Initiatives on Human Rights

Policy and Management System

The Idea Concerning the TOTO Group Human Rights Policy

The TOTO Group wants to be an entity that constantly assumes a leading role in the realization of a sustainable society by creating added value, which is useful for society, and employment, as well as by autonomous and responsible actions through fair and free competition. To realize that, all people working for the TOTO Group strive to play an active role with a strong sense of duty based on the concepts indicated in the corporate motto and philosophy, and to fulfill their social responsibilities.

Deploying its business activities that respect the human rights of all people in each country and region and contributing to the development of such activities are stipulated in the Charter of TOTO Group Corporate Behavior, which is the basic stance of behavior of all people working for the TOTO Group, and the Human Rights Policy stipulates the policy to fulfill responsibility to respect human rights as a company based on the Charter of TOTO Group Corporate Behavior.

Based on the United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the TOTO Group supports and respects international norms of human rights, such as the International Bill of Human Rights, ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Children’s Rights and Business Principles, and similar declarations and standards.

Human rights awareness activities

The TOTO Group has established the "TOTO Group Business Conduct Guidelines" so that employees can regularly check examples of behavior in line with the "TOTO Group Business Conduct Guidelines".

The TOTO Group Business Conduct Guidelines, which outline the conduct expected of TOTO employees and include the TOTO Group Corporate Philosophy, top commitment, and various guidelines for conduct, were drawn up in FY2013 (translated into 13 languages) and distributed to all Group Companies so as to ensure awareness among TOTO Group employees in every country and region.

The guidelines include a compliance guide on "Respect for Human Rights" and "Prohibition of Harassment" as one of the important compliance items in promoting corporate activities.

Furthermore, in Japan, the TOTO Group holds training sessions on human rights for all employees every year, which had approximately 18,000 attendants in FY 2023.

Prohibition of Harassment

The TOTO Group strives to eradicate any harassment, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and harassment related to pregnancy, childbirth, childcare leave, nursing care leave, etc.

The compliance guidelines for the Prohibition of Harassment are included in the TOTO Group Business Conduct Guidelines to foster ethical behavior by employees and improve compliance awareness.

The TOTO Group also has a consultation service in place to ensure the appropriate response depending on the issue and situation. We strive to eradicate any harassment that adversely affects our workplace environment.

Human Rights Due Diligence

Process to identify and mitigate risks

The TOTO Group participates in the "United Nations Global Compact," and refers to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and a variety of other international standards.

Upon promoting human-rights due diligence, we consult the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) to recognize risks in individual countries and risks by type of business in an effort to be aware of human-rights risks in each region surrounding the TOTO Group.

In addition, the identification of potential human-rights risks of TOTO Groups has been conducting in reference to the results of a dialogue with external experts and Human Rights Due Diligence Workshop (Stakeholder Engagement Programme) which is based on Human Rights Issues by Sector (Version 12) ※1 hosted by the Caux Round Table.

Currently, based on these efforts, we assess, reduce, and mitigate potential human-rights risks among the employees of the TOTO Group and its supply chain.

※1 Human Rights Issues by Sector (Version 12) were formulated at the consortium by reference to the Human Rights Guidance Tool formulated by the UNEP FI (Finance Initiative). In this program, the possibility was recognized of specific concerns within our company and its supply chain with regard to human-rights issues in the chemical and building-materials industries

[Potential human-rights risks among TOTO Group’s employees]

The TOTO Group annually implements an Employee Awareness Survey of its employees in order to comprehensively know about the penetration of its corporate philosophy and organizational culture related to compliance. This Survey has identified such potential human-rights risks as harassment, forced labor, and discrimination.In addition, the results of the Employee Awareness Survey are analyzed, and training for prevention is provided for managers and non-management employees.In addition, employee awareness survey results are shared at corporate meetings and on the intranet and we endeavor to improve employee awareness across the entire workplace by providing feedback to each department.

[Potential human-rights risks among supply chain]

The TOTO Group implements sustainable procurement . Upon promoting sustainable procurement, we have compiled the Supplier Code of Conduct as the basic way of thinking in addressing the realization of a sustainable society with suppliers. And by conducting questionnaire surveys and on-site audits, we assess, mitigate, and reduce potential risks, aiming at continuously enhancing the level of these activities.

We conduct audits and enhance our management system for the suppliers as high verification priority are identified as high in light of the risks by country and industry and our impacts.

Grievance Mechanism

The TOTO Group has multiple channels to receive inquiries, questions, requests or comments regarding TOTO from the stakeholders (consumers, employees, suppliers, etc.).

Whistleblower system covering human-rights issues

The TOTO Group has established a hotline to receive reports on compliance and human rights issues including discrimination and harassment. Anonymous reports are accepted, and the name of the person making the report is kept strictly confidential. We adequately confirm the facts about the issues reported, and if we recognize a problem, we will implement measures as a remedy and take personnel measures including disciplinary action in accordance with internal rules. The numbers of whistle-blowing and consultations in FY 2023 were 63 in Japan and 12 abroad and the whistleblowing system has been effectively functioning.

【TOTO Group (Japan)】

TOTO has a system of internal and external hotlines.

The system can be used by TOTO Group employees in Japan as well as trading suppliers and others of the group's companies.

【TOTO Group (Overseas)】

We have established an external reporting desk targeting the employees of all the sites.

	Sustainability self-assessment questionnaire	Audits of suppliers
Subjects	All our production material suppliers	Suppliers as high verification priority are identified as high in light of the risks by country and industry and our impacts
Assessment method	Questionnaire surveys	Audits
Assessment overview	Check production material suppliers with one cycle of three years and confirm compliance items set by the TOTO Group. The questionnaire is composed of "Safety/health," "Environment," "Fairness / Ethics," "Quality / Safety," and "Information security" besides "Human rights/labor" areas, for risk assessment. Also, we evaluate (1) Prohibition of forced labor, (2) Prohibition of inhumane labor, (3) Prohibition of child labor, (4) Prohibition of discrimination, (5) Appropriate wages, (6) Working hours, and (7) Right to organize employees in the human rights area.	Evaluate compliance status of our suppliers as high verification priority through interviews and document reviews.
Assessment results	The evaluation was held for 518 companies in FY 2023. There was no serious noncompliance with regard to forced labor, child labor, etc.	In fiscal 2023, 13 suppliers were audited by third-party organizations or internal auditors. There was no serious noncompliance with regard to forced labor or child labor. However, several minor issues were identified for further improvements.
Human Rights Mitigation & Remediation	In fiscal 2023, There was no serious noncompliance with regard to forced labor, child labor, etc. If there are any issues that are unclear or concerns are recognized, we have dialogs with the suppliers and confirm their formulation of corrective action plans, and support activities until the completion of improvements.	In fiscal 2023, There was no serious noncompliance with regard to forced labor, child labor, etc. Suppliers developed corrective action plans for the items pointed out during the audits and improved the situation.

Sustainability Management