Human rights
Human Rights Management
Human Rights Impact Assessment
In fiscal 2019, we provided feedback of the results of assessing human rights impact to a total of 336 sites for which the assessment was conducted, including Mitsubishi Electric, its offices, domestic family companies and overseas family companies, and requested them to promote improvement activities. We are promoting initiatives especially related to such issues as "preventing harassment," "controlling long work hours," and "giving consideration toward women and people with disabilities" by incorporating them into human rights education themes. Going forward, we will continue striving to understand human rights risks and implement mitigation measures by conducting human rights impact assessments on a regular basis.
Human Rights Education
Human rights training
- At Mitsubishi Electric, in addition to assessing human rights impact, we conduct a human rights training program with the themes of the circumstances surrounding the implementation of the assessment and fundamental knowledge related to human rights for employees involved in CSR at Mitsubishi Electric and at domestic family companies to deepen their understanding on global trends regarding human rights issues as well as international human rights norms. For overseas family companies we also create and distribute training materials in English and Chinese.
- For new employees and newly appointed managers, we provide ongoing training programs regarding human rights. In fiscal 2020, we conducted a group training session related to human rights and harassment in each office for 927 new employees and 584 newly appointed managers.
E-learning
Since fiscal 2019, we have been conducting a CSR-related e-learning program that includes themes on human rights for employees of Mitsubishi Electric and domestic family companies. In fiscal 2020, we created the English version of contents and conducted the program at overseas family companies as well. We plan to continue to conduct the program on a regular basis while revising the contents based on CSR and human rights trends.
Company and group newsletters
In fiscal 2020, we published commentaries on human rights as a four-part series with the theme "What are human rights?" in the company and Group newsletters. We will continue raising employee awareness of human rights at the Mitsubishi Electric Group.
Mitsubishi Electric Going Up Seminar
Employee Seminar
Since April 2018, we have been conducting an awareness-raising seminar for internal employees aimed at promoting understanding on diversity and practicing actions respecting human rights.
We tell the seminar participants that a disability is one of many differences in people like height and weight, and encourage them to give appropriate consideration toward people with disabilities when they see such people on the street or station platforms as well as to ask such people if they need any help and to provide support.
Harassment training
Lecture on "Respect for human rights and the active participation of diverse human resources"
Mitsubishi Electric provides ongoing training programs regarding human rights to new employees and newly appointed managers, as part of its efforts to ensure a healthy workplace environment that is free of discrimination and harassment. In fiscal 2020, we conducted a group training session related to human rights and harassment, in each office, for 927 new employees and 584 newly appointed managers. Starting in the second half of fiscal 2020, we have enhanced the content of harassment education and expanded the participants to include all employees in line with the Mitsubishi Electric Workplace Reform Program, which we are undertaking to prevent labor issues from recurring.
Particular emphasis is placed on ongoing harassment prevention for newly appointed managers through training by encouraging them to have a correct understanding of instances of harassment and learn and implement appropriate communication skills for providing operational guidance, as they bear an important role as managers to create a workplace environment that will not cause harassment. Those who attended the program actively engage in creating a comfortable working environment for employees, by making certain there are no harassment issues in the workplace, as is their responsibility as managers.
The education of all employees includes not only providing information on sexual harassment, power harassment, maternity harassment, and so on but also introducing specific case studies of harassment. Lectures are given that allow each employee to identify any harassment issues in the workplace and report and communicate any issues that they have become aware of by communicating internal and external points of contact for consultation to everyone.
We will gradually deploy this harassment training program to family companies as well.
Human Rights Initiatives in the Supply Chain
Since fiscal 2019, we have been seeking consent from suppliers to agreement on initiatives for social issues including human rights issues. In addition, we have continued to promote efforts and give instruction to understand human rights violation risks by suppliers (i.e., forced labor using foreign laborers, dangerous and hazardous labor).
Response to the UK's Modern Slavery Act
In fiscal 2017, Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. and Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Systems Europe Ltd. Issued a statement in response to the Modern Slavery Act that was enacted in the UK with the aim of eradicating forced labor, human trafficking, and other such acts that constitute "modern slavery." We update the content of the statement and disclose it every year. Continued efforts will be made to ensure information disclosure and strengthen relevant initiatives. Due consideration is also given to the UK Gender Pay Gap Report.
Statement by Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V.- Statement by Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Systems Europe Ltd.
Grievance Handling Mechanism
The Mitsubishi Electric Group has established multiple points of contact to respond to inquiries from various stakeholders, of which main points of contact are listed in the table below. We also receive consultation requests on human rights through them.
For each whistleblowing case on human rights risk, the responsible division quickly confirm facts according to the content of consultation. If a violation of human rights, etc. in business activities of the Mitsubishi Electric Group is confirmed, we appropriately respond to the instance by dealing with the victim and considering the punishment of those who engaged in the case in question, etc. as well as promptly making a correction and improvement. However, please understand that the Mitsubishi Electric Group may not deal with an instance for which facts cannot be confirmed as a result of confirmation and investigation or with a case which is determined as difficult to investigate due to being groundless, slander, and so on.
| Service available to | Name of point of contact for whistleblowing/consultation | Matters to be consulted | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Various stakeholders (customers, people in the community) | "Inquiries on CSR" and "Other Inquiries" on the Mitsubishi Electric Group official website | ・Inquiries regarding the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s CSR ・Other various inquiries regarding the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s business activities |
<Japanese> Inquiries on CSROther Inquiries<Global (English)> Inquiries on CSROther Inquiries
|
| Mitsubishi Electric employees, family companies employees*1, suppliers to Mitsubishi Electric*1 | Ethics observance hotline | Whistleblowing or consultation regarding organized or individual employees’ fraud, legal violation, act of breach of ethics | Internal points of contact/external points of contact (lawyers) *2*3 |
| Mitsubishi Electric employees | Points of contact for consultation on sexual harassment, power harassment, etc. | Whistleblowing/consultation on various types of harassment in Mitsubishi Electric’s workplace | Human Resource Div. at each office of Mitsubishi Electric |
- *1 Limited to whistleblowing that is relevant to Mitsubishi Electric in personal and business aspects.
- *2 The points of contact are listed on Mitsubishi Electric’s intranet, internal posters, "Code of Corporate Ethics and Compliance," etc.
- *3 A whistleblowing system has been established at each domestic and overseas family companies of the Mitsubishi Electric Group.
Discussion with External Parties
In order to make the Mitsubishi Electric Group’s efforts for human rights issues effective, we have discussions with experts, human rights NGOs and other parties to receive advice on human rights initiatives.
In fiscal 2020, we had an opportunity to hold discussions with Sakon Kuramoto, who is a lawyer at the Business and Human Rights Lawyers (BHR Lawyers), a central organization comprising the Society for the Study of Responsible Corporate Activities and Supply Chain, where we received advice on how to build a mechanism for handling grievances based on international norms.