Basic Policy on Diversity and Inclusion

1. The individual differences everyone has are the richness of individuality and characteristics. We will continue to create workplaces where there is peace of mind without discrimination based on mere differences. We will continue to develop the richness of our diversity as a force that sustains the competitiveness of our organization and the sustainability of our society.
2. We will also enhance the sophistication of systems and measures from the perspective of diversity. We will strive to ensure women, people with disabilities and minority groups can have fair influence on the functions and hierarchies of decision-making in a balanced manner.
3. We will aim for a percentage of female employees in officer positions*1 of 25% and a percentage of female employees in managerial positions*2 of 30% by 2031.
4. We will always manage business with an emphasis on diversity and equality of opportunities. That also applies to the configuration of personnel in recruitment, training, sales, management and all other operations. We will foster an organizational culture which respects this way of business management.
5. We will aim to diversify workstyles so that diverse human resources can demonstrate their respective abilities to the maximum possible extent. Therefore, we will develop systems that also match the life events and stages of our employees.
6. We will promote the maintenance and improvement of mental and physical health. We believe that promoting the health of employees is the foundation to diverse workstyles of diverse human resources. We will proactively promote health management.

[ Basic Policy ]

• We are focusing on developing workplaces where each of our employees can work comfortably with peace of mind. We want them to be able to display their abilities to the maximum possible extent regardless of their gender. Approximately 70% of our employees are female. That means it is even more important for us than other companies to create workplaces where women can be a success. We consider that a major social responsibility for us.
• We are committed to developing careers and building pipelines to increase the percentage of female employees in managerial positions. The percentage of female employees in managerial positions in 2024 is 21.6%. That is a big improvement from when it was 10.6% in 2016.We have achieved our 20% target for 2025 ahead of schedule, and have set a new target of 30% for 2031. We will continue to aim for an increase in the percentage of female employees in managerial positions.We also need to increase that percentage to increase the one in officer positions.We will proactively continue to work on that with a multifaceted approach in the future.

[ Concrete Initiatives ]

• Female employee talent pipeline management:
  • We are managing talent pipelines by individuals and departments for managerial positions of manager and above.
  • We are also managing talent pipelines by individuals and departments in the same way for those who have yet to reach managerial positions.
  • Since 2021, we have been conducting the Women's Challenge Program, a training program aimed at nurturing female candidates for managerial positions. Over the past four years, 106 individuals have participated in the program, from which 48 have been promoted and 25 have been promoted to managerial positions (as of March 1, 2025).
  • We review new graduate and mid-career recruitment plans to expand pipelines according to the progress on those pipelines.
• Support with personnel systems:
  • System for career planning available to all female employees
  • System for mentoring by officers available to employees who are candidates for executive management positions
  • System for the creation of training plans by individual female employees with their superiors
• Training

  Category	Training	Number of Participants
  Group training	Women's Challenge Program	24
  	Welcome Back Program: Program to Support Those Returning to Work after Taking Childcare Leave	18
  	Unconscious Bias (Mandatory by hierarchy)	23
  	Harassment Training	241
  	Training for Recruiters to Promote Understanding of Sexual Minorities	114
  	Anger Management Training	152
  Seminars in groups	Promotion of Health Management	15
  Lectures and sessions with external lecturers	Training for Leaders with Female Subordinates	17
  	Issues of Business Caregiver that Anyone Can Be / Realities of Balancing Work and Caregiving	98
  	On Living an Atypical Sexuality	22
  e-learning	Human Rights Training(Mandatory for all employees)	2,110
  	Unconscious Bias (Mandatory for all employees)	2,110
  	Harassment Training (Mandatory for all employees)	2,110
  	Harassment Training for Managers	314
  	Working Women and Health Issues	132
  	Support for Balancing Work and Nursing Care	84
  	Assertive Communication	333

• Partnership:
  • We are participating in the J-Win NPO to enhance the quality of activities through exchanges with other companies.

    

[ Targets (Metrics) ]

[ Basic Policy ]

• We are focusing our efforts on reforming the workstyles of our employees. For example, we participated in a series of Telework Days held in collaboration with the government, Tokyo and related organizations. The number of people working from home during the period in 2019 was approximately three times that in 2017.

[ Concrete Initiatives ]

• We have introduced a full flex system with no core time.
• We prohibit long working hours. (We strictly manage overtime hours and promote the planned take-up of paid vacation.)
• Training

  Category	Training	Number of Participants
  Group training	Welcome Back Program: Program to Support Those Returning to Work after Taking Childcare Leave	18
  Lectures and sessions with external lecturers	Issues of Business Caregiver that Anyone Can Be / Realities of Balancing Work and Caregiving	98
  e-learning	Support for Balancing Work and Nursing Care	84

[ Targets (Metrics) ]

• We are encouraging men to take-up childcare leave.

  Percentage of male employees who take-up childcare leave ☆	2025 target: 100％ Current (FY2024): 68.4%

  • *The performance data with are in the process of a third-party verification.
  • *The above indicators are disclosed on a consolidated basis excluding BELLSYSTEM24 Vietnam.
  • *The national average rate of male parental leave uptake in Japan is 30.1% (according to the FY2023 Basic Survey of Gender Equality in Employment Management), and we have maintained a higher rate than the average.

[ Basic Policy ]

• We have promoted business together with many people with disabilities in a natural way. We have maintained the concept of a social model over our entire organization as our basic stance. We are striving to become a company with various workstyle options for individuals even from the perspective of people with disabilities. We are creating workplaces that make work more rewarding for people with disabilities.
• We are promoting various initiatives for people with disabilities. We have formed partnerships with those outside the company to manufacture chocolate and operate in-house cafes. This is based on Goal 17 of the SDGs: partnerships for the goals.
• We will continue to create an organization in which all the more people with disabilities can be a success in the workplace with even more diverse work styles in the future. We are aiming for sustainable and healthy growth.

[ Concrete Initiatives ]

• LED vegetable garden operation:
  We are operating LED vegetable garden employing people with disabilities at the head office. We grow and harvest the leafy vegetables.
  July 21, 2023: BellSystem24 commences LED vegetable garden operation at the Kamiyacho office to realize a sustainable society.

• Initiatives with partners:
  • Chocolate manufacturing:
    We are operating a chocolate manufacturing factory employing people with disabilities in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture with a partner company.
    Partner: La Barca Group General Incorporated Association
    November 15, 2018: BellSystem24 opens a chocolate factory with employees with disabilities commencing chocolate production to enable diverse human resources to achieve diverse work styles.
  • In-house cafe operation:
    We are operating in-house cafes employing people with disabilities in our Headquarters and three contact centers.
    Partner: MI CAFETO Co., Ltd.
    February 7, 2019: BellSystem24 promotes the SDGs and the diversity project, opening a cafe operated by employees with disabilities in the office under the direction of Mi Cafeto.
  • Moth orchid cultivation:
    We are cultivating moth orchids employing people with disabilities in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture with a partner company. We use the moth orchids we grow as presents for our customers.
    Partner: AlonAlon (NPO)
    November 30, 2018: Cooperation between AlonAlon and BellSystem24 for orchid culture by people with disabilities.
• Training

  Category	Training	Number of Participants
  Group Training	How to Use External Resources in the Employment of People with Disabilities	37
  e-learning	The Story that "How to Treat People with Disabilities = Management that Delivers Results" and How to Put it into Practice	27
  	What the Latest Data Tells Us about Employment of People with Disabilities	19

[ Targets (Metrics) ]

• Percentage of employees with disabilities

  Percentage of employees with disabilities ☆	2.5% (Statutory target) Current (FY2024): 3.34%

  • *The performance data with are in the process of a third-party verification.
  • *This target is disclosed on a consolidated basis exceeding 100 permanent employees in Japan.
• Record of Hiring People with disabilities

  	Number of Employees with Disabilities
  	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024
  Japan	605	698	713
  Taiwan	1	1	1
  Vietnam	-	9	9
  Total	606	708	723

  *Vietnam refers to the record of BELLSYSTEM24 Vietnam which became a subsidiary in FY2023.

[ Basic Policy ]

• Our human rights policy prohibits discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual expression in all our business activities and dealings.
• We will revise our existing systems and regulations aiming to increase the sophistication of workplaces where all our employees can work with peace of mind.

[ Concrete Initiatives ]

• We revised our existing systems and regulations in relation to sexual minorities in 2019.
• We revised our work regulations, congratulation and condolence money regulations, job transfer handling regulations, overseas work regulations, nursing care leave regulations, and regulations on childcare leave and maternity protection for expectant and nursing mothers. Our aim is to also guarantee fair and equal opportunities and treatment for same-sex partners and de-facto spouses.
• We added a clause recognizing same-sex partners and those in a situation similar to that of marriage as spouses to the definition of spouses when revising those regulations. We have stipulated we will not discriminate in any way with congratulation and condolence money or business rights and obligations.
• We are also proactively engaged in activities to foster our organizational culture in addition to our initiatives with respect to our systems.
  • We are continuing to strengthen our initiatives in compliance with the PRIDE Index. We received the bronze award in 2018. We were then the first in the industry to receive the gold award in 2019. We have received the gold award as a company that satisfies all indicators for six consecutive years from 2019.
    • Strengthening of employee literacy (e-learning and lectures with external lecturers, etc.)
    • Employee LGBTQ ally declarations (creation of stickers and distribution to interested employees)
    • Launch and activities of the LGBTQ & ALLY community comprised of volunteer employees
    • LGBTQ awareness events (Bell Pride Month, introduction to measures against harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and dialogue between officers and concerned parties, etc.)

[ Basic Policy ]

• We have introduced a continuous employment system up to the age of 65 years old. We provide a work environment where those who wish to work beyond the age of 60 years old can do so with peace of mind. We offer employment opportunities according to individual skills regardless of age on an equal basis.
• Human resources will continue to be our most important management resource in a society in which the birthrate is decreasing and the population is aging in the future. Therefore, we will continue to proactively employ seniors in the future as an important force to enhance business continuity.

[ Concrete Initiatives ]

• We have achieved 100% re-employment of all those who wish to continue working beyond the age of 60 years old based on our continuous employment system which we introduced ahead of recent legal changes.
• For communicators working in the field, we are also actively recruiting seniors and offering them shorter working hours and other working options if necessary. A senior version of the SUDAchi program, which provides special pre-employment training and sends people to the field if they lack PC and work skills, has been offered on site since 2017.

[ Targets (Metrics) ]

[ Basic Policy ]

• Our basic policy is to recruit people without discrimination based on region.
• We have established recruitment organization responsible for regions (Field HR) in approximately 40 contact centers in Japan. That allows us to conduct decentralized recruitment completely rooted in the regions.
• We may set requirements for skills or qualifications needed in operations when recruiting people. However, even in such cases, we recruit people based on our human rights policy. We do not set any conditions concerning gender or sexual minorities.

[ Concrete Initiatives ]

• We introduced a pre-training program called SUDAchi on-site in 2017. We temporarily employ human resources we previously passed on hiring because of their lack of skills. We then send them out into the field after providing them with special training before they start work.
• We are proactively offering shorter working hours, re-employing people who have previously left us and utilizing seniors. This allows us to support various life events and stages. Many people have actually joined our company multiple times.
• We basically recruit people in each region with our approximately 40 contact centers across Japan. We give our recruitment record by region below. Our regionally dispersed business model forms the foundation that supports the continuity of our business and the provision of business continuity functions (BCP) to our customers.

  Number of Employees by Region(Fixed-term Contract Employees)(Unit: People)

  	FY2022 ★			FY2023 ★			FY2024 ☆
  	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total
  Hokkaido	602	1,609	2,211	535	1,524	2,059	646	1,941	2,587
  Tohoku	60	137	197	45	164	209	78	201	279
  Kanto	1,051	1,958	3,009	956	1,673	2,629	1,006	1,693	2,699
  Chubu	65	225	290	54	131	185	63	190	253
  Kinki	464	1,095	1,559	218	712	930	367	1,063	1,430
  Chugoku	240	955	1,195	186	753	939	176	725	901
  Shikoku	64	222	286	45	178	223	45	171	216
  Kyushu	517	1,158	1,675	481	1,045	1,526	560	1,188	1,748
  Okinawa	159	493	652	114	280	394	125	401	526
  Other	6	14	20	2	8	10	1	3	4
  Grand Total	3,228	7,866	11,094	2,636	6,468	9,104	3,067	7,576	10,643

  *SGS Japan Inc. has conducted a third-party verification on the performance data marked with ★below. Data with are in the process of verification.
• We support local communities across Japan through employment with recruitment rooted in the regions. We define "involvement in local communities (solving social issues)" as one of our material issues. We have established support for reducing social disparities as a concrete theme in that. We provide support to solve various disparities faced by regions. An example of this is that we are contributing to sports promotion and regional revitalization. We are doing this through activities such as sponsoring a local sports club and hiring athletes in our facilities.
  Sports Promotion Activities

  

  

  

[ Targets (Metrics) ]

• We recruit people without discrimination based on region for 100% of our employees.

  Target	Recruit people without discrimination based on region for 100% of our employees
  Actual (FY2024)	100% (We have realized decentralized recruitment rooted in all our contact centers)

• We will increase the range of home-based workstyles and further expand recruitment without reliance on contact center location.

  Target (2025)	Realize home-based work for 4,000 employees
  Actual (FY2024)	3,227 employees