The SATO Group conducts business in more than 90 countries, with the mission to create new value for our customers through products and services of superior quality, and to contribute toward a better and more sustainable world.
We believe that our business operations are powered by people and should not harm fundamental human rights which all human beings are born with.
With our human rights policy set forth herein, we commit to actions respecting human rights.
We respect the human rights of all individuals involved in our business operations, adhering to the International Bill of Human Rights (consisting of the Universal Declaration and two covenants), UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and other globally recognized standards. We also support the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.
We comply with the laws in our operating countries and regions and will do our best to uphold global standards regarding human rights when local legal frameworks are not adequate or when there are conflicts between the two.
This policy applies to all employees and senior management of the SATO Group. We expect the same commitments to be shared by our stakeholders including suppliers, business partners and customers.
We adopt a human rights due diligence model that is based on international standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and the Japanese government's guidelines on respect for human rights in responsible supply chains. Together with business partners, we apply this model and promote human rights across our supply chain.
We aim to identify and prevent or mitigate the human rights risks of our business activities, taking appropriate actions to address any adverse impacts that we are known to have caused, facilitated or contributed to.
Also, we work to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights risks that can be directly linked to SATO products and services by our business relationships.
Any concerns or malpractices can be reported via the internal and external channels we have put in place for us to remediate them accordingly.
All employees including senior management take part in training programs on the importance of respecting human rights in the implementation of our human rights policy.
Policy implementation itself is guided and carried out through dialogue and collaboration with relevant stakeholders inside and outside the company.
Our human rights measures and outcomes are communicated periodically via our corporate website and annual integrated report.
We value the diversity of the people with whom we work, and do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment based on race, skin color, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national, social or indigenous origin, disability, reproductive history, religion, political affiliations or beliefs, union membership, past military service, unexpressed genetic conditions, marital status, or other distinguishing characteristics.
We make unbiased hiring decisions based on the individual's qualifications or abilities to perform work required by the job.
Employees who are foreign nationals shall not be subject to unfair treatment due to their nationality.
We do not condone unlawful employment practices including forced or child labor.
We abide by all applicable laws on working hours, minimum wages and workplace health and safety to provide a conducive and motivating work environment for our employees.
We respect employees' rights to form or join labor unions, and to bargain collectively in support of their mutual interests.
We respect the freedom of employees and all stakeholders to speak their minds, and aim to ensure that all opinions are considered fairly. Our Teiho system allows employees to submit “original ideas, innovations and proposals aimed to make the company better and on how to put them into action,” through which employees practice Ceaseless Creativity and learn to rejoice in the smallest changes as they express their views freely and receive feedback from top management. Teiho not only shapes our culture of valuing employee input and bottom-up improvements but also brings out the creativity in our workforce and lays the groundwork for our company to grow sustainably.
We have the responsibility to respect local and native communities in the countries where we operate. Besides taking necessary measures to ensure that our business activities do not negatively affect these groups, we also provide channels to seek their feedback and concerns and work to address them accordingly.
We recognize that climate change and environmental issues threaten health and safety, and are closely linked to respect for human rights. We work to reduce environmental impact through our business activities while preventing or mitigating human rights risks caused by climate change.