Promotion of Health and Productivity Management | Sustainability

Thus far, Advantest has implemented various initiatives for employee health and productivity, including measures on lifestyle disease prevention, mental health, and abstinence from smoking. To further promote these initiatives, we have decided to incorporate Health and Productivity Management, and in September 2019, we formulated a Declaration of HPM Policy.

Since establishing the Declaration of HPM Policy, Advantest, our domestic Group companies, the health insurance association, and labor union have come together to promote health check-ups, boost the implementation rate of specified health guidance, and introduce a health portal site, along with various other activities that directly affect employee health. These activities include online dieting/smoking cessation programs, encouraging exercise using a mobile app-based health promotion, and health literacy training.

We have also actively made efforts to encourage work-life balance. In November 2020, Advantest obtained the "Eruboshi" certification based on the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, and in February 2021, we obtained the "Kurumin" certification mark based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children. Advanfacilities Co., Ltd. also obtained the "Eruboshi" certification in July 2022.

Furthermore, we have taken thorough measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection, such as issuing notifications from top-level management to prioritize health, and thorough implementation of remote working. As a result of these efforts, Advantest has recently been selected for the first time as one of the brands in the 2022 Health & Productivity Stock Selection, which are jointly selected by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. At the same time, METI has certified Advantest as one of the “White 500” (large listed corporation section), the top 500 corporations certified under METI’s 2022 Health and Productivity Management Awards, for the second consecutive year.

Declaration of Health and Productivity Management Policy

In order to realize Advantest's mission, we will strive to create a workplace where every employee can work in good health, both physically and mentally, to contribute to the achievement of a sustainable society as a corporate citizen.

Based on HPM policy, promote HPM from the following three viewpoints.

Organization

Our China Subsidiary Has Been Recognized as a Company Promoting Healthy Workplace Development

Advantest (China) Co., Ltd.(ATC) has been making efforts in an employee health project since 2019. This project assesses the physical and mental health of employees through online tools, providing direct interviews from medical experts to care for those who are assessed to be in a high-risk zone. This facilitates early detection of health risks for employees and the company as well as enables measures to be taken to address such risks.
This project has been recognized and in March 2020, the company received the Outstanding Practice Award at the "2020-2021 China Healthiest Work Place (美世卓越健康雇主)" held by Mercer China (美世咨询公司), the Chinese subsidiary of Mercer, a global human resource consulting company.

Mental Health

At Advantest we believe that a vigorous workforce makes for a vigorous workplace. Accordingly, our Health Promotion Office supports efforts to ensure both the mental and physical health of our workforce, so that we can provide a safe and comfortable workplace environment. We introduced stress checks in FY2012 before they became required by law because we consider preventative measures as the key to our mental health activities. By quantifying stress (thus making it visible), we promote stress awareness among everyone in our workforce, which is useful for self-care.

In the 2021 stress check, which achieved 85% response rate, 7.9% of the employees with the highest diagnosed stress levels were referred to mental health consultations, and 8.2% of them actually received consultations. We also held seminars (during FY2021, e-learning seminars were held) to reinforce self-care, and the participation rate was 72.9%.

Organizational analysis stated that high stress workplaces decreased from 17.2% in FY2017 to the 4% range (4.7% in FY2021). From fiscal 2019, this initiative was narrowed down to target only managers in high stress workplaces and offered more practical training for workplace environment improvement. We continuously work on improving stress levels by following up on the implementation situation to create a workplace that mitigates the occurrence of mental health disorders.

We have also formulated recovery plans with occupational physician from the latest reports as well as provide support for employees to return to the workplace after taking a leave of absence, enabling them to take time off without worry if their mental state worsens due to a variety of stress. In addition, an eight-step process (which includes status reports, consultation with occupational physician, return to work planning, and follow-up interviews after returning to work) has been set up to avoid overstressing people and the workplace.

Health Consultations

At Advantest's Health Promotion Office, a comprehensive range of health professionals (including occupational physician, clinical psychologists, public health nurses, nurses, and industrial counselors) provide counseling services for physical and mental problems of all kinds. Applications for counseling can be submitted easily by telephone or e-mail, or via the company's intranet. In fiscal 2021, counseling services were provided on 800 occasions.

Health Check-ups and Health Guidance

Advantest and its domestic Group companies provide regular health check-ups to maintain and improve the health of employees in addition to regular physicals through subsidies from the health insurance association.
We provide health check-ups once or twice each year both in domestic and overseas bases, with an examination rate of 90% or higher. We have achieved a 100% health check-up ratio since FY2018 for domestic employees.

The Health Promotion Office provides health guidance, email support, and staff/occupational physician consultations for employees who have received a diagnosis through checkups. Furthermore, employees with a history of brain and heart disease are interviewed regardless of their health check-up results, and work restrictions are put into place to ensure their safety.

Examples of Advantest's Activities

Online Well-Being Carnival for all Advantest Group Employees

Announcement Poster of
Online Well-Being Carnival

From October 2021 to January 2022, Advantest held the "Online Well-being Carnival", a health promotion event, at our eight locations worldwide to encourage the health and well-being of our employees on a global scale. This event was proposed by our Chinese employee in response to the considerable shift in our workstyles and living environment triggered by the impetus for working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was held after discussion among Global ESG Team from eight locations worldwide.

During the event, employees were asked to take small actions to construct a more well-being working culture such as participating in in-house health activities, managing their weight with an application, placing plants on their desks, and taking up new sports, and shared them on our in-house social media network, "My LIFE. ON.”. As a result, many activities and posts such as "I'm doing my best in sports" were received from various locations, helping to promote the mental and physical health of our employees.

Olympic at Home (Advantest Taiwan)

Employee care as the main goal of Employee Welfare Committee (EWC), Advantest Taiwan Inc. (ATI) has been concerned about our employees’ mental and physical health. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in May 2021, WFH has been mandated in ATI. Concerned that our employees may be gaining weight in the duration of WFH, with not only Ct value out of control but also BMI value in alarm, EWC held an event called Olympic at Home. The event urged everyone to stick to exercise and win game machines as rewards.

In this vibrant activity, firstly, ATI EWC distributed packs of health products to all employees’ homes, and then all the employees could share their home exercises with everyone else by posting photos or videos on the Facebook ATI EWC group. Even though our employees could not meet each other during WFH period, with everyone’s passionate participation in this event as well as social media sharing, they got to connect each other with lots of encouragement in such a unique time.