bringing up children who have not yet entered elementary school can take paid leave in hourly units for the sake of raising their children.
Health Care Leave for Problem Pregnancies If an employee experiences illness during pregnancy prior to the maternity leave period, they can take special unpaid holidays off separate from their paid holidays.

◆Supporting the Development of the Next Generation

Work and life are like the wheels of a car: if either of them gets out of balance, neither of them can do what they are meant to do and move in a straight line. At Furukawa Automotive Systems we value each person's sense of values and take measures to maintain a work-life balance for fulfilling lives that allow people to use their skills to the best with a smooth alignment between work and life. Based upon the Action Plans Based on the Next Generation Support Law, in May 2016 we were certified "Platinum Kurumin", a next generation support certification.

Employees Active in Furukawa Automotive Systems Engaged in Raising Children

  • 働くママ
  • 働くママ
  • 働くパパ
  • 働くパパ

I work in the Auditing Dept. My job mainly consists of checking that there aren't any problems with our internal controls. Simply put, I make studies by reading through various documents and holding hearings with our staff to look for any legal irregularities inside the company, any problems in terms of accounting and to see whether our systems are allowing efficiency in work, then make a report to relevant people and give advice. I need knowledge of law and accounting and specialized knowledge for each of our departments, so I'm constantly studying.

When I had my baby, I took the maternity leave and the childcare leave. At first I intended to go back to work after my baby turned one year old, but as my child could not go to nursery school I extended it to one and a half years old.
My husband and I both did the housework, at night I would sleep with the baby and wake up early to prepare the evening meal and do other chores. IMAGE:Auditing Dept. Hiroe YamamotoBy communicating my schedule in advance I was able to have my husband or my mother cooperate if the baby suddenly fell sick and not have to cope with it by myself. I was also able to gain the understanding of my bosses and senior workers and made use of the flexi-time system; my days are certainly very fulfilling.

Currently I belong to the Parts　Procurement　Dept． and handle work involving the shipment of parts that will be material for wire harnesses. For making shipments the main things to do are to generate the necessary labels and to issue invoices. It looks rather simple, but I have to cooperate with the group procuring the department's parts and the group making the sale and assess that there are no problems and that the shipment can go ahead as the receiving party intends. The daily timing for the shipments is already decided, so there's a motivation to make sure the shipment preparations like packaging are going smoothly and that the shipment will go on time.

When I returned to work after having a baby and taking childcare leave, it was decided that I would transfer to my current job and so I had to struggle to get used to the new work. IMAGE:Parts Procurement Dept. Hisae MatsumiyaI'm very thankful that I was able to keep working through the warm welcome from the people in my workplace and the cooperation in all aspects of my husband and family.Though it seems like I am constantly pressed for time, I am slowly getting used to the new job, and I am extremely happy to be able to feel a sense of worth through my job and to have time with my family when I return home.

My work involves design of exterior components in the Engineering & Development Dept.
I obtained childcare leave when we had our third child.

I did so because my wife faced a large burden with the third child, and because while she was in hospital I had to take my oldest son to kindergarten and make his lunchbox while looking after my oldest daughter who was not old enough for kindergarten yet.During the leave period the kindergarten had a sports day and an excursion; it was a very busy time.

Our third child was born a month early and was on an incubator at first, worrying me greatly, but now the baby is doing very well and I'm enjoying our exciting life.

I took three weeks' for childcare leave, and it proved to be an excellent opportunity to learn just how hard my wife has to work to look after the kids and do the housework. It reaffirmed my appreciation for her, and I also feel thankful to everyone in my workplace for looking after the situation while I was on leave.

My name is Tsutomu Ezaki, and I work in the Production Dept. I'm in charge of manufacturing instrument panel wire harnesses. I took childcare leave because it was my wife's first pregnancy, and because I wanted to participate as much as possible in looking after the baby.

It was hard work to handle all the housework and the cooking in particular during my leave, but it was a very special time for me to spend a lot of time with my child and relieve the burden on my wife. My co-workers were very good about taking over my work while I was away, while in economic terms it was good that I was able to use my accumulated paid holidays.

◆Promoting Active Roles for Women

Everyone is different. People differ not only in externally visible ways, such as ethnicity, sex, age and physical ability, but also in internal, psychological ways, such as religion, values, social background, lifestyle, ways of thinking, personality, attitude and taste. The practice of accepting, recognizing and applying those differences is called “diversity.”
At Furukawa Automotive Systems Inc., we proudly promote active roles for women. This effort forms part of the Company’s determination to create workplaces that support active roles not only for women but for everyone, regardless of the differences listed above.

・Preparation of a general entrepreneurial action plan
Guided by the Act on Promotion of Activity of Women in Working Life (“Working Women Promotion Act”), Furukawa Automotive Systems has prepared the following action plan to create workplaces that are supportive for everyone, including women.

Plan implementation period: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026
  • Target 1: Increase of female proportion of new-graduate hires to
    25% or more
  • Target 2: Increase of the number of women promoted to
    management, executive or higher positions, hired for
    management or higher positions, to 10 people or more
    by the end of the plan period
  • Target 3: Increase in the proportion of employees qualified to
    take childcare leave each year who take such leave to
    100% for women and to 50% or more on average
    during the plan period for men
  • Target 4: Increase in proportion of employees who take 11 or
    more regular days off to 100%

Initiatives for Utilizing Diverse Human Resources

Re-employment System

We have adopted a system to re-employ workers who have reach the retirement age of 60. As of the end of 2019, 67 employees were rehired.

Hiring of Handicapped Persons

Furukawa Automotive Systems actively promotes the hiring of handicapped persons. Currently these positions consist chiefly of recycling of used electrical wire and assembly boards. In 2018 Furukawa Automotive Systems won an award from the Governor of Shiga Prefecture as a “Place of Business That Promotes Work for the Challenged.” Furukawa Automotive Systems also participates avidly in the Abilympics, a work-skills tournament for the disabled. At the Shiga Abilympics, a Furukawa employee won an award in the product packaging division.

Initiatives for Occupational Health and Safety

At Furukawa Automotive Systems we are engaged in ensuring workplace safety and managing the health of our employees based upon the basic policy below.

Basic Policy
  1. 1. Deploying measures thoroughly focused on respect for people and putting safety first.
  2. 2. Realizing comfortable and safe workplaces for working people.
  3. 3. Maintaining and bettering mental and physical health in pursuit of eliminating illness.
  4. 4. Human resources development aimed at ensuring safe action in all circumstances.

Safety Initiatives

As part of our occupational health and safety management system, we are engaged in activities seeking to minimize the risk of industrial accidents in the workplace through risk assessment, KYT (danger prediction training) activities and filing of cases of near misses.

Holding Health and Safety Committee Meetings

Health and safety committees or sub-committees are set up in each office of the company and perform such activities as safety patrols with the aim of creating workplaces with zero accidents and zero illnesses.

Disaster Prevention Education and Drills

AED and rescue lectures for in-company fire-fighting teams as well as drills using hoses are held, along with regular evacuation and fire drills for all employees.

Distribution of Employee Emergency Contact Cards

All employees have been given emergency contact cards noting what they should do in case of fire or earthquake and which they must carry at all times, allowing them to minimize the harm caused in a disaster

Health Examinations

In order to check the state of health of our employees, we hold regular health checkups, lifestyle disease checkups, checkups for those being sent overseas along with irregular checkups.

Health Consultations

The occupational health physician and nurse give health guidance after the checkups as well as consultations for long-term working health and for mental health.

Health Education

We have set up classes to support employees quitting smoking and to improve their diet in order to promote knowledge regarding health and to improve fitness. We also publish Health Promotion News each month to raise awareness amongst employees regarding health management.

Opening of External Health Consultation Office

Through contracting with external medical institutions we allow our employees and their families to utilize telephone consultations on injuries or illnesses as well as a "second opinion service" offering introductions to specialists. We also have mental health support services offering phone or in-person counseling for such issues.

Relationship with the Labor Union

FAS has a union shop system and puts effort into building a labor-management relationship based upon trust, with the basic understanding of the growth of the company and improvement of employee working conditions.