Engagement with Society and Local Communities
Activity Policy
With the aim of deepening engagement with local communities as a corporate citizen, our employees give consideration to how they can contribute to society as individuals, and are proactively engaged in environmental issues familiar to them. In addition, to improve awareness of disaster prevention and strengthen safety measures, each of our sites, including the Head Office, undertakes initiatives such as the provision of a standard first aid course and various drills.
Engagement with Customers
Quality Assurance Policy
KAKEN is committed to realizing its corporate philosophy and management policies and supplying superior pharmaceuticals. To achieve that, KAKEN will carry out the following activities in clear recognition of the fact that it is engaged in the pharmaceutical business, that it pursues higher ethical standards and that it places primary and constant emphasis on quality during the course of such activities. These activities include drug discovery, exploratory research, development, clinical trials, manufacture, post-marketing surveillance, the provision of pharmaceutical information, and other matters.
- Recognizing that product quality assurance is one of the most important issues regarding management responsibility, KAKEN will establish a pharmaceutical quality system that covers all the products it sells.
- KAKEN will provide a warranty on product quality in response to demands of customers and society.
- In order to supply patients with superior pharmaceuticals, KAKEN makes it a basic rule to comply with laws for ensuring the quality, effectiveness and safety of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other products, as well as with other relevant laws and regulations. In addition, KAKEN follows good practices, including good laboratory practice (GLP), good clinical practice (GCP), good manufacturing practice (GMP), good quality practice (GQP) and good vigilance practice (GVP), and assumes responsibility for its own actions.
- KAKEN aims to establish a quality assurance system that promotes not only conformance with the standards and specifications required by regulatory authorities, but also continuous improvements that take the technological standards of the time into account.
Product Quality Assurance
KAKEN works to return smiles of happiness to the faces of as many patients as possible by supplying superior pharmaceuticals that help improve their quality of life. To that end, we believe that it is absolutely essential that we have a quality assurance system in which both our Head Office (a manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceuticals) and our factory (a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals) fulfill their respective responsibilities and cooperate closely. At our factory, competencies and appropriateness of each manufacturing process and facility are evaluated to ensure that suitable manufacturing and quality management practices are followed.
The Quality Assurance Department of the Head Office evaluates and confirms these activities, which we believe results in the creation of a more robust quality assurance system. Cooperative activities have not been limited to the departments in charge of quality, but have been expanded to the R&D Division, the Production Division and the Marketing & Sales Division to guarantee the highest quality throughout all stages of a product's lifecycle.
Safety Assurance for Pharmaceuticals after Launch
Pharmaceuticals receive regulatory approval after undergoing evaluations based on the results of clinical trials, which have a limited scope in regard to such considerations as patient age, gender, complications and concurrent medications. After launch, pharmaceuticals are used by a wider range of patients, which can reveal unexpected adverse drug reactions. For this reason, we are required to collect comprehensive safety information, accurately evaluate it and take necessary response measures.
With the establishment of the Pharmacovigilance Department, we strive to minimize the safety risks of patients by collecting and evaluating safety data throughout the product lifecycle from the development phase to post-marketing, and by providing information in a timely manner necessary for ensuring the safety of patients.
Pharmaceuticals Information Service Office
Accurate information is essential for the proper usage of prescription pharmacenticals. We provide and collect information pertaining to the proper usage of our pharmaceuticals mainly through MR activities; however, we also proactively provide and collect such information through the Pharmaceuticals Information Service Office, a consultation desk for pharmaceutical-related matters, and via our website. The office promptly and accurately informs customers about proper usage of pharmaceuticals and reports their valuable opinions and suggestions on pharmaceutical formulations and other matters to relevant departments in the Company, thereby helping to improve pharmaceutical formulations and enhance product information for the benefit of customers.
We receive most inquiries by phone; however, we provide a form on our website for receipt of inquiries, even outside office hours, with the aim of enhancing convenience for customers.
Human Resource Strategy
Engagement with Employees
As a company that emphasizes “Joy for employees,” KAKEN places great importance on employees’ human rights, health, safety and hygiene, and promotes the creation of a working environment in which every employee can work with peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment. In addition, we also prioritize fostering a corporate culture that nurtures professionals. We will further refine this policy in Long-Term Business Plan 2031.
Basic Policy of Human Resource Strategy in Long-Term Business Plan 2031
1 Develop talent who challenge themselves as professionals and pursue transformation
To develop employees with distinctive capabilities who can adapt to changing times, we will review and upgrade the content of education and training at every level. In addition, we will work to develop and recruit talent who will promote digital transformation (DX), as well as global-minded talent.
2 Increase employee engagement by establishing an optimal human resource management system and working environment
To nurture professional human resources, foster our corporate culture and support the growth of employees, we need to create more advanced human resource management and work-style systems. In addition to empowering female employees, we will set up workplace systems from various viewpoints in order to make KAKEN a fulfilling place to work for employees at different life stages, such as those raising children or caring for family members, and older employees including those reemployed after retirement.
Priority Measures
- Foster a corporate culture and develop talent that generates innovative challenges
• Foster a corporate culture that encourages employees to take on challenges
• Develop employees with distinctive capabilities as professionals
(Employees who think for themselves, take action, and get results)
• Develop and recruit digital talent who are suitable for the promotion of DX
• Develop and recruit global-minded talent to reinforce overseas expansion
• Reinforce the education and training system - Pursue a better work-style system and working environment that support the growth of employees
• Transform the human resource management and work-style systems and improve the working environment
• Promote diversity management - Develop MRs who can flexibly respond to the changing times through convergence of the real and digital worlds
• Develop MRs with expertise equivalent to an MSL* in diseases we are focusing on as well as in products
• Optimize medical information provision based on data analysis, and use multiple communication channels
• Develop ability to plan and execute as a community healthcare partner based on a patient-first perspective
Development of the Next Generation of Human Resources
We consider human resource development a fundamental part of corporate management, and seek to improve employees’ abilities. We believe that employees who accurately grasp changes in our business environment and can generate new ideas and act on their own volition will have the traits necessary for shaping the Company in the future. Our basic policy for human resource development is to foster employees who can think and act on their own, global-minded talent, and core talent— in other words, professionals with distinctive capabilities. We provide comprehensive education and training by employment year and position to foster employees who can make the most of their capabilities, enabling them to achieve results at each stage of their careers while gaining experience as businesspeople.
Approach to Education and Training
- The purpose of education and training is to foster employees who can accurately grasp the current state of the Company and changes in the industry environment, discern what is best for the Company, and think and act on their own volition based on their new ideas and creativity.
- We have positioned the development of mid-career and junior employees as one of our priority issues, and as such work to develop human resources through on-the-job training as well as external training by outside expert instructors.
- We utilize internal and external training programs to foster the next generation of leaders, as well as training for managers.
Training by Position
In addition to developing employees’ capabilities through various training programs, we support employees’ self-development efforts in taking correspondence courses for improving individual work skills or acquiring necessary language skills, among other objectives.
Training Programs
| Basic training for working adults | Training for newly hired employees |
|---|---|
| Training by employment year | 3rd year training |
| 4th year training | |
| 8th year training | |
| Training for the next generation of leaders | Training to foster next-term leaders |
| Management training | Training for new team leaders |
| Training for new managers |
| Self-development support | Support for taking correspondence courses
for self-development (For all employees) |
|---|
Job Creation, Worker Retention and Diversity
In order to create a working environment in which all employees are highly motivated, we believe it is important to respond flexibly to and constantly evolve new working styles in light of legal reforms. In addition, we are implementing diversity management and work-style reforms, including promotion of women's participation and advancement.
Enabling Work-Life Balance
As part of efforts to create worker-friendly environments where employees can work efficiently, we adopted a flextime system Companywide, except for the Production Division and MRs. In July 2022, the work-from-home arrangement that we had implemented as a temporary measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was modified and established as the Work-from-Home System, a new work-style option.
Support for Childcare and Nursing Care
We have been establishing various systems such as leave of absence, days off and shorter working hours, based on the Regulations for Childcare Leave and the Regulations for Caregiver Leave, so that employees who have difficulty working under normal conditions due to childcare or nursing care commitments can continue to work without worry. In FY2021, we established a system in which employees can take special paid leave for the purpose of caring for a family member or for a child’s gradual entry into a new nursery school. In FY2022, we changed the childcare leave system so that employees could receive up to five days of paid leave during the childcare leave period, and made amendments to the system for shorter working hours to enable employees using that system to also make use of flextime. We are also taking steps to make it easier for male employees to take childcare leave.
Employment of Seniors
We have introduced the Senior Staff Program for the reemployment of employees who retired upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. This system has enabled them to continue playing an active role in their respective workplaces after reaching retirement age, effectively utilizing the experience, expertise and skills they have accumulated over many years.
Employment of Persons with Disabilities
As one of our corporate responsibilities, we proactively engage in efforts to hire persons with disabilities. We maintain employment levels that exceed the statutory rate by enhancing our support system to ensure such workers receive appropriate assistance in the workplace.
Improvement of the Working Environmen
Employee Health Management
To manage employee health, we provide access to health checkups every spring and lifestyle disease-related examinations every fall. In cooperation with industrial physicians and medical examination centers, we conduct follow-ups for employees whose checkups reveal health problems. In addition to conducting annual stress checks required by law, we support measures for employees’ mental health by offering simple stress checks that employees can perform voluntarily and by providing a wide range of learning materials including a variety of e-learning programs. The Company remains committed to the management of employees’ physical and mental health, one aspect of which is the utilization of the external consultation desk at the health insurance association and counseling services.
Occupational Safety and Health
Based on the Regulations for Safety and Health Management, which are aimed at preventing occupational accidents and illnesses and creating a comfortable working environment, we hold Safety and Health Committee meetings on a monthly basis at all offices and other workplaces. We work to eliminate occupational accidents by implementing safety inspections and remedial measures at each facility and workplace. We also actively work to improve the working environment by conducting regular questionnaire surveys of our employees.
Creation of a Workplace Free from Discrimination and Harassment
We work to enhance awareness of the prevention of discrimination and harassment among all employees through means such as the Rules of Employment, Regulations for Rewards and Punishments, the Compliance Guidebook, information meetings for employees in managerial positions, and regular postings and education via the Company intranet. We also keep employees informed of internal consultation channels.