Stakeholder Engagement

Our Approach

LIXIL’s success depends on the support of a broad range of stakeholders. We are committed to proactively engaging in dialogue with all of our stakeholders, including customers, business partners, members of the communities where our operational facilities are located, shareholders and investors, and our employees and their families, to collect and reflect their opinions in our business operations and corporate social responsibility activities.

Our System

LIXIL’s Corporate Responsibility (CR) Committee consists of the executive officers in charge of each head office functional division and representatives from each technology business. The committee deliberates on the impacts upon different stakeholders as well as on our community development for and cooperation with stakeholders as it promotes sustainability initiatives. Our business divisions also respond to and partner with a diverse range of stakeholders.

Key Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholders	Type of Engagement
Customers	We incorporate customer opinions and provide timely and appropriate disclosure on our products and services. We offer customer support via telephone, email, 116 showrooms worldwide, and online showrooms. Customer Satisfaction >
Suppliers	We build and maintain strong relationships with our suppliers by facilitating two-way communication. Based on the results of our responsible procurement surveys, we share our Procurement Principles, recognize current circumstances, and follow through on promised improvements. We also hold regular meetings with suppliers to share information on regulatory trends and new procurement strategies. Supply Chain Management >
Local Communities	LIXIL operates 80 factories worldwide. As a responsible corporate citizen, in addition to respecting local cultures and customs and creating responsible products and jobs, we also contribute to the development of the communities in which we operate. We hold community dialogues at factories and sales bases in Japan to encourage communication with local residents. LIXIL employees also teach classes on social issues such as sanitation and the environment at local schools. Community >
Shareholders and Investors	We held 298 discussions this year with investors around the world to help promote sustainable growth and enhance corporate value. In April 2021, we held an online ESG briefing for investors, where we explained our strategies to sustainably enhance our corporate value, including our Value Creation Process, Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategy, and governance structure, as well as answered to questions from the audience. We disclose timely and transparent information in English and Japanese through our Integrated Report, our investor relations web pages, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange website. Investor Relations >
Employees	LIXIL boasts approximately 55,000 employees. We strive to create an inspiring working environment that encourages diversity and incorporates employee opinions expressed through regular global employee opinion surveys or discussions between the union and the company. Our People >
NPOs, NGOs, and Educational and Research Institutions	We partner with non-profit organizations (NPOs), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and educational and research institutions to facilitate research and development related to global sanitation, and support education for sustainable development (ESD) for the next generation.
Government Authorities and Industrial Associations	Engaging in vigorous and transparent dialogue with government authorities is necessary to shape a sustainable society. As part of this process, we are involved in several industrial and business associations whose missions include engaging with public authorities on behalf of their respective industries, including window sashes, plumbing, and metals. Participating in these associations helps keep us up-to-date with current and pending changes in laws and international agreements that may affect our business.

Stakeholder Cooperation in Our Three Strategic Pillars

● Global Sanitation & Hygiene
MAKE A SPLASH!

Through its MAKE A SPLASH! partnership with UNICEF, LIXIL helps to establish markets for hygiene-related goods such as toilets and handwashing products and to improve the overall sanitation environment in emerging markets. MAKE A SPLASH! activities are supported by end users, building contractors and other professional users, and LIXIL employees.

In 2017 and 2018, we held the Toilets for All Project, in which we agreed to donate one SATO toilet to a country in Asia or Africa for each integrated shower toilet purchased by a customer in Japan. We donated 400,000 SATO toilets during those first two years. In 2019, we donated a portion of the sales of integrated shower toilets through the MAKE A SPLASH! partnership. Approximately JP¥26 million in donations to UNICEF has been used to build the infrastructure to help install safe and sanitary toilets and to raise awareness of hygiene issues in local communities.

In another MAKE A SPLASH! initiative, we donate JP¥10 every time a customer signs up for our LIXIL Owners Club free membership service. Our employees in Japan, meanwhile, have made approximately 3,500 donations totaling JP¥17 million through our Team Splash program, which automatically deducts the donations from their salaries. In 2020, LIXIL donated approximately €140,000 through a campaign for GROHE showers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

MAKE A SPLASH! (A new page will open) >
LIXIL Owner’s Club >
GROHE donation campaign (Dutch only / A new page will open) >

Children with the donated SATO toilets

● Water Conservation & Environmental Sustainability
Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution

To help reduce the amount of plastic in our oceans, LIXIL has been developing water purification products and working to reduce plastic use in product manufacturing and packaging. We have also been supporting the NGO everwave, a team of natural scientists, architects, engineers, and marine biologists who come together to devise ways of improving marine plastic collection.

Since roughly 80% of marine plastic flows into the ocean from rivers, everwave is developing a floating platform designed to collect plastic particles in the rivers. Apart from this, they already use the so-called CollectiX garbage collection boats which locate and collect garbage in lakes or rivers. After successful tests, the CollectiX boat was used for the first time in the Hron River in Slovakia in FYE2021.

everwave (A new page will open) >

● Diversity & Inclusion
Creating Accessible Toilets for All

We conduct surveys on toilet use together with universities, NPOs, and companies in order to help realize a society which offers toilets that all people can feel comfortable and safe when using.

Through our Study Group on All-Gender Use of Office Toilets, launched in partnership with Kanazawa University and Comany Inc., we investigated toilet use by transgender people and general awareness of transgender issues in the office and identified a need for more diverse toilets.

We also conducted a Fact-Finding Survey on Public Toilet Use by Children with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities in conjunction with the Foundation for Yokohama Rehabilitation Services to better understand the needs of children with developmental disabilities and their caregivers. We are now investigating the potential creation of unisex “spacious toilets” that consider odor, sound, and light.

Based on these surveys, we installed a new universal toilet model in the LIXIL Tokyo headquarters. The toilet facility enables people to freely select which cubicle they want to use, unfettered by distinctions such as male, female, adult, child, or person with or without disabilities.

Study Group on All-Gender Use of Office Toilets survey results (Japanese only / A new page will open) PDF: 1.9MB >

Fact-Finding Survey on Public Toilet Use by Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Japanese only / A new page will open) PDF:1.2MB >

Diversity & Inclusion >