Discussion by employees with different perspectives and personalities can lead to success in meeting diverse customer needs and delivering peace of mind and confidence. Employees are the driving force that supports the Nittobo Group's sustained growth, and each member of our diverse workforce is a valuable asset.
Nittobo considers it important to create an organization accepting of diversity in which each individual can fully demonstrate his or her capabilities. One way of laying the foundation for such a diverse organization is to respect and promote diversity and inclusion.

Maintaining and promoting a workplace environment in which women play active roles is an important issue for the growth of employees, regardless of gender. We are addressing this matter. The ratio of female in manager positions in the Company is gradually increasing and stood at 4.9% at the end of fiscal 2021. We have set a target of 10% for the future, and are systematically training and promoting the next generation of executives.

It's important to create an environment where employees can continue to demonstrate their abilities according to their life stage such as childcare and nursing care. We are working on support for balancing work with childcare and nursing care to promote the active participation of diverse human resources.
Specifically, we have a childbirth leave system, childcare leave system, shorter working hours system, and nursing care leave systems. All applicable female employees take maternity leave and childcare leave, and many male employees take advantage of the paternity leave system when their spouse gives birth. In addition, for employees working in the Tokyo metropolitan area, we offer the use of a nanny service to counter the problem of daycare waiting lists. We have also introduced a flexible working system, which can be combined with the shorter working hours system for childcare.
Most recently in July 2021, we introduced a system that allows employees to take up to two weeks as paid leave of absence after concluding childcare leave, and a system that allows employees to take up to two separate leaves of absence. These efforts resulted in a 27.7-point increase in the rate of men taking paternity leave in fiscal 2021 compared to the previous year. We will continue to enhance the system and further encourage male employees to take advantage of it.

Our company is committed to the employment of people with disabilities and as part of this responsibility we have already achieved the legally required employment rate of 2.3%.
In order to maintain this rate of employment of people with disabilities, we are striving to create safe working environments at our plants. In addition, in 2018, we established a work support office at our Tokyo Headquarters, and we are promoting stable employment under the supervision and support of permanent employees.

A declining working population has become a major social issue in Japan, which has a declining birthrate and aging population, and it is estimated that the acquisition of human resources will become increasingly difficult. Against that backdrop, we will enhance programs and mechanisms that encourage employees to pursue careers at Nittobo for as long as possible. We are focusing particularly on enhancing HR programs and benefits, and developing a working environment to enable employees to continue working with high levels of motivation after the age of 60. We will also implement initiatives to make Nittobo a company that employees will be glad they chose throughout the entirety of their careers.