Initiatives to Ensure Respect for Human Rights

“Through innovation we will create a future of joy and well-being for all.” That is how the Sumitomo Rubber Group defines its Purpose in “Our Philosophy,” the overall framework for our corporate philosophy. We deem it important to understand human resource-related issues that may arise in connection with our businesses, which are now undertaken in countries around the globe. We believe that taking appropriate action informed by the accurate understanding of these issues will provide us with a basis for our business activities aimed at embodying our Purpose. Accordingly, we will study the impact of our operations on human rights of our diverse stakeholders, within and outside the Group, even as we strive to ensure respect for human rights in all value chain processes ranging from the procurement of raw materials to the provision of products and services.

Our initiatives to ensure respect for human rights are guided by the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s Code of Conduct, which informs its business activities in the aspect of corporate ethics and clearly states that we must “maintain wholesome workplaces where no person is ever harassed or discriminated against for reasons relating to ideology, faith, religion, race, ethnicity, skin color, nationality, language, social class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identify, age, mental or physical handicap, employment situation or hiring circumstances, etc.” Based on this statement, we take great care ensuring that no employee will suffer from the violation of their human rights.

Furthermore, a handbook on human resource and labor management has been distributed to all those in managerial positions. We also help raise their awareness of relevant topics via training and lecture sessions. In these ways, we are striving to create a working environment that tolerates no human rights violations or harassment and empowers every employee to work energetically.

In addition, we honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and other human rights-related protocols as well as the various treaties of the International Labour Organization in addition to supporting the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact. Accordingly, the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s concepts regarding human rights are in line with the international standards named above.

Looking ahead, we will strive to further strengthen initiatives undertaken to ensure respect for human rights throughout the entire Sumitomo Rubber Group so that we remain a company capable of delivering a “future of joy and well-being” and deserving of the trust of our stakeholders.

Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy

Based on international standards stipulated by the abovementioned treaties and principles, the “Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy” has been established after obtaining opinions from the Board of Directors and other important bodies. This policy tangibly describes the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s concepts on respect for human rights and serves as the highest policy governing all other regulations and guidelines enforced within the Group regarding how we ensure respect for human rights.

Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy (Japanese) (PDF 582KB)

Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy: Basic Stance to Addressing Individual Human Rights-Related Issues (Japanese) (PDF 600KB)

Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy (English) (PDF 191KB)

Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy: Basic Stance to Addressing Individual Human Rights-Related Issues (English) (PDF 162KB)

The Human Rights Subcommittee was established as one of the working groups under the Sustainability Promotion Committee. We have established a system in which all relevant divisions, including those at overseas bases, can participate and follow up on each division’s human rights risk survey, risk identification, and countermeasure status.

*A series of actions in which a company identifies human rights risks in its business operations and explains and discloses information on the effectiveness of its efforts to prevent and mitigate such risks as well as the measures taken to address them

Human Rights Due Diligence Initiative Schedule

We are currently working to establish and implement a human rights due diligence structure and aim to conduct human rights risk surveys and assessments, and establish a structure to implement human rights due diligence in 2024, and start the implementation of human rights due diligence in 2025.

In addition to the above, as part of our efforts to create an environment that is free from human rights violations and harassment and in which employees can work with vitality, we are actively raising awareness about bullying and harassment. We have designated every October as “Legal and Corporate Ethics Compliance Month,” during which we organize various activities designed to cement compliance and ethics. We conduct awareness-raising training programs, customized for each level of personnel, that deal with issues such as sexual harassment and power harassment to raise awareness. We also run e-learning programs, as we strive to ensure that the human rights of individual employee are never violated. Notably, training for the manager level includes concrete examples of bullying and harassment to ensure that management are made fully aware of such conduct.

In all the countries in which it does business, the Sumitomo Rubber Group complies with regulations governing such matters as working hours and minimum wages, which are prescribed in national labor-related and other legislation. To prevent the use of child labor, we confirm that prospective employees are legally permitted to work prior to hiring them. In addition, to prevent forced labor, we always conclude employment contracts with the employees, and make sure that prospective employees have agreed to the terms of their employment with us before we take them on. Regarding working hours, we try to reduce excessive working hours and overtime by, for example, encouraging employees to take the various forms of leave they are entitled to. As for remuneration, we go beyond just guaranteeing minimum wages, paying our people more than the legal or industry-mandated minimums.