Initiatives and Actions

We have established Global Diversity & Inclusion council chaired by CEO with executives representing respective Division and regions as its members, which makes decisions on Global Diversity & Inclusion policy and direction of initiatives. Also, regional Diversity & Inclusion councils have been set up / under setting up with respective regions’ heads as chairperson so that the regions can execute the initiatives as corporate actions in alignment with the Global council’s decision as well as making their effort to handle various diversity issues faced locally.

Enabling women, particularly in management positions, is essential to providing diverse value to customers. To increase female representation at all management levels, Nissan provides trainings to ensure that top candidates will be ready to take on greater responsibility. Support is provided for women’s career development in every region where we operate. We have developed talent development trainings and networking events targeting women, besides mentoring programs and roundtable sessions. There are also support activities focusing on young female engineers and female operators on the production floors.

As a result, the ratio of female managers at Nissan has grown: In Japan, it rose from 1.6% in 2004 to 10.3% in 2022. Globally, it increased from 6.7% in 2008 to 14.9% in 2022.

日産（中国）投資有限公司（NCIC）では、環境をテーマにした従業員写真コンテストの開催、南米ではディーラーと連携した従業員参加型のバーチャルとリアルでのイベントを企画しました。

カナダ日産自動車会社 (NCI)は、2019年よりWWFカナダの公式パートナーとして、CN Tower Climbといった、環境に関する募金を呼び掛けるイベントに参加しています。今年はカナダ国民に環境保全のために測定可能で意味のある行動を呼びかけるLearn Plant Connectを中心に支援を行い、生物多様性の喪失や気候変動の危機を解決するための活動に貢献しています。

Nissan sells cars to customers all over the world. Their diverse cultures and ways of living are reflected in their widely varied preferences and tastes in cars and service. To meet this variety of needs among customers across the globe, we must take advantage of a diverse workforce made up of people from different nations and cultures.

Our close alliance partnership with Renault has taught us a great deal about how people from different nations and cultures can differ in their thinking patterns and tastes. It is our belief that cultural diversity will give us a competitive edge in global business.

Nissan offers employees opportunities to understand cultural background and differences. Employees attending these trainings learn to accept and navigate differences.

This training targets Japanese employees and provides logical and in-depth understanding of cultural differences, as well as effective and efficient communication skills that are useful worldwide. The training helps employees Learn More about people from different backgrounds, which improves communication.

People with different backgrounds have different work styles. Nissan embraces the diversity in lifestyles and values among individuals and offers a wide variety of work style options to achieve optimal performance.

Nissan supports work-life balance through measures and programs that can help employees maximize their work performance. For example, we offer flexible work style options to accommodate the various needs associated with different life stages and family situations. We also encourage employees to review their daily work hours, efficiency and productivity to improve their overall quality of life and achieve a better work-life balance.

These programs include flex time without core time, half days off, and Remote Work. We have set corporate goals to increase employees’ use of paid leave and Remote Work arrangements, through such measures as work hour monitoring, office lights-off, no overtime days, and weekly PDCA use. The ultimate goal is to increase employees’ efficiency or productivity and to limit the culture of working long hours. Thanks to office upgrades and improved IT infrastructure, we can now communicate and collaborate with anyone on the global Nissan network via our laptops.

For employees with children, we have built a work-childcare balance program that includes benefits in excess of statutory provisions. The aim is to help employees grow and optimize their contribution to the company at every life stage.

Nissan started the Happy 8 program in 2015 to help drive companywide productivity improvements. The program promotes employee awareness of the concept of eight working hours a day, and encourages them to pursue satisfaction at work in eight key areas.

To raise employee awareness of the importance of work-life balance, Nissan has launched activities such as publishing a Happy 8 email newsletter, or publishing articles on the intranet. Also, on the last Friday of each month, called “Happy Friday,” employees are strongly encouraged to leave the office early.

Since Nissan introduced working from home for employees who are engaged in childcare and nursing care in 2006, we have been updated the Remote Work program for expansion of the target employees and the workplace in accordance with the demand of employees and management and change of social conditions. In June 2021, Nissan eliminated upper limit of Remote Work not as a tentative solution for COVID-19 pandemic but as a regular system to aim work style suited to each job for all employees (excluding employees working in the manufacturing process). The aim is to give employees more control over their working hours and improve efficiency and productivity. We have set up a dedicated web page for promoting the Remote Work program, where employees’ best practices are shared.

Work-childcare balance programs aim to support employees’ growth and help them optimize their contribution as they move through different life stages. The program offers benefits in excess of statutory provisions. We also offer nursing care givers many support measures, such as nursing care leave and shorter working hours.

We have set up four on-site nurseries in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture (Nissan Global Headquarters, the Global Information System Center, the Technical Center and the Oppama Plant). These nurseries have played a key role in helping employees with children continue their careers. At GHQ we have a breastfeeding room, which is also available as a resting place for expecting mothers when they don’t feel well.

Corporate laptops are available to check out for employees taking childcare or eldercare leave, so that they can continue to access Nissan’s network and obtain internal information. This service has been positively received by employees on leave, who say they feel less out-of-touch during their absence. The access to company information helps them get back up to speed quickly when they return to the office.

The opportunity for reemployment is open to those who leave the company to accompany spouses overseas, enabling them to resume their career and contribute their work experience at Nissan.

In our aging society, more workers are expected to become caregivers for elderly parents. Nissan provides employees with opportunities to learn the basics of nursing care and available support programs. We have also set up a nursing care hotline for employees to speak with external experts about nursing care concerns.

Nissan is continuing its dedicated effort to instill the corporate values of diversity and inclusion in all employees, using various communication channels. The aim is to create a productive and comfortable workplace where people mutually accept and value differences.

We have launched a diversity site on the intranet, which is a dedicated page for internal diversity and inclusion activities. The same content is also being shared through email newsletters, which are issued regularly to promote the values of diversity and inclusion internally.

We have prepared a range of trainings for new graduates and for managers, including e-learning courses for all employees, in addition to awareness-raising events. There are also mandatory trainings for those who have joined Nissan in the middle of their careers.
Two trainings were launched in 2018 in Japan. The first is “Diversity & Inclusion skill training” for new managers. We aim to strengthen diversity management skills through cross-cultural lectures and interactive theater. The second training is “Unconscious Bias e-learning” for all general indirect employees, in which employees can learn the influence of the unconscious biases that everyone has, as well as techniques to mitigate their effects. We are gradually expanding this initiative across our global sites. “Gender Diversity e-learning” was renewed in 2019 to help each employee demonstrate their potential to the fullest.

To ensure a workplace where all employees are free from the fear of being prejudged due to sexual orientation or gender identity, we offer LGBT seminars and e-learning courses that cover basic knowledge about LGBT issues. In 2020, we updated LGBT e-learning completely as a mandatory course for all employees. We have participated in the “Tokyo Rainbow Pride”, the largest LGBT event in Japan, for three consecutive years since 2017. In 2020 and 2021, we participated in the event, which was brought online due to COVID-19 spread. In fiscal 2016, a self-initiated employee network was launched by members of the LGBT community and allies (those supportive of LGBT people) within the company. On Aug. 1, 2019, we introduced "marriage leave and congratulatory payment for same-sex marriage and customary marriage". In recognition of these initiatives, the private organization work with Pride awarded Nissan its most prestigious Gold PRIDE index award, recognizing corporate initiatives to support LGBT employees. This was the first time a Japanese carmaker has received this recognition. In 2021, Nissan won the Gold award for the fifth year in a row.