Designing physical and mental health
into the workplace

Summary

The DBJ Employees' Health Management Rated Loan Program is the world’s first financing menu to incorporate health management ratings. Using a proprietary screening system, DBJ rates enterprises on the quality of their care for employee health and working conditions.

Development process

Companies are feeling an increased need to address the health considerations of their employees. The government introduced the Specific Health Checkup System in April 2007, and stress checks have been mandatory since December 2015. In addition, Japan's long working hours have come to be recognized as a social problem.

As the working-age population declines along with Japan's falling birthrate and aging population, it is more important than ever to address risks to employee health, including physical health and the mental health challenges that have been increasing in recent years. Doing so will help to ensure full workplace participation for each and every employee, including the women and seniors covered by the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace and the revised Act for Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons.

In light of these circumstances, DBJ launched its Health Management Ratings in 2012 to promote and popularize the concept of health management*.

*Health management
A management approach that prioritizes the health of employees, aimed at maintaining and improving both employee health and corporate productivity by treating health management (kenko kanri) as a management issue. Kenko Kanri® is a registered trademark of the Kenko Kanri Kenkyukai, a public interest foundation.

Changes in the evaluation system

Since launching the Health Management Rated Loan Program in 2012, DBJ has carried out a series of dialogues with our customers with a focus on questions related to the promotion of employees' physical and mental health. In FY 2017 we increased the number of questions dealing with initiatives aimed at improving the work experience and productivity of a diversity of employees, and in FY year 2020 we added a new section on engagement.

With the diversification of organizations and the growing popularity of flexible work styles, the changing relationship between companies and their employees is lending greater importance to the concept of "engagement” a means of revitalizing both employees and organizations. Engagement occurs when employees understand and identify with the company's vision and direction, so that each works continuously to lift up the other. Based on this idea, we revised the evaluation items to enable dialogues with our clients on long-term human resource strategies supporting medium- and long-term growth and the role of engagement as a factor in their progress.

Assessment scheme for employee health management ratings

The scheme has three parts: (I) Health Management Promotion System; (II) Health Management Programs; and (III) Engagement.

In sections I and II, "Health Management Promotion System" and "Health Management Programs", we ask about the organization’s management system for promoting its employees’ physical and mental health and creating a comfortable working environment. We focus on how the company analyzes health data and identifies health issues in light of this analysis, the measures it takes to address such issues through improvements in lifestyle and mental wellbeing, and the steps it takes to make the workplace welcoming to a diverse range of employees.

In section III, Engagement, we ask about a company's medium- to long-term human resource strategies and initiatives that contribute to improving engagement. We focus on long-term strategies concerning the human capital on which sustainable corporate growth depends; on the use of engagement surveys as indicators for measuring conditions among employees; and on HR and training programs to enhance engagement.

The evaluation system is reviewed each year. Questions are created or eliminated in light of international policy trends and the latest topics, taking in the views of external experts on the Advisory Committee.

In FY 2023, amid growing demand at home and overseas for initiatives and information disclosure on human capital, and in light of the progress of debate in this area, we added questions on measures taken to place greater focus on the management perspective in a firm’s health management system and on human capital in its sustainability management.

* Target clients
Clients who are located in Japan and meet the requirements established by DBJ.

* Use of funds
Same conditions as for ordinary loans; no special restrictions.