Sustainability

Health and Productivity Management

Health Management Slogan

Nishimatsu Construction puts health promotion before manufacturing.
Our goal is for people to stay healthy, even long after they retire.
This is not something we do half-heartedly.
Safe buildings and the happiness of workers can only be built on a foundation of good health.
As one, we will do everything we can now to make this happen.

Nishimatsu Construction Health Management Declaration

Our workplaces enable every employee to demonstrate their abilities and take pride in their work. This allows them, their families, and all other people that we work with to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.

At Nishimatsu Construction, we have always considered our employees’ health (maintenance and improvement) to be a priority management issue. For this reason, we have worked to create a workplace environment where every employee can realize their full potential in good health.
In recognition of our health initiatives, we were acknowledged through the 2019 Health & Productivity Stock Selection Program in February of this year. This is a joint program of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and we are the first general contractor to be selected.
Employee happiness is a source of a company’s vitality. Good health, in turn, is the foundation of happiness, and we desire to support our employees responsibly in that regard. We will continue to push forward on efforts to remain an attractive company to work for and one that helps employees and their families to stay healthy.

August 1, 2019
Representative Director and President
Masakazu Hosokawa

Health Management Promotion Structure

The President of the Company himself serves as the Chief Health Officer and promotes health management.
In addition, the Health Promotion Center takes the lead in health management through consultation, adjustment, and coordination with related departments and organizations.

Initiatives to date

We have established the following seven health management priorities to promote our initiatives in light of health issues.

1Preventing lifestyle-related diseases from becoming severe (mandatory complete physical examinations, mandatory detailed testing, promotion of exercise)
- We introduced a system for employees to undergo complete physical examinations in fiscal 2018, and the Company grants leave and subsidizes the cost of such examinations for employees aged 30 years or older. In fiscal 2020, we will further increase the amount of subsidies for optional tests, make them mandatory, and aim for 100% participation. (Complete physical examination participation rate / Fiscal 2018: 84.9% -> Fiscal 2019: 92.1%)
- Those employees who are shown to need detailed testing as a result of a regular checkup or a complete physical examination are encouraged to undergo further tests to prevent a disease from becoming severe.
- Because spousal illnesses can lead to lower employee performance, the Company has decided to recommend that dependent spouses aged 30 years or older undergo complete physical examinations once a year, and to subsidize the cost of the same amount as employees from fiscal 2020.
2Addressing long working hours
- We will engage in internal reform and provide proposals for the industry ahead of the application of an upper limit (45 hours per month) on overtime work in the construction industry in 2024. We will also strengthen our efforts by establishing uniform company-wide targets for reducing overtime by each fiscal year.
  By fiscal 2023, the final year before becoming compulsory, our target will be to bring overtime work down to the upper limit of 45 hours per month.
- All employees who exceed the internal standards are interviewed by an occupational physician, who will check the level of accumulated fatigue and their physical conditions, and if necessary, will take measures to adjust work or refer employees to medical institutions to prevent the occurrence of work-related accidents. Going forward, the standards will be further strengthened to address this issue.
3Mental health initiative
- We are aiming for a stress checkup participation rate of 100%.
  (Fiscal 2016: 89.61% -> Fiscal 2017: 94.20% -> Fiscal 2018: 95.05 %-> Fiscal 2019: 98.78%)
- We will encourage voluntary consultations by disseminating an in-house consultation service with specialists and an external consultation service with outside organizations, and take early action before diseases become severe.
4Cancer initiative (promotion of cancer screening, balance between work and treatment)
- We are familiarizing all employees with the importance of cancer screening and encouraging them to undergo screening, while working to create a system that makes it easier to take advantage of this opportunity. (Complete physical examination optional test participation rate / Fiscal 2019: 41.2%)
5Improving health literacy
- We have set the Health Management Slogan to support the Health Declaration. The President himself regularly communicates it to employees to foster a culture of health promotion, and increase health literacy throughout the Company.
- We encourage voluntary initiatives planned and implemented at each business location, such as yoga events, body composition measurement events, and seminars on appropriate alcohol consumption. We also provide budgetary and other support.
- We conduct an annual survey that allows employees to reflect on their lifestyle habits, and provide education in line with the results.
  (Survey participation rate / Fiscal 2020: 79.6%)
- We have introduced the KENCOM health promotion app company-wide. We also encourage company-wide participation in biannual walking events and promote communication. (Number of event participants / Spring 2018: 127 -> Fall 2018: 376 -> Spring 2019:541 -> Fall 2019: 755)
6Preventing women’s illnesses (promotion of women’s health screening)
- We will introduce a company-subsidized cancer screening assistance program for women of all ages who undergo statutory checkups from fiscal 2020 to promote the prevention of women’s illnesses.
7Lowering the smoking rate
- A specialist companion support program for smoking cessation was piloted in fiscal 2019, with 100% of participants successfully quitting the habit. We will fully introduce the program from fiscal 2020.

Recognition of problems and issues with the initiatives (① to ⑦ are the priority numbers mentioned above)

Although the Company is working on detecting diseases at an early stages through complete physical examinations for people aged 30 years or older, the checkup anomaly observation rate*i is still high at 45%, as shown in Figure 1. We believe that continued measures to prevent diseases from becoming severe are necessary (①).

*ⅰAfter calculations based on the criteria for the “standard health checkup and health guidance programs (revised version)” of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the result is categorized as Lv.3 if one or more of blood pressure, lipids, blood sugar, or liver function is a diagnosis recommended value (Lv.4 if there is a conflict with more stringent internal standards), Lv.2 if any one or more of them is a health guidance value, and Lv.1 if all of them are within the criteria. A result of Lv.3 or above is defined as an anomaly observation.

Since the percentages of improvement and deterioration in checkup results over time were about the same (22%) as shown in Table 1, we need to continue enhancing health literacy to improve lifestyle habits throughout the company (⑤). Among these habits, in particular, we recognize that smoking habits require urgent improvement, as the smoking rate is high at 32.2% (⑦).

Graph of Checkup evaluation — (Figure 1: Change in checkup evaluation over time)

Table of Transition in checkup evaluation for those who have undergone checkups for two consecutive years — (Table 1: Transition in checkup evaluation for those who have undergone checkups for two consecutive years)

In addition, long working hours have an impact on the quality of lifestyle. Employees who work 45 or more hours of overtime per month are less likely to be able to get enough sleep, and are considered to be at higher risk for work-related accidents. Accordingly, we recognize it is essential to make further improvements in long working hours (②).

Graph of Breakdown of lifestyle evaluation by status of long working hours — (Figure 2: Relationship between overtime hours and lifestyle)

Graph of Sleep sufficiency by status of long working hours — (Figure 3: Relationship between overtime hours and sleep sufficiency)

*Figure 2 shows an analysis of the breakdown of the overall score in the lifestyle survey, divided into two groups of employees based on the working hours limit: employees who worked 45 hours or more at least once in fiscal 2019, and employees who worked less than 45 hours at any time in fiscal 2019. (The overall score is GREAT, GOOD, NOT GOOD, or BAD for each participant).

In addition, there is a certain number of people with mental illnesses, and the higher the stress level of employees, the greater the loss from presenteeism and absenteeism.*ii Accordingly, we believe that the further strengthening of mental health measures is necessary (③).

Graph of Presenteeism loss rate by level of stress — (Figure 4: Relationship between high stress and presenteeism)

Graph of Number of lost days for absenteeism by level of stress — (Figure 5: Relationship between high stress and absenteeism)

*ⅱPresenteeism is a condition in which an employee’s performance is not up to par due to a physical or mental health issue, even though he or she is present at work.
Absenteeism is a condition in which an employee is unable to perform the work itself from a physical or mental health issue, such as arriving late or leaving early, as well as being absent or temporarily retired due to difficulties in performing work.
The presenteeism loss rate is calculated as relative presenteeism using WHO-HPQ.
The number of lost days for absenteeism is calculated by taking the number of days of leave due to colds and illnesses in a three-month period and converting it to an annual rate.

In addition, we believe it is important to continue to detect and respond to cancer and women’s illnesses at an early stage in order to prevent losses in the workforce and a decline in productivity (④/⑥).

Future approach to health management

In order to achieve the vision set out in the Company’s Health Declaration, we believe that it is necessary to elicit the four following points: improving the health of employees, improving the productivity of employees, preventing employees from leaving the Company on the grounds of health, and increasing employee motivation and engagement.
However, no matter how good the system a company puts in place, its effectiveness will be limited if employees do not understand its objectives, and it will be difficult to elicit the above four points. For this reason, our future initiatives will not be focused on introducing new systems as they have been up until now, but rather on preventing losses in the workforce by taking measures aimed at raising the awareness of employees toward their health.
Accordingly, we believe that the most important KPI for achieving results from the health management initiatives is the Office Health Rankings compiled by the National Health Insurance Association / Society of Engineering and Construction Contractors. This is because we consider it important to be able to conduct objective evaluations and verification in comparison to other companies in our industry. Improvements in these KPIs are linked to the above four points. We regularly report to and consult with management on the status of these KPIs and the measures we are taking to improve them.

Achievements from the implementation of health management

As we continue to implement health management initiatives, the participation rate in various measures has increased over the years, and internal communication about health promotion has also increased along with this. We also provide health support for the spouses of our employees, including the cost of complete physical examinations, and this has raised health awareness among entire families of employees. As a result, the percentage of employees who agree with the promotion of health management has increased to 88%, and the degree of penetration has increased. While the percentage of employees who feel that we are engaged in health management has increased to 67%, we recognize that we need to step up support in response to individual needs to increase this percentage.

Graph of Should the company engage in health management?

Graph of How engaged is the company in health management?

With respect to employee lifestyle habits, those related to exercise, sleep and smoking habitat improved in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019, as a result of efforts to promote walking and make improvements in long working hours. However, we recognize that further efforts are needed to improve diet.
Although the anomaly observation rate based on checkup results improved by 1.2% in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019 as a result of early detection and early response efforts, such as introducing complete physical examinations, we will strive for continuous improvement by further strengthening follow-up measures.

		Fiscal
		2018	2019	2020		2021
		Results			Target
Lifestyle	[Exercise] Percentage of employees who are not doing enough walking or physical activities *Not engaging in physical activities such as walking for 60 minutes or more per day in daily life	59.2％	55.0％	―	53.6％	49.5％
	[Diet] Percentage of employees who tend to have dinner right before bedtime *Have dinner right before bedtime at least three times a week	50.3％	51.6％	―	50.3％	46.4％
	[Sleep] Percentage of employees with low levels of sleep sufficiency *Not getting enough rest from sleep	40.1％	38.1％	―	36.8％	32.9％
	[Smoking] Percentage of employees who smoke *Smoking cigarettes	31.6％	31.2％	―	30.5％	28.3％
Checkups	Anomaly observation rate Percentage of employees with anomaly observation for one of the following: blood pressure, lipids, blood sugar, liver function. (*Diagnosis recommended value under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare criteria)	46.5％	45.3％	―	44.7％	43.0％
Labor productivity	Presenteeism loss rate	―	―	14.1％	―	13.6％
Labor productivity	Number of lost days for absenteeism (annual conversion)	―	―	1.38 days	―	1.24 days

In addition, the number of employees who took optional examinations has increased, as a result of a recommendation that employees aged 30 years or older take complete physical examinations from fiscal 2018 and making them mandatory from fiscal 2019, with subsidies of up to 15,000 yen per employee. As a result, early detection and treatment were achieved for 12 employees, mostly for cancer.
We believe that we are making a solid return on our investment to prevent losses in the workforce and a decline in productivity.

(Investment amount): Fiscal 2018: 1,803 employees × up to 15,000 yen = 27.05 million yen
Fiscal 2019: 1,941 employees × up to 15,000 yen = 29.12 million yen
Total: 56.17 million yen

(Effects): Total number of cases of early detection and treatment in the two fiscal years: 12

Toward becoming a leading health management company

As a result of these efforts, the Company has been certified as an “Outstanding Enterprise in Health and Productivity Management (large enterprise category)―White 500” for three consecutive years since fiscal 2018 under the Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program sponsored by the Nippon Kenko Kaigi and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
In fiscal 2019, we were also selected as 2019 Health & Productivity Stock jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.