Daiwa Securities Group has established various opportunities to receive feedback from employees under the belief that good communication with employees is vital for a better workplace environment.
We will continue to identify areas for improvement in our systems and initiatives and utilize inputs from employees for creating an even better workplace environment.

We have established a self-assessment system as a twice-yearly opportunity for employees to talk about their careers with their superiors and the Human Resources Department. This system enables employees to communicate to the Human Resources Department their career visions and also their degree of satisfaction with their jobs and their opinions on the personnel and training systems, the workplace environment, and other matters. Daiwa Securities Group uses such feedback to develop an environment that enables employees to work with a high level of motivation.

In August 2018, we started Work Motivation Survey as a monitoring indicator to increase employees' motivation to work and realize a virtuous cycle of higher employee satisfaction and higher customer satisfaction. We also introduced an Engagement Survey in February 2022 to ensure that the motivation to work leads to the further growth of employees and further improvement in productivity and business performance. We will develop a climate and system that enable employees to play more active roles by continually increasing engagement through a productive workplace environment and employees' physical and mental health.

We regularly conduct surveys on human resources measures for all employees. We incorporate employees' feedback, and have upgraded various support systems for D&I in general, and for child rearing and nursing care for family members. We conduct interviews with employees returning from childcare leave after a certain time has passed in an effort to resolve any worries they may have and provide a support system that employees can use until their children finish elementary school.

We regularly conduct a survey on work-life balance and balancing work and childcare/nursing care for all employees. In 2020, more than 7,000 employees responded to the survey. In addition to grasping the status of use of and requests for the systems, we revise the design and operation of the systems based on the feedback from employees.

To give feedback on assessment results, we conduct interviews with department and sales branch heads twice a year, thereby sharing future goals and career development with them and providing appropriate guidance and advice to each employee. In addition, one-on-one meetings are held at least twice a year for each employee as opportunities for supervisors to understand their subordinates' problems, challenges, and aspirations, to share how to overcome them and how to achieve their goals, with the aim of guiding them toward fulfilling the expected functions in line with corporate strategies.

In October 2007, Daiwa Securities introduced a program for supporting club activities. This program was created to help employees enjoy their time off and deepen their friendships with colleagues, building more opportunities for sharing a sense of camaraderie and solidarity. It is also intended to support work-life balance and facilitate a fuller social life for employees. Under this program, employee groups that meet certain conditions are recognized as Daiwa Clubs or Daiwa Circles, which receive subsidies to cover some of their activity costs.
As of August 2022, there are 21 Daiwa Clubs and four Daiwa Circles.

In 2021, we introduced ANSWERS, an internal online social network through which employees can feel at ease consulting with each other, help each other with difficulties, and build networks. The network provides employees with opportunities to meet role models, broadening their perspectives regarding future career advancement, as well as to communicate with the management.

The Group supports the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, which include Principle 3, "Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining," and respects freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
Based on labor agreements signed with employee unions, we regularly hold labor-management negotiations on bonuses and other compensation and the working environment, thereby building a sound labor-management relationship.
We also increase opportunities for learning the opinions of our employees and improve communication through surveys conducted by employee unions, direct dialogue between management and union members, and other activities.
As of the end of FY2022, 6,280 employees belong to employee unions, and the union membership ratio is 54.8%.

We work to ensure that members of employees' families share their pride in being part of the Group. Since FY2008, we welcome employees' families to the workplace on Family Visit Day to give family members a better understanding of our company and the employees' jobs. Other initiatives for supporting our employees' families include the new creation of Kid's Ceremony Leave, Family Day Leave, and Parents' Longevity Celebration Leave, as well as the extension of mental health support to employees' families.

Since 2008, the Group has been carrying out "Family Visit Day" events in which we thank the families who support our employees every day and invite them to the workplace.
Held at the head office and branches nationwide, these events are popular with employees and their families. In 2020, these events were held online for the first time, and roughly 5,800 family members participated.

Daiwa Securities Group issues an in-house magazine, "Fuji," whose history dates back to 1925, when one of the company's predecessors, Fujimoto Bill Broker Bank, commenced its publication. The content covers a broad scope, including the basic management policy, a message from top management, specific sustainability initiatives (includes ESG and improvement of environmental awareness), information from Group companies, profiles of winners of awards presented by Daiwa, overview of Family Visit Day events, explanations of our welfare and human resources systems, human rights issues, and our internal whistle-blowing system (how it works and its usage status). By including information that traverses the Group, our intention in producing the magazine is not only to engender communication among company employees but also to further the Group culture, the sense of connectedness and exchange of knowledge. In addition, the magazine is also posted on the work-life balance promotion website for employees, making it viewable to company employees who are currently involved in child rearing, nursing family members or are on leave from work.

If the financial condition (household finances) of employees deteriorates, not only will their stress and psychological burden increase, leading to decreased productivity and motivation, but also misconduct by employees will be more likely to occur, which may have a negative impact on the credibility of the Group. The Group strives to maintain and improve individual financial health by encouraging employees to manage their money appropriately. To this end, we support the financial independence of our employees by providing "scholarship repayment support loan" to reduce the burden of scholarship payments, and by granting incentives for the employee stock ownership association and Tsumitate (installment-type) NISA. In addition, we offer a property accumulation savings plan, a stock option plan, and a loan plan for home acquisition, as well as a defined contribution pension plan (401K) for post-retirement asset building, with the aim of raising the level of employee happiness and satisfaction and boosting productivity.