News

Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
SCSK Corporation
OMRON Corporation
Kirin Holdings Company, Limited
Shimadzu Corporation
JMDC Inc.
Nippon Life Insurance Company
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (President & Chief Executive Officer: Taro Fujie), SCSK Corporation (Representative Director, President and Chief Operating Officer: Takaaki Touma), OMRON Corporation (President and CEO: Junta Tsujinaga), Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (President & CEO: Yoshinori Isozaki), Shimadzu Corporation (President and CEO: Yasunori Yamamoto), JMDC Inc. (President and CEO: Ryo Noguchi), Nippon Life Insurance Company (President: Hiroshi Shimizu), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (President and Chief Executive Officer: Akihiro Fukutome) (in kana order) announced today, June 30, 2023, the establishment of the Health & Productivity Management Alliance (hereinafter, the “Alliance”). We are also pleased to announce that, on behalf of these eight lead managing companies, Yoshihito Yamada, Chairman of OMRON Corporation, has assumed the chairpersonship of the Alliance.

Promoting health and productivity management® (H&PM) has become imperative in practicing human capital management, an approach of perceiving employees as company assets, along with corporate productivity enhancement. Many company-run health insurance societies are facing financial difficulties, and their sustainability is at risk. Recognizing these management challenges as social issues commonly faced by Japanese corporations, eight companies from different industries will lead the initiative to encourage other companies to participate in the Alliance.

As of its inception on June 30, 2023, over 100 companies and organizations, who resonate with the Alliance’s vision, “To revitalize Japanese companies and achieve sustainability of company-run health insurance societies by promoting employees’ well-being,” have announced their participation. While continuing to call for participation, the Alliance will take data-driven approaches to identify issues, implement solutions, and evaluate measures thus taken by promoting health collaboration between companies and the societies. By consistently implementing the PDCA cycle based on a data health plan, the Alliance intends to design a model for H&PM, co-create solutions to make it work, and implement them in the industrial world.

Message from Yoshihito Yamada, Chairperson, Health & Productivity Management Alliance (Chairman, OMRON Corporation)

With the much-touted advent of the “era of the 100-year lifespan,” extending healthy life expectancies is a challenge common to all humankind. With its population being by far the world’s oldest, Japan attracts international attention for its resolute attempt to solve challenges in the country’s super-aged society.

The mission of the Alliance, which we have just launched, reads, “To increase the competitiveness of Japanese companies and achieve sustainability of company-run health insurance societies by promoting employees’ well-being.” Sharing the purpose with leading companies working on health & productivity management, we have established two goals that we will pursue. The first goal is to accelerate value creation by human resources. In the past, companies have enhanced corporate value by expanding their tangible assets. Going forward, however, human resources will be the source of value created. We intend to help enhance corporate value by fostering an environment where employees work happily and in good shape. The second goal is to achieve sustainability of company-run health insurance societies. In recent years, many health insurance societies have been on the verge of running a deficit. As the length of service of their members increases, the number of physician visits by the elderly rises, aggravating the financial situation of health insurance societies. To address this issue, health insurance societies are organizing projects to promote their members’ health, but they have yet to establish an effective process. The Alliance will assist health insurance societies in achieving fiscal soundness by utilizing healthcare data to ensure early intervention for members with health risks.

We at the Alliance are determined to take the lead in practicing H&PM and developing and implementing relevant solutions by facilitating cooperation with government agencies and research institutions, as well as among our member companies from different industries, types of businesses, or corporate groups. In so doing, we vow to empower Japan.

Makeup of the Alliance

Supporting scientists

Dr. Yuji Furui, Project Professor
Dr. Hiroo Ide, Project Associate Professor
Healthcare Data Science Research Unit, Institute for Future Initiative (IFI), The University of Tokyo

Observers

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Key initiatives of the Alliance

1. Designing evaluation indicators for H&PM
   To design key performance indicators (KPIs) for properly evaluating H&PM initiatives and their results, thus contributing to corporate value enhancement.
2. Develop an H&PM assessment framework based on data analysis
   We are currently developing a framework for "H&PM Assessment" that contributes to identify and visualize health issues by utilizing the analysis of health check-up results, receipt data, employee questionnaires, etc. We aim to help promoting collaborative health with our members' health insurance and labor affairs staffs.
3. Build an information platform for various types of solutions
   The Alliance accumulates information on various types of solutions needed to produce results for H&PM. A database will be built based on participating companies’/organizations’ experiences in introducing solutions and the verification results of their effects so that participating companies can share information based on which they can choose a solution that matches their own issues. Trial and error may have limited efficacy if performed by individual companies/organizations, but collective knowledge among many companies/organizations will increase the speed of learning about the implementation of a solution.
4. Organize workshops/seminars
   The Alliance organizes workshops and seminars for management members and people in charge of human resources and health insurance societies to enhance their literacy and skills concerning H&PM.
   （1）Initiatives for H&PM in human capital management
   （2）Utilization of data for H&PM
   （3）Fostering of corporate culture for spreading H&PM and approaches to employees
   （4）Examples of companies’ practices for solving their issues (Example topics)

Roadmap

Invitation to participate in the H&PM Alliance

Target membership by the end of fiscal 2023: 300 companies/organizations

Inquiries for participation: info@kenkokeiei-alliance.com
URL: https://kenkokeiei-alliance.com/

Related Link
March 17, 2023 News & Notices
Launching Health & Productivity Management Alliance
Working to Spread the Concept of “Health & Productivity Management” and Achieve Fiscal Soundness of Health Insurance Societies

• Health & Productivity Management^® is a registered trademark of Nonprofit Organization Kenkokeiei.