Respect for Diversity

As stated in the "Basic Policies" of the Brother Group Global Charter ("Global Charter"), the Brother Group is committed to "respecting diversity, providing a working environment that enables our associates to utilize their talents and abilities to the fullest, giving them great opportunity through challenging work assignments, and providing them with fair, attractive financial rewards." Additionally, the "Codes of Practice" of the Global Charter stipulates that "we must always honor individuals and diversity, and act with trust and respect." In accordance with the Global Charter, the Brother Group has been supporting diverse ways of working which will enable employees to maximize their ability to perform their best, given laws in each country and region, labor environments regardless of age, gender, nationality, disability, work history, etc. while maintaining the work environments and systems. Furthermore, we have been committed to promoting DE&I^* by reinforcing in-house systems and reforming employees' consciousness, with the goal in mind that the right personnel, who are excellent in ability, personality, talent and behavior, will be placed in the right positions across national boundaries and lead the Group.

• Abbreviation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, a concept of respecting people's diversity and right to equality and encouraging organizations and society to promote more diverse values by including them

The Brother Group has been promoting the globalization of its executive personnel by appointing qualified persons, regardless of their nationality, to executive positions of the group companies in various countries and regions to realize community-based management. At facilities of the Brother Group, we are actively promoting local employees to executive positions—this includes promotion to the position of president at large-scale sales facilities in locations such as the United States and China. Local employees occupied 69%^* of top management positions of facilities outside Japan in FY2022, increasing from 55% in FY2017.

When establishing new facilities and expanding its existing facilities, the Brother Group hires local people to revitalize regional economies and societies through job creation. The factory established in the Philippines in 2012, for example, employs more than 7,000 local workers, and in Vietnam, two manufacturing facilities employ more than 12,000 local workers in total.

• Including Domino-related companies

The proportion of female managers among all managers differs between the Brother Group companies because the history of women's social advancement and their lifestyles and main occupations vary depending on countries and regions. However, women are active in many group facilities.

1. As of March 31 of each FY
2. Includes temporary employees and seconded employees. Doesn’t include Directors, Corporate Auditors, and Executive Officers
3. Recalculated and updated based on the standards of *2
4. Updated to the figures with revised calculation methods for the number of persons and ratios from March 2020 to March 2022 for Brother International Europe Ltd.

Please see the following for detailed data regarding supporting the success of women, such as the percentage of female employees in BIL.

In recognition of its efforts, BIL has been certified by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the Aichi prefectural and the Nagoya city governments as an enterprise responding to diverse ways of working by promoting the success of women and providing support for child-rearing and so forth.

For details, please see the site for "Management with an Emphasis on Sustainability-Evaluation by External Entities- Evaluation Regarding the Promotion of the Success of Women, Support for Child-rearing, etc."

At BIL, employees with disabilities are working actively in the occupations and workplaces that suit their aptitudes and abilities.

In Japan, companies beyond a certain scale are required by law to ensure a certain percentage of their total workforce is comprised of persons with disabilities. The employment rate of persons with disabilities at BIL was 2.38% in FY2022; thus, meeting the statutory requirement of 2.3%. We will continue our efforts to create workplace environments where persons with disabilities can work with peace of mind, both in terms of their recruitment and their success.

• Includes direct hires (including temporary employees and fixed-term employees) and seconded employees in Japan and overseas (not including incoming seconded employees)

BIL is continuously committed to its policy of building workplace environments where employees, with or without disabilities, can deepen mutual understanding, strengthen collaboration among them, and maximize their abilities based on "Trust and Respect" stipulated in the Codes of Practice of the Global Charter.

To respond to legal changes, such as the revision of the "Act for Promotion of Employment of Persons with Disabilities," BIL has been providing employees with e-learning programs that teach the outlines and concepts of laws and workshops by the Brother Group employees who serve as job coaches to facilitate specific actions. In addition, BIL selects work and life consultants for disabled people, who provide advice and other support for employees with disabilities, from among employees in respective factories, and provides those consultants with a continuing educational program by an external teacher. In such ways, BIL builds a system that enables the entire workplace to understand and support employees with disabilities.

As part of its diversity promotion efforts, BIL is working to deepen understanding of LGBT issues and create environments in which employees can work as themselves.
In 2019, BIL implemented an e-learning program on LGBT issues for managers and general employees. BIL has also been working to promote employee understanding of LGBT issues by including LGBT topics in training programs on human rights and labor issues for new employees in FY2019 and for new managers in FY2020.
In addition, BIL is making various other efforts to respect diversity, such as giving consideration to health checkups, removing the gender field from the annual employee awareness survey, and changing uniforms for men to those for women and men.

BIL has introduced a reemployment system that allows employees who wish to remain employed after the retirement age of 60 to continue working until the age of 65, providing them with a place where they can utilize the experience they have accumulated over the years and demonstrate their skills and know-how.
In FY2022, more than 90% of employees have requested to be rehired under the reemployment system, and BIL is rehiring all applicants.

Shift to mandatory retirement age of 65 (from FY2026)

BIL will set the "retirement age at 65" for employees who will reach 60 years of age in FY2029 and thereafter. As a transitional period until then, the retirement age will be incrementally extended starting in FY2026. BIL has also revised the "Brother Reemployment System" to further promote the success of senior citizens and revised the evaluation system and compensation system by clarifying role standards and levels.

Furthermore, we will expand employment opportunities for those who are capable of generating "significant results and contributions" even after the age of 65.

1. (Number of rehired staff / Number of retirees^*2) x 100
2. Number of retirees includes those who do not wish to be rehired