Creating an environment where employees can perform at their best
Health Management
Policy on Safety and Health Initiatives for Human Resources Working for the Sapporo Group
The Sapporo Group is strongly encouraging the creation of an environment that promotes health, safety, security, and respect for human rights and allows each person to demonstrate 100% of his or her potential, which is a major pillar of its human resources strategy. We place the safety and health of all human resources (including subcontracted employees) working for our company as our first priority, and strive to achieve zero occupational accidents and create a vibrant work environment. We also comply with the health and safety laws as well as other labor-related laws and regulations of each country, and appropriately manage working hours and working conditions in line with collective labor agreements and employment regulations.
To enhance the effectiveness of these efforts, we monitor and supervise the health and safety practices of each Group company at the Global Sustainability Committee, which is convened twice a year.
Sapporo Group Health Management Promotion System
The Sapporo Group believes that the physical and mental health of the Group's human resources will lead to the creation of happiness for employees, their families, and companies. In August 2017, the "Health Creation Declaration" was issued both internally and externally by the President of Sapporo Breweries to promote health management.
Health Management Initiatives
The Sapporo Group believes that the physical and mental, social health of the Group's human resources will lead to the creation of happiness for employees, their families, and companies. In August 2017, the "Health Creation Declaration" was issued both internally and externally by the President of Sapporo Holdings (currently Sapporo Breweries) to promote health management.
The Group has been making efforts toward strengthening the health management promotion system and foundation for raising employee health awareness under the Health Creation Declaration.
Through the promotion of health management, we aim to ensure that our human resources, an important management base, "contribute to the well-being of people in the communities in which we operate, in the time and space provided by all of our businesses."
Sapporo Group Health Creation Declaration
The Sapporo Group believes that the physical and mental health of the Group's human resources will lead to the creation of happiness for employees, their families, and companies. In August 2017, the "Health Creation Declaration" was issued by the President of Sapporo Holdings to promote health management.
Sapporo Group Health Creation Declaration
- Initiatives to promote health of employees, who are the bearers of businesses, are implemented, which in turn leads to the Company's growth.
- Healthy employees contribute to the physical and mental well-being and health of all stakeholders through the business areas of "Alcoholic Beverages," "Food," and "Soft Drinks."
- Actively pursuing health management will create an attractive workplace and leads to sustainability as a company.
President and Representative Director of Sapporo Breweries Limited,
Health Management Promotion Officer of the Sapporo Group Hiroshi Tokimatsu
Building a Foundation for Raising Employee Health Awareness and Strengthening the Health Management Promotion System
To realize our management philosophy "Pioneering the legacy of tomorrow," the Sapporo Group places the goals of health management at reducing presenteeism and absenteeism and increasing employee engagement. We believe that addressing these issues will lead to success in our management challenges: diversified human resources, improved productivity and profitability, and sustainable growth. To raise health awareness and promote the health of every employee, which is the most fundamental of all, we are thoroughly working to achieve a 100% rate of regular health checkups and 100% rate of re-checkups for those who need early treatment every year. Employees who are found to require improvement in their health checkup results are interviewed by industrial physicians, public health nurses, and other specialists to encourage them to improve their behavioral habits. Furthermore, we are promoting various measures to change employees' health awareness and behavior together with our executives. As a result, since the start of our health management efforts in 2017, we have seen improvements in such issues as the smoking rate, the percentage of employees with exercise habits, and the percentage of employees receiving health checkups for lifestyle-related diseases.
To improve performance metrics, we analyze influencing factors and implement a PDCA cycle for countermeasures. Moving forward, we will also develop health measures for the well-being of stakeholders.
Sapporo Group Health Management Strategy Map
Medium-Term Health and Productivity Management Plan (2023-2026)
Sapporo Group Health Management Key Goal Indicators for 2026
| Work engagement (deviation score) | 54.0 or higher |
|---|---|
| Presenteeism loss* (%) | 33.4% or lower |
* Domestic operating companies
- The deviation score is calculated based on data collected over a specific period from companies and organizations participating in the survey by the research firm. Work engagement is measured using the research firm's own methodology.
Presenteeism (labor loss: %) = 100% - Absolute Presenteeism (calculated based on Question 3 of WHO-HPQ (Health and Work Performance Questionnaire)). - July 1, 2026 Sapporo Holdings absorbs Sapporo Breweries, an operating company, and changes its name to Sapporo Breweries. Sapporo Real Estate Development is excluded from the consolidated subsidiaries from June 2026. Health Management Key Target Achievement Indicators remain unchanged.
Sapporo Group Health Management Targets (2023-2026)
| Target for 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Continuation of follow-up visits to medical institutions for emergency treatment recipients | 100% |
| Re-examination rate for those requiring precise medical examinations | 100% |
| Percentage of individuals eligible for specific health guidance (40 years old and above) | Less than 20% |
| Implementation rate of specific health guidance (40 years old and above) | 55% or higher |
| Health check-up attendance rate for lifestyle diseases (40 years old and above) | 100% |
| Attendance rate for gynecological health check-ups (all ages) | 50% |
| Percentage of individuals who walk or engage in equivalent or greater physical activity for at least 60 minutes daily | 70% |
| Percentage of individuals who engage in exercise at least 2 times a week over a year, with each session lasting 30 minutes or more | 50% |
| Smoking rate | Less than 12% |
| Percentage of individuals with high stress levels | Decrease from the previous year |
Investment in Health
The total investment of domestic operating companies for periodic medical checkups, subsidies for lifestyle-related disease screening, workplace stress surveys, occupational health nurses, and e-learning on health was approximately 92 million yen in FY2021, 94 million yen in FY2022, 94 million yen in FY2023, 94.5 million yen in FY2024, and 94 million yen in FY2025.
The data shown are historical and are provided to help understand medium- to long-term trends. However, due to changes in the scope of business, simple comparisons between fiscal years may not be possible.
Changes in the Amount of Labor Loss
Year-over-year labor loss per employee of domestic operating companies is calculated from the sum of absenteeism and presenteeism. The amount decreased by about 97,000 yen in 2022, decreased by about 30,000 yen in 2023, and increased by about 2,600 yen in 2024. In 2025, the loss amount decreased by 14,600 yen year-on-year as a result of a 0.4% decrease in presenteeism and an increase of 0.4 days/person in absenteeism. (The labor loss amount is calculated assuming an average salary of 5 million yen.)
The data shown are historical and are provided to help understand medium- to long-term trends. However, due to changes in the scope of business, simple comparisons between fiscal years may not be possible.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses per member of Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association (including dependents) was 151,955 yen in 2021, 162,800 yen in 2022, 172,115 yen in 2023, and 183,934 yen in 2024 (Health Scoring Report, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
TOPICS
Sapporo Group, Certified as an excellent health management corporation
In 2026, under the large corporation category, Sapporo Holdings (now SAPPORO BREWERIES) and POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverage were recognized as “White 500” companies, while SAPPORO LION was certified as an Excellent Health Management Corporation.
In the small- and medium-sized enterprise category, two Group companies—Sapporo Field Marketing and IWATA POKKA Foods—were recognized as “Bright 500” companies, and Yasuma received the “Next Bright 1000” recognition. In addition, Sapporo Group Logistics was also certified as an Excellent Health Management Corporation.
- ★ Sapporo Holdings (now SAPPORO BREWERIES) (recognized for 10 consecutive years: White 500 from 2017 to 2026, Health and Productivity Stock Selection in 2025)
- ★ POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverage (recognized for 9 consecutive years: White 500 from 2018 to 2026)
- ★ Sapporo Lion (recognized for 9 consecutive years from 2018 to 2026): White 500 for 3 consecutive years from 2018 to 2020)
- ★ Yasuma (recognized for 10 consecutive years from 2017 to 2026: Bright 500 in 2021, Next Bright 1000 in 2025 and 2026)
- ★ Sapporo Field Marketing (recognized for 4 consecutive years: Bright 500 from 2023 to 2026)
- ★ Sapporo Group Logistics (recognized for 3 consecutive years: Bright 500 from 2024 to 2025)
- ★ Iwata Pokka Foods First Certified as Bright 500 in 2026
The Sapporo Group is promoting various initiatives to improve the health of its employees. These include the development of a follow-up system after regular health checkups in cooperation with industrial physicians; the development of health promotion measures unique to each workplace; and activities to improve the workplace environment by utilizing the results of stress check group analysis. Furthermore, initiatives such as smoking cessation measures in cooperation with health insurance associations, measures to improve participation in lifestyle-related disease checkups, and campaigns to promote exercise and healthy eating habits are also being implemented. The recognition this time was granted in appreciation of the Group's strategic approach to stakeholder health issues from a management perspective.
The Sapporo Group continues to make further efforts to improve the wellbeing of its stakeholders.
Regular Health Check-ups
At the Sapporo Group, so that our employees can work healthily and safely, every year we hold regular health check-ups for our employees in line with the Industrial Safety and Health Law; for employees at high risk of developing health-related issues, occupational physicians, public health nurses, and other health care workers provide individualized aftercare. 100% of our employees take the regular health check-ups, and 100% of employees requiring emergency treatment participate in follow-up treatment.
Dental Health
Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association provides an environment for free dental checkups. Furthermore, educational materials and videos on the impact of periodontal diseases on systemic health are available on the intranet.
Lifestyle-Related Health Check-ups (Cancer Screening)
The Sapporo Group believes that prevention and early detection of serious illnesses are important issues to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism. In addition to lifestyle-related disease checkups (cancer checkups) for all employees aged 35 and over, we offer gynecological checkups for female employees aged 34 and younger, which lead to early detection of cancer.
The Sapporo Group has set a goal of 100% of employees aged 40 and over receiving health checkups for lifestyle-related diseases and 50% of female employees (of all ages) receiving gynecological checkups by 2026. To promote the medical checkups, the Group companies and Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association subsidize a certain amount of the medical checkup fee. For gynecological checkups, we subsidize and recommend checkups for all ages. Starting in 2021, the subsidy for gynecological checkups for those aged 34 and younger has been increased to encourage younger employees to receive the checkups. The time taken for the gynecological checkups is treated as working hours, the same as for regular checkups. The importance of cancer screening is regularly communicated, and those who have not yet been screened are repeatedly encouraged to do so by the administration office, labor and health management personnel in each area, and their supervisors. We are also working to make improvements, such as increasing the number of medical facilities available for checkups.
As a result, the average medical checkup rate for all Group employees aged 40 and over in FY2022 was 83%, up approximately 9% from FY2021, 84% in FY2023, and 86% in FY2024. The gynecological checkup rate has improved year after year to reach 59% for all ages in FY2024, exceeding the KPI of 50% since FY2023. However, the medical checkup rate for those aged 34 and younger is still low, 38%, and needs to be addressed.
The Group will continue to aim to improve the medical checkup rate for early detection of serious diseases through initiatives, such as encouraging those who have not yet made appointments to receive medical checkups, providing lectures by gynecologists and e-learning programs, holding events to share experiences of cancer survivors, and disseminating scientifically based information on the intranet.
Maintaining and Promoting Mental Health
To promote employees' mental health and stability, the Sapporo Group carries out stress checks every year and provides consultations by occupational physicians, clinical psychologists, public health nurses, and other experts. The Group has also established an in-house health nurse consultation service for employees with health concerns, a third-party consultation service available 24 hours a day for employees and their families, and a third-party service for consultation available through the Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association website so that various consultations from employees can be accepted by phone or via internet.
The Group has conducted a survey that integrated three previous surveys: employee awareness survey, stress check, and health survey. Through a combined analysis that includes the causal relationship between the survey results, environmental factors, and lifestyle habits, we develop and implement various measures to create a better workplace environment.
As preventive measures for mental illness, seminars on self-care, awareness of line care, and mindfulness are conducted. In addition, materials and videos of study sessions are available on the intranet regarding the relationship between exercise habits, healthy eating habits and mental health, and the importance of healthy behaviors to compensate for reduced physical activity due to telework. The percentage of individuals experiencing high stress, which had been increasing since 2021, decreased from 9.1% in 2023 to 8.9% in 2024 and 8.1% in 2025.
No-Smoking Strategies
Smoking has a significant impact on health and labor productivity not only for the smoker themselves but also for second-hand smokers. The Sapporo Group regards smoking control as a priority issue and is continuously working on it.
In 2019, we began closing smoking areas on Swan Day (the 22nd day of every month; Swan Day is a monthly no-smoking day promoted by the Tobacco Control Medical-Dental Research Network). We have also implemented a smoking ban during working hours at our business companies since January 2022. Smoking areas were eliminated in the Sapporo Group Head Office building in July 2020, and company cars used by sales departments became smoke-free in January 2021.
The Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association offers fully subsidized online smoking cessation programs and a new cashback program for smoking cessation outpatient to those who wish to participate, strengthening its smoking cessation efforts.
Study sessions based on scientific evidence, such as the risks of passive smoking and the effects of smoking cessation, are held for health management personnel and health ambassadors, and materials and videos are shared and utilized within the Group. Smoking rates have decreased annually since 2017, but the slowdown in the decline since 2023 is a matter to be addressed. We held a seminar for directors and executives on the importance of non-smoking and workplace health culture in 2023 and have distributed the video. Approximately 80% of respondents to the post-survey indicated that the seminar was helpful. We have also begun surveying the usage of new tobacco products and are disseminating the latest information on the risks of passive smoking from these products. Since 2024, we have been conducting individual approaches to smokers who indicated their will to quit smoking in the questionnaire.
We will further promote anti-smoking measures to achieve the mid-term plan target of 12% or less by 2026.
The Sapporo Group's Efforts to Prevent Serious Illnesses
- The Sapporo Group established the criteria for those requiring immediate treatment (red card) as part of its measures to protect employees' life in the 2017 Health Management. By thoroughly recommending medical examinations to subject persons, their reexamination rate has achieved almost 100% every year.
- From a preventive perspective, we also encourage those requiring further medical screening to undergo reexamination, but their reexamination rate has not yet reached 100% and needs to be improved. In the mid-term plan starting from 2023, we have set a goal of achieving a 100% reexamination rate for the target group and are reinforcing the recommendation for medical checkups.
- For specific health guidance, uniform motivational support is provided to those in their 30s who are at a level that requires specific health guidance, in addition to subject persons specified by the government. We strive to prevent lifestyle-related diseases by taking early actions to young people.
- To increase the participation rate of specific health guidance, we have switched some of responsible personnel to Group health nurses. The overall participation rate of the Group's Health Insurance Association was 34.6% in FY2021, 38.6% in FY2022, 37.1% in FY2023, and 40.8% in FY2024. Aiming to achieve the KPI of 55% by 2026, we will continue to increase the participation rate and reduce the number of subject persons.
- To prevent serious illnesses, Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association offers a free lifestyle improvement program to high-risk persons with diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases.
Promoting Women's Health
The Sapporo Group offers e-learning programs on women's health, seminars by gynecologists, and educational activities for those who are eligible for checkups to reduce presenteeism, promote gynecological checkups, and create a workplace where everyone is considerate of each other.
In the post-questionnaire for the gynecologist seminar, the total percentage of respondents who were very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the seminar was approximately 90% in 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 2025, we held seminars and produced videos focusing on female and male menopause, preconception care, and creating comfortable workplaces. Approximately 90% of participants reported being very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the seminars.
Materials, videos, and information on Chinese herbal medicine related to male menopause as well as female menopause and preconception care are also available on the intranet.
To enhance health literacy and strengthen workplace health support, we are also distributing materials on Sapporo Health Management for managers and materials to promote healthy behaviors for all employees.
Participation rate of women's health promotion programs
| Managers' participation rate in seminars (%) | Employees' participation rate in e-learning (%) | Participation rate of programs targeting women only (%) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | |
| Sapporo Breweis | 91 | 91 | 95 | 92 | 67 | 77 | 79 | 76 | 86 | 100 |
| Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage | 91 | 92 | 89 | 87 | 68 | 60 | 77 | 68 | 67 | 100 |
| Sapporo Lion | 25 | 70 | 15 | 11 | 30 | 35 | 78 | 73 | 53 | 77 |
Improving Health Literacy through E-learning
We provide e-learning opportunities for executives and employees on subjects such as women's health, diet, nutrition, drinking, smoking, hay fever, stiff shoulders and headaches.
Measures to Promote Healthier Behavior Habits
Daily lifestyle habits are closely related not only to mental and physical health and presenteeism, but also to future healthy life expectancy. The Sapporo Group is developing participatory programs to create opportunities for employees to adopt healthy behavior habits and to improve their health literacy.
While the percentage of people who have exercise habits has been increasing year by year, the way of working has been changing, such as the increase in telecommuting. Under such circumstances, we need to correctly communicate the seriousness of the health effects of reduced physical activity and to improve health awareness and behavior. We are widely encouraging employees to increase daily physical activity and participate in exercise programs, considering exercise habits as a key issue. Sapporo Breweries Health Insurance Association sponsors a walking campaign (twice a year).
Total number of participants in walking campaigns held in spring and fall
- 2022 (spring and autumn): 1,900
- 2023 (spring and autumn): 2,077
- 2024 (spring and autumn): 2,404
- 2025 (spring and autumn): 2,147
Lifestyle Habit Improvement Challenge Campaign
Every year in September, during the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 'Health Awareness Month' and 'Healthy Eating Promotion Campaign Month,' we hold the 'Lifestyle Habit Improvement Challenge Campaign' Materials on the health benefits of diet, exercise, proper drinking, and smoking cessation are distributed to executives and employees across the entire Group, and they participate by selecting one course they wish to make a habit of. To enhance communication, each organization participates in teams.
Number of Sapporo Group executives and employees participated
- 2022: 3,730
- 2023: 4,100 (24 Group companies)
- 2024: 3,924 (20 Group companies)
- 2025: 3,650 (17 Group companies)
In FY2024, participants selected one of eight courses. The breakdown of their course selections was 50.4% for the exercise habits course, 49.0% for the dietary habits course, and 0.6% for the smoking cessation course. In the post-campaign survey for FY2024, 80% of respondents answered that their health awareness had "increased" or "somewhat increased" and about 85% said they were able to carry out the program 3 to 5 days a week or more. The survey showed that being a topic of workplace conversation may be correlated with health awareness and behavior.
We continue efforts for improving health literacy and promoting mental and physical health by holding lectures for Group employees, disseminating health information based on scientific evidence on the intranet, and raising health awareness on the health insurance association's website and in the association's newsletter. As a result of these efforts, the percentage of employees in the Sapporo Group who have a habit of exercising for at least 30 minutes a day, twice a week, and the amount of daily physical activity for 60 minutes has been increasing. From 2023, we are providing information on self-checks for locomotive syndrome, awareness-raising on preventive measures for future muscle weakness and frailty that can be taken while in office, and good practice examples of health from Group companies.
Since 2023, we have been annually informing Sapporo Group managers responsible for creating healthy workplaces about the relationship between work engagement, presenteeism, absenteeism, lifestyle habits, stress checks, and employee awareness surveys, as well as the importance of supportive communication within the organization, under the Sapporo health management initiative. We will continue to share the analysis results, which integrate periodic health checkups, stress checks, and employee awareness survey results, while strengthening dialogue within each workplace and implementing PDCA cycles that will lead to the next measures.
Initiatives for Proper Drinking Practices
The Sapporo Group has established the Basic Policy and Action Guideline for Proper Drinking and is working to prevent drinking under the age of 20, holding seminars on proper drinking for university students and companies, and thoroughly enforcing regulations on advertising, publicity, and product labeling.
- To promote responsible drinking, Sapporo Holdings offers an annual e-learning program for employees of Sapporo Breweries and Sapporo Breweries Group companies. The participation rate was 98.5% in 2021, 99.9% in 2022 and 99.7% in 2023. In 2024, the target of this program was expanded to all Group companies in Japan. The participation rate was 99.5% in 2024, and 99.4% in 2025.
- The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), an annual alcohol consumption survey is conducted for directors and employees of Sapporo Holdings and its operating companies to provide an opportunity for them to learn about their own alcohol consumption. Approximately 3,000 responded in FY2021, 3,300 in FY2022, 3,300 in FY2023, 3,200 in FY2024, and 3,030 in 2025 in the AUDIT.
- Study sessions on proper drinking are held for health ambassadors, and lecture videos are used to promote proper drinking. Videos are also created and utilized for public health nurses and other alcohol sobriety counselors.
Membership in the Kenko Kigyokai
The Kenko Kigyokai (corporate wellness association) promotes corporate health management activities beyond corporate boundaries by sharing issues and solutions to promote corporate health management. SAPPORO HOLDINGS (now SAPPORO BREWERIES) is a member of the Kenko Kigyokai and takes active part in its activities. In 2023, we presented Sapporo Group's health management efforts at a case study reporting session. We are exchanging opinions with member companies on examples of our own health management initiatives. We will continue to strive for both corporate health management and social well-being.
Health Support for Supply Chain and Other Companies
For the supply chain, the Supplier Sustainability Procurement Guidelines are established to aim a healthier and more prosperous society through two-way communication with suppliers and collaborative efforts to address sustainability, including the health of employees.
- Health support for other companies: Members certified as Health Management Expert Advisors provide health management support (including explaining its significance, setting challenges, sharing know-how, and assisting with applications for the Health Management Excellence Certification) not only within the Sapporo Group but also to other companies (of manufacturing, service industries, etc.).
- Responsible Drinking Awareness Seminars: Held free of charge for universities and companies since 2015. In 2025, we conducted a total of 18 seminars for companies (approx. 1,100 participants) and 7 seminars for universities (approx. 500 participants).
Sapporo Breweries Health Management Initiatives
Sapporo Breweries Health Creation Declarationy
- Initiatives to promote health of employees, who are the bearers of businesses, are implemented, which in turn leads to the Company's growth.
- Healthy employees contribute to the physical and mental well-being and health of all stakeholders through the business areas of "Alcoholic Beverages," "Food," and "Soft Drinks."
- Actively pursuing health management will create an attractive workplace and leads to sustainability as a company.
President and Representative Director of Sapporo Breweries Limited,
Health Management Promotion Officer of the Sapporo Group Hiroshi Tokimatsu
- Sapporo Breweries promotes health and productivity management based on the Sapporo Group’s Health and Productivity Management Policy and Health and Productivity Management Strategy Map.
The direction of all company health and safety practices are based on the Sapporo Breweries Health Creation Declarationy and constituted as the "Health and Safety Activity Guidance" by the labor and management.
Health and safety activity plans are annually constituted and implemented at each company in accordance with the above Guidance for the health and safety of all employees and zero occupational and traffic accidents. Activities are reviewed by reflecting on the past six months.
In the event of an occupational accident, confirmation of the accident status at occurrence, identifying causes and proposal of measures are swiftly implemented across the organization, to prevent similar hazards in other business operations.
Initiatives and statuses are shared regularly at the "Safety and Health Committee", which consists of representatives from the company and the labor union, and discussions are made to ensure proper implementation of the Health and Safety Activity Guidance.
The 2026 Health and Safety Activity Guidance
- Based on the "Health and Safety First" motto, continued health and safety activities will be promoted in workplaces and branch offices to "ensure workplace health and safety and to create an environment where all colleagues can work safely and healthily, and maximize their potential." Furthermore, the purpose and initiatives of safety and health activities will be widely shared with employees to enhance their awareness toward health and safety in workplaces and branch offices.
- Promotion of 5S and its activities will be developed as a foundation for health and safety.
- Basically, workplaces and branch offices will take the initiative in identifying actual conditions, including Hiyari Hatto (near-misses), analyzing trends, and devising ways to address these issues. Furthermore, active provision of information and reminders will be implemented throughout the company, not only in workplaces and branch offices but also in cooperation with the head office and headquarters, to enhance awareness within the organization and between each employee.
- Health and safety meetings in workplaces and branch offices will be held regularly to share and deliberate various measures with the goal of enhancing initiatives.
- Health and safety activities in all workplaces will be promoted, between Sapporo employees and in all related and cooperative company employees as well.
- In the event of an occupational accident, thorough deliberation will be made between workplaces and branch offices to propose countermeasures. These countermeasures will be implemented without fail to prevent recurrences. Horizontal networking will be conducted between workplaces to prevent recurrences in other locations.
- Initiatives to prevent occupational accidents as well as accidents during commuting will be promoted, with the aim of achieving zero work-related accidents.
- Initiatives toward occupational health issues will be actively implemented to maintain and enhance physical health. Furthermore, other issues such as that in mental health will continue to be addressed with cooperation from industrial physicians, public health nurses, and EAP companies.
System for Safety and Health Management
- Monthly meetings
- Quarterly reviews
We aim for zero workplace injuries and traffic accidents.
Even before stress checks were made mandatory, Sapporo Breweries utilized EAP services from specialized external organizations to provide care for the mental health of its employees. As such, the company practices care activities from two angles: "self-care," which is carried out by the employees themselves, and "line care," which is implemented by workplace managers. With regard to self-care, training takes place for employees once a year, during which they are encouraged to carry out self-diagnosis, recognize the symptoms of stress, and understand how to cope with them.
Line-Care Study Sessions for management level employees, and regional operation site observations by special external staff have been conducted.
Mental health care will continue to be promoted within the company with help from in-house and external collaborators for a lively and comfortable workplace and to maintain the mental health of each employee.
- EAP (Employee Assistance Program): An employee support program to improve and maintain corporate productivity and spirit by aiding mental health care in the workplace through early stress detection and issue-resolving programs.
Sapporo Breweries (Priority Initiatives in Health Management)
In Sapporo Breweries' health management efforts, the goal is for each individual to be mentally, physically, and socially healthy in order to address management challenges and achieve sustainable growth. To reduce presenteeism and absenteeism and enhance performance such as work engagement, we are prioritizing initiatives to foster a healthy workplace environment that strengthens social capital. This includes promoting population-based approaches focused on improving lifestyle habits like exercise routines, enhancing communication, reducing the proportion of high-stress employees, and enriching personal lives through work.
Sapporo Breweries (Priority Initiatives in Health Management): Health Management Key Goal Indicators for 2026
- Work engagement deviation score of 56.0 or higher
- Presenteeism rate of 33.0% or lower
- Support from colleagues/others of 55.0 or higher
Initiatives to Promote Workplace Communication and Support the Growth of Members
In 2017, Sapporo Breweries launched the "Work Style Reform 2020" and has been implementing reforms to enable more flexible and productive work styles. Since then, in line with the diversification of work styles, such as teleworking and internal/external side jobs, we have been striving for autonomous work styles, work styles that achieve results through teamwork, and work styles that provide a high quality of work-life balance. In 2022, we started "Sapporo Workstyle" based on the concept of "face-to-face interaction" regardless of whether employees come to work or telework. To promote understanding of this concept, and to improve presenteeism and absenteeism, we are conducting training for managers and employees, creating environments that facilitate communication, and strengthening efforts to support mental health.
Interactive Training for Managers and Employees
From 2021 to 2023, we conducted training on psychological safety, improving the quality of one-on-one meetings, and unconscious bias for managers, achieving a 100% participation rate. After the training, the managers rolled out the content to their respective workplaces, working to establish a foundation where everyone can feel secure and fully demonstrate their capabilities.
Additionally, we are strongly promoting 'supportive management,' which focuses on closely supporting the growth of each diverse employee. Feedback training and inclusive leadership training are provided for managers. Starting in FY2023, the following programs have been implemented as part of the Management Development Measures for managers.
- Feedback training: Communicating uncomfortable truths to rebuild teams and workplaces with subordinates (2023-2026, ongoing)
- "Growth-driven dialogue": Cultivating self-directed members and supportive managers through 1-on-1 coaching (2024-2026, ongoing)
- Vision communication training: Developing the skill to translate strategy into impactful language for teams (started in 2025)
- Manager training for diverse leadership development: Promoting women's advancement (2024–2026, ongoing)
- Leadership training for achieving DE&I -- Inclusive leadership program (started in 2025, ongoing in 2026)
Additionally, training support tools for managers with junior employees have been introduced starting in 2024.
Creating an Environment to Promote Communication
In the online environment, we are actively using IT tools from daily conversations to cross-organizational communication and have implemented a Thanks Point system to express gratitude to each other. In addition, we provide internal communication expenses with the aim of strengthening communication between supervisors and subordinates and improving the human resource development of our members. To realize our management philosophy and vision, we recognize exciting initiatives and actions that embody our code of conduct "Let's KAITAKU" and encourage the entire Company. The awards are presented horizontally on the intranet to promote behavioral change among employees and thereby lead to business growth.
As a result of these efforts, 82% of respondents to the 2024 in-house survey answered that they were aware of collaboration with team members, and they were able or somewhat able to practice actions to achieve overall team goals and major results that cannot be achieved alone.
Strengthening Initiatives for Mental Health Maintenance and Improvement
Since 2023, Sapporo Breweries has increased the number of industrial physicians specializing in mental health, raised awareness of third-party organizations and internal consultation services, promoted consultations from managers to occupational health staff, and facilitated the exchange of opinions between various organizations.
In addition to line care and self-care, we hold monthly mindfulness workshops to reduce the proportion of high-stress and at-risk employees. Based on analysis results, we provide scientifically grounded information on improving sleep and rest, increasing physical activity, and the role of diet in preventing and alleviating depression. The mental toughness score (deviation value), which was found to be associated with work engagement, improved year-over-year: 55.4 in 2022 → 55.9 in 2023 → 55.7 in 2024 → 56.0 in 2025.
- Percentage of high-stress employees: 5.9% (2022) → 6.4% (2023) → 6.6% (2024) →6.0%(2025)
- Percentage of employees requiring caution: 8.9% (2022) → 8.2% (2023) → 7.6% (2024) →10.3%(2025)
- Fulfillment in personal life through work (deviation value): 55.1 (2022) → 55.3 (2023) → 55.3 (2024) → 56.0 (2025)
Since 2020, the deviation scores of the communication indicators, such as support from those around us and the environment/situation at the company and work, have improved for four consecutive years until 2023. However, in 2024 and 2025, they remained nearly the same as the previous year. Going forward, Sapporo Breweries will aim to provide support that encourages autonomous action and strengthen social capital through enhanced communication.
Creating an Environment That Enriches Both Work and Personal Life
Enhancing work-life balance is fundamental for each employee to thrive and contributes to reducing presenteeism and absenteeism, as well as increasing engagement. Sapporo Breweries is implementing initiatives to promote work-life balance, such as encouraging the use of paid leave and reducing overtime hours. Additionally, we have introduced systems that facilitate taking leave for childcare, caregiving, and medical treatment, conducted training to foster understanding among managers and general employees, established consultation services, and provided information.
Promoting Paternity Leave
Recognizing that the rate of male employees taking paternity leave is low and that the average duration of paternity leave taken is short, Sapporo Breweries continuously promoted the following initiatives. As a result, the company achieved its target of 100% for the rate of male employees taking paternity leave in FY2023. The rate was 94% in FY2024. The average duration of paternity leave taken has also increased from 19 days in FY2022 to 32 days in FY2023, and to 37 days in FY2024.
- The Director of Human Resources and General Affairs sends an "Congratulations on the Birth of Your Child" email to eligible male employees and their supervisors, recommending the taking of paternity leave.
- Eligible male employees receive a "Childcare Support Guidebook," which facilitates early preparation for taking paternity leave through income simulations and a system for reporting their partner's pregnancy.
- Necessary information for taking paternity leave has been gathered and published on the intranet, along with experiences from male employees who have taken paternity leave, providing various essential information for childcare.
Training for managers on paternity leave for men had a participation rate of 96.8% in 2023, 100% in 2024, and 100% in 2025. - A consultation service for employees planning to take paternity leave has also been established.
- To create a system enabling employees to take leave without worry, a "Workplace Support Points System for Leave" was introduced in FY2024. This system visualizes the contribution of employees who support colleagues on childcare leave and adds this contribution to their evaluation points.
These initiatives have been recognized, and Sapporo Breweries was selected as a "Next Nadeshiko: Companies Supporting Dual-career and Co-parenting" for two consecutive years in FY2023 and FY2024. Additionally, in the analysis of stress checks and employee awareness surveys, the deviation value for "Fulfillment in Personal Life Due to Work" showed a positive correlation with highly engaged employees and a negative correlation with high-stress employees. This deviation value has shown an upward trend from 2020 to 2025.
Moving forward, the company will continue to work on creating an environment that makes it easier for male employees to take paternity leave, aiming to maintain the uptake rate and promote longer durations of leave.
Support for Balancing Work and Caregiving
Caregiving can lead to increased presenteeism and decreased performance, such as reduced work engagement, which may contribute to a higher likelihood of leaving the workforce. Sapporo Breweries has established a specialized site on the intranet that includes videos about caregiving and a consultation service. However, despite holding annual seminars to prepare for caregiving, participation has been low, and caregivers often tend to struggle alone with their challenges. Therefore, the company recognizes the need to create an environment that encourages open discussions about caregiving.
Starting in 2023, the company created opportunities within management training to learn about caregiving. In 2024, training was also conducted for both managers and general employees, with over 90% participation.
- Management Training on Caregiving: 96.8% in 2023, 100% in 2024, 100% in 2025
- General Employee Training on Caregiving: 45.9% in 2023, 99.9% in 2024, 99.7% in 2025
In 2024, Sapporo Breweries began producing videos featuring caregiving professionals, aimed at encouraging discussions about caregiving between managers and general employees in each workplace. Moving forward, the company will continue to promote support for balancing work and caregiving, with the goal of achieving zero caregiving-related resignations.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of employees taking paternity leave | % | 68 | 78 | 80 | 81 | 114 | 93 | 100 |
| Average number of days of paternity leave | Days | 9 | 9 | 8 | 19 | 32 | 37 | 49 |
| Number of employees taking nursing care leave | Employees | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Fulfillment of personal life through work | Deviation value | 54.6 | 55.8 | 55.8 | 56.0 | 56.2 | 56.3 |
Improving Workplace Environments
The Sapporo Group is working to improve lifestyle habits in the workplace, including exercise, diet, sleep, proper drinking, and smoking cessation, with the aim of extending healthy life expectancy in old age, as well as preventing lifestyle-related diseases and improving mental health during the period of employment.
In-house surveys have shown that an organization's physical activity rate, percentage of people who exercise, and smoking rates correlate with organizational work engagement, presenteeism, and other factors. We consider these items as important indicators of not only individual well-being but also organizational performance improvement and place a high priority on the improvement and enhancement of them.
Sapporo Breweries has been developing measures to "improve health literacy" and "make healthy habits" so that each employee can take healthy actions autonomously.
As a result, since launching the health management in 2017, the percentage of people who exercise at least two days a week and the cancer screening rate have increased, and the smoking rate has decreased. The company's efforts have led to awareness and action to improve lifestyle. For further improvement, Sapporo Breweries strives to change the behavior of those who are indifferent to health and those who are aware of health improvement but are not yet ready to take action. The company is also strengthening its efforts to make the workplace environment healthier to support employees' health behavior by increasing health words in the workplace and communication among familiar members.
Strengthening the Promotion System
- Starting in 2023, the company aims to establish a system where all executives can manage workplace health, under the banner of "Sapporo Health Management." This includes raising awareness about the relationship between performance indicators and lifestyle habits (based on internal survey data analysis) and the importance of increasing employees' health behaviors.
- Since 2020, health ambassadors have been appointed to increase the use of health-related terminology in the workplace. Each year, four study sessions are held, with approximately 90 to 100 participants from Sapporo Breweries joining online for each session. Materials and videos from these study sessions are made available for anyone to view and utilize from the archive. Understanding of the study sessions, desired topics to share with others, and actions employees wish to take are reviewed through follow-up surveys to improve future sessions. In 2024, a total of 351 persons participated online in study sessions on four themes: body fat, blood pressure, fatigue, and immunity. In 2025, study sessions were held on the themes of dyslipidemia, adjustment disorder, low back pain / stiff shoulders, and aging. Videos and materials from the past 24 study sessions are available for all employees to view at any time, in addition to being shared in the workplace.
Efforts to Improve Participation Rates
To increase participation in health measures, various health programs have been developed. In addition to the Human Resources and General Affairs Department, personnel in charge at each site, organizational managers, health management staff, area health nurses, and health ambassadors are all working to encourage employees to join these programs. Participation rates have been increasing through close communication as follows:
The company has conducted various exercise initiatives. These include participatory web-based walking events, lifestyle improvement challenge campaigns (exercise-related courses), app-based step count events, seminars on the relationship between muscle strength and healthy lifespan, and on performance and physical activity, grip strength measurement events, awareness raising of age-friendly guidelines, and locomotion function checks. For dietary initiatives, the company offers lifestyle improvement challenge campaigns (diet-related courses), seminars on diet and nutrition, and events aimed at improving eating habits.
- Total number of participants in health insurance association-sponsored web walking events (based on original registration) for spring and fall combined:
1,198 in 2022 → 1,254 in 2023: → 1,338 in 2024. Starting in 2023, step counting events linked to health apps are also held concurrently in both spring and fall.
- Lifestyle Improvement Challenge Campaign (participants choose one course from exercise, diet, responsible drinking, or quitting smoking):
Number of participants: 1,500 in 2020 → 1,650 in 2021 → 1,670 in 2022 → 1,760 in 2023 → 1,800 in 2024 → 1,760 in 2025
In the post-campaign survey in 2024, 80% of respondents indicated that their health awareness had increased or somewhat increased.
- Proper Drinking e-Learning: More than 99% of Sapporo Breweries employees took the course in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024, and 2025.
- Lifestyle-related disease screening rate (for individuals aged 40 and above): 84% in 2020 → 91% in 2021 → 93% in 2022 → 94% in 2023 → 95% in 2024 (KPI target: 100% by 2026).
- Gynecological Checkup Rate (all ages): 63% in FY2023, 58% in FY2024 (KPI for all ages in FY2026: 50% Achievement)
- Participation Rates for Women's Health Initiatives
Seminar viewing for managerial position: 61% in 2021 → 91% in 2022 → 91% in 2023 → 94% in 2024 → 89% in 2025
e-learning on women's health for all employees: 61% in 2021 → 67% in 2022 → 77% in 2023 → 78% in 2024 → 57% in 2025
Promotion measures for gynecological checkups for women only: 86% in 2024 → 99% in 2025 - Participation Rate in Exercise Programs (Executives and Employees): 56% in 2022 → 58% in 2023 → 90.8% in 2024 → 94% in 2025
- Participation Rate in Dietary Programs (Executives and Employees): 40% in 2022 → 40% in 2023 → 82% in 2024 → 91% in 2025
These efforts resulted in a 6% increase in the percentage of physical activity, a 5% increase in the percentage of people with exercise habits, and a 1% decrease in the smoking rate from 2022 to 2025.
Focusing on promoting exercise programs as a priority issue, we have established organizational goals for promoting exercise programs starting in 2024 and are working to improve participation rates in initiatives and foster behavioral changes. We were certified as Sports Yell Company for 2025 as a company that holds regular exercise programs, such as the health insurance association-sponsored web walking events and the Lifestyle Improvement Challenge Campaign.
A slowing decline in the smoking rate is a challenge. In the 2024 tobacco control measures, we have set annual smoking rate targets at each location and are implementing initiatives such as raising awareness about the harms of new types of tobacco and holding consultations with public health nurses. Additionally, we are conducting surveys on smokers' intentions to quit and providing personalized approaches.
In 2025, we held tobacco seminars for all smokers, with 64% of smokers attending. The smoking rate, which remained unchanged for three years until 2024, decreased by 1% in 2025. Moving forward, we will continue to accelerate efforts to foster a healthy workplace culture to achieve the various KPIs for 2026.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 KPI | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of smokers | % | 22 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 12 |
| Percentage of those who exercise at least 30 minutes a day (2 days a week or more) | % | 34 | 37 | 35 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 50 |
| Percentage of those who walk or engage in equivalent or greater physical activity for at least 60 minutes daily | % | 52 | 52 | 54 | 56 | 58 | 60 | 70 |
Prevention of Serious Illnesses
To improve the performance of each individual, which leads to job satisfaction and motivation for living, it is necessary to promote "mental and physical health care" through both the population approach to increase the number of physically active people and those with exercise habits and to decrease the smoking rate, and the high-risk approach to prevent serious illnesses that can save lives. The introduction of a health management system allows employees to check the results of their own health checkups, and is used to visualize health issues.
Reexamination of those requiring immediate treatment and those requiring further medical screening
In accordance with the uniform criteria of the Sapporo Group for red cards indicating immediate treatment and further medical screening, 100% of the identified individuals are encouraged to undergo follow-up medical examinations.
For those who are eligible for immediate treatment, the health nurses provide detailed support until they undergo reexamination, and a 100% reexamination rate has been achieved every year. We also provide ongoing support to past subject persons to ensure that they do not become eligible for immediate treatment again. We will continue to provide careful support, aiming to achieve a 100% follow-up examination rate for those requiring further medical screening.
Improving the participation rate of specific health guidance
In 2024, in order to further improve the implementation rate, internalization efforts were expanded. As a result, in FY2023, specific health guidance achieved a 100% implementation rate in some areas, while regional disparities emerged, with some areas experiencing a decline compared to the previous year. In FY2024, Sapporo Breweries will strengthen collaboration between the health insurance association and workplace representatives, aiming to achieve an implementation rate of over 55% by FY2026.
Reducing the number of those eligible for specific health guidance
The percentage of Sapporo Breweries' employees eligible for specific health guidance (aged 40 and over) in FY2022 was 26.5%, which is high compared to KPI 20% in 2026, and reducing the percentage of those eligible is also an issue to be addressed.
Sapporo Breweries is working to encourage early screening at the minor disease stage and promote physical activity and exercise habits that lead to prevention and recovery, as well as to improve health literacy.
To promote exercise habits, we have started implementing radio calisthenics at the headquarters building this year.
Through activities such as medical examination recommendations, in-house provision of specific health guidance, information dissemination at health and safety committee meetings, and prevention of heavy drinking, the number of those eligible in FY2023 was also reduced by 1.3% from the previous year. However, it increased by 0.7% in FY2024. Alongside promoting exercise habits and daily physical activity, the company is also conducting awareness campaigns regarding lifestyle rhythms, such as how skipping breakfast and late-night eating and drinking are related to obesity risk.
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 KPI | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of those eligible for specific health guidance (40 years and older) | % | 29.8 | 31.3 | 29.1 | 28.4 | 27.3 | 26.5 | 25.2 | 25.9 | 20.2 | 20.0 |
| Implementation rate of specific health guidance | % | 18.5 | 27.4 | 22.5 | 33.5 | 36.4 | 43.0 | 38.6 | 40.1 | 55.0 |
Progress on Health-Related Performance Indicator
Performance Indicators
Work engagement has shown an increase in deviation scores for four consecutive years from 2020 to 2023, with 2024 remaining almost the same as the previous year. In 2025, the score reached 56.1, exceeding the target value of 56. The percentage of employees with high work engagement has increased for five consecutive years since 2020. Presenteeism has also improved for four consecutive years since 2020, but worsened by 0.3% in 2024 and improved by 0.7% in 2025. However, it has not achieved the target of 33%. Sapporo Breweries will analyze contributing factors to drive further improvements and implement the PDCA cycle for key initiatives.
| Number of people surveyed | Response rate | Work engagement (deviation score) | Percentage of employees with high work engagement | Presenteeism (%)* | Absenteeism (days/person)** | Mental toughness level (deviation score) | Support from others (deviation score) | Support from superiors (deviation score) | Environment and situation in the company and work (deviation score) | Perception of the company's health support initiatives (POS*) (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2526 | 94.5% | 54.7 | 22.1% | 36.4 | 0.2 | 54.8 | 53.2 | 52.9 | 54.6 | - |
| 2021 | 2372 | 98.4% | 55.2 | 24.0% | 35 | 0.3 | 55.2 | 53.9 | 53.5 | 54.7 | - |
| 2022 | 2393 | 98.0% | 55.3 | 23.9% | 34.1 | 0.3 | 55.4 | 54.5 | 53.9 | 54.8 | - |
| 2023 | 2332 | 97.6% | 55.7 | 24.7% | 33.7 | 0.4 | 55.9 | 54.6 | 53.9 | 55.0 | - |
| 2024 | 2286 | 98.7% | 55.6 | 25.9% | 34.1 | 0.4 | 55.7 | 54.6 | 54.0 | 55.0 | 85% |
| 2025 | 2194 | 99.7% | 56.1 | 27.1% | 33.4 | 0.4 | 56.0 | 54.5 | 53.8 | 55.1 | 87% |
- The deviation scores are calculated based on data collected over a specific period from companies and organizations participating in the survey by the research firm. Work engagement is measured using the research firm's own methodology.
- * Presenteeism (labor loss: %) = 100% - Absolute Presenteeism (calculated based on Question 3 of WHO-HPQ (Health and Work Performance Questionnaire))
- ** Absenteeism: The total number of days absent per year at Sapporo Holdings and Sapporo Breweries divided by the number of enrolled employees.
- Sapporo Group targets for 2026: Work engagement of 56.0 or higher, Presenteeism of 33.0% or lower, Support from others of 55.0 or higher
Strengthening Social Capital
Data analysis from stress checks and employee surveys has identified relationships between behaviors related to social capital—such as trust in supervisors and colleagues and cooperative work systems—and work engagement and presenteeism. Starting in 2024, the company introduced a new question in its health support perception survey (POS): "Does the company provide support for employees to lead healthy lives?" The percentage of respondents who answered "strongly agree" or "somewhat agree" increased from 85% of employees in 2024 (84% of men, 88% of women) to 87% in 2025 (86% of men, 90% of women). On the other hand, the slight decline in support from supervisors and colleagues in 2025 compared to the previous year is an issue. Sapporo Breweries will strengthen social capital through supportive management training, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), and implementing workplace health initiatives.
Specific details and actions related to occupational accidents
The three occupational accidents resulting in lost time in 2025 were falling (1), stumbling (1), and getting caught in (1). As a response, Sapporo Breweries verified the conditions in which the accidents occurred and standardized the work process. Information regarding the accidents was immediately shared among all plants, risk assessments were carried out at each workplace to prevent similar accidents from reoccurring, and employee education and training programs are being implemented.
Contributing to health and environment through the breeding technology of Sapporo Breweries
Since its founding in 1876, Sapporo Breweries has been committed to “using only the finest ingredients to make delicious beer“ and has been breeding its own barley and hops.
Using this breeding technology, Sapporo Breweries developed and registered a glutinous edible barley variety called “Mochiriboshi” for Honshu (2011), which is rich in β-glucan, a type of dietary fiber. The company also developed and registered the “Fukei 1103” barley variety for Hokkaido (2018). Due to the high fiber content of these varieties, they can also be an excellent source of dietary fiber as a staple food such as barley rice. Saitama Prefecture, where “Mochiriboshi” is cultivated, was selected as the designated production area for this barley variety (2024).
Experiential Workshop of "Barley and Hops"
“Haruna Nijo” barley, developed by Sapporo Breweries to explore the possibilities of “food” in space, stayed on the International Space Station for five months and returned home. Sapporo Breweries are holding the “Space Classroom,” a hands-on event utilizing the offspring of this “space-traveling barley” at the Gunma Factory. Through the experience of planting seeds, harvesting, and tasting barley tea made from the barley that traveled through space, we continue to nurture children's “dreams for space” (28th event in December 2024). In September 2024, Sapporo Breweries also held the “Space Classroom” at the Raw Material Development Laboratory in Kamifurano.
Furthermore, Shibuya Ward and Sapporo Breweries have signed the “Shibuya Social Action Partnership Agreement (S-SAP)” to collaboratively address regional social issues. In 2025, through collaboration with Nippon Hoiku Service (JP-HOLDINGS Group), they held experiential workshops using barley and hops as materials at two elementary schools within Shibuya Ward.
Health Management Initiatives of Group Companies
- Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage's Health Management Initiatives
- Sapporo Lion's Health Management Initiatives
- Sapporo Field Marketing's Health Management Initiatives
- Sapporo Group Logistics' Health Management Initiatives
- Health Management Initiatives of SAPPORO LOGISTICS SYSTEMS
- YASUMA’s Health Management Initiatives
- Iwata Pokka Foods’ Health Management Initiatives
- Sapporo Group Logistics' White Logistics Initiatives
- Shinseien’s Health Management Initiatives
Initiatives of Overseas Group Companies
Preventing and managing health issues
The Sapporo Group believes employee health to be of the utmost importance and, for this reason, works hard to improve the safety and health, and health literacy of its overseas employees.
Sleeman Breweries Initiatives
- The Health and Safety Committee is convened every month
- The Personnel Department engaged in educational activities regarding health via the company newsletter and other means
- Information on mental health, introduction of consulting organizations, and seminars are provided
- Mentor-ship Program was launched, focusing on maintaining mental health through a mentor-mentee pairing system
Sapporo Stone Initiatives
- Safety committee meetings are held daily at each workplace.
- Set up a mental health awareness month to educate employees about mental health.
- Established a system in which all employees can receive mental health support through external resources.
Sapporo Vietnam Initiatives
- Employees are provided with health insurance as part of company welfare benefits, and all local employees undergo regular health check-ups once a year
- Employees attend lectures presented by health care workers once a year
POKKA Initiatives
- All new employees undergo pre-employment medical check-ups, and health screening is made available for its employees once a year.
- The Personnel Department shares information regarding health
Measures to combat infection
Malaria infects more than 200 million people worldwide every year; tuberculosis infected an estimated 10 million people in 2019, while 1.7 million people were infected with HIV during the same year*. The Sapporo Group recognizes the importance of promoting health on a global scale. At present, in order to reduce the health risks associated with infectious diseases, the Sapporo Group implements a variety of measures not only in Japan but across the world; these measures are outlined below. Going forward, the Group intends to further promote education regarding infectious diseases.
Influenza and COVID-19
- North American businesses of Sapporo Group:
Recommend remote work in both the U.S. and Canada based on each country's policy. - Sapporo Vietnam:
Necessary measures at production sites and offices (including non-plant sites) are left to the voluntary judgment of employees. Basically, employees are asked to assess the current situation and reaffirm measures such as treatment and prevention.
Zika fever and Dengue fever
- POKKA: POKKA shares information regarding the causes and prevention for Zika fever and Dengue fever with its employees.
Tuberculosis
- Sapporo Vietnam: The company carries out regular health check-ups once a year on all its local employees, which include a chest X-ray
Rabies
- Sapporo Vietnam: The company provides rabies vaccinations to non-local employees working in Vietnam
Safety and health activities
- Sleeman Breweries:
Hold the Health and Safety Committee once a month - Sapporo Stone:
Hold monthly safety committee meetings - Sapporo Vietnam (Long An Brewery):
- Hold the Labor Health and Safety Meeting once a month
- Conduct Fire drills twice a year
- POKKA:
- Hold the Safety Committee once a month for risk management and improvement activities,
- Implement a Management Program as part of management's commitment to health and safety,
- Conduct the firefighting and hazardous material spill containment training for employees on the emergency response team,
- Conduct Evacuation drills twice a year
Environmental Sustainability
- POKKA:
- Conducting continuous CSR activities every year
- Past activities; cleaning up waterways, donating essential supplies, supporting urban garden maintenance, participating in blood donation drive, attending environmental sustainability seminars
- Conducting continuous CSR activities every year
Corporate benefits
Various corporate benefits are provided to support the lives of employees.
Along with housing support, employee shareholding programs and congratulations/condolence money programs, a cafeteria program has also been introduced. To correspond toward the changing lifestyles of employees, the program allows employees to select the support they need from the menu prepared by the company, such as “child-raising/nursing,” “self-development,” “health promotion,” and “refreshment.”
Furthermore, efforts are being made to aid employee life and financial planning.
Labor-management relations
Basic philosophy
The Sapporo Group offers regular opportunities for labor and management discussions on labor conditions and various human relation systems, in the Group’s efforts to establish stable labor-management relations by having both parties cooperate to maintain and improve workplace conditions.
Establishing stable labor-management relations
Based on the Group's Human Resource Vision, the Sapporo Group companies believe that thorough consideration for employee safety and health is indispensable for creating a work environment where employees can work with peace of mind. We are implementing various measures to prevent occupational accidents and to maintain and improve mental and physical health.
SAPPORO BREWERIES Labor-Management Relations
The labor agreement between the Sapporo Breweries Labor Union and the company states that “The Company recognizes the union as the only legitimate negotiating body representative of employees” and that “The Company authorizes free union activities. Union members shall not receive detrimental treatment for their participation in the union and for their legitimate union activities,” to ensure rights for negotiation and freedom of association.
Labor-management agreements on work hours and management discussion have been made. A negotiation system for swift and substantial resolutions exists for decisions on labor condition standards and introducing new programs, along with revision/discontinuance of programs. These decisions are made through activities such as formal union negotiations and through discussions with a special committee dealing with collective bargaining. For the wellbeing of employees, initiatives in health and safety, work style reforms, and health management are developed within the company through close exchange of opinions between the company and the labor union.
A management negotiation system has been incorporated and is conducted twice a year, to provide opportunities to exchange opinions, in which company and union representatives discuss topics such as management policies and content.
Pokka Sapporo Labor-Management Relations
The POKKA SAPPORO Labor Union is a union workplace, and all regular employees are members, except for managers and non-union employees as defined in the collective agreement.
The collective labor agreement stipulates that "the company and the union shall mutually respect each other's fundamental rights based on the principles of fair understanding and good faith, and shall establish working conditions on an equal footing and make efforts to maintain and improve them, with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the social mission of the beverage and food business," and "the company and the union shall ensure that this agreement is observed and faithfully performed. The agreement specifies the purpose of the agreement and the obligation to comply with it, and clearly defines the right to collective bargaining and the prohibition of disadvantageous treatment.
In order to create a better working environment for labor and management, the company and labor union representatives hold monthly labor council meetings to exchange opinions on the operation of various systems, occupational health and safety, health management initiatives, and other issues. In addition to the monthly labor council meetings, management council meetings are held twice a year to provide an opportunity for management and labor union representatives to exchange opinions on management policies, management details, and other issues.
Sapporo Lion's Labor-management Relation
In 1989, the year following the company’s listing in the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Lion Branch of the Sapporo Breweries Labor Union became an independent organization as the labor union of Sapporo Lion; today, some 30 years after its foundation, the union has approximately 260 members.
Sapporo Lion bases its activities on the following three pillars: creating comfortable working environments that provide job satisfaction; improving labor conditions in the pursuit of comfort and quality of life; and, creating dynamic organizations through the participation of all members. Sapporo Lion holds labor-management meetings twice a year—at the Management Advisory Committee Meeting and at the Labor-Management Discussion Meeting—when it makes recommendations regarding corporate management and communicates feedback from its members. The majority of recommendations made at the above meetings are implemented, and in this way labor and management work closely together to carry out corporate management.
The union’s Mandarin Orange-Picking welfare event, which was first held when Sapporo Lion was still part of the Sapporo Breweries Labor Union, continues to be held every year on Culture Day, on November 3. Every year, the event attracts more than 100 participants, including company employees and their families, as well as company officers. Sapporo Lion also holds a variety of other welfare activities.
In addition, starting in 2023, the "Personnel and Wage System Review Committee" has been held regularly by labor and management to exchange opinions on how to create a comfortable workplace and stable living environment.
Work-Life Balance
The Sapporo Group supports employees in balancing work with childcare, nursing care, and medical treatment through its worker-friendly systems and open dialogue with employees. Consultation counters with outside experts have been established for childcare, nursing care, and other matters.
Starting in 2022, videos on nursing care have been disseminated throughout the Group.
The Group has also been working to increase the rate of male employees taking childcare leave and to lengthen the number of leave days taken by them. This is because we believe that the initiative will fulfill the wishes of men who want to be actively involved in childcare, help them understand childcare and housework, which tends to be carried mainly by women, and reduce the burden on women. In appreciation of these efforts, the Sapporo Group has been selected for the second consecutive year as one of “Next Nadeshiko: Companies Supporting Dual Careers and Co-parenting” jointly by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).
This evaluation system is targeted at listed companies that are particularly outstanding in their efforts to provide gender-neutral “support for all employees to manage to strike a balance between empowerment in the workplace and child rearing (i.e. dual careers and co-parenting).”
Sapporo Breweries Work-Life Balance Initiatives
Sapporo Breweries is continuously striving to expand its systems and promote their use, mainly through the Next Generation Development Project, which consists of representatives from the company and the labor union. As a result of its efforts to date, the company received “Platinum Kurumin” certification from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2017 as a top-level company committed to supporting childcare. Currently, the company is promoting the use of systems such as flexible work hours and telework to make it easier to balance work and family life and is continuing to implement support measures to ensure that Sapporo Breweries' human resources remain healthy both physically and mentally. Then, the company achieved 100% male maternity leave utilization rate in 2023. Sapporo Breweries will continue to create workplaces where employees can continue to work energetically while balancing work and child rearing, and develop an environment in which all employees can fully demonstrate their abilities.
- Platinum Kurumin
Companies which have attained goals established in their general employer action plans and satisfied certain standards based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, may apply for certification from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Kurumin Certification) as a “Child Care Company.” The “Kurumin Mark” is proof of this certification. Furthermore, as incorporation of work balance systems and use attain a greater level, certification of Platinum Kurumin has also been launched for companies evaluated as having a high standard of activities. The “Platinum Kurumin Mark” is proof of a company with high-level initiatives.
TOPICS
Sapporo Breweries introduced the NR system in 2016 to provide employees who wish to stay active in the company with options to continue working, even when it is difficult to relocate for reasons such as childcare or nursing care. “N” refers to the national type of relocation with nationwide transfers, and “R” refers to the regional type of relocation with transfers within an area block.
Sapporo Breweries will continue to develop an environment that encourages employees to balance work and childcare.
In addition, Sapporo Breweries promotes initiatives that lead to the strength of the company by enhancing systems and dialogues that make it easier to work for employees with cancer.
The company has established a system that allows employees to continue working in a flexible manner while continuing medical treatment by introducing a paid time off system, Super Flex system, and teleworking. In 2019, the company also launched Can Stars, an in-house community for employees who have suffered from cancer to share their experiences in the company and collaborates with other companies. In 2022, the Guidebook for Supporting a Balance between Work and Cancer and Other Medical Treatments, which compiles information necessary for balancing treatment and work, was revised into three editions (one for the individual, one for superiors, and one for coworkers) with the participation of "Can Stars" members, emphasizing the viewpoints of those involved.
- A PowerPoint version is available for download and can be arranged for your use. When creating your own guidebook on support for balancing work and cancer treatment, please state on the last page of the guidebook, etc., that "This guidebook is based on the "Guidebook for Supporting Work-Life Balance with Cancer and Other Medical Treatments" by Sapporo Breweries, Ltd.
In recognition of these initiatives, Sapporo Breweries received the Partner Award for Cancer Control Promotion (in the category of the Support for Balancing Cancer Care and Work) in the 2022 Awards for Companies Promoting Cancer Control. The awards are sponsored by the Corporate Action to Promote Cancer Control, a project commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The company also received the Gold Award or higher awards for seven consecutive years from 2018 to 2024, in the Gan-Ally (Cancer Ally) Declaration Awards; these awards are hosted by Gan-Ally-Bu, a private project that addresses the issue of cancer and work. POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverages also received the Silver Award for six consecutive years from 2019 to 2024. (The Gan-Ally Declaration Awards have been discontinued since 2024.)
Furthermore, Sapporo Breweries’ "Can Stars" initiative marked its 5th anniversary in 2024. To celebrate, we released the "Guidebook for Establishing and Managing an Internal Cancer Community," which compiles the knowledge and insights gained from our activities. We are promoting support for balancing work and life across society by encouraging internal cancer support communities in other companies.
Providing Child-rearing Help through Child-rearing Support Website
Sapporo Breweries opened its child-rearing support website in 2006. Based on the results of an employee survey conducted in 2021, we created an income simulation sheet for employees during childcare leave to eliminate the most common concerns about income. We have also prepared a variety of tools and posted them on our website so that men can consider long-term childcare leave early on and take it with peace of mind.
The site also includes information based on employees' comments and experiences with childcare, with the aim of "further understanding and utilization of the childcare support system," "male participation in childcare," and "understanding by members of the workplace.
The site is used by many male employees as well as female employees, and has helped to create an environment where workplace members can warmly watch over employees who are raising children.
Support for Balancing Nursing Care and Work
Sapporo Breweries offers five days of nursing care leave per year per person requiring nursing care. The company also provides information on nursing care to help employees balance work and family care.
Major initiatives include the availability on the intranet of books and video seminars to support employees in balancing work and nursing care, as well as a consultation service with outside experts on nursing care issues. Moreover, nursing care seminars are held for those who wish to attend, and seminar videos on necessary tips and basic knowledge of nursing care and preventive measures are disseminated to managers.
Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage's Work-Life Balance Initiatives
“Kurumin”
POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverage has put in place various systems to support employees in balancing work with childcare, nursing care, and medical treatment, thereby creating a workplace where employees can work with peace of mind. These include a childcare and nursing care leave system (with some paid leave for childcare), a vacation system, a system of shorter working hours and staggered working hours for childcare and nursing care, and a system of limiting work areas for specific periods of time. On the company’s intranet, a manual for childcare and nursing care support is available. The company has also set up a consultation service with external specialists who can provide advice on private matters such as childcare, nursing care, and medical treatment.
Moreover, the company has implemented a flextime system, a teleworking system, an hourly paid leave system, pre-leave/pre-return to work consultations, career support interviews, and a system to encourage male employees to take childcare leave, as well as training and other measures to create a safe and comfortable work environment. These initiatives are designed to help employees achieve a better work-life balance while increasing productivity. In recognition of its efforts, Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage has received “Kurumin” certification as a company that supports raising next generation children and has been certified as a childcare support company by Nagoya City. The company has also won the silver prize of "Cancer Ally Award" for five consecutive years since 2019.
Sapporo Lion Initiatives for Work-Life Balance
Sapporo Lion has established a system to take childcare/nursing care leave in order to support employees in balancing work with childcare and nursing care.
For employees returning to work after childcare leave, we use a shortened working hour system and a staggered working hour system, such as specializing in lunchtime work, to achieve a good work-life balance. Additionally, we have introduced a new 'shorter working hours system for managers.' This system is designed for managerial positions that do not require long working hours and allows both male and female managers to maintain their roles and responsibilities while temporarily adjusting their working hours or job duties. This is applicable in cases where special circumstances, such as childcare, nursing care, or other family-related issues, are recognized as requiring temporary accommodations.
Launch of the “Work Style Improvement”
Sapporo Breweries' Initiatives to Reform Work Styles
In 2017, Sapporo Breweries launched Work Style Reform 2020 aimed at improving productivity, physical and mental health, and promoting a fulfilling lifestyle. As a four-year initiative until 2020, each employee prioritized their own tasks and made choices while incorporating the telecommuting system, hourly paid holiday system, super flextime system, and interworking interval system to expand work-style options and create more private time. In this manner, the company has implemented reforms that allow for more flexible and productive work styles.
In 2021, to support personal growth and career development through new experiences, the company launched an external side job system, an internal side job system, and an internal internship system.
In 2022, to further promote the Work Style Reform in response to changes in the environment and diversification of work styles, the company started “Sapporo Workstyle” based on the concept of “face-to-face interaction.” Through this initiative, the company aims to implement autonomous work styles, work styles that achieve results through teamwork, and work styles that provide a high quality of work-life balance.
In 2024, Sapporo Breweries added “living with spouse” as a reason for eligibility for the system introduced in 2016, which allows employees to work in a limited residential block for a certain period for reasons such as “childcare” and “nursing care.” In addition, the company further expanded work-style options by introducing a “work-anywhere system for regional employees” and a system that allows sales staff who frequently travel on business to choose either working away from their family or commuting from home.
Sapporo Breweries is also making efforts to create a comfortable working environment for women. The company has changed the name of menstrual leave to “M leave” so that it can be used flexibly, and has made it possible for employees to take leave when they feel ill due to premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The company has also allowed M leave to be taken in half-day units. Sapporo Breweries is working to realize a workplace environment where female employees can balance their health and productivity.
Drinking alcohol has the power to bring people together. The company has a long history and culture with alcoholic beverages, and it is committed to a work style that emphasizes face-to-face interaction to connect people with each other and realizes a work style that allows people to demonstrate their abilities whether they come to the office or telework. By doing so, Sapporo Breweries aims to increase organizational and individual productivity and engagement.
Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage's Workplace Reforms
POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverage aims to be a company where 'self-reliant and continuously challenging human assets find their work rewarding,' as stated in its HR policy. To achieve this, the company is actively engaged in work style reforms to enable employees to continue working through various life stages and pursue careers that suit them.
In 2018, we introduced systems such as flextime without core hours, teleworking, and work-interval systems to effectively utilize time and space, and have been working to create an environment where diverse employees can work comfortably.
In 2021, we launched a side job system and an in-house internship system to support personal growth and career development through new experiences, providing opportunities for employees to shape their own careers.
In 2023, we introduced the 'Area Card' for employees who have been with the company for five years, allowing them to fix their work location for a certain period, regardless of specific requirements. This initiative supports employees in achieving their desired work-life balance and provides them with an opportunity to design their future career plans.
We will continue to actively promote work style reforms, creating an environment where each employee can maximize their potential and work to improve productivity.
Sapporo Lion Workplace Reform Initiatives
Sapporo Lion began its work style reform efforts in 2017, and since 2018, as the Work Style Reform Promotion Committee, has been promoting the three pillars of “corporate culture reform,” “working environment improvement,” and “work streamlining” under the theme of optimization of total working hours and reduction of long working hours.
The results of the efforts have been extensive. They include a variety of activities such as addressing each other by adding “san” to names (instead of job titles), promotion of taking consecutive holidays, simplification of administrative procedures, introduction of LINEWORKS, publication of the in-house newsletter “Hare-nochi-Lion,” introduction of e-Value system, creation of FAQ website, organizing document management, promotion of paperless system, promotion of female advancement, and so on. These activities contributed to the reduction of working hours and improvement of productivity.
After the dissolution of the Work Style Reform Committee in October 2022, its efforts were taken over by the head office departments, business divisions, DX/IT Promotion Committee, and Corporate Culture Reform Subcommittee, and have continued to produce significant results in TTO introduction, data analysis, marketing measures, and improvement of the workplace environment.
Work Time Reduction/Management and Promotion of Paid Leave Usage
We are committed to reducing excessive working hours and promoting the use of paid leave, by ensuring compliance with various laws and regulations, including the local labor standards laws, as well as striving to correct any cases of excessive overtime.
Sapporo Breweries Efforts to Reduce + Manage Working Hours and to Promote Paid Leave Usage
Sapporo Breweries is promoting initiatives to reduce overtime work and encourage employees to take paid holiday through company-wide workstyle reform initiatives. In addition to introducing teleworking, hourly paid leave, super flextime, work intervals, and share officed as systems and measures to allow for flexible workstyles, we want to make these systems accessible by providing equipment such as laptops, cell phones, and mobile Wi-Fi as well as reviewing what work tasks require employees to come in to the office (simplifying sealing and signing tasks, making paperless and digitizing accounting slips and invoices, holding meetings and trainings remotely, and so on).
Initiatives to Reduce Overtime Work
Taking into account differences in work-related characteristics, personnel size, and so forth, we have set targets for each office and are working to achieve them, thoroughly implementing internal rules on working hour management (prior declaration and approval of overtime work, daily input and approval of work schedules). We are working to curb and prevent long working hours by visualizing monthly results pertaining to overtime work, identifying the causes of long working hours, and discussing and implementing countermeasures.
We are also working to provide care and follow-up relating to physical and mental health by conducting interviews with industrial physicians for employees working long hours.
Initiatives to Encourage Employees to Take Paid Leave
The company-wide target for paid leave is to take at least 17 days in 2025.
In the same way as for overtime work, Sapporo Breweries visualizes the monthly status of paid leave usage and encourages employees to take paid leave according to their circumstances. The company is also implementing other measures, such as labor-management joint campaigns to encourage consecutive use of paid leave.
In parallel, Sapporo Breweries is also working to raise awareness of the importance of taking paid leave in a planned manner from the viewpoint of improving work efficiency and work-life balance.
| Fixed date | Target figures | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual working hours* | 2025 | Less than 2000 hours |
| Average number of days with leisure | 2025 | 17 days |
Including Sapporo Holdings
- Annual working hours = scheduled working hours (1830 hours/year) + overtime work hours - hours of compensatory holidays - hours of paid leave taken
Pokka Sapporo Efforts to Reduce/Manage Working Hours and to Promote Paid Leave Usage
Initiatives Concerning Working Hours
POKKA SAPPORO places importance on proper attendance management from the perspective of legal compliance and occupational health and safety, and works with the labor union and managers and supervisors in each division and business site to maintain appropriate working hours for employees.
At monthly labor-management council meetings and safety and health committee meetings at each business site, labor and management discuss actual working hours, identify causes, and consider and implement countermeasures to curb and prevent long working hours.
In addition, we are promoting the management of working hours by providing a real-time graph of monthly overtime results to employees and supervisors through the human resources system.
Since 2022, we have been reflecting PC log-in times in attendance records to ensure more accurate tracking of working hours.
We interview managers and supervisors of departments with problems individually and communicate with them to solve the problems.
For employees who work long hours, we also provide care and follow-up for their physical and mental health by interviewing industrial physicians.
Promotion of Utilization of Paid Leave, etc.
The company-wide Safety and Health Committee has set a target of "15 days or more per year by 2026" for the use of paid leave, in cooperation with the labor union. In addition to taking consecutive summer and winter vacations, we have set the target at 15 days, aiming to have employees use about one day of leave per month.
We promote the planned and proactive use of leave so that each and every employee can lead a richer life while enhancing work productivity by regularly refreshing their body and mind.
In addition to company-wide efforts to promote leave utilization, each department takes the initiative in devising ways to create an environment that facilitates the use of paid leave, taking into consideration the nature of work and other factors.
| Target figures (deadline) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average number of paid leave days taken | 15 days (2026) | 8.3 days | 9.4 days | 11.9 days | 13.2 days | 13.7 days |
Sapporo Lion Efforts to Reduce + Manage Working Hours and to Promote Paid Leave Usage
Sapporo Lion is promoting company-wide improvement of the working environment through information sharing and various communications to stores and individuals using the company intranet, and specific activities are as follows
Reduction of working hours
- Strengthen recruitment activities, increase investment in staff recruitment and use of media to address human resources and manpower shortages
- Conduct monthly analysis of individual overtime hours and interim checks during the term.
- Recommendation of consultation with industrial physicians
- Conduct interviews with employees who work long hours and their supervisors by the Human Resources & General Affairs Department.
- Periodic participation in sales meetings by business unit and implementation of progress checks and hearings on working hour management.
Initiatives to encourage employees to take paid leave
- Registration of "Annual Schedule for Taking Paid Leave" during the previous year
- Sent "Paid Leave Utilization Management List" for employees and PA staff to department managers and employees themselves, and conducted educational activities and progress checks.
- Regularly participate in sales meetings by division, check the progress of paid leave utilization, and hold hearings.