Human Rights

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Our Approach & Commitment

Based on the LIXIL Human Rights Principles, we strive to uphold the human rights of all stakeholders, including customers, suppliers and other business partners, residents living near our factories and offices, and our employees.

Human Rights Principles

LIXIL’s business activities are built on a fundamental respect for human rights. The LIXIL Human Rights Principles are founded in accordance with international standards, including the International Bill of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We also promote efforts to respect the rights of all people including those of children based on the approach of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles developed by UNICEF. In the event that we face discrepancies between internationally recognized human rights standards and the laws of the relevant country or region, we will comply with the higher standard. If there is a conflict between the two, we will pursue ways to honor the principles of internationally recognized human rights while complying with the local laws.

LIXIL Human Rights Principles

LIXIL Human Rights Principles stipulate key human rights issues, such as prohibiting discrimination, forced labor and child labor, respecting freedom of association and collective bargaining, and ensuring decent wages and working hours, all in accordance with international standards. The principles also clearly state that we comply with laws and regulations regarding human trafficking, equal pay for equal work, immigrant labor, etc. In addition, the principles state that we also expect our business partners including suppliers to support and adopt similar principles.

LIXIL Human Rights Principles (A new page will open) PDF: 177KB >

LIXIL periodically reviews and updates the principles to continue to progress our commitment to human rights. In FYE2022, we revised the LIXIL Human Rights Principles with approval of the Board of Executive Officers, which were then signed by the CEO. Within this, we specified in more detail the establishment of our governance structure overseen by the executive officer in charge of legal, compliance and corporate audit, a commitment to the key human rights issues identified in FYE2021, our human rights due diligence process, and the need to reduce any human rights risks associated with these frameworks, and a more detailed description of our concern-raising system.

The LIXIL Human Rights Principles have been translated into 17 languages to help raise awareness among employees in each region.

LIXIL Procurement Principles and Supplier Code of Conduct

LIXIL has established the LIXIL Procurement Principles to promote sustainable procurement activities based on sound partnerships with suppliers around the world. We have also compiled a Supplier Code of Conduct for our suppliers and other business partners. We expect those partners to comply with applicable laws and regulations based on the Code, respect human rights, and ensure ethical and responsible business conduct.

Learn more about Supply Chain Management >

LIXIL’s Key Human Rights Issues

In addition to establishing our Human Rights Principles, LIXIL has identified key human rights issues as 'areas of focus' to manage and mitigate potential risks. We are intensifying our efforts to advance these key areas of focus by establishing a well-defined priority order. This is derived from regular human rights risk surveys conducted with our employees.

  • Provide equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination
  • Prohibit forced and child labor
  • Respect freedom of association and collective bargaining
  • Ensure decent wages and working hours
  • Ensure occupational health and safety
  • Prohibit harassment
  • Legal, fair, and transparent acquisition and use of personal data

Our Governance

As a global company, LIXIL has established a Human Rights Due Diligence Task Force that comprises members from a broad range of departments and is tasked with strengthening and ensuring strict adherence to our human rights due diligence process. In addition, the executive officer in charge of legal, compliance, and corporate auditing oversees progress on human rights issues through a governance structure. These systems strengthen our company-wide human rights due diligence and promote transparent reporting.

Learn more about the governance structure of LIXIL’s Impact Strategy >

Human rights management structure

Human rights management structure

Our Human Rights Due Diligence Process

We seek to mitigate human rights risks by analyzing and assessing potential risks using the following human rights due diligence process.

Human rights due diligence process

Human rights due diligence process

Assessment: Identifying Human Rights Risks

We strive to identify potential human rights risks through various activities, centered primarily around the survey by our Human Rights Due Diligence Task Force. We have expanded the scope of the survey to include not only LIXIL, but also our suppliers. Furthermore, our internal guidelines stipulate that any decisions regarding M&A must consider perspectives on human rights risks.

Key activities
(department in charge)
Overview Major target stakeholders
Human rights survey of employees
(Human Rights Due Diligence Task Force, Human resources department)

We conducted a human rights survey of all global employees, including indirect employees in FYE2022.
From FYE2023, we have included questions related to our key human rights issues in the LIXIL Voice, our annual global employee opinion survey.

Details on the LIXIL Voice >

We are taking remediation actions to mitigate any potential risks identified by the survey.

Remediation >

All global employees
Occupational safety audit
(Safety and Quality Management Division)

We conduct an annual occupational safety audit for all the sites in Japan through questionnaires and onsite visits, and take necessary measures based on the audit results at each site.

Employee Safety >

All employees in Japan
Responsible procurement surveys
(Indirect Procurement ·Procurement Management Department)

We conduct responsible procurement surveys and check subsequent progress to identify risks in the supply chain. We provide site visits and other forms of individual guidance to high-risk suppliers.

Responsible Procurement Survey, Remediation and Support >

Suppliers

Remediation: Measures to Mitigate Human Rights Risks

LIXIL takes measures to mitigate and address risks and issues that have been identified through our human rights survey of our employees.

Target stakeholders All employees working at LIXIL Corporation and its subsidiaries (including part-time employees)*
Process
  1. Examine and determine the survey items deemed most important in light of LIXIL’s seven key human rights issues.
  2. Conduct a survey of all global employees.
  3. Aggregate the survey responses, analyze the results in their entirety and from various different perspectives, such as by region, department, employment type, position level, and length of service, and identify any items with potential human rights risks that could be significant.
  4. Formulate risk mitigation plans for any items identified as potentially high risk, and implement appropriate measures.
Outline
  • Frequency: Yearly from FYE2022 onward
  • Survey items: Questions relating to LIXIL’s key human rights issues
  • Method: Online survey (FYE2024 response rate: 89%)

* The FYE2022 survey target also included indirectly hired employees.

Establishing Education Programs and Workplaces that Encourage Respect for Human Rights

LIXIL uses its employee survey to confirm potential human rights risks such as discrimination, overtime working, harassment, and the handling of personal information. We have analyzed the underlying sources of these risks and are implementing the preventative measures listed below.

In FYE2023, we worked especially hard to strengthen our internal education and training programs (see item 1. below). We continued to offer training for all employees in FYE2024. We have thoroughly explored the results, promoted cooperation with relevant departments, and are now also focusing our efforts on item 3. below. Looking ahead, we will continue to conduct annual assessments and implement initiatives to consistently mitigate identified risks.

1. Conduct and strengthen training and workshops to deepen understanding of human rights

  • Members from the Human Rights Due Diligence Task Force who are responsible for promoting human rights participated in UNDP Business and Human Rights Academy training and an individual guidance session with human rights experts.
  • Business and human rights training were conducted for directors and executive officers by external experts, of which videos and materials (in both Japanese and English) were published on internal social media for all employees.
  • A video montage of messages about human rights from our global leaders including the CEO was published.
  • Communication on human rights information was strengthened on internal media.
  • Awareness-building and/or training programs were regularly provided for all employees on topics such as compliance, information security, D&I, harassment, and other issues.
Human rights training for directors and executive officers (In March 2023)

Human rights training for directors and executive officers (In March 2023)

2. Strengthen career-building communication and initiatives

  • Empower women and ensure meritocracy in the workplace
  • Develop qualifications and job grade systems that drive people to challenge themselves as well as performance-linked compensation systems
  • Expand systems that are tailored to different life stages and support flexible workstyles
  • Revise our welfare systems to ensure greater wellbeing

For details: Diversity & Equal Opportunity >
A Rewarding Workplace >

3. Strengthen measures to optimize working hours and prevent overwork. Encourage employees to take more leave

  • Communicate information to improve time management, and other areas
  • Create various leave systems and encourage their active use
  • Conduct management training

For details: Promoting flexible and diverse working styles >
Talent development for managers >

Concern-Raising System and Grievance Mechanisms

LIXIL has established a concern-raising system that is operated in accordance with our policies on confidentiality, prohibition of retaliation and procedures for reporting concerns. It is designed to gather details of compliance violations and to ensure early action on any wrongdoings and violations, and enable preventative measures. We check and investigate each of the roughly 300 concern-raising reports that we receive each year, and take corrective action on all reports where the facts could be fully ascertained to mitigate human rights risks.

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