To enable our diverse employees to demonstrate the "Yatte Minahare" spirit set forth in the Suntory Group Corporate Philosophy, we are promoting greater employee diversity and building an organization that accepts differences and utilizes them effectively.

Promoting the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Vision Statement

To continuously create new value, it is vital to actively include diverse human resources and diverse values, regardless of nationality, age, etc., to assure fair treatment for everyone, and to make use of their talents. Suntory Beverage & Food ("the Company") has established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Vision Statement and Strategic Pillars based on this realization. To achieve these, the Company is moving forward with global initiatives to encourage the active participation of diverse human resources including women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, and persons in the senior demographic.

Suntory Beverage & Food established a Diversity Promotion Office in 2011. It identifies issues and makes proposals to management to bring diversity initiatives into implementation.

The Company aims to increase the percentage of management positions held by women to 30% by 2030 by establishing an atmosphere of healthy competition where everyone is given equal opportunities.

Advancement of Women in the Workforce

Suntory Beverage & Food is moving forward with efforts to build an organization where each individual can actively participate regardless of gender. We are supporting the advancement of women in the workforce by implementing continuous education and career support focused on the individual (developing capabilities and raising awareness) as well as by supporting the balancing of work and home life. In addition to cultivating a mindset through training for young employees and active participation in cross-industry exchanges, we are also supporting the building and enhancing of women’s careers in the medium to long term through talent reviews. To help employees balance work with life events, we are raising awareness by offering pre-maternity leave guidance and post-maternity leave follow-up seminars. We also assist employees who are caring for children to return to work earlier by providing a safety net in the form of a baby-sitter program for employees who are unable to secure a place for their child in daycare facilities, or by bearing part of the costs of baby-sitting services when a child is sick or in other emergencies. We also support those employees by offering a variety of work styles, including flextime and remote work. In addition, we are strengthening efforts to provide management support for active participation of employees who are returning to work after childcare leave by providing the supervisors of those employees with the information they need to manage employees who are raising children.

Working to ensure equal pay for equal work between men and women

Wage standards at Suntory Beverage & Food are the same regardless of gender. Suntory Beverage & Food Europe publishes a Gender Pay Gap Report and discloses its efforts to ensure equal pay between men and women.

Gender Pay Gap Report, issued by Suntory Beverage & Food Europe

Promoting LGBTQ+ Activities

Initiatives in Japan

The Suntory Group, which includes Suntory Beverage & Food, continues to engage in LGBTQ+ activities with the aim of becoming a company where every employee can be themselves and work enthusiastically. We have launched a project team in 2016 to strengthen our LGBTQ+ initiatives. In 2017, we furthered inclusion with efforts which included the revision of employment regulations to include same sex partners in the definition for spouse, the setup of a consultation office for LGBTQ+ employees, the creation of an LGBTQ+ handbook for LGBTQ+ employees and allies as well as e-learning for all employees.
These activities have been awarded the highest rank of Gold every year since 2016 in the PRIDE INDEX*¹ advocated by "work with Pride"*², which evaluates initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community in the policies of organizations such as corporations and association.

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  This index is broken down into five categories: 1. Policy, 2. Representation, 3. Inspiration, 4. Development, and 5. Engagement/Empowerment. This is the first index for LGBTQ initiatives in Japan established in 2016.
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  An organization that supports the promotion and implementation of diversity management for the LGBTQ+ community, work with Pride aims to share information and provide opportunities for each company to actively promote diversity in order to help build workplaces where LGBTQ+ people can be themselves while working at Japanese companies.

Global Initiatives

The Suntory Group, which includes Suntory Beverage & Food, is working on LGBTQ+ awareness initiatives in each country. Notably, Suntory Beverage & Food Oceania and Suntory Global Spirits are undertaking proactive efforts, including the formation of groups to encourage LGBTQ+ awareness. As in Japan, events in each country are held with a focus on Pride Month in June. The Suntory Group works to create workplace environments where people can be themselves without discrimination or prejudice, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Employing Persons with Disabilities

Initiatives in Japan

The Suntory Group, which includes the Company, is working to expand the possibilities for persons with disabilities by employing them without considering job type. We actively engage in activities such as opening special contact point for candidates with disabilities, advertising announcements for new graduate and mid-career candidates, and cooperating with Hello Work. In addition, we have advanced job development at all group companies and started Group-wide employment guidance sessions in 2012.
The rate of employment for persons with disabilities as of June 1, 2022 was 3.04% at Suntory Holdings Ltd. (employing 105 persons with disabilities, including 47 persons with severe disabilities) and 2.6% at Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. (employing 41 persons with disabilities, including 15 persons with severe disabilities).

Since 2014, the Suntory Group has held an internship for students who are intellectually disabled to further promote their empowerment, and has hired 27 of them over the last seven years through April 2021. With this team as the core, the Group opened the Collaborative Center at its Odaiba office in April 2018, starting operations such as arranging internal mail delivery. The Center has since expanded its work and now receives business from Suntory Group companies. The number of consultations and requests from Group companies across Japan exceed 5,000 annually, with the members actively contributing, serving as back-office personnel.
The Group opened additional Collaborative Center locations at the Osaka office in April 2020 and at the Tamachi office in March 2021. Going forward, the Suntory Group will continue to expand opportunities for these members of its team with the goal of supporting operations and practicing DEI across the entire Group.
The Suntory Group, which includes the Company, holds events at workplaces around the world on December 3 for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, promoting understanding of disabilities internally and raising awareness. On this day, members of the Collaborative Center offer other employees opportunities to work together with them, teaching them about what they do at work to foster greater mutual understanding.

Introduction of Disability Support Leave Policy

The Suntory Group, which includes the Company, introduced the Disability Support Leave Policy in 2013 based on its desire to create an energetic environment more able to empower persons with disabilities. Five days a year are given as special leave to people who have a disability certificate. This policy can be used regardless of whether an employee works on a full-time or a part-time basis. A handbook has also been created and distributed to support managers supervising persons with disabilities.
We are furthering the building of an easier-to-work environment while promoting the employment of persons with disabilities now and into the future.

Global Initiatives

December 3 is known as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a commemorative occasion that aims to promote understanding of disability issues and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities to live self-determined lives with proper support. Since 2021, the Suntory Group, which includes the Company, has been holding events globally on this day to promote internal understanding and awareness.

Diverse Career Options for Senior Employees

Suntory Beverage & Food introduced the extension of retirement to age 65 ahead of others in 2013. Since then, employees who have reached the age of 60 continue to work vigorously, finding meaning in applying their strengths. In light of this situation, in 2020 we introduced a re-employment system after retirement at 65. If agreed upon by the individual and company, annual contracts can be renewed until age 70 at the latest, providing a new option in today’s age of century-long life spans. We have also long provided opportunities to think about what career and life will look like in one’s senior years by offering Career Workshops and Life Plan Seminars, which we make mandatory once employees are in their 50s. Seniors who are always exploring new possibilities and shining their way through challenges also bring new vitality to our organizations. Under the Yatte Minahare spirit, we work to enable each individual to fully demonstrate their individual strengths.
The Suntory Group also aims to build open career paths for the era of 100-year life spans. Based on the Japanese government's Human Resources Support for Local Revitalization framework, the Group dispatches employees to local governments. This enables people who have gained experience in companies to contribute at local governments to rural revitalization, which is an issue across Japan. The Group believes this leads to new career development for senior employees while also living up to the Suntory Group's Giving Back to Society philosophy through the Group’s own people. Every year, numerous applicants apply for the internal recruitment for these opportunities. As of 2023, around 10 employees are active at local governments, and the Group plans to continue expanding this number going forward.

Evaluation from External Parties

The Suntory Group, which includes Suntory Beverage & Food, has been reviewed as follows by external parties as a result of these initiatives.

Diversity Management Selection 100

An initiative started in 2012 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that evaluates and selects companies of various sizes from different industries for their initiatives in diversity management as management able to contribute to economic growth. Furthermore, it aims to promote the spread of diversity through the communication with selected companies as best practices.

2018 J-win Diversity Award Honors Suntory with the Semi-Grand Prize for Advancement and Development of Women

The Diversity Award has been held by NPO J-Win annually since 2008. J-Win assesses the progress of diversity and inclusion promotion on an absolute scale at each company as well as a relative evaluation of progress to present awards for the purpose of accelerating diversity and inclusion promotion in Japanese companies by recognizing companies leading diversity and inclusion policy.

Suntory Receives the Highest Eruboshi Certification (Grade 3) for its Work as a "Company that Promotes the Empowerment of Women"

Eruboshi is a certification given by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for the goal of promoting the empowerment of women at companies based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace. Companies are evaluated based on the following five factors: 1. Level of female employment, 2. Level of continuation of employment by women, 3. Working style (work hours, etc.), 4. Ratio of female employees in management positions, and 5. Existence of diversified career paths.

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  Acquired by Suntory Holdings Limited

Suntory Receives the Highest Kurumin Certification "Platinum Kurumin" for its Work as a "Company that Creates a Supportive Workplace for Employees with Children"

The Kurumin Mark is a certification given by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to companies that promote the introduction and utilization of systems and implement high-standard initiatives all aimed at promoting efforts which support both work and child rearing based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children.

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  Acquired by Suntory Holdings Limited