Initiatives to Human Rights

Carrying out business activities with consideration for human rights is essential for protecting employees and gaining the trust of business partners, customers, and society to create a better society together. We respect human rights as the foundation of our business activities to realize a society in which the dignity of all people is ensured and everyone is respected equally, without leaving anyone behind. We believe that fulfilling our responsibility to respect human rights will lead to trust from society and, in turn, contribute to enhancing corporate value and realizing a sustainable society.

In order to strengthen our efforts towards respecting human rights, we support and respect the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. In line with international standards such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we formulated our Human Rights Basic Policy in April 2023 as a basic management policy. We established the Human Rights Promotion Committee to develop an internal structure at the management level.

We views respect for human rights as an integral part of its business activities, and while fostering relationships of trust with all stakeholders, including member stores, alliance partners, contractors, and providers of goods and services, we will aim to achieve a balance between social value and corporate value.

Respect for human rights has increasingly grown in concern as corporations have been globalizing their businesses. We recognize that respect for human rights is a fundamental social responsibility as described in the Basic Concept, and we strive to respect the human rights of all people involved in our business activities, including employees and external stakeholders such as customers, business partners, and local communities and residents.

We have established the Human Rights Promotion Committee for the purpose of deliberating on and coordinating important matters concerning human rights. Basically, we hold the Committee semiannually. The Human Rights Promotion Committee and the Executive Management Meeting deliberate on plans related to respect for human rights basically once a year, and then the President and Director determines the plans. The Board of Director receives reporting in a timely and appropriate manner and oversees our structure for promoting human rights.
On a daily basis, the Human Rights Promotion Office takes actions that are appropriate to various types of human rights risks. Specifically, under instructions of the Head of Human Resources & General Affairs Group, the Office collaborates with other departments to promote initiatives that are appropriate to various types of risks.

We identifies and assesses the risk of human rights infringement in the Orico Group and among our business partners, referring to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and guidelines and policies issued by the government. We then take the necessary measures while continuously implementing the PDCA cycle through risk prevention, mitigation measures, and monitoring.

To identify human rights risks, we commissioned a third-party organization specializing in human rights risk assessment to evaluate human rights risks based on two criteria: severity (the seriousness of the harm to human rights if the risk were to materialize) and likelihood of occurrence (the ease with which the risk could materialize). We evaluated human rights risks based on the information we obtained from interviews with employees at our head office and domestic and overseas Group companies, as well as from documents and records related to human rights.

Based on human rights risk assessments, we have identified the following five as material human rights risks that should be addressed as a priority, and we are taking measures to prevent and mitigate any negative impact.

We utilize the knowledge of external experts to deepen our understanding of the negative impact of our business activities on human rights, and reflect this in our efforts to respect human rights, based on our Human Rights Basic Policy.
In 2024, we held a dialogue between Orico President Iimori and Owls Consulting Group Managing Director Hanyuda, an expert in business and human rights.

Furthermore, we held discussions with employees at our head office and sale branch and with the labor union, exchanging opinions on concerns about the working environment, harassment, discrimination, etc.
We will continue to hold discussions with our stakeholders, and by our human rights due diligence framework, we will fulfill our responsibility to respect the human rights of all people.

We have established the Orico Helpline, a whistle-blowing system, to promptly identify and appropriately respond to any irregularities/violations of procedures, information leaks, human rights infringement, harassment, collusion with business partners, or other potentially illegal activities at our Company and Group companies. We communicate the system through measures such as displaying announcement posters at each workplace. All employees carry a card with contact information to report or consult with the helpline whenever they have a problem. Two contact points, one within our Company and one outside our Company, have been established, both of which can be used with guaranteed anonymity.

To deepen employees' understanding of the importance of human rights, we hold annual training sessions for all employees, in addition to training sessions for new employees and managers. These training sessions are held company-wide, utilizing online tools, and are designed to enhance understanding of international trends in human rights respect and to enhance human rights literacy, with reference to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights formulated by the United Nations. We are constantly improving the content of our training programs to convey the significance and importance of our human rights initiatives.