Asahi Glass Human Resources Management (HRM) System

Asahi Glass treats employees fairly in consideration of their abilities and performance. We aim to provide our diverse range of employees with the systems and environments necessary to help them perform their jobs, without discrimination based on gender, age, or disability.

We have introduced the following two human resources management systems in order to clarify employees' roles, functions, and responsibilities; to utilize capable employees regardless of their age, length of service, and gender; and to evaluate them in a fair manner.

Job grading system (for managers, introduced in 2005)

Three different career courses (for non-managers, introduced in 2003)

Employee-Related Data of Asahi Glass

Number of Employees (as of December 31, 2008, excluding those dispatched to other organizations)

Classification		Male	Female	Total	Percentage of females
Managers		1,727	71	1,798	3.9%
Nonmanagers	E Course*1	651	77	728	10.6%
	S Course*2	3,116	44	3,160	1.4%
	C Course*3	15	409	424	96.5%
	Subtotal	3,782	530	4,312	12.3%
Total		5,509	601	6,110	9.8%

*1 Applied to employees who will promote business strategies and implement enhancement measures for their departments as key persons
*2 Applied to employees who will contribute to production activities by acquiring, improving, and handing down production technologies and skills
*3 Applied to employees who will be in charge of conducting clerical work accurately and quickly

Other Employment Data

	Male	Female	Total
Average age	42.0	37.3	40.9
Average length of service	18 years and 7 months	11 years and 5 months	17 years and 8 months
Average overtime working hours	23.1 hours/month(average for members of the labor union)

Career Development

Asahi Glass has in place the Challenging Career System. This is a system to encourage employees to choose jobs in which they can use their expertise, and through this system we place the right people where necessary, such as in newly launched businesses and areas that need to be reinforced. This serves as a further stimulus to our organization.

Also, we have the Professional System and the Meister System to utilize and evaluate those having advanced technologies and skills.

Human Resources Development

For the AGC Group to promote its global management system, a diversity of talented staff are required, including leaders in charge of global management, engineers who strengthen and pass down technologies and skills, and high-level professionals who take the lead in launching new businesses and other projects. In the development of these various human resources, it is necessary for the AGC Group to set and implement the same objectives across the Group, and so in 2006, Asahi Glass launched a new human resources development (HRD) system, which may also be used by its domestic Group companies.

Priority Tasks to be Performed under the HRD System

Further Employment and Promotion of Female Employees

At Asahi Glass, the number of female non-managerial staff (excluding those temporarily dispatched to other companies) is 530, accounting for approximately 12.3% of all non-managers. The number of female managers is 71, 11 more than the previous year, and accounts for approximately 3.9% of all managers. We will continue to build necessary systems and examine measures to increase the number of female employees and managers toward the achievement of Diversity, which is one of our shared values under our Group vision.

Employment of Retirees

In April 2006, following the revision of the Act Concerning Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons, Asahi Glass introduced a system to continuously employ retiring non-managers who meet the personnel criteria for continuous employment, which are provided for in the labor-management agreement, with the aim of utilizing the expertise, technologies, and skills of retirees.
Subsequently in April 2008, we introduced a new continuous employment system in view of increasing social need for the employment of retirees, after conducting surveys to identify the retirees' needs and the workplace needs for the securing and transfer of technologies and skills. Under the new system, we have expanded the range of employees who are eligible for the system, thereby enabling more employees to continue to work until they reach the legal retirement age.
We are committed to providing work opportunities where employees with diverse backgrounds and high motivation can fully display their abilities and make use of their experience, regardless of age.

Continuous Employment Rate of Retirees

FY	Number of reemployed retirees	Number of fixed age retirements	Continuous employment rate
2006	20	84	23.8%
2007	46	126	36.5%
2008*4	94	159	59.1%

*4 In April 2008, we revised the continuous employment system for non-managers to expand the range of employees who are eligible for the system. As a result, the rate increased from the levels up to 2007.

Employment of People with Disabilities

In order to realize the concept of Diversity, Asahi Glass has increased the employment of people with disabilities. In fiscal 2008, our employment rate of people with disabilities reached 1.95%, exceeding the rate designated by law (1.80%) for the first time. We will continue to make efforts to further raise the employment rate by fostering cooperation with relevant organizations.

Employment Rate of People with Disabilities

FY	Number of people with disabilities(actual number)	Employment rate
2004	87	1.60%
2005	82	1.51%
2006	83	1.54%
2007	94	1.74%
2008	105	1.95%

In fiscal 2002, Asahi Glass established AGC Sunsmile, Inc. as its special subsidiary with a view to increasing the employment of people with intellectual disabilities. Employees of this company are engaged mainly in cleaning at the business sites and the company residences.

In fiscal 2008, AGC Sunsmile established new bases in the Sagami and Osaka districts in addition to its existing base in the Yokohama district. We will continue to increase the number of these bases and expand the jobs and staff of the company so as to achieve more employment of people with disabilities.

“I wipe the windowpanes one by one, taking care not to get my fingerprints on them.” (Advanced Technology Development Center in Keihin Plant)

“Although it was hard for me to clean the wide floor space alone at the beginning, now I am accustomed to it.” (Advanced Technology Development Center in Keihin Plant)

Work-Life Balance

In order to help its employees perform their jobs with ease of mind and fully demonstrate their abilities at every stage of their lives, Asahi Glass is improving its workplace environment to make it more comfortable and implementing measures to help employees keep a good balance between their work and private lives.

Comparison between Asahi Glass's Childcare Leave System and Legal Requirements

Legal requirements	Asahi Glass's system
Childcare leave
Available until the child becomes one year old (or eighteen months old, depending upon conditions) if the spouse is working	Available until the child becomes eighteen months old or until the end of the April immediately following the child's first birthday, whichever is longer, regardless of whether the spouse is working or not Available as a special “short-term childcare leave” if the leave period is less than one month
Shortened working hours for childcare
Available until the child becomes three years old Employers are required to make efforts to shorten the working hours of employees with children aged three years or older, until the child enters elementary school.	Working hours can be shortened by up to 2.5 hours per day until the child completes third grade education at elementary school. This system is available on a multiple basis. After a certain period has passed since starting to use this system, the employee may alter their application details (the number of hours they wish to have reduced, their work starting and finishing times, etc.)
Capping of the number of overtime and holiday working hours for childcare
The overtime working hours should not exceed 24 hours per month or 150 hours per year if an employee with a pre-elementary school-aged child so requests.	If an employee so wishes, their overtime and holiday working hours may be reduced to zero until their child completes third grade education at elementary school.
Other
	Flexible working hours without fixed “core working hours” Support for using facilities and services for childcare under the selective benefits package system A system in which employees, as a general rule, assume the same job after returning from leave

Asahi Glass is also actively supporting employees in working and caring for their family members in a compatible manner.

Systems to support the compatibility of work and family care

Employees taking Childcare/Family Care Leaves

FY	No. of employees who took childcare leave	No. of employees who took family care leave
2004	40	1
2005	29	1
2006	30	3
2007	43*5 (including two employees taking short-term childcare leave)	5 (including one employee taking short-term family care leave)
2008	42*6 (including two employees taking short-term childcare leave)	2

*5 of which two employees were male
*6 of which three employees were male

The percentage of the leave consumed came to 91.4% (average for the labor union members) at Asahi Glass in fiscal 2008, up 0.4% from the previous year.

In fiscal 2008, we introduced a half-day leave system to enable employees to use their paid leave more efficiently and flexibly

Average Percentage of Annual Paid Leave Used

Regarding overtime work, Asahi Glass has the following principles: (1) to reduce overtime and holiday work through the improvement of work efficiency; and (2) to prevent employees from working overtime without pay. Based on these principles, we are committed to managing the daily work of employees based on sufficient communication between managers and subordinates, and complying with the Labor Standards Act with regard to labor-management discussions and related procedures. Also, by precisely recording the arriving and leaving times, we identify how long each employee stays at the workplace. We have a system to clarify the reasons for excessive overtime work, to improve the situation and to manage employees' working hours appropriately.
As for the prevention of health damage due to overwork, we have our own criteria, which are stricter than the law requires. Based on these criteria, we mandate overtime workers to consult the industrial doctor, thereby ensuring their health in advance.
We will continue to implement these measures to provide all employees with an environment where they can work with high motivation in good health.

Labor-Management Relations

In Asahi Glass, the Asahi Glass Labor Union is organized. In labor-management negotiations, both the labor and the management sides take a logical and reasonable attitude to solve problems through discussion. The labor union negotiates with the management on working and other conditions for its members.

In addition to open daily communications, the labor union management and directors of the company have a standing council on the entire business management at least twice a year.

Protection of Human Rights and Prevention of Harassment

The AGC Group, based on its principles under “Respect for People” set forth in its Charter of Corporate Behavior, is committed to respecting human rights, rejecting discrimination, forced labor and child labor, and never being involved in the violation of human rights. Also, employees are enlightened concerning this matter when senior executives visit their business sites or auditors conduct audits there.

Regarding respect for human rights and the prohibition of discrimination, Asahi Glass explicitly states these policies in its Code of Conduct and employee regulations, and ensures that all employees abide by them as part of their basic responsibility, through such measures as giving them relevant training. Also, we have a special section for human rights protection and promote work environments that are free from discrimination. For early detection of problems, we offer both internal and external contacts whom employees, in the event that they become victims, can consult with ease of mind. Reported cases are treated through the retraining of perpetrators combined with an emphasis on reforming the consciousness of the workplace.

As for harassment, we conduct seminars for top executives and training for managers to prevent harassment. In addition, we are improving the skills of our staff in charge of personnel affairs and counsellors on sexual harassment so that employees can use a better and easier consulting system.