Why it matters

We believe that creating a safe and secure workplace, developing employment conditions, and respecting a variety of work styles that suit life events means a workplace where employees can work energetically in good health, both physically and mentally, can be created, and so we are implementing initiatives to achieve this.

We also believe that giving due consideration for the health of our employees as well as their families and partners will motivate and invigorate each of them and lead to the growth of the NTT Group as a whole.

What can be accomplished

We will be promoting diverse work styles with the use of remote work and "Super flex-time system". In addition to increasing productivity and efficiency, these initiatives allow employees to make more effective use of their time than before, and will result in a better balance between work and life.

We will also strive to provide even better employment conditions, such as fair evaluation, equal opportunity, opportunities for growth, and benefit programs.

Future vision

We will encourage Diversity & Inclusion toward customers as well as the entire value chain, and accept diverse values as we aim to create a society where everyone is able to work in a lively manner.

Business Activity　27
Promote remote work

Our commitment

The NTT Group is shifting toward new work styles centered on remote work, by upgrading IT environments and reviewing systems, in addition to advancing DX projects and work reforms with an eye on the post-pandemic world

Our objective

Creating systems and workplace that support diverse work styles Implementing remote work and super flex-time systems

The global environment underwent unprecedented change as COVID-19 infections continued to spread, and our work styles also changed accordingly. Until that point there was a limit to the number of times employees could use the work from home system, but the NTT Group introduced a remote work system and lifted restrictions on how many times it can be used. The introduction of a super flex-time system also allowed for flexible work styles that are no longer constrained by location or time.

Implementing various changes like these not only increases productivity and efficiency, but also allowed employees to make more effective use of their time than before, and resulting in a better balance between work and life.

Employee satisfaction

The results of employee satisfaction surveys held one year after implementing the remote work system in fiscal 2020 indicated a greater level of satisfaction in all areas covered by the survey. Questions about "easy-to-work environments" and "ability to work efficiently" in particular saw significant increases in scores, with a greater increase seen amongst females (males: +0.14P, females: +0.20P compared to previous year). The top three areas that female employees were satisfied with were "easy-to-work environments," "availability of systems to work while to work while providing childcare and nursing care" and "company's social mission." The promotion of remote work has led to greater employee satisfaction as it allows them to better balance work with childcare, nursing care or treatment.

Business Activity　28
Achieving zero fatal accidents as well as maintaining and promoting employee health

Our commitment

Health management is pursued as a key corporate strategy with the understanding that initiatives for maintaining and improving employee health also enhance motivation and productivity and ultimately lead to higher corporate earnings We also believe that giving due consideration for the health of our employees as well as their families will motivate and invigorate each of them and lead to the growth and development of the Group as a whole

Our objectives

Policies and Concepts

Health management is pursued as a key corporate strategy with the understanding that initiatives for maintaining and improving employee health also enhance motivation and productivity and ultimately lead to higher corporate earnings. The NTT Group has developed a personnel system that responds to diverse work styles and provides generous benefit programs for employees and their families.

We also believe that giving due consideration for the health of our employees as well as their families will motivate and invigorate each of them and lead to the growth and development of the Group as a whole.

We believe that ensuring employee safety should be the top priority of business management. To ensure occupational safety and health, the NTT Group has established its own Safety Management Rules and Health Management Rules to facilitate safety and health management in addition to observing relevant laws and regulations such as Japan's Labor Standards Act and Industrial Safety and Health Act. The NTT Group's businesses include telecommunications-related construction and maintenance involving high risk operations such as aerial work. Therefore, we continually implement measures to prevent accidents and enhance safety awareness across the NTT Group, including subcontractors and other corporate partners.

Organization for Implementation

In addition to establishing and maintaining safety measures and safety management systems based on relevant laws and internal rules, we have set up a health and safety committee for preventing industrial accidents across the NTT Group. Also, we are working to prevent accidents during telecommunications-related construction and maintenance that serve as the foundation of the NTT Group's businesses and create a safe working environment.

The NTT Group also established the Health Management Promotion Commit tee to promote health management through a collaborative effort between Group companies and the NTT Health Insurance Union. General managers of human resources department who are responsible for personnel at each Group company and directors of the NTT Health Insurance Union are appointed as officers in charge of promoting health management. The effectiveness of the initiatives is ensured by implementing PDCA cycles (formulate health management plans + set health targets → formulate and implement health-focused actions → identify and confirm health results → verify the effectiveness of health-focused actions).

We have also designated KPIs for wellbeing using health data, and we endeavor to achieve them by planning and implementing initiatives for raising awareness and promoting health-focused activities.

Promoting Work-Life Management Work and Leave Style Reforms

The NTT Group seeks to create new value through innovation. In order to accomplish this goal, there is a strong need for all NTT Group employees to break away from traditional work styles to adopt more efficient practices not bound by time and place, and thereby exercise greater levels of independence and creativity. We are also aware of the great importance of supporting this shift by cultivating a deeper understanding of work-life management throughout workplaces and fostering a corporate culture that accepts the diverse work styles of each individual employee.

NTT has set a goal of shortening total hours worked by achieving under 1,800 total hours actually worked by the end of fiscal 2022.

Extensive Benefit Programs

The NTT Group operates a comprehensive optional benefit program (cafeteria plan). Employees are given points that can be used to freely choose from a wide range of benefit items, including health maintenance, such as scheduling comprehensive physical checkups or acquiring health and fitness technology devices as well as personal wealth building. Several core menu items do not require the use of points, such as comprehensive physical checkups aimed at the early discovery of lifestyle-related diseases and cancer, which tend to occur more frequently with age. We also offer items such as subsidies for fitness club memberships and health improvement activities using smartphones (d healthcare), which can be used by employees at their convenience.

Life Plan Study Sessions

In light of increasing diversity in employee life plans, the NTT Group provides website-based life plan design support for employees reaching age or career milestones to help them consider how they wish to spend the rest of their lives, including their working lives. We have also established in-house system contact points to promote greater understanding of matters including support and in-house systems for maintaining and improving physical and mental health, personal wealth building, specialist advice for tackling lifestyle-related troubles and issues, life plan creation, and support for balancing work with child or nursing care.

Physical Healthcare

The NTT Group also takes steps to help employees fortify their physical health by using ICT. Specifically, we focus on the two measures below.

(1) Encourage healthy activities with smartphone app (d health care)

Information about how to refresh oneself and eat and sleep better, as well as information about NTT Group's symbolic sports teams (Exercise Videos), are pushed to the smartphone app to get employees more engaged in healthy activities

(2) Guidance for specific health guidance via smartphones

Introduce ICT-based specific health guidance so that employees can conveniently receive specific guidance anytime and anywhere on their smartphone apps

To augment periodic health checkups, employees are eligible for an extensive health checkup every five years, from age 30 to age 60 (younger and older people can also receive these checkups if they wish). We also support employees who wish to join sports gyms.

Mental Healthcare

The NTT Group has established contact points for handling mental health inside and outside the Company and has been implementing mental health initiatives such as stress testing, counseling on overwork-related issues, and line care training for line managers. As part of our initiative to promote remote work styles, we address mental health issues by periodically conducting simplified interviews to monitor changes in an employee's condition and their self-care efforts. Employees are also encouraged to communicate with superiors (line care) by conducting pulse surveys that provides fixed point observations of employee awareness on a real-time basis.

Activities to Eliminate Accidents

In fiscal 2020 two*1 serious accidents resulting in casualties*2 occurred during construction and repair work ordered by NTT Group companies and performed by those companies or by subcontractors for the construction and maintenance of telecommunications equipment and building facilities. The incidents involved making contact with falling trees while cutting down trees.

To prevent accidents involving human casualties, NTT Group companies will continue to work in concert to reaffirm standard procedures, reinforce adherence, and improve the safety awareness of all workers. For example, on Safety Day, observed across the NTT Group, we confirm safety points using videos that reenact past accidents and send email messages to all employees to raise awareness of safety.

Also, during the NTT Group Safety Measure Reinforcement Period held from June 1 to July 7 and from December 1 to January 15, we work to further instill safety rules, including reaffirming previously established rules to prevent accidents, displaying safety posters unified across the NTT Group, and reinforcing safety patrols. Furthermore, we continue to engage in activities for achieving a safe labor environment and ensuring zero industrial accidents across the Group, such as exploring means to prevent passing vehicles from entering restricted areas as well as the use of advanced technologies including sensing, AI, and vital data.

^※1Serious accidents resulting in casualties: Accidents that led to fatalities or disabling injuries that would prevent the employee from working again.

^※2Breakdown of accidents: 0 by NTT Group companies and 1 by subcontractors (in Japan)

Actions in Response to COVID-19

As society embraces social distancing as part of daily life in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been creating safe workplace environments, which because of technology do not require close human interaction, extending the use of ICT, and promoting digital transformation in operational processes. In operations that require being present on-site, such as customer support, our employees have been applying safe practices. We are also conducting thorough measures to prevent our customers from being infected.

To combat the spread of COVID-19, the NTT Group is monitoring the number of employees who have tested positive, preventing the spread of infections, and implementing measures to prevent infections. We follow the basic principles of avoiding the "Three Cs" (closed spaces, crowds and close contact) by rigorously implementing such measures as social distancing, remote work, and staggered commuting. We are thoroughly committed to preventing infections by promoting telework in addition to encouraging the use of masks, disinfecting hands, installing hands-free door openers, employing appropriate seating arrangements, and installing acrylic-glass dividing screens.

Maintaining and Improving the Health of Employees

The NTT Group helps employees maintain and improve their health by providing a full range of regular health checks and offering health guidance based on the results of these checks. Furthermore, as a measure for preventing lifestyle related diseases, we provide more extensive physical checkups for employees who request them and we require all employees to receive a comprehensive physical checkup every five years from ages 30 to 60. We also provide support to help employees use sports gyms.

Together with the NTT Health Insurance Union, we are supporting employees' health-related activities by providing a portal site through which they can use a wearable device to record and check vital data such as the number of steps taken each day, as well as an app that uses health check data to predict and simulate potential future health risks related to metabolism and high blood pressure.

Additionally, business sites with a cafeteria prepare lunch menus with the help of a nutritionist, and certain business sites offer massage services that employees can use freely.

Prevention of Overwork

The NTT Group is striving to prevent overwork through actions that include recording and managing the times employees log in and off their computers to appropriately oversee the work hours of each individual employee, regardless of whether they work in the office or from a remote location. Health management staff also conduct interviews with employees working extended hours and offer appropriate advice and guidance on personal health care.

We are establishing a sound workplace environment for employees by introducing flex-time system, a discretionary work system, and a remote work system to offer a variety of flexible work styles.

Favorable Labor-Management Relationship

With the exception of managers, most NTT employees in Japan belong to the NTT Labor Union, a member of the Japan Labor Union Confederation, and labor-management relations have remained stable (79.4% membership as of March 2020). There have been no labor union strikes for more than 10 years.

The Company adheres to the minimum notice period of 10 days before an official announcement, as designated by the Agreement on Employee Relocation under the collective agreement with the NTT Labor Union.

Layoffs

Organizational changes are implemented after discussion and negotiation with all labor unions. As in the previous year, no layoffs occurred in fiscal 2019.

Business Activity　29
Supporting autonomous capacity development

Our commitment

We are actively support employee career development.
Increasing the specialization of each employee helps make them into professionals capable of deciding their own careers
We also strive to understand the issues at hand in order to improve the working environment and corporate mechanisms toward creating companies that are acceptable for workers

Our objective

Improvement in employee satisfaction compared to previous year (engagement rate)

Policies and Concepts

Retaining a diverse array of human resources serves as a powerful management foundation for any organization. This requires the development of employment conditions, such as fair evaluation, equal opportunity, opportunities for growth and benefit programs. We are also currently constructing a personnel database for registering past career experience and expert knowledge of employees engaged in our international businesses to accelerate the pace of visualizing and nurturing global human resources toward ensuring an optimal allocation of personnel.

Helping Employees Develop their Abilities

In addition to Group training and on-the-job training to enable employees to gain necessary skills in various fields of business, we provide many other opportunities for employees who are eager to get ahead, including e-learning, distance learning, in-house certification of skill levels, and support for earning qualifications. We have also introduced a Group-wide talent management system to create an environment that enables employees to play a more active role in developing their careers, and we recommend training courses that would be effective in achieving their career goals.

We actively support employee career development in various ways, including having superiors hold personal talks with their subordinates at the start, the middle and the end of the fiscal year to review performance and career plans, and holding management training for employees tapped for promotion. In particular, we have created a curriculum for nurturing experts in the security field given the heightening security risks of recent years, and we offer leadership development and a personal network building training curriculums to around 400 carefully selected general managers and section managers. With an eye on the further globalization of our operations, and to nurture personnel capable of performing in global markets, we also send employees to study at overseas graduate schools or participate in our overseas work experience programs.

Improving Human Resource Management and Payment Systems

The NTT Group implements policies aimed at enabling each and every employee to make the most of their abilities as members of Team NTT and to grow steadily as competent professionals and take the initiative in developing their careers. We reconstructed our human resources management and pay systems in 2013 as part of our efforts to create an environment in which employees of all ages can realize their full potential in a way that grows our business. We also hire the right mix of both people possessing frontline skills and specializations, and people eager to take on new challenges, based on our perception of the period from start of employment up to the age of 65 as a single block. The new systems are designed to better reward employees who perform the roles and produce the results expected of them through introducing evaluation-based compensation and expanding results-based awards.

Enhancing Employee Satisfaction

The NTT Group strives to understand the issues at hand in order to improve its working environment and corporate mechanisms toward creating companies that are acceptable for workers. As part of this effort, we regularly conduct a survey of employees at Group companies and use the results to improve the working environment.

Fair Evaluation and Compensation

In our employee qualification system, the NTT Group puts priority on performance and sets behavior and performance targets tailored to each qualification rank. By steadily and accurately carrying out a series of evaluation processes that feedback evaluations based on these targets, our personnel system promotes autonomous and independent work by employees.

Personnel Evaluation System that Employees Find Very Fair

Rather than having each company operate its own mechanisms for human resources management and development, we operate an all-inclusive system for managing employees' placement, capacity building, evaluation, rating and payment, centered on an employee qualification system that indicates our expectations in terms of behavior and performance according to employee level.

Proper evaluation requires appropriate execution of a series of processes that span target setting, everyday communication, evaluation implementation, and interviews to provide feedback. Toward this end, we adhere to the following cycle (evaluation system applies to 60% of the NTT Group).

Regular Personal Interviews with Superiors and Human Resources Managers

NTT Group employees meet regularly with their superiors and human resource managers for personal interviews to ensure that they share the same perception as their superiors regarding performance targets and the processes required to achieve them, to share thoughts on areas that can be improved, and to discuss career paths and personal growth.

Employees are given six opportunities each year to talk personally with their superiors, once each at the start, middle, and end of each fiscal year, plus one overall evaluation feedback interview and two performance evaluation feedback interviews (April and October). The first interview of the year is for employees and their superiors to align their views on targets for the year and for the superiors to provide advice. The mid-year, year-end and feedback interviews are for managers and their subordinates to review results, performance, and the processes for achieving targets, and for managers to provide advice and motivation for making further improvements and growth. The implementation of these interviews is managed so they are held without fail, except when vacations or leave prevent them from being held in the allotted time.

In-house Recruitment System

At the NTT Group, in addition to offering the NTT Group Job Challenge which provides opportunities for regular employees with ambition to take on the challenge of shaping their own careers, we also operate NTT Group Job Offerings, a program for the management staff who will advance the transformation of the NTT Group. The program enables a variety of individuals who offer fresh ways of thinking to apply for important positions in each business area.

We are actively promoting the usage of these internal job posting systems as part of efforts to build a group-wide culture that supports employees taking on new challenges.

Skill Mapping and Encouraging and Supporting Acquisition of Qualifications

Each Group company sets up a unique program of skill mapping based on the characteristics of their respective business operations and conducts human resources training according to those categories. Companies measure the level of each employee according to the mapping, identify the number of employees who are qualified for each level, and measure the status of implementation. Specifically, the process is operated as follows:

(1) Designate areas of expertise according to the expert skills required by each operation;
(2) Define and certify levels according to the skill set for each area of expertise; and
(3) Develop a PDCA cycle based on the employee's own career plan, supported by supervisors and the organization.

The NTT Group also encourages employees to acquire qualifications related to their respective duties, including major qualifications that are in broad demand in the ICT industry such as Professional Engineer, Information Technology Engineer and Certified Information Systems Security Technology Professional qualifications, and we intend to boost the number of qualified employees.

Placing the Right People in the Right Jobs

The NTT Group engages in businesses across a broad range of fields. The development of each business requires placing the right people in the right jobs so that each employee can fully demonstrate their potential.

Therefore, we periodically rotate personnel on the basis of each employee's overall skill development and career plan decisions.

Evaluator Meetings

Evaluator meetings have been held twice annually-- once in the spring and once in the autumn--since fiscal 2001. We endeavor to enhance the fairness and objectivity of our evaluation process and prevent subjective and arbitrary evaluations by having all of the evaluators in the same business unit hold evaluator meetings to align their evaluation criteria and perspectives.

Evaluator Training

We provide employees in evaluator positions with evaluator training (e-learning) and new manager training as well as our Human Resources Evaluation Manual as part of our efforts to further improve the fairness of evaluations and employee satisfaction. We also provide employees subject to evaluations with training for the evaluations, training for setting targets, and other training, a handbook explaining evaluation, target setting, online educational tools for promoting understanding of our human resources management and pay systems, and a collection of high performance model examples.

Business Activity　30
Promoting paperless operations

Our commitment

Proactively promoting business transformation and DX to increase work efficiency

Our objective

Promotion of business transformation and DX

Promoting DX for business operations aims to increase work efficiency as well as implement initiatives for addressing environmental issues. The NTT Group is ramping up measures aimed at reducing the use of paper, such as charging for printed documents and changing invoices from envelopes to postal cards. In fiscal 2020, paper usage has been reduced by around 74% compared to fiscal 2008 levels. Coupled with the shift to common group IT (billing) resources, the goal is to reduce paper usage approximately 90% by fiscal 2023, compared to fiscal 2008 levels. We also aim to completely phase out paper, including that used for bills and order processing documents, by fiscal 2025 together.

Paper Management and Recycling

Paper consumption of the NTT Group in fiscal 2020 was 18 thousand tons. As for telephone directories, which account for more than 60% of our paper consumption, we established a closed loop recycling system in 1999 to collect old directories and recycle them to produce new ones.

We undertake numerical management for our use of virgin pulp. We are also working to reduce paper consumption of society through the use of ICT, which includes measures such as our Web billing service*1. In addition to an 80% reduction year-on-year, abolishing the Hello Page telephone directory by fiscal 2024 will achieve around an 800 ton reduction (zero consumption) by fiscal 2025.

*1 A service enabling customers to check their charges and usage at any time online.

Social Contribution

Policies and Concepts

The NTT Group has operating bases located not only in Japan but also around the world, from which it provides telecommunications networks, an important lifeline, and develops business that works to realize a smart world and Society 5.0 by leveraging ICT and data to solve social issues.

Thus, it is essential that we not only aid the various organizations aiming to develop ICT but also pursue harmonious relationships and strive to resolve local issues in collaboration with local residents, central and local governments, NGOs, NPOs, and educational institutions.

The NTT Group looks to address the various issues faced by local communities in which we operate, including those related to environmental issues, aging populations, declining birthrates, and the education of children. NTT believes it is important to contribute to the development of flourishing and vibrant local communities through the actions of each member of Team NTT comprising NTT Group employees, their families, and retired employees.

We seek to have each employee of the 300,000-strong NTT Group interact with members of their local community, identify local needs, and contribute in even small ways to addressing issues through our business activities. We believe that these efforts will eventually come back to us in the form of business opportunities and avoidance of risk, and thus we view activities that invest in local communities as our most important area of activity. Herein lies the strength of the NTT Group, a global enterprise that engages in businesses deeply rooted in local communities.

Organization for Implementation

The NTT Group Sustainability Charter calls on the NTT Group to work together to help achieve a sustainable society. In accordance with this policy, six key social contribution activities of "Environmental conservation," "Social welfare," "Education and cultural promotion," "Local community development and dialogue," "International exchange activities," and "Sports promotion" have been defined, and each NTT Group company engages in citizenship activities following the policies and detailed action plan set by NTT's Sustainability Promotion Office.

Main Initiatives
Citizenship Activity Categories

Community Investments

Corporate citizenship activities carried out over the medium- to long-term to address social issues that concern both the NTT Group and local communities

Charitable Donations

Corporate citizenship activities that are carried out on a one-time basis or are expected to be completed within a short period

Commercial initiatives

Corporate citizenship activities that generate profit for the NTT Group

Promoting volunteer activities through the NTT Group Volunteer Portal Site

The NTT Group Volunteer Site was established in 2017 to introduce and support a diverse range of volunteer activities for NTT Group employees. Under the motto "Smiles for all," we promote group-wide social contribution activities that can bring miles to everyone involved in these activities. Events were held 227 times during the three years to March 2020, with a total of 5,224 group employees taking part in a wide range of activities. Going forward, we will expand activities that use the NTT Group's workforce strength to develop the site as a "third place" venue for creative interaction, with the aim of enhancing the well-being of employees and local communities.

Support for Citizenship Activities by Employees

With the belief that participation in citizenship activities can help to broaden the mind, the NTT Group is implementing an increasing range of policies to support employee citizenship activities, informing employees of support programs, and commending citizenship activities carried out under such programs. Other programs include a Matching Gift Program under which Group companies match donations collected independently by employees, and a Volunteer Gift Program under which Group companies donate goods to facilities and other places where employees are engaged in voluntary citizenship activities.

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  NTT DOCOMO

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  NTT
  Communications

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  NTT EAST

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  NTT WEST

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  NTT DATA

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  NTT DATA, Inc.

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  NTT Ltd.

Group Companies